Reader_June15_2023

The week in random review

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

An indirect LPO ode

“I’m bursting at the britches, gonna leave a nasty scar.”

— Lyrics from “Lake Missoula,” a song by Bozeman band Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners. It is interesting to contemplate Lake Pend Oreille as a “nasty scar,” but when considering what the land may have looked like before the glacial lake burst and carved out our neck of the woods as it is today, “nasty” seems a fitting description of the event.

Famous potato fail

I recently replaced my license plates because the numbered portion simply sloughed off. It didn’t happen suddenly; it was a gradual process of peeling, taping, re-peeling and re-taping, waiting for my registration to expire before I went through the effort to replace them. I want to give a special thanks to the woman at the DMV who, when I presented her with my old plates, asked “where is the other one?” When I laid out the contents of my hands — one mostly-intact aluminum plate wrapped in masking tape next to a weathered, rolledup chunk of the other plate’s numbered portion, completely removed from the aluminum — she didn’t even flinch. For all I know, she was thinking, “Wow, this woman is a procrastinator,” but instead she took my pathetic offering behind the counter, ordered new plates and sent me on my way. So if you’ve experienced the license-plate-peel, you’re not alone, and if you shamefully put off getting new plates for way too long, join the club.

Do not ask me to cut the cheese

We all have household tasks we detest, and often, there is no real reason for our disdain. It occurred to me just this week that my husband exclusively cuts the cheese in our house (pause here for those who want to make a fart joke). Seriously though — I can’t stand cutting cheese slices off the block. I also, for the most part, don’t chop onions, run hoses across the yard or wash silverware. As for my husband, he avoids refilling the cat’s water dish at all costs. The longer we are together, the clearer it becomes that we’d both rather cut open the toothpaste tube to squeeze out every last bit before pulling a new tube off the shelf and opening it. That one is a true battle of wills. Each of these hated tasks takes very little time to complete, and our distaste amounts to nothing more than petty preference. There is no rhyme or reason, but it’s all nonetheless part of the weird idiosyncrasies of our home and marriage.

No-context iPhone notes 7/7/19

Sugar AA batteries

Pectin Dog treats

Lemon juice NOTEBOOKS!

Jars

READER DEAR READERS,

If there’s one thing I know for sure about the newspaper business, it’s that you can’t stop a deadline. Like the tides, they come whether we want them to or not. For the past eight-and-a-half years, I’ve watched about 450 of them pass in my tenure as publisher of the Reader. Behind my desk is a stack containing one copy of every edition we’ve published. The stack is now knee high.

For Reader Editor Zach Hagadone, however, his stack is considerably taller. I’m talking over the waist. We were doing some figuring the other day and estimated that this very week marks Zach’s 1,000th deadline as a newspaperman. This covers his time with Reader 1.0, the Idaho Business Review and Boise Weekly, the past four years as editor at the Reader again and other miscellaneous publications.

I learned most of what I know as a writer from Zach. Many of you have relied on his news coverage and insights since the very beginning. We are stronger thanks to his work. So here are a thousand thank yous for a thousand deadlines, Hag.

Keep up the good work.

–Ben Olson, publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com

Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com

Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com

Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey (News Editor) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus)

Advertising: Kelsey Kizer kelsey@sandpointreader.com

Contributing Artists: Matt Lome (cover), Ben Olson, Sara McTavish, Owen Leisy, Lindsay Surdukan, Dillon Plue, Gerald Byrns, Juniper White, Marcela Thompson, Daryl Baird, Lynn Olafson, Jenny Benoit, Immanuel Sanchez, Alex Carey

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Rep. Nate Roberts, Paul Graves, Marcia Pilgeram

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com

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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

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

Requirements:

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About the Cover

This week’s winning cover submission is by Matt Lome, who wins $50 for his efforts! Thanks Matt.

WBSD holds off — again — on approving superintendent contract

Trustees balked at talk of rescinding Branden Durst hire, tabled contract in abrupt but raucous June 14 meeting

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The sound and fury surrounding West Bonner School District’s selection of Branden Durst to serve as its latest superintendent will continue, after trustees opened and closed a special meeting June 14 with whiplash speed — first striking an agenda item that would have made way for considering whether to rescind Durst’s selection for the job, then tabling consideration and approval of his contract and addendum.

All told, the meeting lasted about eight minutes, punctuated throughout by cries of protest from the audience, whose members objected to the board’s turn away from reconsidering Durst’s hiring and the lack of debate surrounding the move.

“Look at this room in front of you,” shouted one unidentified meeting attendee, ostensibly referring to the auditorium packed with residents, as was another meeting June 12 that similarly did not result in approval of Durst’s contract.

“You work for us,” yelled another audience member, as trustees moved to adjourn amid an eruption of booing and angry statements from the crowd.

“These are our children,” one attendee called out right before the livestream on the WBSD Facebook page went dark.

Trustees Margaret Hall and Carlyn Barton both voted against amending the agenda to eliminate the item related to potentially rescinding the superintendent selection — and thereby potentially creating the opportunity for the board to re-vote on whether interim Superintendent Susie Luckey should get the position.

Chairman Keith Rutledge then referred to “evidence which [had] recently come to light” of “improper and unprofessional discussions [that] may have occurred between district employees and legal counsel with regard to this subject; that such discussion may have violated proper procedures following the executive session of June 7 and which requires further investigation.”

That investigation, according to Rutledge, required tabling the consideration and approval of Durst’s employment contract.

Hall called on the board to disclose who had the conversation or conversations regarding Durst’s contract and addendum. She then broadened her inquiry, saying she wanted to know the names of, “the attorney, the legal firm, and Mr. Durst’s attorney [and] legal firm and the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s legal attorney and firm to make sure … we limit our liability as a board, individually and as a group.”

Rutledge said he had been in contact with legal counsel, and would share his written correspondence, per Hall’s request.

“The legal counsel was not shared with the board, therefore it cannot be considered, and this motion cannot be considered or this agenda item cannot be considered at this time,” he said, referring to Durst’s contract approval.

Emails to all five trustee members went unanswered by press time, though based on Rutledge’s comments at the meeting, it appears the investigation into improper conversations with legal counsel needs to come first.

Durst is a senior education policy analyst for the ultra-conservative 501(c)(4) “think tank” Idaho Freedom Foundation, which has its own lobby arm and enjoys an outsized level of influence over Idaho lawmakers through its various media channels and “Freedom Index,” which ranks legislators based on how closely they hew to the organization’s free-market, libertarian ideology.

The IFF has long been the fiercest opponent of public education in the state, with its executive director, Wayne Hoffman, going so far as to state in 2019 that, “I don’t think government should be in the education business. It is the most virulent form of socialism (and indoctrination thereto) in America today.”

In December 2022, Durst announced on his state superintendent campaign Facebook page that he “and others” were “in the process of putting together incorporation documents and an application

to establish Idaho’s, and possibly the Nation’s, first ever Christian public charter school,” emphasizing, “a biblical worldview to train up the next generation in Truth.”

The Blaine Amendment to the Idaho Constitution expressly forbids channeling state monies toward religious educational institutions, though Idaho Republicans tried and failed to pass a workaround to that piece of law in the 2023 legislative session.

During his campaign for state superintendent, Durst underscored his support for “school choice,” and told the East Idaho News that in talking with parents around Idaho, “They want to stop the indoctrination that’s happening in their schools, they want to [be able] to make decisions for their kids.”

Durst’s controversial tenure in Idaho politics began when the then-26-year-old was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives, in which he served as a Democrat until 2010. Durst then won election to the Senate in 2012, where he served until 2013 as the youngest member of the body.

He jumped to the Idaho Republican Party in 2016 and ran for state superintendent of public instruction in the 2022 GOP primary election, coming in second place to Debbie Critchfield.

Meanwhile, in February 2022, Idaho Reports detailed a protection order issued by a court in Washington state against Durst, stemming from a request from Durst’s former wife against him and his current wife, following a report of child abuse in Boise in December.

In March, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office declined to charge Durst, but his wife did

receive a ruling of misdemeanor injury to a child, after it was found that she struck a 14-year-old child with a wooden spoon. He was issued with a temporary restraining order by a judge in Thurston County, Wash., effective through March 16, because “he allegedly watched his wife strike the child … and encouraged it,” the Idaho Capital Sun reported. Durst has denied the accusation, though refused to comment to state media.

He did not respond to the Reader for two requests for comment on June 6 and June 14.

In April, the Idaho Capital Sun also reported that Durst had been found in contempt of court in Washington on four occasions for violating the terms of a parenting plan with his ex-wife.

He has also run afoul of legislative rules in the past, notably in a physical altercation with thenSen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, in January 2022, during which he apparently approached Woodward in a committee room and threatened him with political retribution after the lawmaker voted with others not to print a bill presented by Durst related to giving parents the authority to access and review their childrens’ school documents, as well as enter school buildings and classrooms “without prior consent or notification.”

Durst was unhappy with Woodward’s vote, and followed him to his Capitol Building office in an exchange that included foul language and — according to Durst — aggression by Woodward when he poked his finger in Durst’s chest. Woodward denied that description of the interaction, claiming that Durst was the party responsible for escalating the situation. The Idaho Senate majority condemned Durst

for his actions, writing that he “acted inappropriately.”

Durst’s selection as the next superintendent of the West Bonner School District has spurred loud opposition since the board voted 3-2 to offer him the job at its June 8 meeting, not least because he lacks critical qualifications — including “four years of full-time certified or licensed experience working with students while under contract in an accredited school setting,” which according to an October 2022 letter from the Boise State University Executive Educational Leadership program, meant that it could not offer him “an institutional recommendation” for his bid to become the state superintendent.

Luckey has served WBSD on an interim basis since March 2022, when the previous superintendent left for a similar job in Kamiah. She also does not possess a credential to work as superintendent, but as of the Idaho State Board of Education meeting in Pocatello on June 14, had been granted an emergency provisional certificate to hold the position. However, that certificate expires Aug. 31.

“The board typically only approves an emergency provisional for an individual once,” SBOE Communications Director Scott Graf told the Reader in an email. Since Luckey is already a certified administrator, she would be eligible for an alternative authorization.

“If granted, the validity period for the authorization would run Sept. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2024,” Graf wrote. “It can be renewed two times, allowing up to three years to complete the requirements

< see DURST, Page 6 >

W. Bonner School District trustees at the board’s June 14 meeting. Screenshot from Facebook.

BoCo Road and Bridge shares failed Dufort culvert update

Replacement culvert set to arrive this month; crews working to repair road ‘ASAP’

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Bonner County Road and Bridge Director Jason Topp provided an update on the failed Dufort Road culvert at the board of county commissioners’ June 13 business meeting, notifying the board and public that crews were moving forward with plans for a new culvert to be installed at the site where a portion of the roadway collapsed earlier this month.

The county reported the culvert, located at the 5700 block of Dufort Road near Lakeshore Drive, was “failing” on June 4, and that the road had completely fallen in on June 6, causing a flood risk that necessitated excavation.

Topp said the culvert was inspected within the past three years

and was determined to be in “fair” condition.

“For it to catastrophically fail caught us all off guard,” he said.

Topp said the culvert failed “at the worst time I can think of,” seeing as a dam will be required to dewater the construction area before putting in the new culvert, which is anticipated to arrive in two 50-foot pieces from Topeka, Kans., on or before Friday, June 23.

Topp said his department explored the option of a bridge to repair the failed section of Dufort, but current high demand for bridges due to the state-run Leading Idaho Local Bridge program made that alternative unfeasible.

