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(wo)MAN compiled by
Susan Drinkard
on the street
‘Are you concerned about the coronavirus coming to North Idaho?’ “Not really.” Tyler Salvage Contractor Sandpoint
DEAR READERS,
How about that sunshine this week, eh? Don’t get too used to it, though — weather forecasts call for rain through the weekend. Let’s hope for some snow in the mountains, too. There’s nothing like a powder day at Schweitzer in March. The presidential primary election is Tuesday, March 10, so don’t forget to vote. Polling places are open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Visit idahovotes.gov for more information. There are a lot of great events going on this weekend, including the Angels Over Sandpoint’s annual fundraiser The Follies. We at the Reader appreciate all the Angels Over Sandpoint does for our community, including providing thousands of our local kids with school supplies, each and every year. Finally, we took a flying leap into the 21st century and joined Instagram last week, so head on over to @sandpointreader to see what nonsense we’re up to. Stay classy Sandpoint. — Ben Olson, Publisher
“While I think the coronavirus is a serious concern, the reality is that so many more people are dying from the flu, especially children. Reports I’ve seen have stated that the coronavirus is hitting people who are already medically compromised. As long as people remain vigilant about washing hands and staying at home when they aren’t feeling well and reporting symptoms to their doctor, I think we can all do our part in stopping the spread of this virus.”
Jennifer Pratt Florist Sandpoint
Terry Duncan Retired Ponderay
Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert (Staff Writer) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com
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“No, I’m just not going to live in fear. It may come here, but I’m not going to worry about it.”
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Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Emily Erickson, Tom Albertson, Brenden Bobby.
Brandon Brock Longshot owner Sandpoint
“I do think it may show up in some isolated cases, but I don’t think it will be a pandemic.”
111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208)265-9724
Contributing Artists: Ben Olson (cover), Susan Drinkard, Lyndsie Kiebert, Zach Hagdone.
Patty Hutchens Retired attorney and journalist Sandpoint “I’m not concerned about it. The coronavirus feels a bit sensationalized and there are bigger issues facing our country now. I think it’s just low-hanging fruit for media to pick up on.”
READER
Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho. We hope to provide a quality alternative by offering honest, in-depth reporting that reflects the intelligence and interests of our diverse and growing community. The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.
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About the Cover
This week’s cover photo was taken by Ben Olson at the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge in Bonners Ferry. Look close and you might see his girlfriend Cadie doing a cartwheel.
A SandPint Tradition Since 1994 March 5, 2020 /
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NEWS
LPOSD levy challenge moves forward Ruling may come in the next week, though trial date still set for April 28
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff A ruling is due within 30 days — and may come as early as next week — in the case against Lake Pend Oreille School District challenging the results of the November 2019 levy election. The election contest, brought by Bonner County resident Don Skinner, alleges the district violated Idaho law by failing to include tax impact statements on both the sample ballot and measure that went before voters on Nov. 5, 2019. In so doing, his complaint argues, the election was compromised and should be re-run. First District Judge Barbara Buchanan heard arguments March 4 from attorneys representing both Skinner and LPOSD, promising to deliver her decision as soon as possible, considering a trial date has already been set for April 28. By the end of the hearing at the Bonner County Courthouse, district counsel Caitlin Kling, of law firm Hawley Troxell in Coeur d’Alene, made it clear that her client’s argument turns on a question of law, rather than fact. Though LPOSD did fail to include a tax impact statement on the sample and Election Day ballots — a violation of Idaho statute — the challenge didn’t come until after the conclusion of the election. If that challenge had come before the election, Kling argued, the district would have been mandated by law to fix it. But, coming after the election, that law changes from “mandatory” to “directory,” meaning the results are only invalidated if a judge finds that the ballot defect was severe enough to alter the outcome one way or the other. Applying the “mandatory” standard to challenges coming after the election would be a departure from Idaho law, Kling said, as the Legislature has not enacted any statute requiring so-called “strict compliance,” as Idaho courts have been reluctant to overturn elections “with good reason.” 4 /
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“Strict compliance is not the standard in Idaho,” Kling said, adding that the plaintiff is therefore required to prove — not just assert — that the omission of the tax impact statement materially affected the result. “The plaintiff cannot meet that burden,” she said. A total of 4,256 residents cast ballots in favor of making the $12.7 million levy permanent, while $4,034 voted against — a margin of only 222 votes in an election that drew 8,290 ballots, or 41.7% of registered voters. Sandpoint attorney Stephen Smith, representing Skinner, zeroed in on what he called a “lopsided standard,” in which a challenge to the levy ballot language would have triggered an immediate, legally required fix prior to the election, but requires what he characterized as an “unwieldy” and “unthinkable” burden of proof after the fact. Should the case go to trial, Smith said making the case that the missing ballot language affected the outcome would require issuing subpoenas to every voters who cast a ballot in the levy election and asking them whether knowing the tax impact would have changed their mind. What’s more, subpoenas would need to be issued to every elector who didn’t vote, asking whether the lack of tax impact information on the ballot made a difference in their decision not to go to the polls. Finally,
his client would need to further depose LPOSD administrators to determine whether they omitted that language in good faith or in an attempt to mislead. Aside from being an enormous number of depositions, the first two actions would violate voters’ constitutional rights — “So that’s a conundrum,” Smith said, adding that “we don’t think we should get there.” Rather, he told the court, “right now we have a divided community,” and need a “common sense solution” to the issue. “Re-running the election would be a common sense approach,” Smith added. Kling returned to the district’s central argument that the statute requiring a tax impact statement on the ballot is directory after the
election, and that the results stand unless a judge decides leaving out the language altered the outcome. It’s not the court’s responsibility, she added, to “go down the rabbit hole on the fairness of that.” Characterizing the Legislature’s intent in requiring tax impact statements as informing voters about the “price tag” associated with ballot measures, Smith said many voters may not have even bothered to go to the polls because they didn’t think — because they didn’t know — that the levy vote would affect them financially. For her part, Kling underscored that the district “has an obligation to uphold the will of the voters” and pointed out that the case — which began in December 2019 — is already “well beyond”
Photo by Emi Lynch / SHS Cedar Post. the 30-day statutory limit for a trial contesting the outcome of an election. Buchanan, who at the beginning of the hearing said she was “inclined to agree with the district’s position,” ended by saying, “I’m having a hard time seeing how we could have a trial proving the election results would have been different.” Depending on whether Buchanan issues her ruling in the next week, the parties are scheduled to reappear at the Bonner County Courthouse for an 11:15 a.m. pretrial hearing on Wednesday, March 18 and the trial date remains set for Tuesday, April 28 at 9 a.m.
County eliminates single-stream recycling program By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Bonner County commissioners voted Tuesday, March 3 to eliminate the single-stream recycling program at the Dufort solid waste collection site, based on a recommendation from the county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Solid Waste Director Bob Howard presented the committee’s recommendation to the commissioners at the board’s
regular Tuesday business meeting. He said single-stream recycling — launched as a pilot program in Bonner County in 2017 — cost the ratepayers just over $83,000 during the 2019 fiscal year, coming out to about $115 per ton. In comparison, trash disposal cost about $82 per ton in 2019, equaling a difference of $33 per ton. Howard said people were depositing household waste into the single-stream bin, contaminating the batch and making all
of the contents unfit for recycling. However, the cost to have the contents processed as single-stream recycling still had to be paid — even if it was all just thrown in the trash in the end. With the elimination of the single-stream program at Dufort, the site will go back to offering only aluminum, paper and cardboard recycling, like the other waste collection sites across the county. “Taxpayers in the county [were] paying that extra cost,”
said Commissioner Dan McDonald. “We still have recycling — like we always have — but we just won’t have single-stream [recycling].” Howard said his department might adopt another program to accommodate the recycling of other materials in the future. “We’re always looking for different solutions to do better with recycling and solid waste,” he said.
NEWS
‘It is containable’ By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff
Regardless of whether a community, region or country has been touched by the virus COVID-19, it seems the so-called “coronavirus” has taken over the social consciousness in recent weeks — including in North Idaho. The illness is a new strain of the coronavirus first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The community-spread virus presents as a fever and respiratory illness, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that “a complete clinical picture with regard to COVID-19 is not fully understood,” due to its novelty. As of March 4, numbers pointing to confirmed and suspected cases in the United States, as well as fatalities, were in a state of dramatic flux. Sources ranging from The New York Times to the LA Times to CNN, ABC News and the CDC variously reported between 80 and “at least 149” cases of the virus in the U.S. Meanwhile, the death toll had been figured at between nine and 11 — 10 in Washington state and one in California, where according to the LA Times, a health emergency had been declared March 4 for L.A. County. As those numbers continue to change, one constant seems to be that older people and those with underlying health conditions have proved most susceptible to serious illness or death from the virus. Though no cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in Idaho — as of March 4 — local agencies are taking proactive steps to educate the public on what can be done to prepare. The Lake Pend Oreille School District released a statement March 2, announcing heightened measures to disinfect school surfaces and asking anyone who doesn’t feel well stay home from school. The city of Sandpoint shared a press release the same day detailing measures to take in order to best avoid infection. “Fortunately, from what we know today about the virus, it is containable and can be avoided with simple steps everyone can take,” the city stated in its release.
The Panhandle Health District, with jurisdiction over the five northern counties in Idaho, is the local authority on possible health crises such as COVID-19. “The risk of transmission within the general public remains low and there are precautions people can take to minimize their risk of contracting any respiratory illness,” PHD officials stated in a March 2 press release. “Additionally, most people who contract coronavirus recover with the use of normal self-care. It is important to utilize the same good illness etiquette used to protect ourselves from the common cold of flu.” That etiquette includes avoiding sick people or limiting contact if you are sick; covering coughs and sneezes; avoiding hand contact with eyes, nose and mouth; cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and objects regularly; frequent hand washing or sanitation; and being up to date on all recommended vaccinations. Those with questions about COVID-19 can call the health district at 877-415-5225. The call center, which was created specifically to field coronavirus concerns, is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Bonner General Health initiated Incident Command protocol on Thursday, Feb. 27 in response to COVID-19 concerns. Incident Command “is designed and intended for use in both emergency and non-emergency situations,” and “provides hospitals and healthcare facilities of all sizes with tools needed to advance emergency preparedness and response capability,” according to BGH spokesperson Erin Binnall. Incident Command also helps personnel from other local agencies to coordinate a response plan in situations such as a possible COVID-19 outbreak. “Our priority is for the safety and well-being of our patients, their families and our staff,” Binnall told the Reader. “Bonner General Health is working with our local and regional partners as we all prepare for the coronavirus.” Binnall confirmed that BGH currently has the means to test a patient for the virus, however that test must be approved by the
Bonner County agencies are taking precautions to prepare for the coronavirus
Panhandle Health District. If PHD determines that the individual meets certain criteria, a test will be administered and sent to the state lab for testing. “Most people with COVID-19 will have mild illness,” Binnall said. “Not everyone needs to be tested, and testing is not yet widely available.” People are encouraged to avoid the emergency room unless absolutely necessary. However, if patients have a fever greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, have a lower respiratory illness — such as a cough or difficulty breathing — and have visited affected areas or been around lab-confirmed virus carriers within the past two
weeks and need emergency care, BGH asks the patient to call the hospital’s emergency number ahead of arrival: 208-265-1020. “This is a rapidly evolving situation and these procedures continue to be updated,” Binnall said. One of the agencies acting in tandem with the hospital, should COVID-19 make its way to Sandpoint, is Bonner County Emergency Management. Director Bob Howard told the Reader that his department is receiving frequent updates from PHD regarding the situation, and that the county has exercised pandemic response plans in the past as part of annual training procedures. Howard also said part of his
A map detailing presumptive cases of the coronavirus as of March 4, 2020. Courtesy CDC.
job is to educate people on how to prepare for emergency events, such as prolonged power outages or major snow storms. He said he advises people to keep supplies on hand to last at least two weeks in the case that they can’t leave their homes due to any number of circumstances — including illness. For more information on the coronavirus and continual updates on its prevalence in the United States, visit cdc.gov.
