Sandpoint Travers Park ‘inclusive play’ presentation and playground tour

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Sandpoint area residents are invited to attend an “Inclusive Play Presentation and Playground Tour,” set for Tuesday, May 16 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., hosted by the city of Sandpoint and featuring a presentation by inclusive play specialist Jill Moore, of Landscape Structures Inc.

Following Moore’s presentation, the tour will take place at the existing Travers Park playground (2102 Pine St.), where the city is planning to design and build a new play facility with features intended to meet the needs of children regardless of their physical abilities.

Sandpoint Parks Planning and Development Manager Maeve Nevins-Lavtar presented the inclusive playground concept in November 2022, telling the City Council at the time that while all every improvement on public property must adhere to federal Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, “inclusive design is above and beyond ADA.”

The new playground project is part of an ambitious overhaul of Travers Park, which includes the $7.5 million James E. Russell Sports Center as its centerpiece, alongside an expanded skatepark and bicycle pump track.

Plans to replace the current playground, which the city built in 2011, have spurred some pushback on the cost — $500,000 from a state grant and $500,000 in matching funds from the city — as well as the necessity and location, with opposition focused on whether the existing playground could be improved rather than replaced, and displeasure with the sports center being constructed on the site of the current playset.

City officials have repeated that while the playground had been compliant with ADA upon construction 12 years ago, it no longer meets the standards — let alone considered “inclusive.”

The May 16 event will begin at 11 a.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall (1123 Lake St.) with a presentation by Moore, which “will provide community members with an opportunity to learn how inclusive playground designs can meet the unique needs of all children. Attendees will learn about the range of disabilities of playground users, and tips and strategies will be provided on how to make small to major changes in play spaces to make playgrounds not just welcoming, but engaging, challenging and therapeutic,” according to the city.

Moore has served as an inclusive play specialist with Landscape Structures since 2017, with the goal of incorporating disability inclusion into playground product development and design practices. She has also represented Team USA as a multi-sport athlete, emphasizing the importance of equitable access to opportunities for play.

“With a specific focus on merging lived experience with universal design principles, Jill promotes and educates on integrating inclusion in play, and bringing people with disabilities into the conversation,” the city stated.

Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees that RSVP for the presentation in advance — courtesy of PlayCreation, Inc., which is sponsoring the event — and a virtual meeting link is optional for the presentation portion of the event.

To attend in person and get a free lunch, email recreation@sandpointIdaho.gov and add “RSVP PLAY” in the subject line. RSVP by Saturday, May 13 at 5 p.m. for guaranteed lunch, as space is limited.

To attend virtually via Zoom, register for the meeting at sandpointidaho.gov/your-government/meetings.

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

Prescribed burn associations are spreading like wildfire to prevent catastrophic wildfire. According to the recent Smithsonian magazine, a group of property owners share equipment and labor, along with training and experience, for what is akin to a barn-raising. A “burn boss” plans and coordinates a controlled burn, assures proper weather conditions, then, with association members, helps a landowner who has already thinned out small trees and trimmed lower branch ladder fuels. Tasks include torching small piles of forest debris.

Does it work? One homeowner (who built with cement board siding and a metal roof) thinned and groomed his 10 acres of trees, used an under-burn cooperative to remove flammables, then evacuated when the 2021 Dixie Fire approached. That 103day fire, which swallowed 960,000 acres and destroyed 1,300 structures, did not damage the homeowner’s property.

Scientists are calling reports of “unprecedented” warm ocean temperatures a step into “uncharted territory.” They don’t know if the warmer waters are a short-term extreme or “the start of something much more serious,” The Guardian reported.

A man who attacked police officers at the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot has been sentenced to 14 years, the AP reported. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is seeking a 25-year sentence against the Oath Keepers founder for “seditious conspiracy.” Other Oath Keepers face sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years.