“I’m not going to wait six or seven months for a bridge to get here,” Topp said. “We’re going to try to get this thing done as soon

as possible.”

The culvert replacement project is expected to cost around $800,000 — half of that accounting for the sheet piles required to properly dam and dewater the area. While commissioners unanimously approved a grant application June 13 asking the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council for $100,000 in emergency funding through the agency’s Local Highway Improvement Program, Topp said that the bulk of the project’s cost will come out of other parts of the Road and Bridge budget, affecting the department’s ability to complete other projects planned for this fiscal year.

“It’s a hard project, and it’s right in the middle of our construction season, which we already have contractual obligations with,” he said,

urging the public to be “patient.”

“Everybody is shifting gears and doing what needs to be done to get this project taken care of,” he added.

Occasional project updates are

Census shows Idaho is still growing, but Boise’s population shrank

Sandpoint ranks eighth in the state for numerical increase between 2021-’22

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Idaho remains a fast-growing state, but the rate of population increase is actually declining for at least one Gem State community. In a surprise finding in the U.S. Census Bureau figures released June 13 by the Idaho Department of Labor, the capital city of Boise — Idaho’s largest urban center with more than 236,000 residents — actually lost 1,387 residents from its population during 20212022, amounting to a .6% decline.

According to the Department of Labor, “Analysts suspect high housing costs contribute to the loss in Boise population, forcing households with children to seek more affordable housing in nearby communities.”

That’s in contrast to the numerous studies and rankings that for years have put Boise among the hottest relocation destinations for work, education, lifestyle, raising a family and retiring, alike.

It is unsurprising that of the top20 largest communities in Idaho,

most are in the southern part of the state, though five are located in North Idaho.

Based purely on the number of residents, Coeur d’Alene ranks seventh in the state for size, with 56,733 residents — an increase of 588, or 1%, from 2021-’22 — Post Falls is ninth, with 44,194, growing by 803 residents, or 3.6% year-over-year; Lewiston is 11th, with 34,856 residents, growing by 394, or 1.1%; Moscow is 14th, with 26,249, adding 308 new residents, or 1.2% growth; and Hayden is 16th, with 16,531, adding 294 residents, or 1.8%.

The fastest-growing city based purely on percentage increase was the small town of Paul, in southeastern Idaho, which grew 19.8% from 2021-’22, adding 285

residents for a total of 1,728.

Closer to home, Dover and Ponderay both made the top 10 — the former growing 9.2%, with 84 new residents contributing to a total of 1,000, and the latter increasing by 9.1%, with a population increase of 133 for a total of 1,601 residents.

Dover ranked sixth among fastest-growing communities, while Ponderay came in seventh.

Finally, when it came to greatest numerical growth, Post Falls came in fifth, Sandpoint ranked eighth — with 9,777 residents, an increase of 617, or 6.7% — and Coeur d’Alene ranked tenth.

The rapid rate of growth in North Idaho, and Sandpoint in particular, comes as no surprise to longtime residents of the area, particularly after a widely reported study commissioned by the city of Sandpoint in 2022 from Portland, Ore.-based Leland Consulting showed that to accommodate the anticipated population increase over the next decade, Sandpoint would need to add between 1,500 and 1,900 housing units.

The Leland report also reinforced the popular perception that the growth in new residents had sent real estate prices spiraling ever-upward, rising to a median of $670,000 in Sandpoint and $700,000 in the county in 2022. That’s compared to a range of $300,000-$400,000 from 2018-’20, and a national median home price of just over $400,000 in 2022.

While the Department of Labor noted that high real estate prices had likely resulted in the net population decline experienced by Boise from 2021-’22, the Idaho Statesman reported in March 2023 that a study by the National Association of Realtors showed median prices for existing homes in the city actually declined .2% from February 2022 to $363,000 — far lower than the eye-watering prices in places like Sandpoint.

The Leland report pointed to a likely reason for why Sandpoint has experienced both a population boom and skyrocketing home prices, finding that newcomers brought with them an average income in the $91,000 per year range, amounting to a cumulative $300 million in new wealth coming into the county since 2019 alone. Leland consultants went on

to suggest that because those numbers came from 2020, the wealth gap between in-migrants’ incomes and the prevailing income in the county — which is about $51,000 — is “even worse than that.”

Meanwhile, the report made it clear that growth in Bonner County is not occurring by natural increase. There were 3,769 births in the county between 2010 and 2019, but 3,902 deaths — meaning all the growth during that time period can be attributed to in-migration.

The last time Bonner County experienced a population decline was 2012, when it went from 40,782 to 40,347 residents. Since then, the county has grown to a population of 51,414 in 2022.

Boise’s housing affordability issues may have contributed to its net population loss, but based on the new Census figures and data from the Leland report, Sandpoint and Bonner County as a whole seem to be bucking the capital city’s trend, able to support both a population increase and continued sky-high housing prices.

Find all statewide population estimates and other demographic data at lmi.idaho.gov/census.

The culvert failure on Dufort Road, pictured here prior to the June 6 excavation of the road. Photo courtesy Bonner County Road and Bridge.

posted to the “Bonner County Road & Bridge” Facebook page.

Lake level hits summer target

Bits ’n’ Pieces

From east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

By Reader Staff

Lake Pend Oreille reached summer pool level on June 10, marking the official start to the recreation season for the Gem State’s largest water body.

Summer pool is considered 2,062 feet above sea level, as measured by the Northwest River Forecast Center at the Hope gauge. Throughout the summer season, managers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Albeni Falls Dam will oversee outflows and other dam operations to maintain Lake Pend Oreille’s pool between 2,062-2,062.5 feet. Remaining snowpack and weather events can affect lake levels, requiring operational changes at the dam,

located

According to a notice from the Lakes Commission, June 10 is the earliest on record that Lake Pend Oreille has been stabilized at its summer pool.

The lake will remain on summer operations until after Labor Day and likely into mid-September, when the Corps typically begins the gradual drawdown to winter pool — around 2,051 feet above sea level.

Lake Pend Oreille’s levels can be monitored at nwrfc.noaa.gov.

Officials in Canada say this looks to be the country’s worst wildfire season on record, recently blanketing 75 million people in the Eastern U.S. under air quality alerts due to smoke. The pollution blew as far south as Georgia. Already more than 2,000 Canadian fires have burned an area 12 times the 10-year average for this time of year, the BBC stated. Calls have gone out for international help from firefighters. Wildfires are expected to accelerate and become more frequent and more intense (with year-to-year variation) due to climate change, which causes higher temperatures and drier conditions. Recent wildfire soot levels in the U.S. were 10 times more than what’s considered safe, The Lever reported.

can lead to a significant prison sentence, the Associated Press reported. Of those documents, 21 were marked top secret. Numerous political commentators are asking who might now have copies.

Allegations against Trump and co-defendant Walt Nauton include unauthorized taking from the White House info about defense and weapons capability, including nuclear information; unauthorized disclosure of classified documents, which poses a national security risk for the U.S. and other nations; storage of the documents at Trump’s Florida estate, in various rooms with public access; Trump showing documents to people without security clearances and telling them they were “highly confidential” and “secret”; and Trump dodging numerous efforts by the FBI to recover missing documents.

for the new endorsement.”

Meanwhile, to his knowledge, Graf said, “we have not received an application for an emergency provisional for Mr. Durst.”

According to Idaho Statute, “Every person who is employed to serve in any elementary or secondary school in the capacity of teacher, supervisor, administrator, education specialist, school nurse or school librarian shall be required to have and to hold a certificate issued under authority of the state board of education, valid for the service being rendered.”

However, according to Graf, “the law does not expressly bar a district from hiring a candidate who, at the time of their hiring, isn’t certified.”

Durst holds a B.A. in political science and M.A. in public administration, “but no training or experience with an accredited school,” according to a June 13 report from KTVB.

Luckey has been an administrator in West Bonner County for almost two decades, serving as vice principal and principal at Priest Lake Elementary School — honored as Idaho’s National Distinguished Principal in Washington, D.C. in 2018 — and taught kindergarten at PLES beginning in 1984.

Based on the vote of the WBSD trustees

June 14, Luckey will no longer be considered for the job, and it is unclear when Durst’s contract and its addendum might be taken up again by the board. The contract itself has raised eyebrows throughout the state for including a number of atypical stipulations that were cut from the document at the board’s June 12 meeting.

Among the contract line items deleted by trustees included housing and relocation allowances, the district furnishing Durst with a vehicle, allowing him to eat free lunches at district-wide schools and providing legal counsel for his wife. What’s more, Durst wanted the option to work remotely during non-instructional hours, the district to pay half of his monthly PERSI contribution, receive 20 vacation days and a supermajority required should the board determine that he be removed from the position.

According to the vote of the trustees June 14, the board will reconvene at the call of the chair to consider the amended contract. Meanwhile, “our community is pissed,” district resident Trinity Duquette told the Reader in an email following the meeting.

“We do not want Durst,” she wrote, adding later, “When the board canceled the meeting, our community was in an uproar.”

People in smoky areas have been cautioned to wear masks for protection. In the U.S., the haze grounded some flights, canceled numerous events, drove people away from outdoor recreation and prompted zoo officials to create protections for some animals. Wildfire smoke can elevate pulse, cause chest pain and inflame eyes, nose and throat. Environment Canada said fine particles pose the greatest risk, and respirators don’t reduce exposure to gasses in wildfire smoke.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research said wildfires have reversed several decades of progress made for clean air. As well, the BBC said wildfires add to already too–high greenhouse gasses.

The New York Times reported that 1.3 million adults and 300,000 children identify as transgender.

In a national “first,” a former president — Donald Trump — faces federal charges. Last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith made a statement about the indictment charging Trump with 37 counts of violating national security laws, along with engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. Smith said Trump’s loose handling of secure documents put our nation and others at risk. He encouraged everyone to read the full text for a grasp of “the gravity of the crimes charged.”

The indictment came from a grand jury of Florida citizens. Charges include “unauthorized possession of, access to, and control over documents relating to national defense, and for refusing to deliver them to the [entities] of the U.S. entitled to receive them.” That language is from the Espionage Act. Violation of that Act

Trump was not charged for illegally keeping the 197 documents he had returned, The Washington Post noted. The charges only encompass documents he kept, showed to others and hid.

Trump’s former Attorney General Bill Barr confessed on Fox News that he was “shocked” at the sensitivity of the documents “and how many there were.” He added, “If even half of it is true, then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning.”

According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll, 48% of Americans think charges against Trump are justified, 35% don’t think so, and 17% say they don’t know.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson called the Trump indictment “a shockingly thorough case to prove the allegations.”

Two of Trump’s lawyers quickly quit his team. The special counsel is also investigating allegations that Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election. Some Trump supporters, opposing the indictment, are calling for violent resistance. Trump has entered a “not guilty” plea.

Blast from the past: Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1866, and commemorates the day, June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved African-Americans were informed that the Civil War had ended, and they were now free. It became a federal holiday in 2021.

And another blast: When running for office in 2016 Trump accused his opponent of mishandling classified info and stated on Aug. 18, that, “I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.”

downstream the Pend Oreille River near Oldtown.

Sunset on Lake Pend Oreille.

Photo by Ben Olson.