City, contractor to host public info session on renewed downtown street construction By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff It’s almost the beginning of construction season in Sandpoint, and that means work on Phase II of the Downtown Revitalization Project is about to ramp up once more. Contractor Sonray Enterprises is slated to kick off renewed work along First Avenue from Cedar to Church streets beginning Monday, March 16. In the meantime, the contractor will join city staff including Sandpoint Public Works Director Amanda Wilson and project manager/City Engineer Dan Tadic for a public
update on Thursday, March 12 at the Panida Little Theater (300 N. First Ave.). Scheduled to run from 8 a.m.9 a.m., the information session will include a detailed timeline for construction work and an outline for how it will impact local infrastructure and downtown businesses. Ultimately, the project is designed to provide a completely reconstructed downtown streetscape, from “building-face to building-face,” as managers describe it, including new stormwater pretreatment; almost 50 new street trees; bike racks, benches, seat walls and lighting;
enhanced pedestrian crossings; 50 standard parking spaces, five ADA spaces, four motorcycle parking zones and three loading zones; as well as accomodations for fiber internet. A large portion of the construction work, including excavation, took place in the fall of 2019 before crews buttoned up for the winter. According to city officials, the project remains on track for substantial completion by Lost in the ’50s in May. For more information on the project, visit sandpointstreets. com. March 5, 2020 /
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NEWS
Council approves ‘emergency repair’ of Lady Liberty pier at City Beach By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Lady Liberty is in need of a footlift. That is, a large portion of the concrete pier on which she stands at City Beach in Sandpoint is in “bad shape,” according to Parks and Recreation Director Kim Woodruff. The Sandpoint City Council voted March 5 to approve a bid of $120,980 to local company C.E. Kramer and Crane to perform emergency repair work on 81 linear feet of failed jetty between the statue and the shoreline, as well as 41 feet of retaining wall that have suffered damage from several severe storms over the past five years. While the section of pier where the statue sits is in relatively good condition, the span nearer the beach has shifted and settled, presenting a hazard to the many hundreds of locals and visitors who frequent the local landmark each year. “The plan is to get this done before the water comes up,” Woodruff said. According to city documents, that
means the work will need to be completed on or before April 15. While Woodruff told council members that the expenditure was unforeseen, and therefore not included in the most recent budget, there is funding available through various savings and, potentially, by drawing on the Parks Capital Improvement Fund. Councilman Andry Groat admitted to suffering a bit of “sticker shock” when he saw the price tag on the project, but said it was the right fix for a long-term solution. Beyond its aesthetic draw, Woodruff underscored the importance of the pier to the beach itself. Extending about 140 feet from the shoreline, its primary function is to trap beach sand, which, because of water and weather patterns, naturally migrates southward into the lake. “Without that pier there, we would have no sand at City Beach,” he said, adding that city crews still have to ensure the beach sand stays in place each year. “We move it up, and God moves it down,” he added.
County primary races taking shape By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The May 19 primary election, in which locals will vote on Bonner County and state offices, has started to draw official filings for both Bonner County commissioner seats and county sheriff. In District 1, current Commissioner Steve Bradshaw will face Republican challenger and Sagle resident Butch Horton. Commissioner Jeff Connolly will officially run again for his seat in 2020, an office which has yet to see a challenger file for candidacy. District 3 Commissioner Dan McDonald is still working on the four-year term he won in 2018. In the race for Bonner County sheriff, incumbent Daryl Wheeler has officially filed for reelection, county elections officials confirmed. Wheeler has been the Bonner 6 /
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County Sheriff since 2008. Bonner County resident Dan Rose announced that he has launched “an exploratory committee to assess the viability of a candidacy and bid for the position” of sheriff, but has yet to file with the Bonner County Elections Office. “The sheriff’s office is uniquely responsible for values that occasionally require intervention between a sometimes overreaching or errant government and the citizen’s constitutionally guaranteed rights,” Rose said. “Positive results have been experienced from my participation in several community activities pursuant to this ideal, that I expect to continue.” The Bonner County Elections Office is accepting declarations of candidacy through Friday, March 13. After that, candidate filings will be posted to the County Elections website: bonnercountyid.gov/ departments/elections.
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: Cincinnati is building the nation’s largest municipal solar farm — the size of 750 football fields, with 310,000 solar panels — to honor the Ohio city’s pledge to uphold the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2018 granted funds for technical assistance, and the project was further aided by the costs of solar technology dropping up to 80% in the past decade. Eight million people are being helped by 50 million others in their crowdsourcing plea for assistance paying for health care costs, according to the National Opinion Research Center. Health authorities are increasingly alarmed by President Donald Trump’s appointment of Vice President Mike Pence to head up the nation’s response to the coronavirus. In addition to his inaction to combat an AIDS outbreak in Indiana while he was governor of the state, Pence’s grasp of medical science has been called into question — in part, due to a 1998 op-ed he wrote for The New York Times claiming that tobacco doesn’t kill, despite 40 years of ample evidence to the contrary. Citing insufficient funds, the White House team for addressing pandemics was basically dismantled two years ago. Efforts to reconstruct it on short notice to address the coronavirus may not work, The Washington Post reports. Both the instability of positions under the current administration, and questions about reliable funding, do not encourage sudden participation by the experts who are required. Meanwhile, presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has introduced a Senate bill that would use $10 billion in funds intended for the border wall to provide sensible funding for responding to the virus. During the past month scientists in Antarctica recorded the highest temperature there ever: 70 degrees. Stephen Schwartz, 36, a Trump nominee to the U.S. Federal Court of Claims, which hears complaints against the federal government, has said Social Security should be abolished because economic disparity is “a natural aspect of the human condition.” He’s also said the Agriculture, Education and Transportation departments have no “constitutional
By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist
basis,” and has worked to restrict voting rights. Pew Charitable Trust survey: one-third of U.S. families have no savings, including 10% of families making more than $100,000; 70% of families are not able to cover an unexpected $2,000 expense. The richest person on the planet, Jeff Bezos, has promised $10 billion in grants to fight climate change. Ideas for the Bezos Earth Fund, from Wired, include donating to the project to harness 1% of the 173,000 trillion watts of solar energy that would be available with a giant solar space farm — enough to meet the Earth’s clean energy needs. President Donald Trump says the U.S. will join the Trillion Tree Initiative, launched at the World Economic Forum. Trees pull carbon from the atmosphere, foster better air and water quality, enhance property values and, according to some studies, may even reduce crime. “My party is very interested in deficits when there is a Democrat in the White House,” Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, recently told an audience at the Oxford Union. “The worst thing in the whole world is deficits when Barack Obama was president. Then Donald Trump became president, and we’re a lot less interested as a party.” The Guardian first reported Mulvaney’s comment criticizing Republican’s partisan hypocrisy on deficit spending. The New York Times later obtained a transcript that confirmed the report. Blast from the past: The 1918-’19 flu pandemic in the U.S. saw 25.8 million people infected and 670,000 dead, with 20% of those flu deaths attributed to those aged 5 years or younger. Life expectancy dropped by 12 years and 50% of U.S. military deaths in World War I were caused by the flu, as reported in the Smithsonian magazine. The pandemic was further complicated by the fact that about half of physicians under age 45 were serving in the military. Under President Woodrow Wilson, who sought to boost wartime morale by banning criticism, lies from official sources flourished. When a Navy ship carried flu from Boston to Philadelphia, that city’s public health director was told there was nothing to worry about. The next day, 14 sailors died. The assurances of “no problem” were repeated elsewhere, with fatal results.
PERSPECTIVES
Emily Articulated
A column by and about Millennials
The 40 hours of adulthood By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist
The transition from youth to adulthood is filled with milestones — not just to keep us on a trajectory toward maturity, but to serve as reminders to our younger selves that we’re not quite so “grown up” as we might think. I shipped off to college at 18 because, despite not knowing much about what my future would hold, I was certain the pursuit of a degree was the first milestone necessary for arriving at adulthood. But, even with the independence of living on my own and filling my time with curated lessons about the world, I still couldn’t legally drink a beer or mingle with others capable of doing the same. So, I concluded, I must not be an adult yet. Then, at 21, when I entered a dimly lit taproom, I proudly presented my driver’s license with the date of my birthday matching the little marquee behind the bar reading “born before this day, 1991,” and felt the pangs of “making it” ringing in my chest. But, before the end of the night, I saw my peers throwing back shots, crying in bathroom stalls, puking in trash bins and stumbling out into the streetlights. Seeing this, I decided again, I hadn’t yet arrived at adulthood. At 24, as I sat in my new office chair, closing the door holding the plaque that displayed my name and position, I was certain: My 9-5 job, with benefits, my own office and real-world impact, was definitely adulthood. However, when settling into the routine of punching a time clock, idly checking and rechecking emails, stretching out my time in front of the coffee maker and
Emily Erickson. slogging through the final hours of the day, my certainty of arrival to adulthood waned. I wondered, “Wasn’t I supposed to be thriving in my 40-hour-a-week day job?” and, “If I am an adult, shouldn’t I be capable of consistent, full-day productivity?” Posing these questions to my coworkers, all of whom were firmly rooted in my notion of adulthood — you know, having families, owning homes, understanding taxes, calling to schedule their own doctor appointments, etc. — I was surprised to hear that they felt the same about their productivity. These adults had long since accepted that the first hour of their work day would be spent “settling in” and that the hours leading up to quitting time would inevitably be spent running out the clock. My coworkers understood Mondays as being spent with only partial productivity, and that their Friday afternoon work ethic would be less than rigorous. Learning these attitudes begged another question: If being an adult wasn’t the problem, why were we incapable of a fully productive 40-hour work week? To answer this, I turned to the experts. Arguing that the productivity
conundrum is the result of shortcomings with the 40-hour work week, Forbes contributor Ashley Stahl described the human capacity for intense focus, especially in the workplace. She writes, “Beyond five to six hours of focused concentration, productivity either plateaus or declines. What this seems to indicate is that the extra two to three hours in the standard, full-time workday (or more, for the multitudes of employees who are banking tons of overtime weekly) are not very productive.” Supporting these claims through proposing a four-day work week — or a 30-hours-perweek alternative — renowned American psychologist Adam Grant explained at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, “We have some good experiments showing that if you reduce work hours, people are able to focus their attention more effectively, they end up producing just as much, often with higher quality and creativity.” He continued, “They are also more loyal to the organisations that are willing to give them the flexibility to care about their lives outside of work.” Finally, in a Japan Times article titled “Four-day workweek boosted productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan experiment shows,” Kazuata Nagata wrote, “Amid calls for improving efficiency in the workplace in a country notorious for having long working hours, [Microsoft Japan] conducted the trial to see if it would boost employees’ performance.” Studying 2,300 regular office workers’ productivity after switching from a traditional 40hour work week to a four-day, 30hour schedule, “the experiment saw a 39.9% increase in sales per worker ... [and] about 92% of the employees viewed the four-day
work week in a positive manner,” Nagata reported. Learning from these experts at 28 years old, I regularly clock in around 30 hours a week, or four full days of productivity, filling my mornings with the highly focused intensity that comes from knowing I have a life outside of my job. When I sit down at my computer, it’s not to drag out the hours on my time card but, rather, to get my work done as efficiently
and effectively as possible. I enjoy what I do and feel like my days are well spent, valuing the hours I dedicate to working as much as the hours I spend pursuing other things. Thus, I can conclude, I must finally be an adult. Except, what was that piece about having a family, owning a home and filing my taxes on time?
