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 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. for the new endorsement.”

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.

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.

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.”

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

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