< DURST, con’t from Page 4 >

Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION:

•“Anybody who hasn’t been to the Sandpoint Ren Faire is missing out. My wife, two kids and I dressed up and headed to the Bonner County Fairgrounds on June 11, not quite knowing what to expect. We were immediately overwhelmed with how freakin’ cool this event has become. We perused the artisans’ wares, took in some jousting and other equestrian feats, were charmed by performances of magic and music, ate enormous turkey legs and (we adults, anyway) enjoyed some of the finest mead we’ve ever imbibed. A royal-sized Bouquet to the organizers of Sandpoint Ren Faire — it’s an event that brings everyone together in a real spirit of fun, which is so desperately needed these days. Thank you for a great weekend. And I intend to enter the lists next year for archery, so watch out.”

— By Zach Hagadone

GUEST SUBMISSION

•“KRFY Community Radio sends out a big thank you to the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, and especially Executive Director Karin Wedemeyer, for supporting KRFY during our June 10, Community Radio Day celebration. Karin enthusiastically and kindly offered a public site so KRFY could ‘live’ broadcast from a space the public could access and experience live radio.The Music Conservatory Little Carnegie Performance Hall was a perfect place to celebrate and broadcast from. KRFY and the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint share a joint commitment to arts and education in our North Idaho area.”

— By Suzy Prez

Barbs:

• Those of you defending former-President Donald Trump in the criminal federal indictment, here’s a simple question: Would you immediately defend a Democratic president if they committed the same crimes? Let’s all just let the court process play out. This is what “law and order” looks like.

Skills required: Loyalty…

Dear editor, In choosing candidates for the vacant Bonner County Assessor’s Office, the Bonner County Republican Central Committee once again affirmed the notion that knowledge and ability to do a job are not requirements. Only subservience to the committee, particularly to Scott Herndon, will foster a recommendation.

Ted Wert Sagle

Thankful for trustees…

Dear editor,

I want to publicly thank Keith Rutledge, Susan Brown and Troy Reinbold for all that they have done for our WBCSD school district this year.

The road has been challenging. They have shown perseverance and real hearts of service to our community in making the tough decisions that truly represent the majority of school district residents.

Standing up to a well-organized special interest group that is used to having things their way can’t be easy, but the right thing to do never is.

We appreciate the sacrifices you have made on our behalf to protect the families of the district and our neighbors without children, who together entrust you with the administration of our public schools and the fiduciary responsibility of spending our hard-earned tax dollars wisely.

We look forward to engaging with you and Mr. Durst to improve our schools and make them a valuable asset to our community and a model for other areas of the state and country.

God bless.

Kristen Stycket Ponderay

the salaries of administration and staff, all while proper accounting practices were not being followed and serious questions remained about the bookkeeping.

I fail to see how continuing that trend could have been good for the children, and apparently so do most of the voters in the district.

It’s been high time for a change of the guard, and now that our community has elected school board members courageous and caring enough to stand up to the misinformation, bullying and threats they had to face from a small minority who felt entitled to control, the children of West Bonner County are getting the change they so desperately need.

I invite the whole community to treat this new opportunity for positive change more honestly than we did the last one, Superintendent Jackie.

The eyes of the county — and likely, the whole state — will be on us and any shenanigans will be laid bare for all to see. Let’s act on what the slogans suggest we care about and make this change work for the kids.

Faith Brenneman Spirit Lake

air with all the district residents. And his third reaction was to listen to the community and start getting creative with solutions. Durst even demonstrated his fix-it attitude when asked how he would bridge a potential funding gap this upcoming year. There were at least two solid ideas in his on-the-spot answer.

I would encourage you to stop listening to the blatant lies of the media and those in, as well as outside of, our community who have chosen to spread misinformation that has sought to damage the reputation of someone that cares deeply about children, their parents and the future of Idaho.

I’ve noticed that those who are doing the greatest amount of good, in sharing truth in a world full of charlatans with special interests, is that those truth-speakers are attacked the most. Please join me in standing in support of Branden Durst.

Jason Brenneman Spirit Lake

up the streets then patching them in a slipshod way.

Thank you for all the deteriorated streets that are never improved or repaved, which would help the vast majority of us.

Thank you for property taxes that continually spiral upward, causing a burden on property owners and renters through increased rent.

Thank you for not explaining where all the new revenue goes, except the dozens of shiny new city vehicles and police cars while I drive a 22-year-old vehicle that needs a front-end alignment after the front rack and tie-rod connections are replaced, which was aggravated by the condition of the city streets, according to my mechanic.

Hugs and kisses:

Lawrence Fury Sandpoint

Dear editor,

Dear editor, Change is finally happening in the West Bonner County School District. While this reality may be a bit scary to some, it’s long overdue and we owe it to the children of the district.

For years now we’ve been seeing ever-increasing taxes and decreasing performance. And then this May, the “old guard” pushed hard for a massive 57% increase in the school funding levy — almost 70% of which was allocated to increase

Dear editor,

It’s always been a fact of rural life that when something important to you is broken, you have to do your best to fix it and get running again, even amid pressure from those who choose to pretend the same old methods will fix it. And often those fixes require some creativity and rural ingenuity. We can’t afford to continue to just throw more and more money at broken systems like cities do, hoping that they’ll magically fix themselves with every increasing dollar we pour into them, at the expense of everyone’s tax dollars being used for continued failure.

That’s why Branden Durst is the right superintendent for West Bonner County. His first reaction to our school district’s situation was to be frank and call it what it really is — in need of some repair.

His second reaction was to level-set with a forensic audit in order to clear the

Dear editor, Thank you for proposing local option sales taxes that everyone would pay to support things like downtown improvement (for tourists), the Sand Creek waterfront and redesigning the City Beach, which helps a small portion of the population.

Thank you for bringing back the Highway 2 “Curve” that people turned thumbs down to several years ago (then ditching it again).

Thank you for funding a new west-side sporting facility and adding amenities to those that already exist that, again, benefit a narrow range of people.

Thank you for wanting to fund sidewalks that most people seldom use, preferring to walk in the streets.

Thank you for spending tens of thousands of dollars on internet-connected garbage cans.

Thank you for repeatedly digging

I write to congratulate Mr. Durst on his selection as our new school superintendent. I voted for you in the Republican primary last year for state superintendent and I couldn’t be more thankful and impressed that you chose to apply for the job here in West Bonner County. It shows sincere dedication to the cause of bringing solid conservative-minded reform to our educational system and deep caring about the residents of our county. It is truly a just reward for our strong support of your campaign, and we wish to extend a warm welcome to you and your wife as you settle into our little community.

Chris Anderson Sagle

Send letters to the editor to letters@sandpointreader.com. Please keep them under 300 words, free from libelous statements and excessive profanity. No trolls. Please elevate the conversation.

‘Positive change for West Bonner County schools’…

‘A “thank you” note to the city of Sandpoint’…

‘Welcome to North Idaho Mr. Durst’...

‘Durst: The wise choice for rural North Idaho’...

The history of workers in Idaho and our future

Idahoans know what it means to put in an honest day’s work. From the ranchers and farm workers who bring food to our tables, the factory worker punching a clock and caregivers looking after aging family members — Idaho was built by working people. Unfortunately, it is getting harder for most of us to get ahead.

If we look to the past we can learn a lot about the present and how we got here. In 1892, miners in North Idaho were forced to strike after owners demanded they work longer hours for less pay. The miners wanted to keep the living wages they had negotiated for all workers — not just the skilled subsurface miners, but the surface workers at the mine, too. They understood that there is dignity in all work, a value that still unites Idahoans today.

In true Wild West fashion, deception and violence followed. These actions, and later disputes, became pivotal moments in the struggle for workers’ rights. Miners from a few small towns in Idaho showed the power of workers standing together in solidarity. Across the country, the labor movement grew, and with that came progress. The eighthour workday, weekends off, pensions, safety standards and more are benefits workers enjoy today thanks to our parents and grandparents being united for a better life.

Here’s some more Idaho history: In 1985, Republicans in the Idaho Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. John Evans’ veto of the “Right to Work’’ law. Still in effect today, Right to Work is a policy designed to undermine the power of working people. While backers of these laws like to claim that they protect workers against being forced to join a union, the truth is that federal law has long made that illegal. Its real purpose is to tilt the scales in favor of big corporations and further rig the system at the expense of working families.

We see the consequences of a de-

cades-long campaign against workers and unions today. Wages are slow to rise while housing prices, grocery bills and gas prices soar. The wealth of our towns and small businesses have been taken by corporate conglomerates, with record profits, while long-promised investments go unfulfilled. And craftily manufactured controversies, pushed by out-of-state interest groups, divide the working class and suppress our history.

It is said that those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. That is why we must look at our past to move forward. Every worker deserves to be free to join a union, earn a fair wage, go to the hospital without going broke and finally get some breathing room. Idaho Democrats are committed to building an economy that works for all of us.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

‘Very last warning’

A German court announced it was giving an 82-year-old man a “last warning” to avoid jail after he was found guilty of drug dealing. The retired seaman has been convicted 24 times prior for the same offense.

The man claimed he was only selling marijuana to add to his small monthly pension. While prosecutors had asked the court to impose a prison term of 34 months in view of the man’s lengthy criminal history, the judges said they would make an exception, warning the man that it was his “very last warning.”

Indian official drains reservoir to retrieve phone he dropped while taking selfie

A government official in India was suspended from his job after ordering a water reservoir drained so he could retrieve his smartphone, which he dropped while taking a selfie.

The man first asked local divers to jump in to find the phone, claiming it contained sensitive government data. After initial attempts failed, the man asked for the reservoir to be emptied using diesel pumps.

More than 500,000 gallons of water were pumped out of the reservoir — enough to irrigate at least 1,500 acres of land during India’s scorching summer, local media reported.

The smartphone was eventually recovered three days later, but it wouldn’t start up because of water damage.

Authorities later suspended the man after he was widely criticized for wasting valuable water resources. He claimed the water in the reservoir was unusable for irrigation and had permission from a senior official to drain it.

Rep. Nate Roberts, D-Pocatello Reader Contributor

Rep. Nate Roberts is a first-term Democrat serving District 29. He serves on the Agricultural Affairs, Commerce and Human Resources, and Health and Welfare committees.

Rep. Nate Roberts. Courtesy photo.

Science: Mad about

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

The Tower of Pisa is one of the most unique and inspiring structures in the world. Magnificent in both style and size, the world famous tower also leans with a curious and noticeable tilt. Surely, this thing should have fallen by now, right?

It should have, and that’s why it’s so special.

The Tower of Pisa is part of the Pisa Cathedral complex, which is centered on the Pisa Cathedral and also contains the Pisa Baptistery. The tower’s purpose is to house seven bells, with each designed to ring a specific note on the musical scale. If you think it’s curious to have a completely freestanding bell tower separate from the cathedral, you’d be right. The medieval republics of Italy were equal parts pious and vain, and they were eager to build a large and showy structure as a display of power and wealth. The cathedral complex was notably built outside of PIsa’s city walls in open defiance of the Republic of Florence of the time, showing that Pisa did not fear attack from its neighbors.

There are many stories about how the tower came to lean. Some cite an earthquake, others decry a design flaw, while some say it was intentional. In actuality, the foundation of the tower is extremely heavy and the ground upon which it was built is mostly soil and clay, so the immense weight of the tower’s foundation actually caused it to partially sink and lean very early into its construction. While building began in 1172 C.E., it’s believed to have begun leaning around 1178.

Construction of the tower would occur over nearly two centuries and generations of architects, masons and bronze workers. Due to the nature of the

leaning foundation, the architects and stonemasons had to adapt the plans and compensate for the structure’s tilt by cutting taller stones and adding additional layers to one side over the other, which caused the top of the tower to curve slightly — though this is virtually imperceptible to the human eye.