According to federal statistics, 253,000 non-farm jobs were added in April, and unemployment fell to 3.4%. Average hourly wages rose 0.5%. Historian Heather Cox Richardson regards the numbers as a logical outcome of the current administration’s policies focused on bringing supply chains home, building infrastructure, boosting new manufacturing and the passage of various acts that invest in workers.

Prior to action that could result in national debt default, congressional Republicans introduced legislation that would add $5.3 trillion to the national debt, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. Included: making Trump-era tax cuts for the wealthy permanent (costing $3 trillion), and eliminating the estate tax (costing $1.8 trillion) — the latter applies only to 1,900 ultra-wealthy families.

Facing a June 1 deadline for resolution of how or if to raise the debt ceiling, a bipartisan meeting this week of House

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

and Senate leaders will explore Republicans’ demands. Republicans have said they won’t raise the debt ceiling, which allows for paying already incurred bills, unless their demands are met — erasing many of President Joe Biden’s accomplishments, including a healthy postCOVID economy and the lowest unemployment in decades. The debt ceiling was lifted three times when Trump was in office, which increased discretionary spending 16%.

The Biden administration is weighing whether to disregard Republican debt ceiling demands and instead rely on a 14th Amendment clause that says national debts must be paid, The New York Times reported. Problems to that include an “immediate court challenge,” creation of temporary bond market uncertainty and elevating government borrowing costs. There’s never before been a U.S. debt default.

The White House Council of Economic Advisors has presented three debt ceiling scenarios: if the issue is resolved before June 1, unemployment would rise 0.1% and 200,000 jobs would be at risk; if the default lasts less than a week, unemployment would rise 0.3% and there would be a 500,000 job loss; a longer default could mean 8.3 million people losing their jobs and a 45% stock market fall.

While Republicans are claiming inflation is due to injecting too much money into the economy via social welfare programs, The Wall Street Journal disagrees, recently reporting that the main factor in inflation has been price gouging by corporations.

A Texas student learned of books being removed from the English curriculum and started a Banned Book Club, ACLU Magazine reported. The club has grown and members say they appreciate defending their right to learn about society and the larger world.

Ukraine has suggested Russia is using phosphorous munitions in Bakhmut, a war crime in civilian areas.

A federal jury in New York City recently awarded more than $5 million to a woman who had accused formerj-President Donald Trump of raping her. The jury decided Trump had “sexually abused” the woman, according to Reuters.

Blast from the past: “Our Constitution does not start with ensuring tranquility. It starts with establishing justice.” — Rev. Dr. William Barber, a North Carolina pastor, in a conversation he had with Joe Biden before Biden became a presidential nominee.

Barbs:

• A text message circulating from East Bonner County Library Board of Trustees candidate Stacy Rodriguez’s campaign, which claims to be from her husband Dan Rodriguez, suggests that her opponent, incumbent Susan Shea, “believes that stripper poles and drag queens should be allowed in our community libraries.” The text (which oddly includes a misspelling of “Rodriguez”) likely alludes to her own words in a closing statement at the April 19 candidate forum, in which she claimed, “My opponent said she would support drag story hours if there was enough community interest? What about if the community wanted stripper poles? Are we going to have stripper poles installed because the community wants it?”

When asked for evidence about her claim, Rodriguez told the Reader that Shea said, “Why not?” in response to Rodriguez’s question about stripper poles at the library. Rodriguez included a video clip of her closing statement, but the clip does not show Shea saying those words. When asked by the Reader if she said, “Why not?” in response to Rodriguez’s claims at the forum, Shea fervently denied the claim.

“No, negative,” Shea said. “There was no response to that. ... I never said that. What possible association would stripper poles have with a library?” When asked if she supported stripper poles installed at the library, Shea said, “No, and I don’t support drag queen story hour either. [Rodriguez] essentially doesn’t have a platform she’s willing to publicly admit to, so her whole campaign has been tearing down my reputation. ... Saying that I want stripper poles in the library is so absurd to me that anybody would believe that. My first inclination is to ask ‘Who is going to believe that?’ Sadly, the reality is that some people do believe.”