Retroactive
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Ignorance is no excuse...
Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION: • My wallet flew off the trailer, opened, and scattered a lot of cash and credit cards across the road like confetti. I was 10 miles away when an unknown number called. The strangers had gathered everything and would wait while I turned around for a rendezvous. Suddenly, I was forced from judgment of appearances and politics into the higher, shared realm of humanity: caring for each other first. A good reason why we live here. Thank you for your honesty and great kindness, Danielle and Frank. — Submitted by Chris (last name withheld) Barbs: • Public service announcement to all those who regularly use the expression, “Go back to California,” or any variation thereof: This useless remark is one of the biggest signs of ignorance, in my humble opinion. To start with, there is no horde of liberals moving to North Idaho from California. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Several studies have found that those moving to Idaho from California lean heavily conservative. In fact, some have credited the influx of far-right conservatives as the reason North Idaho morphed from a purple region in the early 1990s to the shade of deep red we see today. Also, let’s address the irony of those who often wield the “California” pejorative. Many of them, in fact, came from California themselves. One man I interviewed a few years ago fought me on every question I asked, repeatedly asking where I was from, if it was California, ad nauseum. When I told him I was born and raised right here in Sandpoint, and asked where he was from, he clammed up and refused to tell me. Thirty minutes later I got it out of him that he moved here from Fresno seven years ago. Of course he did. Bottom line: Unless you’re a member of the Coeur d’Alene, Kalispel or Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, none of us are “from here.” So have a little respect and realize that we all get to paradise from a different route. 8 /
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The Lake Pend Oreille School District (LPOSD) ran a school levy ballot in November of 2019 in violation of Idaho Statute (Title 34 Chapter 4 Section 34-439A). They claimed the law was too new to comply. However, ignorance of the law is not a justification for violating it and, I think, a curious argument for someone in the business of education. Nonetheless, the LPOSD knows they broke the law, but have decided to fight for the right to be wrong. That tells us a lot about our LPOSD school board and administrators, and I don’t think that’s good news for the citizens of Bonner County. Let’s hold LPOSD accountable for their actions. The final check in our form of government is the people. To find out what you can do to correct this injustice, go to idahotaxwatch.com. Thomas Leo Cocolalla
Make the most of your vote... Dear editor, This spring you will have the opportunity to vote in two primary elections, one for presidential candidates in March and again on May 19 for all other elected offices. If you are registered to vote, now is the time to call the Bonner County Elections Office, 208-255-3631, and make sure you can vote the ballot of your choice. (As in all primaries, there will be multiple ballots and you must choose to vote on a ballot from one of the political parties.) The May 19 Republican ballot is of particular importance for our local government and there are some great candidates this year for the county commission and our Idaho Legislature. However, the Republican Party has rules that restrict who may vote on their ballot. If you are already registered to vote, you must be unaffiliated or affiliated Republican by March 13. One simple way to make sure you can vote on the ballot you want is to ask for an absentee ballot before Friday, Feb. 28. Otherwise, be sure to check your status before March 13, which is the deadline the Republicans have set for choosing their ballot for the May primary — you may then need to submit a change of affiliation form. To get an absentee ballot and to check your affiliation, please call or visit the Bonner County Elections Office. They are quite friendly and are happy to help. 1500 Hwy. 2,
Suite 124, Sandpoint, 208-255-3631 Make sure that our democracy is working for you and vote. We will all benefit from your participation. Jean Gerth Sandpoint
Get out the vote... Dear editor, Hooray! We soon get to vote in the primary. What an honor and privilege we have here in the U.S. to vote! As I consider my right and responsibility to vote, I am in awe of the number of candidates who stepped up to run as Democrats. It speaks volumes about the need to replace our current administration. Each Democratic candidate, whether currently running or on our ballot, has brought important issues to the table. I am most grateful for each: their bravery, their message and their ideals. Please, friends and neighbors, vote! Consider thoughtfully the full import of your decision. We cannot continue on the current path of financially rewarding the top 1% of our nation, contributing to an ever growing national debt while the stock market surges. We cannot tolerate a president who does not honor his oath of office, rewards his cronies (“I just made you all richer,” he shared with his peeps at Mar-a-Lago after the tax cuts), continues to swell the military complex budget, ignores the climate crisis. We cannot allow our children to see a president who bullies people, pouts and calls people names. He is an embarrassment to our nation as a leader! We need to support the working people of our nation, provide opportunities for all, clean up our precious planet and provide a leader who is respected by all nations of the world. Vote with your conscience, your heart,but mostly your intelligence. No one person is perfect… but certainly there is one person better than he who currently occupies the White House. Respectfully, Ann Giantvalley Sandpoint
Make America Escalate Again… Dear editor, Hooting and howling Trump supporters, many of whom evidently flunked third grade, should not worry themselves about big-time movie hotshot Harvey Weinstein being sentenced to jail for sexually assaulting and raping young women
over the past three decades. Trump proudly enjoys granting clemency and pardons to fellow predators and thugs. If he is too busy ripping off America and transforming democracy into dictatorship, then his lapdog, Attorney General General Barr, will get the job done. And every wimpish GOP senator except Mitt Romney, of Utah, will cheer him on, including Idaho’s two gutless wonders, Crapo and Rich. Crooks and cowards hang together. If and when all these reverse role models eventually join Harvey in jail, where they belong, then responsible, educated, caring, civil and patriotic people — Republicans and Democrats and everybody in between — can and will Make America Escalate Again. Tim H. Henney Former Republican Sandpoint
LPOSD levy begs to be annulled... Dear editor, Incompetence or malfeasance? That is always the question when a government entity is found to have violated the law. We see it now in Lake Pend Oreille School District’s contention that ignoring a clearly worded Idaho law pertaining to required ballot language when proposing a permanent supplemental levy was “a technical error” (albeit to their advantage), but committed “in good faith.” We are to believe that LPOSD, who often prides itself on accountability and thoroughness and who keeps track of laws through regular meetings and discussions with legislators, just simply forgot to list on that ballot the fact that the levy would cost us $214 per $100,000 of taxable property value. We are to forgive and forget the omission of that detail and accept the outcome of the levy anyway. The levy passed with the tiniest margin ever, 1%. Common sense tells us that fully informed voters would have balked had they seen, in black and white, the effect on their property taxes. It didn’t surface until they received their property tax bills a week after the levy vote. This levy cannot be allowed to stand. It was perpetrated with faulty ballot language — by mistake or on purpose, take your pick — and it begs to be annulled. A Sagle citizen has filed a lawsuit to do just that, and at his own expense. LPOSD is fighting him with four attorneys, paid for with our taxes. Please go to IdahoTaxWatch. com, a nonprofit that supports this citizen’s fight against this injustice. Monique Hutchings Sagle
Let the court decide levy challenge… Dear editor, I voted for approval of the permanent levy. The ballot explanation was clear, and information presented by the school district was clear. Even if it was in the school district’s authority to invalidate the election, I would not want them to do that. When the LPOSD asked voters to approve a permanent levy last November they were acting in good faith and in the best interests of our children. We the people voted and approved the proposal. The only entity that can nullify a vote would be a judge and I assume they would take something so sacred as voting very seriously. So now it will come before a judge. Let that process work its way out. Carrie Logan Sandpoint
Protecting the voters’ will… Dear editor, After we voted not once, but twice last year to approve a levy for our schools, opponents want the result invalidated. The school district needs to protect the will of the voters and allow the court to decide. I voted “yes” both times and was well aware that by voting “yes,” more of my tax dollars would go to fund education. Idaho currently ranks second to last in state funding for education and I strongly believe we should fund education adequately. Levies and bonds create increases in taxes. I’m hard pressed to imagine a taxpayer and voter who believes otherwise. As voters, we had plenty of time, as well as access to the relevant information, to thoroughly understand the impact of this levy. The effect on our taxes was well known and understood. When a challenge to an election is issued, election law stipulates that the challenge be decided in court. The school district is doing the right thing by following the legal process. Our school district should not unilaterally overturn the will of the majority. A court must make the determination. Respectfully submitted, Judy Hull Sandpoint
Submit letters to the editor to letters@sandpointreader.com. Please keep under 400 words.