As you likely suspect, the tower would not be able to lean so dramatically forever without adverse effect. Throughout the centuries, the denizens of Pisa have worked hard to save the tower in numerous ways, such as excavating dirt from below the taller side to correct the lean, to a more recent solution involving thousands of tons of lead blocks.

While it may be possible to fully correct the tower’s lean today, the distinct structure has proven to be a major tourist attraction for almost a thousand years precisely because of this unusual quirk, and therefore the challenge has evolved. No longer is it sufficient to keep the tower from falling down, but the tower must be kept leaning without threat of collapse.

Another problem compounds the difficulty of keeping the tower partially upright. As mentioned above, the tower was built taller on one side than the other to compensate for the lean decades before masons built the upper reaches. As the tower’s foundation slipped into the clay substrate, it also began to rotate. This became very problematic as voids were created (accidentally and intentionally) around the base that allowed water to seep in around the foundation. Luckily, water also helps with soil compaction, and may have done some good for the tower in this case.

The most recent efforts to save the tower involved removing 70 metric tons of dirt from beneath the structure, cinching it with cables and adding some stabilizing

elements to keep it from toppling over. The most recent estimates suggest that the tower should be stable for at least another three centuries.

At this point, you might be thinking to yourself: “How has the tower survived so long in an area of the world that’s famous for its earthquakes?”

Interestingly enough, a wild interaction happens between the tower and the soil during an earthquake. The soil, which is quite loose, acts in opposition to the rigidity of the tower while buffering it from much of the energy transfer of an earthquake. Stick a toothpick into a bowl of Jello-O and shake it up a little bit if you’d like a visual, or just need an excuse to eat some Jell-O. The soil that caused the tower to lean to begin with is the very thing preserving it from one of the most destructive forces on Earth.

The tower faced two of its greatest challenges around World War II. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini despised the tower and believed its trademark lean to be an embarrassment to Italy. In an attempt to correct it and straighten the tower, he had workers drill into the foundation and pour nearly 80 tons of grout, with the intent of turning its foundation into a ballast. This backfired in a colossal way, and may have caused the tower to lean to a near-catastrophic 5% tilt.

Near the end of the war, German soldiers were reportedly using the tower as a lookout and sniper’s roost, which put the tower in the crosshairs of Allied forces. Luckily for the world, the tower and surrounding structures were spared explosive destruction, and remain standing for people to enjoy to this day.

Are you looking for an opportunity to exercise some smallscale engineering principles? The library is currently hiring

an exploration assistant to help me host programs for community members of all ages with the intention of experiential learning — learning new skills by doing them. This ranges from challenging youths to build towers with limited supplies and unexpected challenges, to assisting in 3-D design classes for adults to hauling the library’s mobile makerspace trailer to events, and even running

our virtual reality experiences and working with me to maintain the library’s 3-D printers.

This is a paid position, so if you’d like more information or would like to apply, please check out the library’s employment portal at ebonnerlibrary.org/employment. This job will be closing on Friday, June 23, so if you’re interested, check it out fast!

Stay curious, 7B.

The tower of pisa Random Corner

•The Great Wall of China is the longest man-made structure ever built, measuring about 13,200 miles long. The wall took 200 years to build, and was erected primarily to protect China from attacks by northern tribes such as the Mongolians. Most of the original wall no longer exists because it is constantly being restored and rebuilt due to its age.

•Petra in Jordan, which has been used as a location for numerous films — including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — might seem like a fictional place, but it’s very real. This massive city built into sandstone was once home to around 10,000 people.

•The Colosseum in Rome is one of Italy’s most visited attractions. Dating back to around 80 B.C.E., it remains the largest amphitheater in the world. The structure was built by tens of thousands of slaves with stone and concrete, and can seat about 50,000 spectators. In its heyday, the Colosseum hosted events like gladiatorial combats, animal hunts and simulated naval battles.

•The Mayan city of Chichen Itza was built between the ninth

and 12th centuries C.E. It was home to around 50,000 inhabitants covering five square kilometers.

•Machu Picchu in Peru is an ancient Incan citadel constructed in the mid-1400s, going undiscovered by Europeans until 1911. The granite stones used to build the site were either pushed up the mountain or chiseled directly from its slopes.

• The Taj Mahal in India is a marble monument commissioned in 1632 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The construction took 20 years to complete and cost the modern equivalent of almost $1 billion.

•The most recently built wonder of the world is the statue of Christ in Brazil, which was completed in 1931. The 98-foot-tall statue is made of clay pieces, which were shipped to Brazil from France to be remade with reinforced concrete, then covered with 6 million stone tiles. Fun fact: Workers often carved secret messages onto the backs of the tiles before their installation.

The un-wokeness of Christian nationalism

By Paul Graves Reader Contributor

Sometimes, ignorance breeds irony. Irony comes from a Greek word, eirôneia, which means “feigned ignorance.“

One such example may be the “woke” cultural phenomenon. Perhaps many people who think something is “woke” are feigning — pretending — to be ignorant. They may actually know their use of “woke” means the opposite of what it actually means.

Being “woke” was popularized in 1962 as African-American street slang by Black novelist William Melvin Kelley. His explanation of “woke” clearly proclaimed that history — Black history, especially — must be embraced and affirmed. His description is reflected in how the Oxford English Dictionary defines “woke”: “Originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice; frequently in stay woke.”

Today, “woke” is a heavily wounded word. It’s been distorted by both well-meaning and mean-spirited people who toss it around like a rugby ball, then run after the player with that ball.

Folks, it simply means becoming realistically aware — “wake up,” if you will. There’s the irony, folks.

Christian nationalism is an ironic case in point. (Full disclosure: I’m a retired United Methodist pastor. My view of this distorted, rigidly narrow Christian message is what drives me to an informed repudiation of Christian nationalism.)

This authoritarian ideology is a mish-mash of religious, political and cultural misinformation that masquerades as “truth.” It paints those who disagree as “woke.” Yet, in the light of factual truth-pieces, we can assume Christian nationalism is actually “unwoke” itself.

I must quickly say that while many of these folks are churchgoing believers, not all Christians are “Christian nationalists.” Far from it.

But the nationalist-leaning folks have a large bullhorn, and are eager to use it to push their repressive agendas. They shout loudly here in North Idaho, in bodies like the Idaho Legislature (and many other state legislatures), or

in many groups and individual homes around our country.

Christian nationalists have chosen to embrace what Kellyanne Conway characterized early in the Trump administration as “alternative facts” (rather than historical realities). The result is always a dangerous distortion that undermines the concepts of political democracy and religious freedom.

Here are a few “alternative facts” on which Christian nationalism bases its “authority,” according to “An ‘imposter Christianity’ is threatening American democracy’, a CNN analysis by John Blake published July 24, 2022:

1.A belief that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation. But the notion that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation is bad history and bad theology, said Yale University sociologist Philip Gorski, co-author of The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy.

While some Founding Fathers saw the new nation through biblical lenses, many did not. And virtually none of them could be classified as evangelical Christians. They were a collection of atheists, Unitarians, Deists and liberal Protestants.

2.A belief in “warrior Christ.” For so many participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at our nation’s capital (and their thousands of supporters), that event was as much religious as political. It appears based on a very limited interpretation of Jesus as a violent warrior found in Revelation 19:11-21. It’s in stark

contrast to the Jesus found in the four Gospels — a man who subverted the religious and cultural systems in prophetic ways, but never as a violent warrior.

Another sad irony here: In Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s exceptional book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, she observes that, “White Christian nationalists do not accept this ‘militant masculinity’ when exhibited by Black, Middle Eastern and Latino men.” That characteristic leads to another belief.

3.A belief there’s such a person as a “real American.” Expert researchers on Christian nationalism observe that, “The nation is divided between ‘real Americans’ and other citizens who don’t deserve the same rights.” So many groups (people of color, LGBTQ communities, demonized “others,” etc.) don’t count politically when it comes to the key act of democracy: voting.

“It’s the idea that we are the people, and our vote should count, and you’re not the people, and … you don’t really deserve to have a voice,” Gorski said. “… [B]ecause we know that all real Americans voted for Donald Trump.”

When people are prevented from voting, whether in local community elections, or state and national elections, we crack open a dangerous door to the whole experiment called democracy. So become informed, and vote.

Get woke! Stay awake to historical realities as they are, not as you want them to be. America will be better for it.

Paul Graves is a retired United Methodist pastor and longtime Sandpoint resident, where he served on the City Council and as mayor. He also works as a geriatric social worker, serving as “Lead Geezer-in-Training” for Elder Advocates, a consulting ministry on aging issues.

Paul Graves. Courtesy photo.

2023 Women of Wisdom nominees announced

By Reader Staff

Since 1999, more than 100 local women have been honored with the annual Women of Wisdom achievement award to commemorate their influence on the community. According to the Women of Wisdom organizers, a nominee “possesses vision and achieves goals through collaboration,” as well as exhibiting a “love of learning through the pursuit of knowledge by study or experience.”

Women of Wisdom show a commitment to the Bonner County community, have a positive impact on areas such as art, theater, dance, sports education and service. Nominees demonstrate dedicated leadership that results in admiration and respect from others.

The 2023 Women of Wisdom have been announced, and they include Donna Deshon, Joan McCormick, Joyce Price, Carolyn Sorentino and Mary Sturgis.

They will be honored on Saturday, June 17 at an 11 a.m. gala brunch at the Ponderay Event Center (401 Bonner Mall Way).

Donna

Deshon

The committee recognized Donna Deshon with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her many years of service to the community. Deshon moved to Sandpoint when she was 12 years old and is a graduate of Sandpoint High School’s Class of 1973.

Deshon started downtown business All Smiles in 1989, and longtime residents will fondly remember both its bright-pink façade and the pink Volkswagen Beetle that she drove with the All Smiles logo. Deshon served as president of the Downtown Business Association and, during her tenure, helped organize and fundraise for the first community Christmas tree. She became a member of Chamber Ambassador Members of Sandpoint and served as a member of the Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission.

Deshon served on the board of directors of the Festival of Sandpoint under three different executive directors. Beyond that, Deshon has volunteered for Lost in the ’50s, Kinderhaven, Sandpoint Jr. Miss, Community Assistance League, Better Together Animal Alliance, Bonner General Health and the Healing Garden, among others.

Joan McCormick

In recognition of her contribution to Bonner County as a teacher, principal and lifelong educator, the Women Honoring Women Committee honored Joan Francis McCormick with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.

McCormick was born on March 18, 1937, in LaGrande, Ore. She married Ron McCormick in 1957. The couple were happily married for 47 years. In 1966, Joan, Ron and their children moved to Sandpoint. While raising three school-aged children, Joan pursued her goal of a college education, taking night and summer classes, commuting to Coeur d’ Alene and Moscow. McCormick began her teaching career at Lincoln Elementary (now Lake Pend Oreille High School) in 1970 while finishing her college coursework. She received her B.A. in education from the University of Idaho in 1971.

McCormick received her master of education degree in 1974, and served as principal at Sagle Elementary — becoming one of the first female principals in the school district.

She was a Sagle Lakeside 4-H leader and a Girl Scout troop leader, an active member of the Sandpoint Presbyterian Church, the Bonner County Education Association, the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, Sandpoint Jr. Miss and Alpha Delta Kappa — the latter an honorary service sorority for women educators. McCormick also volunteered with hospice, the Bonner County Election Board and Fair Board, and hosted many Shrine Club functions.