Rodriguez gets the Barb this week, if for nothing else than to waste my time having to ask grown adults if they support stripper poles in a library. There are so many other important things to talk about in this world, yet here we are.

Dear editor, I feel like the “pro-life” movement should be re-labeled as the “pro-human-life” movement, when you consider that every human will consume thousands of plants and animals in their lifetime (not to mention the competition for natural resources necessary for the plants and animals to exist).

It’s a pretty easy argument to make that the “pro-life” movement is actually anti-life, while being prohuman-life.

Regardless of your thoughts on abortion, the thinking that we are the only life form (or the only life form that matters) is dangerous, narrow minded and needs to end.

Ed Ohlweiler Dover

Dear editor, The BCRCC wants to control everyone else: “Follow our Party Line or we will destroy you politically.” Kind of how former-Sen. Jim Woodward was smeared and lied about by Scott Herndon and the advertising firm paid $80,000 by Herndon to buy his way into the Senate, through lies and innuendos.

Oh, by the way, guess who is chairman of the BCRCC — why, it’s Scott Herndon.

Rep. Mark Sauter is representing the majority of people who elected him, not a small group marching to their own ideology to make people think like them.

Can you say BCRCC is trying to move us all backwards? Controlling libraries, what can and can’t be read or even on the library shelves. Sounds like the “Coalition for Moral Order,” and they’re the biggest hypocrites who feel it’s up to them to make the general population follow their decisions — they decide what is acceptable reading material, who made you people God?

This is 2023, not 1944. And, yes, we need more tradespeople; without them things fall apart. Vote Herndon out, he has absolutely no business pretending to represent the people.

Michael Harmelin Sandpoint

Dear editor,

The defining moments of our history

Share an essential commonality.

In 1776, with a bold Declaration,

Our founders courageously birthed a noble new nation.

The pursuit of happiness, life and liberty

Were radical ideals that sparked the Land of the Free.

“We the People” gave ourselves freedom to speak and bear arms, And other rights, and safeguards against authoritarian harms.

A stroke of Lincoln’s pen on the Emancipation Proclamation

Freed brilliant minds and passionate hearts to share in the dreams of our nation.

In another most worthy historical note,

The 19th Amendment granted women the vote.

Dr. King stood proud and raised our collective esteem

When he captivated and inspired us with “I have a dream!”

True strength has come not from defeating those fighting us.

But from the internal victories more deeply uniting us.

These movements were scoffed at and fought tooth-and-nail.

Yet America shines brighter when our better angels prevail.

Now, with gender identities we must move beyond strife,

To assure dignity and happiness in everyone’s life.

Yes, we’ll take this step forward, hopefully sooner than later.

More inclusive, America will grow stronger and greater.

Since the day we cast off England’s tyrannical yoke, Our finest hours have been, in today’s words: “Woke.”

Mark Cochran

Retired U.S. Marine, Sandpoint

Dear editor,

Thank goodness there is at least one elected state official representing Bonner County who is capable of thinking for themselves and doing what they feel is right, instead of what the Bonner County Republican Central Cult (BCRCC) or the Idaho Freedom Foundation Cult (IFF) wants to cram down everyone’s throats.

It is so very sad that we apparently only have one elected official from Bonner County who is not one of the sheep that is incapable of thinking for themselves and only doing the bidding of the BCRCC and IFF cults.

While I may not agree with everything that Rep. Sauter does, I do truly appreciate the fact that he does his homework, appreciates the concerns of his constituents, actually is capable of thinking for himself and has found the way to be supportive of important things such as education, libraries and health care, instead of drinking the Kool-Aid that the out-ofcontrol cults are promoting.

Thank you Mark!