PERSPECTIVES
LPOSD stands by levy election validity pending court decision By Tom Albertson Special to the Reader Teaching and learning is the main focus in Lake Pend Oreille School District (LPOSD). Decisions on personnel, budget, student opportunities, funding and facilities all impact the student in the classroom. Providing the pathway to prepare students to be successful in their future is at the forefront of every decision. Accomplishing this requires a collaboration between the student, teacher, parents and community. The success of each student depends on stable funding, which currently is a combination of state funding, local taxes and other local private support. This funding allows LPOSD to keep our rural schools operating, provides our students with important opportunities, and enables us to recruit and retain quality teachers. The LPOSD Board of Trustees, in an attempt to stabilize funding, put forth a ballot measure on Nov. 5 asking voters to allow the previously approved levy dollar amount of $12.7 million dollars per year to be continuous, decreasing the need for the school district to ask voters to approve a maintenance and operation levy every two years. This decision to come to the voters with the option to make the current levy, approved in March 2019, continuous was not taken lightly by the school board. The school district qualified for this option several years ago but did not present it to the citizens until Nov. 5, 2019. Much of this decision was based on fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers — budgeting within the means of the current maintenance and operation levy dollar amount. Unlike other taxing districts within Bonner County, which can annually increase taxes up to 3%, this flat dollar amount cannot be increased without voter approval. It is the school board’s intent to budget within these means for as many years as possible without coming back to the voters every two years with an increase. We worked to make information on the reasoning and impact of the option available to voters and, armed with this information, voters approved the continuous levy. I will respectfully disagree that the continuous levy brings a lack of budgeting accountability to the school district. Every taxpayer has representation within their zone on the school board, and budgets are established annually and must be set in an open
meeting with the opportunity for public input. Our finances are held to an annual external audit, which is also presented to the public and available on the district website. This cannot and will not change regardless of a biennial vote or continuous levy. The approved ballot language presented to the voters was challenged for missing a “dollar amount per $100,000” statement, a new requirement as of July 1, 2019. The language was drafted in good faith, delivered to and approved by the Bonner County county clerk, and communicated to the public clearly on what was being asked. This included public forums, local radio interviews, mailers to voters and public presentations sponsored by community organizations. Within many of these presentations, the rate of $214 per $100,000 net taxable value was presented and discussed. The county clerk verified that the Idaho attorney general, Idaho secretary of state, and Idaho State Tax Commission all agreed that the election is valid unless successfully challenged in court. A challenge has been filed and it is now for a District Court judge to decide. Public comment received by the district has also appeared in the media, accusing the district of somehow “breaking the law.” In fact, the district is seeking to uphold the law,
which provides that election defects are not allowed to invalidate an election unless it can be shown that the outcome was affected. It is impossible to prove whether seeing the tax information on the ballot would have changed votes. A recent letter to the editor said it best: “No one was confused by the language and including it would not have changed a single vote.” Until proven otherwise in court, the district needs to stand by the results of the election. I appreciate citizen concerns around the election and expenses incurred due to this legal challenge. The school district has insurance coverage for legal costs within coverage limits, and we feel it is the proper course of action to allow the decision to be determined in District Court. The LPOSD school board feels duty bound to honor the voice of the majority from the Nov. 5 election and allow due process to follow its course. Again, the Idaho secretary of state, Idaho attorney general and Idaho Tax Commission have all indicated that the levy is valid unless the District Court judge decides otherwise. The board is not in a position — and does not have legal authority — to “void” the election, which has been stated in the contest to the levy. Tom Albertson is superintendent of Lake Pend Oreille School District No. 84. For more information, visit lposd.org.
Laughing Matter
By Bill Borders
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Mad about Science: By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist
dyson spheres
The world lost an incredible mind on Feb. 28. Dr. Freeman Dyson was a theoretical physicist with incredible ideas. While most articles would recap his life, career and various accolades, I would rather explore an awesome thought experiment he put into the world. The man lived to be 96 years old, and the library has several books by and about him, so if you’re curious about his life, go ask your friendly neighborhood librarian. What I’m most interested in is the Dyson sphere — a theoretical construct that would encircle a star and harvest all of the energy it pumps into the universe for use in agriculture, industry and science. Imagine for a moment if humans were to construct a spherical wall around the sun a few hundred thousand miles past Earth’s orbit. This is an immense amount of surface area that could be lined with photovoltaic panels that harvest the light energy emitted by the sun, then funnel it into factories that are used to build more panels that could be used to capture the energy of other stars. If the entire area within the Dyson sphere were enclosed, it would capture a tremendous amount of heat, as there would be no atmospheric buffer to insulate the paneling from the sun’s radiation. Did you know that the surface of the International Space Station can get up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit on the sunny side? A structure large enough to encircle the sun — even outside of Earth’s 10 /
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orbit — would keep all of that heat trapped inside, unless it were to be vented into space. While that wouldn’t bode well for Earth, it could be used beneficially on another star that isn’t supporting life. “Free” heat at that level could be used to boil water, turning it into steam pumped through turbines, cranking them to generate usable energy. This is a practice we already use on Earth to generate power in coal and nuclear power plants. Another form of energy generation theoretically possible with a Dyson sphere could be accomplished by harnessing the host star’s gravitational field using a network of rotating panels that link together like gears. As the bodies orbit the sun, they move against one another to crank a turbine and generate energy, as an example. Dyson himself stated that building an encompassing shell around a star would be wildly impractical. The amount of refined materials required to create a shell that doesn’t let heat escape would require materials to be harvested and imported from other solar systems, which has the potential to consume more energy than it would ever harvest. Instead, he believed it was more likely that a species advanced enough to build such a thing would use a wide, loose web of networked satellites that still have immense surface area, but allow some heat and light to escape the star — and have the added benefit of not broiling the homeworld like grandma’s brisket. These networks come in a few distinct designs that aren’t
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considered true Dyson spheres. The first is a network that circles a star like a hula hoop — what is called a Dyson ring. A ring is the most likely starting point for an advanced civilization that is just beginning construction of a megastructure like this, as it wouldn’t capture all of the star’s energy, but would be able to supply the energy required to build more rings. A network of rings forming a spherical shape around a star is called a Dyson swarm, as light and heat are still able to escape the structure. The configuration of satellites could be in any number of possibilities that we haven’t even imagined yet, but these would be the most logical steps for humans to start with based on our current understanding of orbital science and astrophysics. The idea of Dyson spheres has been adopted by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, as any sufficiently advanced spacefaring civilization would require ludicrous amounts of energy production to travel between stars. The two logical sources of this much energy would be portable fusion engines, which require lots of external energy to create, or the simple and sustainable idea of harvesting energy from the sun. A structure like this would block a considerable amount of light from leaving the star, but the structure would also be emitting massive amounts of infrared radiation, which would theoretically make finding advanced spacefaring civilizations pretty easy to spot in the grand scheme of things. This theory popped up in
the news in 2015, when puzzled astronomers spotted a star with an irregular luminescence. It would dim and brighten intermittently, which meant something was passing in front of it to block our view. The intermittent nature of this dimming led news outlets to postulate about the possibility of a Dyson swarm encircling the star. While this hypothesis has been debunked, it hasn’t stopped scientists from looking for similar
phenomena, and a second star with an irregular brightness has been found in the years since. If you’re perturbed by my drift into the fantastical realm of science fiction this week, I’d like to point out that only 15 years ago, the idea of your phone accessing the entire compendium of human history and knowledge with the flick of your finger was considered science fiction. Stay curious, 7B.
Random Corner s around the world?
Don’t know much about school • The King’s School in Canterbury, England is the world’s oldest continuously operating school. It was founded in 597 AD but is a modern facility with up-to-date equipment and supplies. The oldest continuously operating university in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. • A school in the Philippines is made entirely of recycled pop bottles. It took about 9,000 bottles and dozens of volunteers to build the structure. Each bottle was filled with sand, water and straw to keep them sturdy. The bottles were then held in place with a cement-like material as they were stacked on top of each other to create walls. • The largest school in the world in terms of number of students is the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India. There are more than 40,000 students attending the school on a daily basis. It has more than 1,000 classrooms, 3,700 computers and goes through thousands of pounds worth of statio-
We can help!
nery and books each year. And you should see the playground. • Kids in Finland do not start school until the age of 7, which is one of the oldest ages around the world to start school. However, most kids attend high-quality daycare or preschool programs prior to enrolling in school. They also don’t give grades until year three and there are no national tests until the 12th year. • In a remote area of Colombia, kids have to travel to school on a zip-line. Young kids aren’t allowed to use the zip-line alone, so they travel the cable across the Los Pinos valley with parents or an older sibling. If kids didn’t take the zip-line, they would have to walk for more than two hours through the rainforest. • Most teachers buy school supplies for their students. Even while earning low pay, an estimated 92% of school teachers spend their own money on school supplies for class. Thank you!
LEGISLATIVE FEATURE
Here we have Idaho: What’s happening at the Idaho Legislature this week By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Education funding The powerful Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a budget for Idaho public schools March 3, amounting to $1.977 billion in fiscal year 2021 state funding. Representing almost 50% of Idaho’s general fund spending each year, the FY2021 schools budget is $78.7 million, or 4.1%, higher, than last year’s appropriation — what Statehouse watchers at idahoednews.org pointed out was the smallest increase to school funding in five years. However, additional funding may flow to Idaho public education if senators approve House Bill 523, which Gov. Brad Little has fronted to funnel $223 million into veteran teachers’ salaries over five years. If HB 523 clears the Senate — as it has already met with approval in the House — and is signed into law, it would contribute an additional $8 million to the FY2021 budget and bring the overall spending increase to 4.6% above last year. Broken into seven separate budgets, which will now have to be voted on individually by both chambers of the Legislature, they include salaries, health insurance costs and professional development; funding to keep pace with growth in classrooms; and support for the K-3 literacy initiative and advanced opportunities program. “This is still a very solid budget for our public schools,” said Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who serves as JFAC vice chairwoman. Medicaid expansion Legislation introduced March 4 by Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, requiring Idaho counties to contribute to funding Medicaid expansion is headed for a hearing March 6 before the House Health and Welfare Committee. House Bill 600 would eliminate county indigent health care programs and channel a portion of county sales tax revenue to shoulder 30% of the state’s share in the cost of Medicaid expansion — amounting to between $8.5
million and $12.3 million per year, depending on enrollment. While counties would lose some sales tax funds previously allocated via state-wide revenue sharing, bill sponsor Raybould estimates that counties will realize savings from cutting indigent programs, which would happen after one year. According to the bill’s fiscal note, counties have paid an average $20.24 million per year in medical indigency costs since fiscal year 2013. In the first year after the indigency programs are abolished, HB 600 pegs savings to counties at $7.9 million to $11.7 million state-wide. The state Catastrophic Health Care Cost Program would also be eliminated on June 30, 2021. Under the current system, county property taxes pick up the first $11,000 in bills incurred by residents who are unable to cover their catastrophic medical costs while the Catastrophic Health Care Cost Program takes care of the rest. Under Raybould’s bill, the Department of Health and Welfare would take over administration of payouts and repayments from the Catastrophic Fund after July 2021, amounting to an estimated ongoing cost to the department of $70,000 per year. Beyond the 30% county contribution proposed by HB 600, Gov. Little’s has proposed the remainder of the state’s share in funding Medicaid expansion in Idaho — amounting to $41 million — would be covered by a combination of monies from the Millennium Fund and savings from other state budgets. Meanwhile, the federal government pays for 90% of the program. Child abuse bill defeated Blanchard Republican Rep. Heather Scott’s proposal to do away with some penalties for failing to report suspected child abuse failed March 3 in the House on a vote of 25-42, with three lawmakers absent. House Bill 455a would have limited the requirement to report instances of suspected child abuse to certain health care providers, law enforcement, educators and social workers. Current Idaho law
requires anyone, regardless of profession, to report evidence of child abuse, abandonment or neglect or face a misdemeanor charge. Opponents of the bill included both Republicans and Democrats, including House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley; Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star; and Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise. Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, voted in favor. Defunding abortion A bill from Reps. Bryan Zollinger, R-Idaho Falls, and Christy Zito, R-Hammett, to prohibit Idaho public dollars from going to abortion providers made it through the House in a dramatically uneven vote March 3, with 52 in favor, 17 against and one legislator absent. House Bill 525 seeks to “prohibit the transfer or expenditure of public monies to any individual or organization which is a provider of abortion services, except where the prohibition is expressly not permitted by federal law.” As reported by the Idaho Falls Post Register, HB 525 goes beyond current restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortions except in cases of mortal threat to the mother or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, taking away public funding for unrelated services including cancer screenings or gynecological exams by entities that also perform abortions. Prohibiting Medicaid support for non-abortion related services would mean the loss of about $400,000 a year in funding for cancer screenings and exams at Idaho’s three Planned Parenthood clinics — and one doctor in Boise. Every Democrat in the House voted against the bill, but were joined by three Republicans, including Rep. Scott, who earlier fronted legislation to outlaw all abortions regardless of circumstances and make abortion proscutable as murder. That bill is not expected to make it out of committee during the 2020 session. HB 525 now heads to the Senate floor. Grocery tax credit A third reading for House Bill
494, which would increase the grocery tax credit from $120 to $135 for Idahoans of all ages, has been delayed for the sixth time in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. The committee held off on a third reading March 3, scheduling the bill to be heard on Friday, March 6. According to bill sponsors, Idahoans pay an average of $124 per year in sales tax on groceries, while HB 494 would “essentially offset the sales tax paid on groceries by all Idaho citizens.” Sponsors, which include Speaker Bedke and Majority Leader Moyle, claim the credit will be funded from the state’s Tax Relief Fund, offset by a reduction of $1 million from the fund — bringing it from $49 million to $48 million. Guns in schools A bill introduced March 2 and referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee would allow school district employees — defined as anyone on the payroll, elected or appointed, though not independent contractors — to carry concealed weapons on school property, provided they have an enhanced concealed carry license. Senate Bill 1384 further stipulates that “school property” includes sites or facilities “owned, used or leased” by a public or public charter district, elementary or secondary school. Requirements in SB 1384 state that those carrying a properly licensed concealed weapon
The Idaho State Capitol building in Boise. Photo courtesy Wikipedia. — including a firearm — must be in “immediate control” of the weapon, meaning it is concealed within an individual’s clothing and not easily accessible by others. What’s more, no employee who elects to carry a concealed weapon can be compelled to disclose that he or she is doing so, except to law enforcement officials should they be conducting an investigation in which that information would be relevant. Employees who carry properly licensed concealed weapons need only to inform the principal of the school and district superintendent, and provide them with a copy of the enhanced license. Officials may share that information with the school board, but are required to maintain the confidentiality of those employees who are armed and copies of their licenses are not to be stored in their personnel files. While no employee may be forced to carry a concealed weapon, no public school in the state would be allowed to display signage indicating the property is a “gun-free zone.” The bill was reported printed March 3 and remains with the Senate State Affairs Committee. For more information — including full bill texts, agendas and status updates — go to legislature. idaho.gov. March 5, 2020 /
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Dollar Beers! 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry
Thursday Night Solo Series w/ Kevin Dorin 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Progressive blues from this Sandpoint artist
Edgar Cayce Study Group 9-11am @ Gardenia Center Meets every Thursday
Adult Grief Support Group (free) 6pm @ Bonner General Health Classroom For those who’ve lost a spouse or parent.