She and Ron were the original owners and operators of the Stove Corral in downtown Sandpoint. In the last year of her life, while she was battling cancer, Joan and her family participated in the Relay for Life to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Joyce Price

The Women Honoring Women Committee bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award on Joyce Price, who embodies the principle of giving back to her community through service and leadership.

Price currently serves on the board of direc-

tors for North Idaho Habitat for Humanity and the Community Assistance League. She is the past president and current secretary of the local chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, an organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide. In addition to the Monday Hikers, she regularly volunteers at the Festival at Sandpoint, the Festival of Trees, the Bonner County Museum, the Long Bridge Swim and with Bonner County Elections.

Born in Tacoma, Wash., Price attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, earning a B.A. in speech pathology and audiology. She followed that with a B.S. in computer programming, a B.S. in business and information systems and a M.S. in project management. Price worked for Boeing as a senior manager in the Security Division until her retirement in 2016.

Following retirement, Price and her husband, Mike, relocated to Sandpoint.

Carolyn Sorrentino

Now in her eighth decade, Carolyn Sorrentino approaches each day with positive energy, passion, and a heart full of love and support for her family, friends and community.

Born in Southern California, at age 30, Sorrentino and her then-husband bought a house and relocated to North Idaho with their two young children, Wayne and Wendy.

Sorrentino later married Doug Pennington, and daughter Holly joined the family. Sorrentino and Pennington later divorced, as well, and she and her kids moved to Kootenai. It was there that Sorrentino made a group of friends originally known as the “Bucket Tree Gang.”

In 1993, Carolyn married Dwight Sorrentino. The couple are celebrating their 30th anniversary.

In 1997, when their dear friend Kathy Pelland was tragically killed by a drunk driver, the Bucket Tree Gang began raising money for a memorial for Pelland. They started with a bench on the Dog Beach Trail and improvements to the bike path and just kept on going. They changed their name to “Angels Over Sandpoint” and a movement was born.

Over the past 25 years, the Angels have raised more than $1.5 million for the community. As a founding member, Sorrentino has served on the board as an officer and director numerous times and has volunteered as an Angel for 25 years.

Sorrentino has also volunteered with the Festival at Sandpoint, Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts, Priest River Ministries, CHAFE and as a Salvation Army Bell Ringer.

Mary Sturgis

Born in Niles, Mich. and raised in Albany, Ore., Mary Sturgis met her husband, David, the summer before she began college at Oregon State and they were married after her junior year. The Sturgises are the proud parents of Brian and Heidi and three grandchildren. Sturgis taught part-time while her children were small and, once they reached school age, she began teaching kindergarten full-time in Spokane.

The Sturgis family loved sports — skiing Schweitzer in the winter and recreating on Lake Pend Oreille in the summer. They bought a condo in Sandpoint at Whiskey Jack and the family spent all their free time there. In 2006, with their children launched, Mary and Dave retired and moved to Sandpoint full-time.

Sturgis then immersed herself in the community: serving CAL as a volunteer, then as a team leader and eventually a board member. She manages the “Blankie Program” between CAL and Bonner General Hospital and volunteers several days a month at Bizarre Bazaar. She also volunteered with PAFE’s Ready for Kindergarten program, the school district’s Kaleidoscope art program and as a CASA advocate, continuing her lifetime love for working with children.

The Sturgis family is a dedicated member of the Sandpoint Presbyterian Church, where Mary volunteers and sings in the choir. She signed up to assist with the church’s Summer Bible Camp and became the organizational leader.

In 2007, Mary’s grandson Henry was diagnosed with cystinosis, a rare, multisystem genetic disorder. There is no cure for cystinosis and, because it is so rare, there is no federal funding for treatment or research. The Sturgis family formed its own cystinosis fundraising arm, and through a partnership with Schweitzer, began hosting “24 Hours for Hank,” a 24-hour ski race benefiting the Cystinosis Research Foundation. “24 Hours for Hank” held its 15th annual event at Schweitzer in March 2023.

FOOD & DRINK Become a sushi master at the winery

Advanced sushi and wine class offered June 20

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Sandpoint food and drink enthusiasts will have the chance to enjoy the finer things in life on a weeknight, as the Pend d’Oreille Winery hosts a sushi and wine class on Tuesday, June 20, where participants will walk away with a better understanding of the sushi tradition and the knowledge to make a perfectly paired meal out of the most refined versions of fish and grapes.

The advanced class marks the winery’s third collaboration with My Sushi Sensei, a sushi instruction business owned and operated by Coeur d’Alene-based sushi chef Isaac Cunnington.

“They provide the materials, instruction, technique and history of sushi,” said winery owner Kylie Presta. “We carefully select wines to pair with each sushi course.”

The June 20 class, which Presta called a “twohour, hands-on, interactive experience,” will run from 6-8 p.m. and cost $110 for everything included: the instructional portion of the class, as well as the sushi to eat and wine to drink.

The upcoming class will be the most intensive of the instructional events so far hosted at the winery, as Presta said aspiring sushi slingers will also learn to make sauces, marinades and garnishes.

Courtesy photo.

To learn more about My Sushi Sensei and stay apprised of more local classes being offered, go to mysushisensei.com or facebook. com/MySushiSensei.

All of the winery’s events — including the weekly live music lineup — are available to view at powine.com/events.

Call the Pend d’Oreille Winery (301 Cedar St.) at 208-265-8545 to secure your spot in the class.

Cheers to the rowdy years

BoCo Historical Society and Museum presents Drink in History program “Lawless & Disordered: The Dark Side of Bonner County”

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Take a break from the celebrated, pastoral imagery of early North Idaho settlement by Euro-Americans to learn more about the the not-so-savory parts of the panhandle’s history by joining the Bonner County Historical Society at The Hive on Saturday, June 17 for a Drink in History program titled “Lawless & Disordered: The Dark Side of Bonner County.”

The program, which will feature storytellers, as well as world-renowned cabaret group Rouge La Rue, promises exploration into the region’s “history of gruesome accidents, theft, soiled doves, counterfeiting rings, bootleggers, mysteries, fugitives and so much more.”

Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. and the presentation will start at 3 p.m. with a social hour to follow until 6:30 p.m.

The Hive will offer a full no-host bar and museum merchandise will be available for purchase.

Bonner County History Museum Executive Director Hannah Combs told the Reader that about a third of the programming offered by the historical society and museum rely entirely on community fundraising, including student tours and the museum’s Traveling Trunks program, which are both free to local schools and families.

“We invite you to help support these programs by purchasing a ticket to Saturday’s event,” she said. “In thanks, we’ll regale you with stories of Sandpoint’s most nefarious history, and Rouge la Rue will take you back in time with performances of the French can-can dance.

BCHS Drink in History event

Saturday, June 17; doors at 2:30 p.m., show at 3 p.m.; $35 general admission, $30 for BCHS members; 21+. The Hive, 207 N.First Ave., 208-920-9039, livefromthehive.com. Learn more at bonner-county-history-museum. square.site/drink-in-history.

Tickets to this 21-and-up event are $35 for general admission, $30 for historical society members and available online at bonner-county-history-museum.square.site/ drink-in-history.

“Join us at the juice joint for some giggle water,” Combs added in true turnof-the-century fashion. “It’ll be the bee’s knees.”

Above: The Bonner County History Museum’s “Drink in History” logo, inspired by a turn-of-the-century Red Raven Splits bottle discovered during an archaeological dig near City Beach in the 2010s. Courtesy image

Bigfoot Festival returns to Metaline Falls

By Reader Staff

There have been more than 10,000 Bigfoot sightings in the United States, a third of which have occurred in the Pacific Northwest — more than 2,000 of those in Washington state alone. To celebrate and explore the iconic cryptid, the third annual Metaline Falls Bigfoot Festival will return to Busta Park in Metaline Falls, Wash. — on Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18, featuring local businesses, a variety of vendors and artisans, bigfoot researchers, a

5K race and a pancake breakfast on Sunday morning.

Sponsored by the Pend Oreille Region Tourism Alliance (PORTA), the festival kicks off with the 5K Walk, Run, Race at 8 a.m. More than 90 vendors will be on hand — or foot — selling everything from candles to clothing to Bigfoot-specific items.

Renowned Bigfoot researchers, including Tom Sewid, Mel Skahan, Thom Cantrall, Terrence James, Squatch America and Jesus Payan, will also conduct presentations at the NuVu Showhouse. The pan-

Learn about late-spring birding with Libby Base Camp Hostel

By Reader Staff

Area nature lovers are invited to take part in a late-spring outdoor educational adventure to learn about birding tips and methods, explore different habitats on private land, and learn how to spot and identify local and migrating birdlife.

The expedition takes place Saturday, June 17, starting at the Venture Inn in Libby, Mont. (1015 U.S. Hwy. 2)at 9 a.m. Mountain Time.

Attendees are asked to come prepared for the day with full gas tanks, lunch, water, binoculars, field guidebooks, spotting scopes, good footwear, Earth-toned or camouflage clothing, cameras and a good sense of humor.

The small-group class, sponsored by Libby Base Camp Hostel and led by an experienced instructor, will include vehicle tours with roadside stops and a few short hikes of less than half-mile round trip, wrapping up at approximately 3 p.m. (MST).

Participation is open to adults and teens 16 years or older (the latter with a parent or guardian), and pre-registration is required along with a nominal registration fee.

Private tours will also be available throughout the summer focusing on birds, botany, animal tracking, map and compass orienteering, and combinations of the above.

For more information and to register, call 406-291-2154 or email b_baxter53@yahoo.com.

cake breakfast will take place at American Legion Post and Auxiliary Unit No. 144 on Sunday from 8-10 a.m.

Tickets to the presentations are $15-$25, available mfbigfoot. com/store. Most other activities are free.

PORTA is a 501(c)(3) nonprof it volunteer organization with the mission to promote tourism sensitive to the local lifestyle and environment. Other sponsors of the Metaline Falls Bigfoot Festival include the town of Metaline Falls,

the Pend Oreille County Hotel Motel Tax Board, Kalispel Tribe of Indians, State of Washington Tourism and more.

“Whether you believe, disbelieve or are simply Sasquatch-curious, there is something for everyone at the MFBF 2023 festival,” PORTA stated.

Metaline Falls is located about an hour north of Newport, Wash. on the banks of the Pend Oreille River.

For more information, email info@ porta.us or visit mfbigfoot.com.

Local group focused on planting milkweed to boost numbers of monarch butterflies

By Reader Staff

On the first day of June, a team worked together to plant the first grouping of native milkweed at the East Bonner County Library Community Garden.

Gail Bolin of the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society/Master Naturalist; Perky Smith-Hagadone of the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society/Master Naturalist; Delia Trenbeath; and Bill Ament, along with technical assistance from East Bonner County Library District Seed Librarian Anna Hebard, teamed up to plant showy and swamp milkweed as a basis for a new pollinator garden at the location.

After a presentation on the decline of the monarch butterfly given at the library earlier this year, a small team of volunteers organized and called themselves the Mighty Monarchs, recognizing the need to plant native milkweed throughout Bonner County.

Native milkweed is the only plant monarch butterfly caterpillars eat. The species (Danaus

plexippus) is Idaho’s state insect, yet they are seldom, if ever, seen in Bonner County, although this area is one of their historical ranges. This is due to the lack of native milkweed.