Jeff Haun Sandpoint

Dear editor, Enough is enough! I’m tired of these ideologues telling us what we can read, say or think. They’re trying to make their own morals and standards everybody’s morals and standards. That isn’t the way America works. The U.S. Constitution gives us freedom of speech and that means we can say, read or write whatever we please. Whether anybody else wants to hear or read what’s been said or written is personal choice.

These modern book-burners are nothing but hypocrites who are terrified of anything that is different from their opinions and views. They wrap themselves in cherry-picked holy book stories and political opinions that ignore facts. That’s what extremists do.

No one tiny segment of society can decide what can be read or said for all. The sooner this is accepted the better for everyone. The idea of libraries being limited to one set of truths is contrary to everything this nation stands for. Libraries are meant to expand horizons — not limit them.

Read Banned Books is Sept. 18-24 this year. Any attempt to ban books, or any other form of speech, is taking away more of our constitutional rights.

Gil Beyer Sandpoint

Dear editor,

Over the past few years we’ve had a library that seems severely out of touch with the residents of the county that fund it and that it is supposed to serve.

From ridiculous COVID-19 policies (that were unsupported by science) to a refusal to even consider keeping books that contain sexual material too salacious to print in this paper in an area inaccessible to young children without parental permission, the current board of trustees has demonstrated that it is out of step with the values that make Bonner County a special place to live and raise our families.

What’s worse is that the current board has voted unanimously on every measure in its recent term, including the decision to spend nearly $250,000 of taxpayer money on a Mercedes-Benz for the library. Clearly, we need a new face on the board who will better represent the entirety of East Bonner County, and not just fall into line with the minority special-interest clique that seems to be running our library now. If we want true representation of the whole district’s population, Stacy Rodriguez is the best choice for EBCL Trustee on May 16.

Chris Anderson Sagle

Publisher’s note: The “Mercedes-Benz” referenced by the above letter writer is in fact a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 170 WB Extended Cargo Van. The Sprinter van would replace the existing Bookmobile, which was unable to operate in some outlying areas of the community over winter due to its age and deteriorating condition.

Dear editor,

To those in our community who have been promoting a “restricted” section of our library, I offer my carrot analogy.

I don’t like carrots. I don’t like them raw, cooked or in a soup. I don’t even like carrot cake. I cringe at the crunch of raw carrots being chewed. I don’t like carrots.

If I had my way, there would be no carrots. No one would grow them, sell them or ruin my salad with them. I would like to ban them. Or possibly put them in a “restricted section” of the Farmers’ Market or grocery store.

But should I have the right to do that? I am sure that carrot-lovers will answer with a resounding “no.”

Of course I don’t have the right to police carrot eating! I don’t have the right to tell you what you and your family can grow, purchase or eat. And you don’t have the right to restrict or ban what is in our library. Reasonable people know that restricting what people can eat is unacceptable. And controlling what is available in our library is even more unacceptable.

You have a choice in the upcoming library board election. You can vote for Susan Shea, who steadfastly supports our First Amendment rights. Or you can vote for the other

< see LTE, con’t from Page 8 > candidate, who wants to create restrictions in our library.

Please vote for free and unfettered access to our brain food. Don’t let anyone put some library materials in a restricted area. And please don’t let my dislike of carrots prevent you from freely enjoying them.

Patricia Ericsson Sandpoint

Dear editor,

We are all shocked by the recent actions of the board of trustees of North Idaho College. The five-member board has been controlled by three right-wing members, who are doing their best to insert their brand of politics into the school at all levels, which is bringing the institution to the brink of extinction.

And now, Stacy Rodriguez aspires to do the same with the East Bonner County Library District.

She says that she supports liberty and freedom, but what she means is that she supports her liberty and freedom to take away the liberties and freedoms of the rest of us. She’s the kind of lawyer that supports the old saw that asks, “How do you know when a lawyer is lying?” with the correct answer being, “Their mouths are moving.”

