Reader may14 2015

READER

May 14, 2015 / free / Vol. 12 issue 17

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(wo)MAN

Susan Drinkard on the street compiled by

If you could own any classic car, which would it be?

“I already have the one I want. It’s a 1970 Nova SS. My husband got it from a friend of his about 36 years ago and gave it to me.”

Tammy Frear Priest River Community Church Thrift Store Cashier Priest River

DEAR READERS,

Welcome to Lost in the ‘50s Weekend!

There have been a lot of fun times over the past three decades of this great event.

Some of my earliest memories as a child are of walking around downtown looking at all the vintage cars on display and being amazed at the turnout of people.

From the Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven impersonaters show to the parade and car show, to the appearance of legend Frankie Avalon, this will certainly be a weekend to remember. Special thanks goes out to Carolyn Gleason at Second Avenue Pizza for all the hard work she puts into this event. Year after year, she deserves a big pat on the back for bringing everything together, and for giving Sandpoint businesses a boost.

This weekend also marks the unofficial threshold into the “season” which means things are about to get real busy around here. The days are only going to get hotter, and the nights will be full of activity.

Do everyone a favor and be safe this weekend. Don’t drive if you’ve had anything to drink, and have fun out there.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

“A 1968 Mustang. They are a beautiful machine—classic.”

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) Contributing Artists: Susan Dalby (cover), Daniel Cape, Ben Olson, Malia James Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Tim Henney, Mindy Cameron, Louie de Palma, Claire Honsinger, Marcia Pilgeram Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com

Erika Marks Senior at SHS Sagle

Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash.

Subscription Price: $75 per year Advertising: Jen Landis jen@sandpointreader.com Clint Nicholson clint@keokee.com

“I have a classic car already—a 1973 Corvette convertible. I’ve had it since I was 19.”

Web Content: Keokee

Willy Wittig Retired Police Officer Creston, British Columbia

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.

“My boyfriend and I like the 1957 Bel Air, especially the Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe and the convertible.”

Tori Burnham Med Tech Caregiver Sagle

“A 1957 turquoise and white Chevy because I owned one and it was a hot car.”

Bill Shirey Retired/Sales Navy Veteran Priest River

“I wish we had kept the 1969 Charger my husband had 38 years ago when I met him. Both he and the car were pretty hot.”

Vivian Swansen Rehabilitation Technician Sandpoint

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.

Thank you

Readers,

for voting us •Best Bar and •Best Restaurant in Sandpoint!

Visit our 2 downtown locations!

BREWERY & BEER HALL 220 Cedar St. 209-6700

it’s nice to meet you, neighbor

$10 Lunch special mon-fri 11-4

FAMILY FRIENDLY BREWPUB 312 First Ave.

255-4351 124 South 2nd Ave. sandpoint, IDaho (208)597-7499

Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics. Requirements: –No more than 500 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

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

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

About the Cover This week’s cover is a painting by Sandpoint artist Susan Dalby. The title is “Two if by Land, One if by sea” (whom she credits her sister for inspiring). If you’d like to see Susan’s work, you can see paintings at the Laughing Dog Brewery in Ponderay, stained glass at Artworks in Sandpoint. Also, you can see her work at The Artisan Gallery in Priest River. Thanks Susan!

www.sandpointpub.com May 14, 2015 /

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A brief discourse on the ‘Festive Fifties’: Part 1

By Tim Henney For SPR The Gay Nineties. The Roaring Twenties. The Great Depression (1930s). World War II (1940s). The Frisky Sixties. Every decade has a peppy, alliterative appellation or historic era to identify its character. Except The Forgotten Fifties—the very decade in which Sandpoint is preparing to be lost. Old cars, old memories, old music, old dance steps, old food ... no, sorry, scratch that one.