The Mighty Monarchs group has challenged itself to promote the growing of showy, swamp and narrow leaf milkweed throughout the county. Regardless of its name, milkweed is not a weed but a native flower found everywhere in the United States. In the U.S., there are 73 species of milkweed and many of them are becoming rare due to development and pesticide use.

Once enough milkweed is planted, the team will begin to grow monarch butterflies for release into the area.

Those interested in receiving free native milkweed seeds and more information are invited to contact the Mighty Monarchs at TheMightyMonarchs@gmail.com.

ArtWalk cover contest honorable mentions

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

One of my favorite parts of publishing the Reader is when we hold cover art contests. The talent in this community never ceases to amaze me.

This year, we published a blank-white cover earlier in May inviting artists to submit their cover drawings, paintings, photographs and works in other media for consideration to win a featured spot on the cover of the Thursday, June 15 edition, to be published right before ArtWalk’s kickoff Friday, June 16.

We weren’t disappointed this year, with dozens of fun and fantastic submissions from our community.

Ultimately, we chose a beautiful piece by Matt Lome, which you no doubt saw on this week’s cover.

Lome wins not only the cover for this week’s edition, but $50 in cash. Great job, Matt!

It was a difficult choice this year, made even tougher by the fact that so many submissions came from young people in our community. While we don’t pay anything for honorable mentions, I wanted to recognize a handful of submissions that didn’t win, but we also enjoyed.

Thank you, Sandpoint and surrounds, for sharing your talents with us.

By Lindsay Surdukan.

By Sara McTavish.

By Marcela

By Dillon Plue, 8 yrs.

Thompson, 11 yrs. By Daryl Baird. By Lynn Olafson. By Immanuel Sanchez, 11 yrs.

By Gerald Byrns. By Juniper White.

By Owen Leisy, 18 yrs.

‘Local stories’ on display during 46th annual ArtWalk POAC Artist of the Year Jenny Benoit shares her origins and inspirations

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Opening receptions for the 46th annual ArtWalk, one of the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s most iconic and beloved traditions, are scheduled for Friday, June 16 from 5-8 p.m. at nearly 30 locations throughout Sandpoint. Those receptions are the kickoff to two months of opportunities for local art hounds, who will have the chance to view work from ArtWalk artists through Friday, Sept. 15.

POAC Art Administrator Claire Christy told the Reader that this year’s ArtWalk will feature “emerging artists and fresh locations,” including The Pickled Kitchen and The Peppered Mercantile, both on First Avenue, and The Speak Easy, which occupies the former home of the Ross Hall Gallery (323 N. First Ave.).

One of the artists featured in this year’s ArtWalk is POAC’s 2023 Artist of the Year, Sandpoint woman Jenny Benoit, whose acrylic creations will be on display at Artworks Gallery (214 N. First Ave.) during the event.

Benoit shared with the Reader her “defining moment” as an artist, which occurred at only 5 years old.

“I found this little plastic table at a garage sale,” she recalled. “I had my allowance — a dollar — and I bought it. I sat there, with one of those bendable lamps, and that was my drawing station.

“I loved it so much,” she continued. “I remember looking out the window and seeing my sister playing with the neighborhood kids and thinking, ‘That’s fun, but this is so where I’d rather be.’”

Benoit’s childhood was peppered with every excuse to make art, including contests that earned her awards and even a trip to the Ice Capades.

“It’s just been a part of me,” she said.

Holding college degrees in studio art, art history and visual communication, Benoit has dabbled in the realms of both physical creation on canvas and the world of graphic design. The mother of five spent a considerable amount of time dedicated only to commissioned work until recently when, with her youngest now in school full time, she’s

< see ART, Page 17 >

Top: “Colors of the Heart,” an acrylic painting by Jenny Benoit.

Above right: Benoit works her magic on a piece titled “Awake.” Courtesy photo.

< ART, con’t from Page 16 > been able to lean into her own interests and desires.

Chief among those interests is nature. Benoit’s acrylic paintings depict animals, plants and landscapes in vibrant color and stark detail, all the while accessing a dimension of the subject that goes beyond what’s perceivable with the naked eye.

Her most recent series superimposes nature scenes inside of animals.

“This has been me developing as myself,” she said of the paintings, which so far include a moose, bear, wolf and trout. “This brings emotion to me.”

Benoit said she hopes to create work that reflects “the heart of the animal and this world that we live in.”

“That’s what I want other people to feel: the beauty of these majestic animals and the strength of the Earth and what’s around us,” she added. “We are so small.”

As for what animal will be featured next in the series, Benoit said she is waiting for inspiration to strike.

“I’m rolling with it, and having a lot of fun,” she said. “I’m thankful, just really thankful.”

Benoit shares her gratitude as an active volunteer and committee member with POAC’s Joyce Dillon Studio, teaching art to adults. She also serves as a docent for children through POAC’s Kaleidoscope art education program in local schools.

She said she was shocked to earn recognition as POAC’s Artist of the Year.

“It was totally not even on my radar,” she said. “It was a complete surprise.”

Benoit said she would encourage people to come out for ArtWalk because it is one of the most authentic chances to get a glimpse into the spirit of the community.

“It’s a wonderful time for local stories to be told,” she said. “A picture is worth a thousand words, and you’ve got a thousand pictures to see.”

For all the details on 2023 ArtWalk, go to artinsandpoint.org/artwalk. Those with questions can reach POAC at 208263-6139. Also as part of the Friday, June 16 receptions, POAC will announce its forthcoming 2023-2024 Performings Arts Series. Though currently located at 110 Main Street, the nonprofit will move into its new location at 313 Second Ave. by the end of summer.

Top: “Serenity” by Jenny Benoit.

Far left: “Transcendence” by Jenny Benoit.

Above: “Purple Peony” by Jenny Benoit.

Left: The artist herself. Courtesy photo.

THURSDAY, June 15

Extreme Science at the Library • 5:30-6:30pm @ Sandpoint Library

Learn science and be amazed. Fire and Ice with Radical Rick will perform a science show with explosions and more! This science show is geared toward elementary aged children, but all are welcome to attend

Game Night

6:30pm @ Tervan Tavern

June 15-22, 2023

Outdoor Experience Community Yoga

6pm @ Outdoor Experience

All levels welcome, free, mats available

Panida ‘Big Little Theater

Live Music w/ Molly Starlite

6pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Enchanted Princess • 6:30pm @ Panida

Dance presentation hosted by Studio 1 Dance Academy

Tanner Usrey w/ Gabriella Rose in concert at The Hive

7pm @ The Hive

Enjoy some country grit and rock ’n’ roll energy. 21+

Live Music w/ Truck Mills and Carl Rey

5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

Old-style blues, country rock, harmonica and vocal harmonies

Drink in History:

‘Lawless & Disordered’

2:30-6:30pm @ The Hive

Explore the local history of gruesome accidents, theft, soiled doves and more, with a special performance by world renowned cabaret group Rouge La Rue, followed by a social hour until 6:30pm. $35

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market

9am-1pm @ Farmin Park

Live music by The Band Romance

Live Music w/ Ian Newbill

5-8pm @ Drift (in Hope)

Live Music w/ Jesse Ahmann

6-9pm @ BlueRoom

Sandpoint Chess Club

9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee

Meets every Sunday at 9am

FriDAY, June 16

POAC’s 46th annual ArtWalk

Downtown Sandpoint

Opening reception for ArtWalk will be 5-8pm at participating venues. For a map and more info: artinsandpoint.org

Aaron Wilcox Senior Recital

7-9pm @ Little Carnegie Hall

Wilcox has been playing piano for 4 years. Also plays Spanish guitar

Live Music w/ Doug & Marty

6-9pm @ BlueRoom

Free Family Game Night

6-8pm @ Sandpoint Comm. Hall

Join the Sandpoint Lions Club and Sandpoint Parks and Rec for a free family game night the third Friday of each month. Both card and board games available to share

Live Music w/ Bright Moments

5:30-8pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante Sandpoint jazz band

SATURDAY, June 17

Big Little Theater Sale

8am-3:30pm @ Little Panida

Wide variety of items for sale, with all proceeds donated to Panida tech fund so they can purchase equipment for upcoming shows

SCA Film Festival

3-5pm @ The Inn at Priest Lake

Live benefit for Selkirk Conservation Alliance. Dive into the lakes, rivers and streams and meet the wild things that live there

Live Music w/ Sheldon Packwood

7-9pm @ Connie’s Lounge

June Bug Ball — Dance

7-10pm @ Sandpoint Comm. Hall

Country two step lesson at 7pm, followed by general dancing until 10pm. Open to all levels of dancers. $8/person

Live Music w/ PO Paradox

6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

CHAFE 150 Gran Fondo

chafe150.org for more info

Sandpoint Rotary presents the 16th annual coolest charity bike ride in the country! Proceeds support LPOSD Book Trust Program

SunDAY, June 18

Magic with Star Alexander

5-8pm @ Jalepeño’s

Up close magic shows at the table

Local Cottage Market • 10am-6pm @ Farmin Park

Vendors selling everything from freeze-dried goods to leather and pottery. Market runs every Sunday until October 1

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi

7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Bingo Night

5-8pm @ Paddler’s Alehouse

Classic rock with a Fleetwood Mac flair

POP Movie: The Engine Inside

7pm @ Panida Theater

Movie hosted by Pend Oreille Pedalers, with proceeds supporting Sandpoint’s first public mountain bike skills park

Live Music w/ Marty & Doug

6:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Mandolin and guitar duo

Fathers’ Day Weekend Family BBQ

10am-2pm @ Sandpoint Senior Ctr.

BBQ fundraiser and car show sponsored by the Injectors Car Club. Great food and entertainment. All are welcome. $10/plate for adults, $5 for kids under 12. 208-263-6860

Live Music w/ Mike Wagoner Duo

5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

Classic rock, blues and more

Live Music w/ Benny Baker and Sheldon Packwood

9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge

Local boys done good

Schweitzer opening weekend: Summer Community Day 11am-5pm @ Schweitzer

Opening day for summer operations, with all lift ticket proceeds donated to the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force. Schweitzer.com

monDAY, June 19

Outdoor Experience Group Run • 6pm @ Outdoor Experience

3-5 miles, all levels welcome

tuesDAY, June 20

Advanced Sushi and Wine class • 6-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

Sushi Sensei and the Pend d’Oreille Winery join forces to offer this sushi and wine class talking about sushi history, advanced rolls and techniques. This is a hands-on class. 208-265-8545 for more information

wednesDAY, June 21

Friends of the Library Read-In • 2-3pm @ Sandpoint Library

Celebrate E. Bonner Co. Library’s Reading Across Bonner County by participating in a read-in! Bring your favorite summer read

Benny on the Deck

6-9pm @ Connie’s Lounge

Line Dancing Lessons

6:30pm @ The Hive

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market

3-5pm @ Farmin Park

Live Piano w/ Peter Lucht

5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

Outdoor Experience Community Yoga

6pm @ Outdoor Experience

All levels welcome, free, mats available

Live Music w/ Beth Pederson and Bruce Bishop

5-7:30pm @ Hope Memorial Community Center

WildCore book signing and summer solstice celebration

4-8pm @ Beyond Hope Resort

Join author Brietta Leader for a signing of her new book WildCore: 12 Keys to Unlock Your Untamed Expression. Q&A, appetizers, bar and a drum circle (bring your own instruments)

ThursDAY, June 22

Game Night 6:30pm @ Tervan Tavern

Sale’

to

By Reader Staff

The Panida Theater is opening its storage inventory to offer a wide variety of items from sale Saturday, June 17 at its Big Little Theater Sale.