The Follies! 8pm @ Panida Theater Angels Over Sandpoint’s risque variety show fundraiser is back! Live Music w/ TBD Doors open at 7. Have fun! 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Live Music w/ Truck Mills There was a last-minute cancellation, so And Carl Rey it’s anyone’s guess what band will play! 5:30-8:30pm @ Matchwood Live Music w/ Devon Wade 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Country night at the Beer Hall
Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Indie rock mutli-instrumental trio playing dance originals and fun covers Live Music w/ Spare Parts 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery A special four-piece set!
Live Music w/ Ke 8-10pm @ The Bac Progressive blues f Live Music w/ Ke 3-5:30pm @ Davis Everyone is welcom tunes, community,
Trivia Night 7pm @ MickDuff’s Show off that big, beautiful brain of yours
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!
The Follies! 8pm @ Pani Angels Over variety show Support you have a ball.
DJ Kevin 9pm-cl @ A&P’s
Piano Sunday w/ Bob Beadling 3-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Bob will be playing traditional and contemporary songs on the grand piano
Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Karaoke 8-close @ Tervan
Night-Out Karaoke 8-11pm @ 219 Lounge Join DJ Webrix for a night of singing, or just come to drink and listen
Girls Who Code 4-5pm @ Sandpo 10-week program sive activities. gi Storytime and 10:15am @ Cr Storytime at 1
Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 5:30-7:30pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs 8-10pm @ The Back Door Acoustic pop and folk rock
Follies after party 9pm-cl @ A&P’s Live Music w/ Luke Yates 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Prizes & giveaways Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am
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FOL Monthly B 10am-2pm @ S Free and open proceeds benefi
Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalepeño’s Mexican Restaurant An hour of conversation and stories. This week’s topic: “Low Cost/No Cost Adventures”
Djembe class for adults 5:45-7:30pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandpo Join Ali Thomas for this djembe (drum) class
Paint and Sip with Holly Walker @ Pend d’Oreille Winery A night of painting, sipping and snacking. $35 in plies and instruction and a glass of select wine.
Wind Down Wednesday The Conversation Open Mic w/ Kevin Dorin Projec 5-8pm @ 219 Lounge 6-8pm @ 2nd Ave. Pizza 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 5-8pm With live music by Truck “Portrait Perspectives” All are welcome to share with Ordnan Mills and guest Tito Huizar artists sharing with artsts. the room, or just come to lis- Live m Live Music w/ Joshua Walters Free and open to public ten. Kevin will record your and Do song, too! and com 7-10pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Thursday Night Solo Series w/ Brian Jacobs More Than a W Dollar Beers! 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 6:30-9pm @ The 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub A night of laugh Good until the keg’s dry Acoustic and pop favorites Better Breathers Club Piano w/ Dwayne Parsons ia. Proceeds ben 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery 1pm @ Bonner General Health Classroom nonprofit that res For those w/ chronic lung disease
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A weekly entertainment guide to keep you on your toes. To list your event free, please send an email to calendar@sandpointreader.com. Reader recommended
Alzheimer’s Support Group Who Code 1pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center @ Sandpoint Library k program using immer- For families, caregivers and ivities. girlswhocode.com friends of those with Alzheimer’s ytime and Crafting for Kids (every Thursday) 5am @ Creations for Sandpoint ytime at 10:15, crafting at 11. $5 suggested donation/family
First Friday at Artworks Gallery 5-6:30pm @ Artworks Gallery Check out the work of three new artists: Brandon Puckett, Colleen Auble and Diane Kinney First Friday art reception and live music w/ Mike Wagoner & Utah John sic w/ Kevin Dorin Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 4-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery @ The Back Door 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority POAC’s First Friday reception, with ve blues from Sandpoint Jazz and beer: a timeless combination “Women Painting Women” exhibit of sic w/ Ken Mayginnes Explore Virtual Reality local female artists’ work from 4-7. Live m @ Davis Cafe Hope 10am-12pm @ Spt Library music from 5-8. is welcome to come enjoy great Reserve a 15-minute session in Follies after party w/ DJ Shanner mmunity, and beer and wine the VR room for free! 263-6930 9pm-cl @ A&P’s
READY! for Kindergarten - Spring Session Paddlesports America Course Panhandle Alliance for Education provides 9am-3pm @ Spt. City Hall free READY! for Kindergarten classes for Join Spt. Parks and Rec. for parents of children from birth to age five. In- this free intro course to meet cludes a 30-min orientation and 90-min class. boater education needs for operating a paddle craft Register at ReadySandpoint.org Live Music w/ Chris Lynch Bella Note Musical Program Karaoke 8-10pm @ Connie’s Lounge 10:30am @ Sandpoint Library &P’s 8-close @ Tervan Part of a monthly series geared for families with young children Forestry Cost-Sharing Workshop Monthly Book Sale 8:30am-12pm @ Univ. of Idaho Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center 2pm @ Sandpoint Library and open to the public, with A workshop that includes an intro to the scope of forestry cost-share programs and a panel of Idaho Master Forest Stewards. 208-263-8511 eds benefiting the Library
he Follies! m @ Panida Theater ngels Over Sandpoint’s risque riety show fundraiser is back! pport your community and ve a ball. Doors open at 7
ant s. This entures”
Outdoor Experience Monday Night Run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience A chill, three-mile(ish) group run with optional beverages to follow
of Sandpoint m) class
The Surf and Turf of Sealing the Deal 8am-4:15pm @ U of Idaho property (N. Boyer) A course designed to educate the real estate profession on new or updated info in areas such as water quality, septic and drain fields, planning and zoning and more. Sign up at 208-265-2227
ng. $35 includes art supect wine. 208-265-8545
ll th sur
Hypothermia and Cold Injuries Class 6-7pm @ Outdoor Experience A free class hosted by Longleaf Wilderness Medicine
Project 7B Fundraiser 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Ordnance Brewing Beer on tap. Live music by Marty Perron and Doug Bond, raffle prizes and complimentary appetizers
Last 2020 IPAC Snow Pit Chat 6-8pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. The last Idaho Panhandle Avalance Center backcountry chat of 2020. Kick the keg for donations! Beer!
Than a Woman Trivia Einstein, Hubble and the Smoking Gun pm @ The Back Door 6pm @ Sandpoint Library t of laughter and female-focused triv- A presentation on cosmology by Dr. Philceeds benefit Return Retreats, a local ip Deutchman, Emeritus Professor of fit that rescues and restores women Physics from Univ. of Idaho
March 13 Otters: An Educational Presentation @ Panida’s Little Theater March 13 Contra Dance @ Sandpoint Community Hall March 14 IEA Children’s Fund Huge Yard Sale @ SHS
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COMMUNITY
CAL offers scholarships By Reader Staff The Community Assistance League is offering more than 40 scholarship opportunities to Bonner County residents. This includes high-school seniors, home-schooled students, those who received a CAL scholarship in 2019 and those who have delayed their education. In addition, this year only a Schweitzer scholarship will be offered to students who worked, volunteered, were on a snow sports team or whose parents worked on the mountain. This is possible because of a generous donation by the purchaser of a Snow Ghost chair. Applications are available to download from sh.lposd.org. Type “local scholarships” in the search bar.
The deadline for receiving applications is 9 a.m., Friday, April 10. They may be dropped off at your school’s counseling center, mailed to CAL Scholarship Committee, PO Box 1361 Sandpoint and received by deadline, or delivered to Bizarre Bazaar by 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 9. Be certain they are complete, including the correct CAL cover form for your category. Bizarre Bazaar is CAL’s upscale retail store located at 501 Church St. in Sandpoint. All profits from the store are given back to the community through scholarships and grants. For more information contact Sally Lowry at 208-9461055 or email impsally@imaxmail.net.
Spring book sale on at the Library By Reader Staff With the warmth of the spring sun, thoughts immediately turn to gardening, with visions of flowers and vegetables filling our heads. Don’t be fooled, though — it’s time to plan not plant. To help with the planning process, the Sandpoint Friends of the Library is featuring a selection of gardening books for its first spring book sale Saturday, March 7 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Spring also heralds the return of migratory birds, so the FOL is also featuring bird and animal books. Nonfiction is on special for the March sale — look for titles on the center tables of the lobby and in the book room. Money raised at monthly book sales goes back to the Sandpoint Library, so your springtime reading material provides material support for its programs.