Matter of fact, Sandpoint serves the most scrumptious victuals this side of Paris. Paris, France, not Perris, California. We also have world-class waitresses like Amy and Diana at Di Luna’s. If those huggable ladies don’t put a smile on your face along with your Eggs Benedict and corn beef hash, you probably ought to eat breakfast at home. Amy has worked at Di Luna’s for 22 years and appears to be about 25 years old. This means Amy would have started working as a waitress at age three. She would have been restricted to serving little children and extremely short people.

But we digress. Searching for Lost in the ‘50s, my 1957 bride and I moved all over America. Repeatedly. Finally someone whispered, “Try Sandpoint, Idaho.” And we did. In 2005. Yea! Despite Lost in the ‘50s, some call the ‘50s the Silent Decade.

That’s probably why no one has produced an appropriately rhyming adjective for the years Sandpoint is set to celebrate. The Nifty Fifties?

Too cute. The Fabulous Fifties?

Too immodest. The Frivolous Fifties? Too demeaning. The Frisky Fifties? With GOP swingers Ike and Mamie Eisenhower hosting White House naked pool parties, that might work. No, wait! Those came later. In the ‘60s. Democrats were in office. Republicans never get naked, even in the shower. Certainly not in the swimming pool.

How about The Frugivorous Fifties? Too intellectual. No one, including me until I looked it up, knows what frugivorous means.

Turns out to mean fruit-eating. That seems somewhat limiting. Okay for such yummy Sandpoint veggie/ smoothie hangouts as Common Knowledge and Tierra Madre, but what about our famous full course five-star eateries? We suggest “The Festive Fifties.” It seems a good fit.

General Douglas MacArthur might disagree. Early in the decade, during the heat of the Cold War, President Harry S. Truman canned the famous World War II 3 /

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general of the army, then commander of American forces in Korea. Against orders, MacArthur prepared to march against Communist China. Probably, Russia would have joined China. World War III. Cheering throngs hailed the jobless general in ticker tape tributes coast to coast. Then, in farewell remarks to a joint session of Congress, the theatrical, vainglorious World War II hero said, “...I now close my military career and just fade away. An old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the right to see that duty. Good bye.”

Fat cat backers in Texas and elsewhere—the Koch Brothers of yesteryear—wept. They had hoped MacArthur would be the next Republican president and had contributed heavily to that hope. A Missouri congressman said, “We saw a great hunk of God in the flesh, and we heard the voice of God.” Former President Herbert Hoover said MacArthur was, “... the reincarnation of St. Paul into a great general of the Army who came out of the East.”

President Harry S. Truman, au contraire, said the speech was, “Nothing but a bunch of damn bullshit!”

Much occurred in the Festive Fifties that was not festive: •Verbal assassin Sen. Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin shattered lives by charging people with being communists when they were not. California Congressman Richard Milhouse Nixon rode that same horse to prominence and the vice presidency in the 1952 campaign.

•Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver investigated the mob over TV and found organized racketeering in big American cities—cities controlled by entrenched Democratic political machines which greased the skids and shared in the take.

•One of TV’s first celebrities was a brilliant, charming young Columbia University professor, Charles van Doren, scion of a famous literary family. He cheated his way to fortune and fame on a rigged TV quiz program, “Twenty-One.” Through television, he became a handsome young intellectual hero to millions. When he was caught, America reacted in shock and disbelief.

•In the deep South, African Americans like 14-year-old Emmett Till were murdered with impunity. Till, from Chicago and visiting relatives in Mississippi, was murdered by two burly “crackers” for allegedly whistling at a white woman in a grocery store. They shot him in the head with a .45,

tied his body to a 74-pound cotton gin fan and dumped him into the Tallahatchie River. Till was one of countless blacks killed, often by lynching, during the ‘50s and ‘60s by scary, uneducated, impoverished racists who never went to jail.

Many were police. Billie Holiday’s historic 1939 recording, “Strange Fruit”, lamented such events.

•Almost 129,000 Americans were killed or maimed in the Korean War. Other happenings were happier.