All proceeds will go toward the Panida’s tech fund to support the purchase of new equipment to be used for upcoming concerts at the theater.

In addition to a wide array of items from the Panida’s inventory, other items on sale will include household, recreational and gardening items donated by patrons and community members.

The sale will take place from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and located behind the Little Theater, adjacent to the parking lot fronting Sand Creek. Admission is free, and beverages and snacks will be on sale.

The Panida is located at 300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint. For more information call 208-263-9090 or visit panida.org.

support tech upgrades Construction on Dover Pathway Connection to begin

By Reader Staff

The Dover Pathway Connection project kicked off June 12 in Dover, with work on the federal aid-funded improvements undertaken by Selland Construction and expected to run through mid-September.

Once completed, the project will have installed 1,300 feet of multi-use pathway, intended to strengthen the connection of National Bike Route 10 to the city of Dover. Components include attached asphalt and concrete sidewalk from Loretta Lane south and east to the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Third Street, and east to the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Railroad Avenue.

Selland Construction is currently communicating with residents and businesses in the project area, though officials said there should be no disruption to road travel for residents during the work period.

For more information, visit the city of Dover’s website at cityofdover.id.gov.

Plumbers’ cracks (in democracy)

Max series The White House Plumbers is a quirky cautionary tale about political malfeasance

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

It’s a paradox to be deciphered by future historians, but for as much as we live in a time of tremendous technologically-driven capability, it is just as much an era of incompetence. Our politicians are ever the masseurs and masseuses of truth, yet they seem to be getting worse and worse at it.

Former-President Bill Clinton’s lies seem naive in comparison to George W. Bush’s (the latter got a helluva lot more people killed). Barack Obama lied about his intentions to close the inhumane Guantanamo Bay prison complex in Cuba and ordered more drone strikes (murdering unknown numbers of civilians) than all of his immediate predecessors combined.

Ex-President and hopefully-future-felon Donald Trump deserves his own paragraph. The Washington Post reported in January 2021 that “Don the Con” told a documentable total of 30,573 whoppers during his time in the Oval Office. God knows how many more he’s spouted since his trouncing by Joe Biden in 2020.

And WaPo would know about liars in the White House: It’s the paper that famously broke the Watergate Scandal in 1972, which precipitated the ugly collapse of the administration of Richard M. Nixon in 1974 and shook the nation’s confidence in its founding

concept of the rule of law.

Having suffered the ignominy of Trump and his long, lingering tail of corruption — which is still playing out almost a full term after voters sent him packing from Pennsylvania Avenue — Americans can be forgiven for thinking Nixon seems more like the Quaker he professed to be than at any time prior to his ignoble tenure as the most powerful man on Earth.

“Tricky Dick” and his “ratfuckers” are quaint in relation to the wholesale skullduggery and outright lameness of Trump and his minions, but “ratfuckers” of a feather flock together.

That’s the timely reminder at the heart of the new Max (née HBO) series The White House Plumbers, which tells the lively tale of Nixon’s main fixers E. Howard Hunt (a failed CIA agent whose fingerprints were on both the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs) and G. Gordon Liddy (a failed FBI agent with a Nazi obsession and who went on to a longtime, lucrative career as a Fox News talking head after his prison term, which is really just redundant).

Hunt and Liddy were absolute idiots, though portrayed in the show with subversive glee by Woody Harrelson and Jason Theroux, respectively. (And, for my money, Theroux deserves an award for his sieg-heiling, buttoned-down, family-man nutjob rendition of Liddy that feels too close for comfort in Idaho Legislative District 1.)

Both men had an egomaniacal notion of their own abilities, though events constantly proved otherwise. Hunt wrote crappy spy novels. Liddy had a schtick of putting his hand over lit candles at parties, trying to show off how tough he was but suffering third-degree burn wounds in the process.

As the show plays out, Hunt, Liddy, et al. tried and failed three times to break into the Democratic National Committee’s HQ in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., with the intent to plant listening devices in George McGovern’s campaign operations — all the while, U.S. voters were already poised to re-elect Nixon (the fools), the fact of which Hunt’s put-upon (and possibly assassinated) wife constantly reminded him, trying in vain to get him to abandon his ill-begotten mission.

Played by Lena Headey, Dorothy “Dot” Hunt was the real brains of the marriage, actually serving as a capable CIA agent until her mysterious death in a plane crash just as she was about to spill the beans to a CBS reporter about the dumbass conspiracy in which her husband was entangled (at least according to the Max series). Oh, and Hunt’s family life fell apart as he was consumed by his criminal enterprise, with Dot having to pick up the pieces until she blew up.

The limited series of five episodes, which premiered in May, begins with the break-in at the office of the psychologist treating Daniel Ellsberg, whose conscience led him to leaking the so-called Pentagon Papers to reporters, and which gave detailed and brutally frank assessments of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Its bulk covers Hunt’s and

Liddy’s establishment as “The Plumbers,” with an enormous budget paid for by slush funds from CREP: the Committee to Re-Elect the President (a.k.a., the aptly lampooned “CREEP.”)

Hilarity ensues as Hunt and Liddy deploy their dark money to enlist a motley band of right-wing Cubans to conduct the series of bungled burglaries at the Watergate. They are beset by all manner of snafus — the lockpicker doesn’t have the right picks; the conspirators get stuck in a banquet room overnight and have to piss in the whiskey bottles; then they are betrayed by a particularly spineless fellow conspirator, as well as Nixon and his wider coterie of toadies when the news breaks that they actually managed to break into the DNC… immediately being caught, because the whole operation was moronic to begin with.

There is much human wreckage to be sifted through in these characters, twisted and distorted by their awful politics and personal aspirations. It’s all fun and games, until one considers that these deluded dipshits sincerely believed that what they were doing by breaking the law and subverting democratic processes was actually in service of the country that they thought they loved.

They didn’t love the country, of course, but worshiped at the altar of their own ambitions.

Sound familiar? Stream it on Max.

Selkirk Conservation Alliance Film Fest to highlight area’s underwater residents

By Reader Staff

The Selkirk Conservation Alliance will host its second annual film festival on Saturday, June 17, inviting the community to join in an afternoon of films that celebrate North Idaho’s wild residents and fundraising that will further SCA’s

mission to support the ecosystem of the Selkirks.

This year’s film festival will be held at The Inn at Priest Lake (5310 Dickensheet Road) with doors opening at 3 p.m. and films showing 3:30-5 p.m.

This year’s film selection, according to organizers, invites

attendees to “dive into your lakes, rivers and streams and meet the wild things that live there” — so expect frogs, fish and more water-dwellers to be the stars of the show.

General admission is free for 2023 SCA members and by donation for non-members. VIP ticket

options are also available, and listed in more detail at scawild.org/film-festival.

Funds raised will be used to support the nonprofit’s mission of promoting environmental causes surrounding local land use issues.

Selkirk Conservation Alliance Film Festival

Saturday, June 17; doors at 3 p.m., films at 3:30 p.m.; general admission tickets by donation at the door or online; VIP ticket options viewable at scawild.org/film-festival. The Inn at Priest Lake, 5310 Dickensheet Rd., 208-443-2447. For more about SCA, call 208-448-1110 or email sca@scawild.org.

Justin Theroux, left, and Woody Harrelson, right, play G. Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt (respectively) in The White House Plumbers. Courtesy photo.

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist

In a feeble attempt at downsizing, I devoted much time this week to more cookbook purging. The last time I downsized my cookbook collection, I gave away a couple hundred cookbooks. Now I’m down to 600, and it’s still too many. It’s a time-consuming project, settling beside a shelf and browsing through a well-worn book. It’s a lot of trips down memory lane that invariably involve a few false starts and detours.

On my shelves are at least 50 books devoted entirely to chocolate in numerous categories. Some are dedicated to baking; others are professional cookbooks purchased over the years when I attended various chocolate-making classes (including courses at the renowned French Pastry School in Chicago). Others are more detailed and scientific, diving deep into specific gravity and precision techniques for tempering and molding chocolate (if you read Brenden Bobby’s column, “Mad About Science: Chocolate,” in the May 17 edition of the Reader, you can learn about the science involved in chocolate making).

A couple of years ago, I did a house swap with a young couple and their adorable young son, Arlo. Karma delivered them from a brownstone in Brooklyn to my front door in Ponderpoint. Kia is a high fashion jewelry designer (Harry Winston and Van Cleef & Arpels), and her husband Michel is a Swiss chocolate distribu-

The Sandpoint Eater Cocoa loco

tor who kept me in top-shelf samples of high-end chocolate for months.

Who doesn’t love chocolate? As a devoted consumer, connoisseur, baker and candy maker, I’ve always been a fan. Few pleasures are as satisfying to me as a small square of rich chocolate, melting against my tongue. When I travel, it’s my favorite snack and gift-giving commodity. Once I’m at an international airport and headed home, you’ll find me zipping into duty-free to convert the last of my local currency into chocolate.

At any given time, a vast cache of chocolate is stored in my bedroom closet, where it’s dark and cool. I have baking chocolate from Spain, bags

(and bags) of little Lindt Swiss bars, various flavors of Butlers Irish bars and several varieties of South American chocolate I picked up on a recent trip to Argentina.

On another recent trip, I was transiting at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam (I’m always pleased when it’s my transit airport returning home because I can also grab some good gouda cheeses). I was dazed by a floor-to-ceiling display of Tony’s Chocolonely. The company was named in reference to the founder’s feeling that he was the only person interested in eradicating slavery in the cocoa industry. I’m a big fan of their corporate philosophy, so naturally, I picked up a few bars to add to the closet col-

lection. The bars are unevenly divided in the packages to symbolize the unequal distribution of incomes in the chocolate industry.

Since opening an international office in Portland, Ore., their chocolate is widely available in the U.S., and you can find an assortment of Tony’s at either Yoke’s or Winter Ridge. My favorite is their 70% extra dark chocolate bar, perfect for snacking and baking, especially when chopped up and mixed with chocolate chips for cookies.

We can give (big) thanks to Ruth Wakefield for creating the first chocolate chip cookie. In a moment of culinary inspiration, Wakefield, who ran the Toll House Inn in Whitman,

Triple chocolate cookie

These cookies scream chocolate. The recipe calls for a whole tablespoon of vanilla (a lot of chocolate and a lot of vanilla)! Don’t over bake these gooey bad boys! Makes 4 dozen.

INGREDIENTS: DIRECTIONS:

•2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened

•1 cup dark brown sugar

•⅔ cup fine granulated white sugar (pulse in processor before measuring)

•2 large eggs

•1 tbs vanilla

•2 ½ cups flour

•½ cup unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa (Miller’s Country Store).

•1 tsp baking soda

•1 tsp salt

•8 oz of 70% dark chocolate bar, chopped fine (I like Tony’s)

•1 c semisweet chocolate chips*

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown and white sugars on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until fluffy. Add the vanilla and blend in at medium speed.

With the mixer on low, slowly add in dry ingredients. Mix just until combined (don’t overmix!). Fold in chopped chocolate and chocolate chips by hand.

Cover mixing bowl with cling wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour or so (or overnight).

Remove dough from fridge, preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and roll dough into 48 1-inch balls. Place 12 on each of two baking pans lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from oven. Do not overbake!

Allow cookies to cool on pans for about 10 minutes, then loosen with metal

Mass., cut up some bars of chocolate and added them to a basic sugar cookie recipe. The rest is history; today, there are dozens of recipes for the iconic chocolate chip cookie.