THE READER TRAVELS TO NZ
Sandpoint’s Marilyn Haddad brought the Reader to New Zealand recently. She can be seen here at Cape Reinga, the very north point of NZ where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. According to Haddad, the Maori consider this site the jumping-off point for souls as they depart on the journey to their spiritual homeland. “It is the most sacred site for all of New Zealand (also known as Aotearoa in Maorie). Photo taken by Dave Hussey.
March First Friday: Portraits of prominent women of the local past By Reader Staff On the first Friday of each month, the Pend Oreille Arts Council hosts First Fridays art receptions in collaboration with the Pend d’Oreille Winery. For March, POAC and the winery are joining forces with the Bonner County History Museum to offer “Women Painting Women.” The theme is in celebration of Women’s History Month and the national centennial of women being granted the right to vote. A dozen local female artists have been commissioned to
MCS holding auditions for Ting Scholarship By Reader Staff The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint has announced it will hold auditions for two $600 Ting Merit Scholarships for aspiring musicians in 20202021. The scholarships are open 14 /
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to students at least 12 years old who have a minimum of three years of experience on their instrument. The audition will take place at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 22, at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, 110 Main
St. It is open not only to all instrumentalists, but also those interested in pursuing theater. For more information call MCS at 208-265-4444.
create a portrait of a woman who has made a significant impact on the history of Bonner County, using research materials and photographs from the Bonner County History Museum. What follows is a list of all local artists, as well as the name of the historic Bonner County woman she chose to paint in parentheses: Jenni Barry (Minnie Lafond), Peggy Tessema Compton (Nell Shipman), Lesley Gadsby (Amanda Nesbit-Stebbins), Diana Schuppel (Hazel Hall), Gail Lyster (Olinda
Wolters), Barbara Cannon (Elmira Markham), Maggie Dawson (Delta Merritt), Terrel Jones (Bertha Huey Johnson), Daris Judd (Nell Irion), Mary Maio (Rugna Sund Reynolds), Karen Robinson (Dr. Ethel Page Westwood), Karen Trueblood (Leta Judd), Alison Barrows-Young (Selma Barker). All portraits will be displayed Friday, March 6 from 4-7 p.m. at the Pend d’Oreille Winery (301 Cedar St. in Sandpoint). Each portrait will then be auctioned off to the public, with proceeds benefiting the arts in Sandpoint.
Donating to Angels By Reader Staff Mel Dick, owner of the 219 Lounge, presented the Angels Over Sandpoint board of directors with $500 this week from the Pre-Follies Groundhog Day event hosted at the 219. The money goes right back into the community through
grants, scholarships, backpacks for kids and support to Bonner County residents in need. The Follies – the Angels’ biggest fundraiser – is Friday, March 6 and Saturday March 7 at the Panida Theater’s main stage. There are a few tickets still left on brownpapertickets. com.
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FOOD & DRINK
‘Like coming back to an old friend’
A new generation discovers The Hydra
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff It’s not often that “surreal” is a good word to use when describing a dining experience. That said, there are only a few better ways of capturing the feeling when, as an almost 40-year-old Sandpoint native, you go through the salad bar at The Hydra with your 7- and 5-year-old kids — just like you did when you were their age. “That’s your rite of passage, when you’re old enough to go to the salad bar alone,” said Mike Armstrong, owner and chef at The Hydra Steakhouse since 2001. In his 19 years at the helm of the Sandpoint institution, tucked away at 115 Lake St., Armstrong has had ample time to feel the generational pulse of the place. On the bar side, “we’ve got the same old codgers who’ve been coming in here since before I was here,” he said. Mingled with the old guard is the younger crowd; the kids in their 20s and 30s, many of whom once worked at The Hydra, and maybe went away to college or work, came home and perhaps had families of their own, and want to return to a place
Always Something N
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filled with fond memories. “It’s like a family business,” Armstrong said. “It’s like they’re all my kids — like I have 100 kids in this town. It’s just great to see, when they come back and I get to hear about their lives.” Plenty of lives — and big life events — have passed through The Hydra since it opened in what was once a two-story, single-family home in 1975. As now, The Hydra came to life amid a boomtime for newcomers looking for a simpler existence in North Idaho. Back-to-the-landers, spiritual seekers and all manner of free spirits flocked to the Sandpoint area then, and The Hydra quickly became a hotspot. Before long the restaurant needed to expand, as repeated additions to the building both increased its capacity while layering it with quirks — the maze-like interior of warm-lit wooden booths, cozy nooks and creative use of stained glass giving the place its signature sense of intimacy while also accommodating up to 200 diners today. “The old building has good bones; it’s kind of a landmark,” said Armstrong. “Some of the area in here, the hippies designed it and it kind of stayed.” The mid-’70s and early-’80s were rowdy years, but The Hydra also established itself as an upscale yet affordable family dining establishment. Through the ’80s and ’90s, the restaurant played host to who knows how many graduation dinners, special family occasions and dates (one of my own romantic evenings there in the summer of 1998 ended with me getting dumped — and still picking up the check. To this day I’d prefer not to sit at a certain table near the stairs in the back dining area.) Since Armstrong took over the business in 2001, “we’ve been doing better and better and we keep plugging away,” he said. In recent years, that has included an upswing in that younger clientele, which Armstrong attributes in part to General
General Manager Kate Reeder, left, and bar manager Hallie Payne, right, pour drinks in The Hydra’s lounge. Photo by Ben Olson.
Manager Kate Reeder, who “is really doing a great job of getting the younger crowd coming in,” he said. “I’m an old guy, I’ve been doing this for 40 years,” he added, noting that Reeder is in her late 20s. “Having her here has really made a difference. I give her the credit. I’m just the grumpy guy in the back cooking.” Anecdotally, The Hydra does indeed seem to be experiencing something of a renaissance — especially among the mid-20s to late-30s/early-40s set looking for a fine meal, comfortable ambiance and to enjoy the steakhouse’s ample menu of specialty cocktails. For longtime locals, the attraction of nostalgia is undeniable. Though the Shirley Temple or Roy Rogers on the table may have been replaced with something stiffer, it’s hard to pass up the opportunity to relive a bit of your own childhood by introducing the next generation to those high-style soft beverages of yore. That they’re still a staple at The Hydra is equally comforting — not much has changed in the place over the years, and that’s a good thing. The board of fare remains scratch-made, yet priced with locals in mind. When my wife and I took our kids for their inaugural Hydra experience on a recent Friday, we went big: New York strip (perfectly rare), $29; wild catch salmon, $20; two kids soup ’n’ salad, a.k.a. “The Salad Bar,” at $5.95 each; a Kokanee (bottle), $3; a bottle of good pinot noir, $28; and a mountainous slice of chocolate cake that took us two days to finish, $9.95. That’s a legit night out for anybody, and we happily stood up from the table after three trips to the salad bar with a check just shy of $130 — a price we’d happily pay again for the food as much as the memories — both the old ones and the new. “It’s like coming back to an old friend,” Armstrong said. “It’s always here and people know what to expect.”
FOOD & DRINK
New kids on the bridge
Tyler Francis and Taylar Doolittle purchase the Cedar Street Bistro and Wine Bar
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff
After 12 years at the Cedar Street Bistro, Tim and Manuela Frazier are bidding farewell to the days of crafting crepes, sandwiches, gelato and beyond from scratch. “It needs some new energy,” Tim said. “We’ve taken it as far as we can. It’s time for us to move on.” Though the Fraziers will continue to own and operate the Christmas and T-shirt shops next to the bistro, Manuela said she will miss the regular interaction with customers who visit from faraway places each summer. “We’ve met some great people. We’ve made friendships with customers,” she said. “I’ve seen kids grow up.” As of March 1, the Fraziers officially sold the business to Tyler Francis and Taylar Doolittle — a young couple excited to contribute to the bustling Cedar Street Bridge. Both have experience in the food service industry, having cooked and served tables at several establishments. The duo met while working at Elkins Resort in
Priest Lake. Under the new ownership, the Cedar Street Bistro will adopt a new name: Taysty’s. It’s a combination of the owners’ names, branding the restaurant both “Tay’s” and “Ty’s.” Aside from the moniker, changes at the restaurant will be gradual, Doolittle said. They plan to serve the same menu for the time being, and will soon add smoked meats to the mix, thanks to a commercial smoker slated to be installed just outside the kitchen. Doolittle and Francis plan to keep all of the bistro’s current staff. “They are trained up and ready to go,” Francis said. Other changes will include lengthened hours, more salad options, mocktails and game nights. “We want to be mindful of our local loves that are going to have a hard [time] with change,” Doolittle said. “There will be fun changes to come, but nothing too extravagant at first.” The sale of the Cedar Street Bistro also includes the connected wine bar. Francis and Doolittle said they intend to offer some tapas, help educate
diners about what wine might pair best with their meal and expand their organic wine offerings. “Not just one or two bottles — I mean that sincerely,” Doolittle said. “We want to have a great variety [of organic wines] and a selection you can’t go
find elsewhere in Sandpoint.” Tyler Francis and Taylar Doolittle, new owners of the Cedar Street Bistro and Wine Bar — Both acknowledged that which they will soon rename. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert. business ownership is a new challenge when compared interacting with customers and to working in the restaurant gathering feedback. industry. Francis described the “We’d be crazy to say we new venture as “a whole other weren’t nervous, but it’s a ball game.” Nevertheless, both good scary,” Doolittle said. said they are excited to start “We’re excited.”