Ken Thacker Sagle

Dear editor,

In the spirit of Reader “mugrump” fairness, I comment on Tony McDermott’s diatribe on the Bonner County Republican Central Committee [Perspectives, “Dist. 1 Sen. Scott Herndon continues with dirty tricks as BCRCC chairman,” May 4, 2023]. In full disclosure, though I donated $100 to Sen. Herndon’s campaign, I’m not a Sen. Herndon lackey, just ask precinct committeemen within the BCRCC. However, undoubtedly, Sen. Herndon is the best elected Legislative District 1 senator in decades, as even some Boise elite will attest, only privately.

The BCRCC was delighted to see McDermott and the crash of RINOs quit and abdicate their duty to the BCRCC. Since that time, the BCRCC has gained trusted recognition with Republican voters for supporting dedicated, God-fearing, liberty-conservative Republicans.

Our BCRCC efforts assisted candidate Herndon’s election success and also denied a single vote of endorsement to candidate Sauter, for obvious cause, as the BCRCC chairman’s press release itemizes [News, “Current, former District 1 officials respond to BCRCC ‘no-confidence vote on Sauter,’ April 27].

McDermott may not have read the press release with boot-camp attention to detail, but as a former precinct committeeman, he well knows that about 30 committeemen — the committee of the whole, not the BCRCC chairman — decide the actions of the BCRCC organization.

On April 18, the BCRCC, an unrepentant “cesspool,” unanimously voted to approve no-confidence of LD1 Rep. Sauter.

Tony’s attempt to rebrand the RINO into a conservative Republican in name only, CRINO, fools no one. The elected BCRCC represents the only “official” brand of the state Republican Party platform, and evaluates candidates and incumbents with principled scrutiny. The BCRCC shares very similar values to IDGOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon. The BCRCC differs greatly from the NIVS, a local lobby group of RINOs recently and acutely connected to former crash beneficiary Sen. Shawn Keough.

Thank God, Sen. Herndon’s anti-abortion, moral compass is not compatible with the good-ol’-boy, glass-house McDermott network.

Dan Rose

Former Pend Oreille Hospital District trustee and current BCRCC committeeman

Samuels

Dear editor,

I’m writing in response to a letter published in the May 4 edition of the Reader that was titled “In favor of ‘banning’ books….” The editor’s note mentioned that this specific letter-writer was unable to supply a list of books deemed obscene or their shelf locations, but identified This Book is Gay as objectionable.

I’m writing to report that this specific book is only available as an ebook at the library and is not on the shelves for children to look through. I want to highlight this because it illustrates that this crowd in favor of separating “obscene” material has little idea of what books are actually on the shelves.

Furthermore, this entire idea of separating books is based on the fear of “sexualizing” children and, frankly, I’m tired of the pearl clutching. Kids can access far worse on the internet, which only cements that the responsibility falls on par- ents to monitor what their child has access to, not a public library.

In addition, I hope more people read This Book is Gay, as it provides beautiful insight into the difficulties LGBTQ individuals encounter and, like it or not, gay children will continue to exist in our community.

We do not need to change our library. This is why I’m voting for Susan Shea for library board. I urge the residents of Bonner County to vote to re-elect Susan Shea on May 16 to preserve this exceptional resource.

Ann Warwick Sandpoint

“protect children from harm.” Wouldn’t that actively harm children in the community who need to see themselves reflected in media to let them know that they’re valid? Those kids aren’t harming the children of this community, they are children of this community.

Makayla Sundquist Kootenai

Leaders, gun lobby, don’t care about mass shootings… Thanking Sauter for ‘responsible, thoughtful’ representation…

Dear editor,

My thanks to Mark Sauter for being a responsible, thoughtful legislator. Thanks especially for resisting the Idaho “Freedom” Foundation and Scott Herndon’s efforts to impose their extreme-right, Christian nationalist agenda on all of us in North Idaho. Hopefully, reasonable voters will see through their facade and return other responsible legislators, such as Jim Woodward to office.