Some people have a knack for making perfect chocolate chip cookies. And I give due credit to my oldest child Ryanne and my neighbor Rachel, whom I’ve hired occasionally to bake for me when I need a batch of cookies for grandkids (shhh!). Both of them whip up blue ribbon-worthy traditional cookies.

But in another category, I think my oozy-gooey, triple chocolate cookie is certainly blue ribbon-worthy, too, and my gaggle of grandchildren all agree!

spatula and place on cooling rack. Bake second batch. When cooled completely, transfer to an airtight container — they

keep well for 2-3 days. Or freeze in storage containers for up to a month.

MUSIC

Tanner Usrey w/ Gabriella Rose, The Hive, June 16

Up-and-coming country artists tend to fall into one of two camps: those leaning hard into the bassbeat-backed sound topping radio charts for the past decade, and those embracing the folk-inspired sounds of yesteryear. Texas artist Tanner Usrey is making his name among the latter, having recently signed with Atlantic Records and amassing tens of millions of streams on listening platforms with

an understated country-rock sound adaptable to hometown backyards and sold-out stadiums. Or, in our case, The Hive on Friday, June 16.

Songwriting and performing chops aside, Usrey has a superpower often overlooked in country music: a voice that’s clear, honest and poised to sing directly to the listener.

Gabriella Rose, Coeur d’Alenebased singer-songwriter known for

her “cowboy pop” style and beyond-her-years artistry, will open the Hive show at 7:30 p.m. Usrey will go on around 9 p.m.

— Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey

Doors at 7 p.m.; $15 advance, $20 at the door (plus taxes and fees); 21+. The Hive, 207 N. First Ave., 208-920-9039, livefromthehive.com. Listen at tannerusreymusic.com.

Mike Wagoner Duo, Pend d’Oreille Winery, June 17

If you haven’t caught Mike Wagoner and “Utah” John Stoll playing around Sandpoint yet, you’re missing out. The duo has built a following thanks to their flawless mix of classic rock, blues, country, folk and Americana tunes. Playing each tune effortlessly from memory, Mike and Utah John

always put on a great show, filled with songs you’ll want to sing along to, as well as new favorites you’ll want to hear again.

ished cover as well as each unique original.

— Ben Olson

5-8 p.m., FREE. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar St., 208-2658545, powine.com. Listen to Mike Wagoner by accessing his Facebook page.

Beth Pederson and Bruce Bishop, Memorial Community Center in Hope, June 21

There are some musicians considered “royalty” by Sandpoint standards, which means they have played enough gigs and brought enough smiles to our faces over the years to earn a place in the hall of fame.

Beth Pederson and Bruce Bishop certainly deserve this distinction after playing beautiful music together for almost two decades.

Pederson’s love for music and insightful storytelling remain her greatest strengths as a musician,

Mike and Utah John play songs that remind us of old times, good times and fun times. There’s a warmth and ease to their collaboration that’s evident with every cherdelivering a deep message with every strum of her guitar.

With the accompaniment of Bishop’s sweet guitar rooted in blues and jazz history, the duo brings a new twist to old favorites.

— Ben Olson

5-7:30 p.m., FREE. Memorial Community Center, 415 Wellington Place, Hope; 208-264-5481. Mccinhope.com for information. Listen at highmoonmusic.com.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in

Sandpoint

Molly Starlite, MickDuff’s Beer Hall, June 15 Aaron Wilcox Recital, MCS, June 16

There are few local acts like Molly Starlite. Based in Oldtown, the one-woman band taps into a rich vein of retro rock-a-billy but with a distinctive twist — veering into inventive melodies and creative instrumentation that in the past has been known to include melotron, mandolin, banjo and even banjo.

Charity Luthy, a.k.a. Molly Starlite, since 2020 has been performing all instrumentation and vocals herself, even recording Don’t Light the Dynamite — her 2021 album — from her own stu-

dio. As she describes it, her sound is a hook-heavy amalgam of Gin Wigmore, Elle King, Delta Rae, Belinda Carlisle, The Bangles, Amy Windehouse, ZZ Ward and other “blues-infused pop rock.”

Swing into MickDuff’s Beer Hall on Thursday, June 15 and you’ll be treated to her rock-a-bility.

— Zach Hagadone

6 p.m., FREE. MickDuff’s Beer Hall, 220 Cedar St., 208-2096700, mickduffs.com. Listen at mollystarlite.com.

The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint is proud to announce the senior recital for honors piano student Aaron Wilcox.

Wilcox has studied piano at MCS for four years and is in the studio of Matt Goodrich. His senior recital will feature a diverse repertoire, including works by Schumann, Ravel and Respighi, showcasing Wilcox’s innate ability to infuse vivid expression into his playing and captivate listeners.

“I am thrilled for the opportu-

nity to share my passion for music with the community,” Wilcox said. This will be a free event, but donations are always appreciated. For reservations, please follow the links from the website listed below.

— Ben Olson

7 p.m., FREE. Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, 110 Main St., 208-265-4444, sandpointconservatory.org.

Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. The novel follows two cousins before, during and after WWII as they become major figures in the comics business, from its humble beginnings to its “Golden Age.” The book is smart, funny and immersive to the point where you don’t want to put it down and join the present anymore.

READ LISTEN

Chris Staples is one of those musicians who cuts right to the bone with his thoughtful, pleasant and original songs that live somewhere between indie pop and singer-songwriter. He’s a poet and musician simultaneously, and his warm voice compliments the sonic tapestry created with each album. His latest release, Cloud Souvenirs (May 2023), is yet another offering of great songs from this underrated artist.

WATCH

Somehow I missed the Oscar-winning film Whiplash when it first came out a decade ago. The psychological drama is centered on the high-stress world of studio musicians working for a hard-driving bandleader played masterfully by J.K. Simmons. Miles Teller plays a young, accomplished jazz drummer who will seemingly stop at nothing to become the greatest in the world — but first he has to survive the grueling tutelage of his abusive instructor. Whiplash not only celebrates jazz, but also sheds a light on the dark side of what some will endure to be the best.

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

Photo by Candace Morgan.

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

From Pend Oreille Review, June 14, 1918

NINETY AND NINE TO GO TO FRONT

BONNER COUNTY’S QUOTA INCREASED TEN BY ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE

The county board on Monday was informed from the adjutant general’s office at Boise that Bonner county’s quota of 85 men for the national army had been augmented ten more making a total of 95 young men who will leave here between June 24 and 29 for Camp Lewis. Notices were sent out this week by Auditor McCrea to the men who are to make report under this call and from whose number 95 men will be selected. Under the call four men were allowed Bonner county to go to Moscow university to take up special training. These four have been selected as follows: A.G. Sutton, Laclede; Paul N. Brannon, Spokane; Walter Brinkley, Priest River; Signey H. Smith, Sandpoint.

The date for embarkation of Bonner county’s latest men to go to the front has not been designated by the adjutant general’s department, but will be some date between the 24th and 29th of the month. It is expected that a big public demonstration will mark their departure.

BACK OF THE BOOK

On the range

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

I learned the art of the road trip early in life, thanks to my parents’ affinity for car travel.

I can’t actually say that either of them are self-professed hodophiles (lovers of travel, particularly of roads), but I do know that nearly all my childhood vacations were enjoyed from the third-row window seat of an SUV.

There was the time we visited my sister, eight years my elder, as she worked a summer job in Arizona near the Grand Canyon. At one point during the journey, we drove through a lightning storm that turned the atmosphere purple. I watched the electricity dance across the orange landscape while my two little sisters slept in the car’s second row. At one point, the man on the radio announced between songs that pop icon Michael Jackson had died.

This memory and so many more live in my mind with the same dull drone of tires on asphalt providing the ever-present soundtrack.

A common Kiebert family road trip remains a visit to the National Bison Range, located in Moiese, Mont., just a short drive off the U.S. Hwy. 200 route between Sandpoint and Missoula, Mont.

The NBR, which was officially established by the federal government in 1908 and is now managed by a joint partnership between U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes, consists of nearly 19,000 acres on the 1.25 million-acre Flathead Indian Reservation.

Over its long and winding history, the NBR has managed to grow and manage a herd of 350-500 bison, as well as populations of elk, deer, bear and many other indigenous fauna. The range features a visitor center, as well as two self-guided driving routes meant to give sightseers their best chance at catching a glimpse of the local wildlife.

I’d guess I’ve been to the National Bison Range half a dozen times in my life

leading up to this past Memorial Day weekend, when my husband

Alex and I visited on our way home from an overnight stay in Missoula. The spring landscape was a textbook Big Sky blue atop flourishing green hills as we made our way up the steep grade at the start of the NBR’s Red Sleep Drive: a two-hour journey by car that covers a wide swath of the range.

I told Alex I was nervous that we’d spend two hours in the car (not to mention the two hours we still had to drive home) without seeing any animals. I had many memories of seeing all walks of wildlife both close-up and far away during my family’s NBR visits. In none of my recollections did we ever get entirely skunked, but still — if it was going to happen, I was sure it would be when I most wanted to share the experience with my favorite person.

“It’ll be fine regardless,” he assured me. “It’s a beautiful day for a drive.”

My worries subsided as we came around a bend and spotted two pronghorn antelope in the distance. About a quarter mile later, we saw four mule deer on a far-off hillside. Soon a meadowlark perched not five yards from my downed window and treated us to its song.

About three miles into the 19-mile Red Sleep Drive, I was taking notes on a map from the visitor center about the animals we saw, when Alex stopped the car behind a long line of traffic.

We had dropped into a draw and the thick, creekside shrubbery blocked much of our view, so I nearly jumped out of my seat when a massive, dark-brown ungulate stood up 20 yards away.

My notes — which became much less detailed at that point — indicated that the first herd consisted of around a dozen adult bison. Alex and I were ecstatic.

We moved on in order to let other drivers get a better view, and soon came upon

Sudoku Solution STR8TS Solution

another herd enjoying a creekside siesta.

That second herd harbored the best treat of the day: seven bison babies, light red-brown and huddled together inside a protective circle of cows.

At that point, my notes stopped altogether; and, for the next 16 miles, we estimate we saw between 50-60 adult bison. Big bulls dotted the landscape all along the climb to the top of Red Sleep Mountain; some of them writhed around in dust wallows like big dogs.

We spent the drive in intermittent conversation with the radio off, letting the cross-breeze of prairie wind and crunch of gravel fill the silence. After exactly two hours (even with the occasional stop-andgawk, we managed to drive the loop in perfect time), we headed home, Alex with his first successful NBR visit under his belt and me with a renewed affinity for road trips. It was, in fact, a beautiful day for a drive.

Learn more about the National Bison Range at bisonrange.org.

Crossword Solution

I wish somebody would invent a fruit that had no seeds, tasted delicious and would scream when you ate it.

Bison graze roadside at the National Bison Range in Moiese, Mont., on Memorial Day 2023. Photo by Alex Carey.

Laughing Matter

By Bill Borders

CROSSWORD

ACROSS

ecotone /EK-uh-tohn/

Word Week of the

“Human civilization has created a new kind of ecotone where wild plants quickly give way to crops, gardens and parks.”

Corrections: In the June 8 edition of the Reader, we mistakenly labeled a page “FOOD” when it should have been labeled “COMMUNITY.” (I guess we were hungry). Additionally, we misspelled the name of Bonner County Assessor Dennis Engelhardt in a photo caption. We apologize for the error.

1. the transition zone between two different plant communities, as that between forest and prairie.

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22