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BUSINESS
New owners on tap
Idaho Pour Authority founders Jon and Vicki sell their craft beer hotspot
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Jon Hagadone never wanted to be a bartender. When he and Vicki Reich launched Idaho Pour Authority in late-May 2013, both envisioned it as a craft beer retail store that offered samples of the beers and perhaps home brew supplies to aficionados. “But our customers had a different idea,” Hagadone told the Reader with a grin. “They forced us into being a pub-store.” Almost seven years later, Idaho Pour Authority has firmly established itself as one of those unique businesses that found a niche and filled it perfectly. It’s not just a retail beer store, not just a pub, but incorporates the best elements of both. It’s a great place to tip a couple of pints after work, meet friends in a well-lit, comfortable atmosphere, as well as a venue to host live music and fundraisers for local nonprofits. Known as “Pour” or “IPA” around town, Hagadone and Reich’s dream business has now moved full circle as they announced March 2 they had sold the business at 203 Cedar St. in downtown Sandpoint to Ben and Jeannie Higgs, owners of the Powderhound on Schweitzer and The Hound, soon to be rebuilt following a devastating fire last year at the corner of First Avenue and Bridge Street. “My goal was to only be in this business for five years,” Hagadone said. “After the sixth year, though, I realized I wanted to make a move. I want to have some fun and not work so many hours.” Hagadone quietly put out the word he was interested in retiring from the beer business and, after a few false starts from other interested parties, was approached by the Higgses. “I’ve known Ben for a while and Jeannie, too,” Hagadone said. “When he got ahold of me and said he’d heard a rumor I was interested in selling, we met with him and it was like boom, this is happening.” “They just have really great energy and they’re smart business 18 /
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people,” Reich said. Hagadone and Reich will spend the rest of March training the Higgses, culminating in a Pass the Torch party on Saturday, March 28 from 4-8 p.m. There will be live music, Powderhound Pizza and, of course, beer. The Higgses officially take over on Wednesday, April 1. “We like what [Jon and Vicki] have built and want to continue it for all the customers who love this place,” Ben Higgs told the Reader. Craft beer isn’t exactly a stretch for Higgs, who said he regularly focuses on high-quality brews for both of his restaurants. While every change of ownership brings inevitable changes, Higgs said his changes will be very minor. “We don’t really want to change much,” he said. “They’ve built a great model. … We’re going to continue the fundraisers, which are booked all the way until 2021 already. We’ll plan on being open Sundays and maybe extending hours in the summer until at least when the sun goes down. And we’ll definitely keep live music going.” Higgs said acquiring Idaho Pour Authority won’t affect plans to rebuild The Hound Downtown after the February 2019 that claimed the building in which it was located. Rebuilding should begin in the spring or summer of 2020, with a completion goal slated for summer 2021. “That gives us a little over a year to work on this place and figure things out and hopefully provide a good job for people to continue with the vision of what they’ve built here,” he said. According to Higgs, any of the more than a half-dozen employees who currently work at Idaho Pour Authority are welcome to stay if they want to. “Some are leaving already, who were planning to before this sale,” he said. “We also have a few full-time [Hound] staff that have been out of a job in the summertime that’ll probably join the team here.” For Hagadone and Reich, the
sale of their beloved beer store is a bittersweet mix of emotions. “We have had a really great local clientele,” Hagadone said. “We have dedicated customers. … This is like my second home. My parents owned this building around World War II and I used to work here when I was a kid. So did my sisters. It always felt like home when I was here. I’ll miss a lot of the people.” “I’ll miss our staff,” Reich said. “We have such a great staff.
They’re just really fun to work with.” It’s not a full retirement for Hagadone or Reich, though. Hagadone has a few properties to take care of, including the family building on Cedar Street. “Were gone April 1, but they’ll still have to deal with me as a landlord,” he said. Reich recently joined the board of 101 Women and plans to focus on volunteer work and taking care of the homestead, tackling projects
From left to right: Jeannie and Ben Higgs (new owners) meet with Jon Hagadone and Vicki Reich (former owners) at Idaho Pour Authority. Photo by Zach Hagadone.
that have been set aside for years. “We plan to spend more time on the lake and more time on the bike,” Reich said. “I’ve made friends with so many of our customers that I’ll feel like now we’ll actually be able to go out and do things with them.”
STAGE & SCREEN
Cowboy up for The Follies
18th annual Angels Over Sandpoint adult variety show offers a naughty time for a nice cause
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff As North Idaho decides which season to put on display this week, the Angels Over Sandpoint are preparing winter’s official sendoff — The Follies adult variety show, this year slated for Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7. According to Angels Board Member Kate McAlister, Sandpoint’s most bawdy and politically incorrect annual performance provides a welcome reprieve from shoulder season. “It comes at a perfect time because everybody is shacky-wacky,” she said. “It’s not winter, it’s not spring. So we want to get out and scream and yell and curse and laugh — have a good time.” The Follies, now in its 18th year, used to coincide with the Sandpoint Mardi Gras celebration. When that event faded away, the Angels chose to keep the wildly popular Follies fundraiser going, scheduling the show for the first weekend of March, in perpetuity. It’s a long-held tradition that attendees dress up in costumes to compliment a theme, and this year’s western flavor is a Follies first: “Cowboy Up,” albeit with less iron and more potassium. “We know that when people dress up like cowboys they like to bring their six-shooters, but we’re not even allowing toy guns, so please bring bananas,” McAlister said. The Follies this year comes complete with cowboys dancing in cutoff shorts, large condoms into which audience members can deposit their dollar bills, and likely a fair amount of language befitting the saltiest cowpokes. Given its well-known R-rating for “risque, racy and ridiculous” material, attendees must be aged 21 and over.
“It’s more ‘vaudeville burlesque’ — trouble and more; and numerous scholarwhere it’s more innuendo, it’s not graphic,” ships and grants. The Angels have funneled McAlister said. about $1.7 million into the community since “It’s raunchy and risque and so fun,” An- the group’s inception in 1997. gels Board Member Marcia Pilgeram added. “We are all volunteers — 100% volShow organizers — led by Director unteers,” Pilgeram said. “And this is the Dorothy Prophet — hold largest fundraiser we do auditions in January each year every year.” with the goal to fill 16-18 So fasten those chaps Friday, March 6 and Satshow slots with local talent. and pearl-snaps, straightThis year, 30 groups tried out. urday, March 7; doors at en that 10-gallon hat and 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.; $30; “I am shocked at the talent 21+. The Panida Theater, slip a banana in your in this town — the caliber. It holster this weekend 300 N. First Ave., 208-263is as good as any I’ve seen 9191, panida.org. Tickets to support a group of available at Eichardt’s, anywhere,” Pilgeram said. volunteers who not only Eve’s Leaves and online at The night will also feature dedicate time to make brownpapertickets.com by raffles, Follies merchandise The Follies a Sandpoint searching “The Follies.” and a variety of specialty staple, but use the event cocktails for sale. While fun is as a means to make real encouraged, McAlister and Pilgeram empha- change in the community. sized that safety is the Angels’ top priority, “We really want to make a difference, so complimentary cab rides will be offered to not just put a Band-Aid on something,” anyone unfit to drive themselves home. McAlister said. “We want to make sure that While The Follies is widely regarded as when we do all this hard work as volunteers among the premier events on Sandpoint’s that the money will help the organization or yearly entertainment calendar, there’s no the individual to succeed and move just a denying that this type of fun might not be little bit further.” for everyone. “It’s just like anything — if you’re offended, then you don’t need to purchase a ticket,” McAlister said. “But the Angels Over Sandpoint do some amazing things in our town and have for 20 years.” Some of those things include the annual Back To School program, which provides local children with backpacks and school supplies; monthly donations to support veterans’ health, domestic violence victims and local navigation services, which point people in the right direction when they come forward with needs including firewood, car
The Follies (R)
Otters coming to a theater near you By Reader Staff Local conservation groups American Heritage Wildlife Foundation, Idaho Conservation League and Kaniksu Land Trust are once again sponsoring a special winter event at the Panida Little Theater — this time with a return visit from Dr. Wayne Melquist, who will speak about otters. Melquist addressed the community two years ago when he presented a fascinating program on osprey. On Saturday, March 13 he will share research, experience and anecdotes gleaned from a career of working with the captivating furbearers known as North American river otters, which are common in waterways throughout the Inland Northwest, including Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River.
Melquist earned his Ph.D. working with otters in 1981 before a stint at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in various capacities, ranging from wildlife manager to acting wildlife bureau chief. In 2003, Melquist transitioned to the University of Idaho where he worked as a research associate professor before spearheading a river otter restoration project in South Dakota. The Panida Little Theater has probably never before seen a presenter with such a breadth of knowledge pertaining to otters. The one-hour presentation will be offered at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased at kaniksulandtrust.org or by calling Kaniksu Land Trust at 208-263-9471. Please reserve ahead of time to ensure your seat. March 5, 2020 /
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COMMUNITY
A natural combination
Round Lake State Park has hosted Friends of Scotchman Peaks’ Winter Tracks for five winters
By Reader Staff
The Clark Fork High School gymnasium has a smell. Some have described it simply as the smell of an old building. A more apt description I recently heard was “popcorn and bodies.” Whatever it is, I’d make a candle out of it. I grew up in that gym, played sports for several years on that yellow hardwood and now coach players there every week. The smell follows me home in my car and on my clothes, but I don’t mind. I fell in love with it as a kid, likely during my favorite weekend of the year — the Clark Fork Alumni Tournament. The 33rd annual volleyball and basketball tournaments are taking place Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 8 this year, during which seniors in high school and older can participate. Though the weekend was originally formed to accommodate CFHS alumni, it’s evolved to invite “alumni and friends.” The tournament serves as the school’s largest annual fundraiser, with proceeds from player fees and a weekend-long silent auction going toward extracurricular activities. As I get to know more people through my job at the Reader, I’ve come to enjoy the part of the conversation where I reveal my Clark Fork upbringing. My pride in that place has only grown since childhood, and I feel lucky to be able to spend a good portion of my time making sure other kids have a similarly positive experience. Beyond popcorn and bodies, the CFHS gym smells like aging hardwood and hints of Old Spice. Its sounds are voices and bouncing basketballs echoing from the white brick walls. It tastes like deli sandwiches eaten hurriedly before a game and concession-stand coffee on long tournament days. It looks bright, with lights shining off the floor’s varnish. It feels like there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Here’s to more memories this weekend. Go Wampus Cats. 20 /
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Round Lake State Park and Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness have been partners in outdoor education for five years. Former Park Manager Chuck Gross and then-FSPW staffer Kristin Nowicki began the relationship in 2015, when Round Lake hosted its first Winter Tracks. Current Manager Mary McGraw has enthusiastically kept it going. “A favorite part of my job is to be able to see a lot of the youth coming to the park, enjoying the resource, getting outdoors and having fun,” she said. “We love to have Friends of Scotchman Peaks come out with their Winter Tracks program. It’s wonderful.” Winter Tracks is a multi-module outdoor class aimed at elementary students, though high-school students have participated, too. Round Lake has hosted classes from Clark Fork, Sandpoint and as far afield as Spokane. Round Lake roads and parking lots are open for visitors year round, and the staff takes special care to make them winter safe with plowing and sanding. When school busses arrive at Round Lake, McGraw and her staff — Audra Razo
and Bart Gutke — make sure they can safely enter and exit. The park is well suited to Winter Tracks class offerings. Each day includes four modules drawn from a selection including tracking, avalanche safety and awareness, tree identification, winter birding, native mammals, orienteering and “Leave No Trace” principles. The park’s riparian zones, forests and open spaces are ideal “classrooms.” One Winter Tracks module focused on native mammals is held inside the park headquarters, which houses a fine collection of animal artifacts and habitat-related materials. The lakeside pavilion
provides shelter against nasty weather. The staff makes sure there is plenty of firewood there to keep students warm on the chilly days and also recently added covered space — a new porch on the headquarters building provides enough room for a class should the weather prove uncooperative. A new picnic shelter above the lower parking lot is the site of this year’s avalanche awareness class. Razo and Gutke have both been with Idaho Parks and Recreation for seven years. Razo has been at Round Lake for that entire time, while Gutke spent five years at Bruneau Dunes State Park in southwest Idaho before transfer-
The sixth grades from Farmin-Stidwell School had a great time participating in a February Winter Tracks at Round Lake State Park. Courtesy photo. ring to Round Lake. McGraw is a 33-year veteran of Idaho Parks and Rec., with the past 23 years spent at Round Lake. “I know most of these trees personally,” she said, pointing into the forest surrounding the lake. “Our mission at the park is to encourage people to come out and add to their quality of life through outdoor recreation and resource stewardship,” McGraw added. “The kids coming to the park in the winter is exactly what we need to be doing.”