Rupert Laumann Sandpoint

Dear editor, I love our library. I’ve had a library card continuously since 1974, and have checked out countless books and videos over the years. When a book was not available in the local library, the diligent librarians found it either through the inter-library loan program, or they bought the book if they thought it would interest local readers.

Our library provides all sorts of educational opportunities for us all, and offers space for community members to put on programs in many fields of interest. Our library is extraordinary in service to the people of our area and is, truly, the heartbeat of the city of Sandpoint.

Public libraries present materials expressive of many viewpoints. That is the reason they exist: to provide a diversity of topics and perspectives for everyone. It is not the job of the library to censor or ban materials. The library is for everyone, and we all have differing opinions on many topics.

It is the job of adults to select content that is appropriate for themselves and their children. People who do not like some of the materials can avoid them. Or, they can develop their own private collections in conjunction with their religious affiliation or interests.

Dear editor,

As to last week’s mass killing in Texas, this is the way the media should report these things from now on: “Today’s mass killing was in (fill in the blank), (fill in the blank) people were killed, (fill in the blank) were seriously injured. In other news...”

Why bother going into more detail? After all, thoughts and prayers are enough to compensate for those killed. It’s guns, guns and more guns. Guns for breakfast, guns for lunch, guns for dinner, take a gun to bed even, why not!

The NRA and the right-to-lifers like Scott Herndon don’t care, so why should we? After all, their positions are what count, not ours, right?

Lawrence Fury Sandpoint

Dear editor,

You know, my curiosity was piqued when I saw a list float to the top of the outrageous debate surrounding our library. A “books to avoid” list from a Kootenai and Shoshone County-based group called CleanBooks4Kids — a list that should include a variety of topics that could potentially count as “obscenity,” right?

Let’s look at the numbers. As of May 4, there were 807 titles on that list. Of those, 620 are on that list because of gay, gender identity or transgender issue oriented content. That’s nearly 77%. For contrast, there are 19 books involving rape and one involving violence. That’s 2% and 0.1%, respectively.

I’ve been told that this whole effort is not motivated by anti-LGBTQ animosity, so I’m confused.

I latched onto something at the candidate forum, and that was the complaint about adults perceiving fewer books that reflect their politics and values on display. Imagine how much damage would be done to a gay or trans kid who finds that quite literally all of the books by and about people like them have been locked away in some room to

“Obscenity” is a smoke screen. I’m voting for the candidate protecting the children who need protecting. I’m voting for Susan Shea on May 16.

Hal Gates Sandpoint

Dear editor,

On her website, one candidate for the library board says that she wants books “that reflect our community values.” After more than 50 years in Bonner County, working and raising a family, I find it hard to define “our community values.”

We are Republicans, Libertarians, Democrats, independents and non-voters. We are Christians (with more than two dozen churches), Jews, Buddhists, pagans and those who profess no spiritual beliefs at all. We educate our kids at public schools, private schools and home schools. We are urban, rural and far out. We are straight, gay and trans.

We get our news from mainstream media, Fox, PBS, Tik Tok, and endless other sources. We live in apartments, mobile homes, modest dwellings and mansions. We are omnivores, vegetarians and vegans. We travel by bike, old clunkers, EVs, SUVs and big diesel trucks. We say “crick” and “creek.”

I believe that we value this rich diversity in our people. We may not always agree, but we don’t try to force others to accept our beliefs. That’s why I’m voting for Susan Shea for the library board. She represents us — all of us — and will keep working to make sure the library reflects the diversity of backgrounds, beliefs and opinions that makes our community strong. I hope you will join me in voting for Susan Shea on May 16.

Nancy Renk Sandpoint

The Reader publishes letters to the editor on a first-come, firstserved basis. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of letters sent this week, we were unable to print all of them. Please be sure to submit letters early around election times.