A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Mike Wagoner and Utah John, March 6, Pend d’Oreille Winery
Spare Parts, March 7, Pend d’Oreille Winery
Come one, come all — and come early — as the popular duo Mike Wagoner and Utah John Stoll bring folk, country, soul and even some rock ’n’ roll to the Pend d’Oreille Winery during a Pend Oreille Arts Council First Friday art reception. The reception will be the first chance to see POAC’s Women Painting Women art exhibit — a collaboration with the Bonner County History Museum in which 12 local female artists were tasked with creating a portrait of a woman who had an impact on Bonner County history. Those who can’t make it to the reception will miss out on Wagoner and Stoll’s musical talents, but the exhibit will be on display at the winery during the month of March — Women’s History Month — from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. —Lyndsie Kiebert
Every member of Spokane-based cover band Spare Parts brings something important to the ensemble’s style, making each of them anything but spare. Though the band is best known as a three-piece made up of guitarists Joel Johnston and Scott Randall along with bassist Kim Davis, the group’s Saturday, March 7 winery gig will also feature Duane Becker on dobro and steel guitar. While Johnston brings a country flare to the band’s sound, Randall specializes in the classic rock, jazz and Motown portions of Spare Parts’ catalog. With Spare Parts, listeners never know what they’ll get, as songs spanning from the 1960s to contemporary hits are fair game. It’s that variety that led the Inlander to recently name Spare Parts as one of the best cover bands in the Lilac City. — Lyndsie Kiebert
5-8 p.m., FREE. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar St., 208-2658545, powine.com.
5-8 p.m., FREE. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar St., 208-2658545, powine.com.
MUSIC
MCS expands Summer Academy offerings Program growth leads to exciting new developments for 2021 By Ben Olson Reader Staff It’s been an exciting year for the Sandpoint Music Conservatory. In September 2019, MCS announced it had completed the purchase of the downtown Sandpoint building at 110 Main St., which the nonprofit arts organization occupied for a decade. With the Pend Oreille Arts Council also moving into the same building, the conservatory’s mission to provide top-notch fine arts education to students of all ages and abilities became even more centralized. Looking to the future, MCS Executive Director Karin Wedemeyer recently announced that the 2020 Summer Academy offerings will expand in preparation for some exciting changes in 2021. “We have created Sandpoint Celebrates Arts and Culture,” Wedemeyer told the Reader. “This is a partnership between POAC, Lost Horse Press and MCS.” The collaborative effort acts as an umbrella for popular events including the Summer Academy, the Bel Canto Choir performance June 28, as well as the Arts and Crafts Fair and annual Montana Shakespeare in the Parks — both occurring in August. The impetus for Sandpoint Cel-
ebrates Arts and Culture is for arts organizations to combine forces to promote a wider variety of arts outside of their respective spheres of influence — in the process, broadening the horizons of students and art lovers. “This is a coming together of visual arts and literary arts,” Wedemeyer said. “Rather than compartmentalizing the arts, we want to bring them together.” The format of the annual Summer Academy will change slightly this year, Wedemeyer said. Where before the academy operated over a period of four weeks, with different music camps at different times, this year it will be modeled after what participants might find at music camps like Interlochen Michigan or the Boston University Tanglewood Institute — both highly immersive and world famous camps featuring noted instructors teaching a multitude of different disciplines, some of which reach beyond music. Wedemeyer said the goal is to tap into the Spokane Symphony in 2021 to spearhead the immersive camp experience. “We’re inviting students to participate this year, looking for feedback and pricing it in a really affordable way,” Wedemeyer said. Students will now get to choose
majors such as orchestra, theater, choir, piano and electives from percussion to improv, fiddle and ukulele. Music theory is also included. As a result, the Summer Academy is now condensed to two weeks of more intense activities. The experience spans from July 27 to Aug. 7, culminating with a performance Aug. 7 on the Panida Theater main stage. Camp tuition ranges from $125 to $225 for two weeks, with an early registration discount available, reducing the whole-day camp to $195. The early bird registration deadline is June 15. To register, or for more
Music Conservatory of Sandpoint executive director Karin Wedemeyer stands outside the building at 110 Main St., which MCS acquired in 2019. Photo by Ben Olson. information about the Summer Academy or MCS in general, visit sandpointconservatory.org or call 208-265-444. Better yet, don’t be afraid to stop into the MCS office at 110 Main St. to learn more. “We’re very excited looking into the future,” Wedemeyer said. “There’s a lot of synergy here and we’re laying the foundation of something truly exciting for our students and community.”
A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Terry Robb, March 11, Di Luna’s Cafe Project 7B fundraiser feat. Marty Perron and
Apparently, when you win the Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar enough times, the Cascade Blues Association goes ahead and If you’re looking for local entertainment puts your name on it. Now, regardless of which supporting a local cause in a local establishartist earns top marks for their acoustic skills, ment, look no further than the Project 7B they’re honored with the “Terry Robb” Acousfundraiser Wednesday, March 11 at Idaho tic Guitar trophy. Pour Authority, featuring acoustic songsters Vancouver, Wash.-born, Portland-based Robb Marty Perron and Doug Bond. is a verified living legend in the blues world, with From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., sip suds from distinctions including — though not limited to — induction in the Oregon Ordnance Brewing and munch on compliMusic Hall of Fame; rivers of ink from publications ranging from Rolling mentary appetizers to the tuneful stylings Stone to Down Beat to O Magazine; and appearances on Late Night With of Perron and Bond — a Sandpoint standConan O’Brien, at the Rose Garden, and on stage with the Oregon Symphoby mandolin-guitar duo playing artful covers of all your favorites. ny, Buddy Guy and Steve Miller. Participate in a silent auction and raffle to support the non-partisan, Robb swings through Sandpoint for an appearance Wednesday, March nonprofit Project 7B, which works to educate, encourage involvement, 11 at Di Luna’s Cafe, followed by two shows in Newport, Wash. on Sathost public dialogue and foster collaboration around land use issues in urday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15. Don’t miss the chance to see this Bonner County. We call that looking for local in all the right places. paragon of the blues in an intimate downtown Sandpoint setting. — Zach Hagadone — Zach Hagadone 5-8 p.m., FREE, 21+. Idaho Pour Authority, 203 Cedar St., (208) Doors and 6 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m.; $12 advance, $15 at the door. Di 597-7096, idahopourauthority.com. Luna’s Cafe, 207 Cedar St., 208-, dilunas.com. Listen at terryrobb.com.
Doug Bond, March 11, Idaho Pour Authority
This week’s RLW by Ben Olson
READ
Don Quixote has always been one of my favorite characters in literature. The epic tale, published under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha, was first published by Miguel de Cervantes in the early 1600s, building a strong foundation for every book to follow throughout history. It’s no mistake that it’s generally referred to as “the first modern novel.” For being written more than 400 years ago, it was incredibly ahead of its time.
LISTEN
Some bands float deliciously beneath the radar, producing amazing music but not really breaking through to the mainstream. Broken Social Scene is one of these bands. This Canadian indie rock musical collective has a rotating list of band members that sometimes reaches as high as 19 people on stage, each adding their own unique soundscapes. It’s rock, indie, pop, folk, electronic and everything in between. My favorite albums are Feel Good Lost and You Forgot It in People.
WATCH
Netflix has perfected the limited series, with a targeted emphasis on true crime. I’ve watched several, but haven’t felt the emotional pangs like I did after watching The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. This heartbreaking story is hard to watch at times, but it needs to be seen. It involves an 8-year-old boy who endured one of the worst instances of child abuse I’ve ever heard about, and the systematic failures by every agency from the LA County Sheriff’s Office to the Department of Children and Family Services, who all could’ve done a lot more to help him. March 5, 2020 /
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From Northern Idaho News, Tuesday, March 17, 1914
BAWDY HOUSE RAID SUNDAY CAUSES ROW A motion to adjourn had already been made at the council meeting last night when Alderman Himes stated he had a little business to bring up. He wanted to know why, when “Dud” Wilson’s place was raided, the Lenox, the place over Spears Furniture store and the Commercial hotel were not also raided. This was a bombshell thrown into the midst of the most amicable and brotherly meetings the council has ever held. Mr. Himes stated that he saw a barrel of beer taken into the Lenox Saturday. Mayor Ewing wanted to know why he hadn’t reported the fact. Himes claimed the raiding of the Wilson place was a frame-up and declared that the mayor had laid his plans in Spokane ten days ago. Ewing stated that this was not true; that he had been in Spokane on business at that time. August Bernd and Mrs. Bernd joined in the discussion. The particular complaint of the latter seemed to be that the Bernd hotel is mistaken by drunken lumberjacks for the Commercial hotel. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bernd claimed to have called up the mayor a half dozen times in regard to the matter. “You did not,” said the mayor emphatically. “I did,” declared August, “But you were out.” This caused a laugh from the crowd which had been present to hear the paving discussion. With Mrs. Bernd it simmered down that she had called the mayor up once; that there was trouble in her own hotel but after the police arrived she would not prefer any charges so the couple were let go. The mayor offered to raid the Commercial hotel immediately if Mrs. Bernd would swear to a complaint. The meeting adjourned. 22 /
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Crossword Solution
I guess one of the funniest memories of my grandfather was the time I was at his house and that tied-up man with the gag in his mouth came hopping out of the closet and started yelling that he was really my grandfather and the other guy was an imposter and to run for help. Who was that guy?! Oh, well, never saw him again.
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CROSSWORD ACROSS
Woorf tdhe Week
echelon
/ESH-uh-lon/
[noun] 1. a level of command, authority, or rank.
“Danny’s work in nonprofits puts him in the upper echelon for candidates.”
Corrections: No mistakes were reported to us this week. Thanks for playing.
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Solution on page 22 12. Welcome 42. _______ nor 13. Hard fats 43. Estimated time 18. Genus of macaws of arrival 24. Travel through 45. Besmirches the air 47. Offensively bold 25. Deceptive DOWN 48. 1/16th of a pound maneuver 49. Fragrant oil 1. Cypher 26. Walking stick 51. Muzzle 2. Beasts of burden 27. Tinted 52. Sea 3. Printer’s unit 28. Decorative case 54. Climax 4. Anagram of “Dome” 29. Very loudly (music) 56. Arrived 5. Goat antelope 57. Wanes 6. Eastern Standard Time 31. Twirled 33. Dot 58. Narrow opening 7. Evening event 34. Kiss 59. Collections 8. Hostile 36. Hindu princess 62. Mesh 9. Previously owned 37. Does something 10. Original 38. Docile 11. Pains March 5, 2020 / R / 23 65. Bounds 66. Protagonist 67. At one time (archaic) 68. Homes for birds