At the outset of the ‘50s, I won a letter on the USC freshman swim team by finishing dead last often enough to win ancillary backstroke points for the team in competitions. A more noteworthy achievement was going steady with Mary, perky captain of the Long Beach Poly High pom pom squad. Often in thick fog ghosting over Highway 101 from the Pacific Ocean a few sandy yards away, we would navigate my mother’s 1947 wooden-sided Oldsmobile station wagon down the coast to Balboa Island’s Rendezvous Ballroom. Later, we drove there in a 1936 Ford coupe, my first car.

We would stand at the edge of the stage just feet from the King Cole Trio, before Nat became a global celebrity vocalist. The trio did “For Sentimental Reasons,” “Sweet Lorraine” and “Embraceable You.” No screaming, either from the trio or the audience. No strutting or screeching or amplified guitars. On other visits, we’d dance to the Stan Kenton orchestra with the lovely “Misty Miss Christy” of the smoky voice. She’d sing “Just A Sittin’ And A Rockin’” and “Willow Weep For Me.” For years I had a crush on June Christy (still do, even though she died an old lady a long time ago).

Mary would swoon over crooner Mel Torme (He wrote, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose...”). Mel was marketed as The Velvet Fog. Mary became annoyed when I called him The Velvet Frog. Sometimes we drove from Long Beach to the Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard to dance to Les Brown (“Sentimental Journey”) or Charlie Barnet (“Cherokee”). Swan songs of the Big Band era.

Then, together with tens of thousands of others, I dodged the draft. So to speak. Our military experiences were less dramatic than General MacArthur’s. With the draft breathing down our necks, the guys I knew volunteered bravely for any service except the Army.

The Coast Guard or Navy were preferred. Or the Air National

A puzzled 20s-something couple in 1956 listening to the radio. Their favorite station always played love songs by Nat Cole, Rosemary Clooney and Doris Day. Suddenly some guy was singing about a hound dog. The times they were a changin’.

Guard. One isn’t supposed to admit this, but they were considered safer. Get in, get out, get on with life.

Our attitude toward World War II had been different. Too young to fight, we were still patriots. We didn’t seek combat but were not as duplicitous as saber-rattling politicians who demand wars, knowing they wouldn’t have to participate.

Bush and Cheney come to mind.

The 1950s domino theory was less gripping: Stop the commies now or they’ll topple nation after nation then parachute into our backyards. Really? I joined the Air Force in January, 1951. Rode a troop train from L.A. to Texas to start a not entirely disagreeable military tour. My weapon was a typewriter, not a rifle. Sorry, NRA. During basic training in Texas I tested miserably in essential categories like electricity, electronics, airplane engine maintenance and military police. Unintentionally flunking them was the smartest thing I ever did. Thanks to a high school class, I could type. And in college I had taken a journalism course. So at Turner AFB in Albany, Ga., they assigned me to the weekly base newspaper.

Native sons of Dixie with whom I became buddies explained that when you walked down an Albany sidewalk and a “nigra” was walking toward you, he, not you, stepped aside. Always. If he was young or middle-aged you’d call him “boy.” If he was old you’d call him “uncle.” (Hard to imagine meeting Marshawn Lynch or LeBron James on an Albany street corner and calling them “Boy,” even in 1951, without wishing you

hadn’t). Yet that’s the way it was.

For a while I attended the downtown Byne Memorial Baptist Church. Pretty Georgia belles went there. The minister and I once discussed, heatedly, why “coloreds” had to attend segregated churches, schools, public bathrooms, drinking fountains, restaurants and bus seats. As a native Californian whose mother adored FDR, I had not realized that God proclaimed blacks inferior. He certainly did not want them to worship him alongside good white folks. So this man of God declared. It was news to me.

On my first leave home I hitchhiked, in uniform, from Albany to Montgomery, Ala., cradle of the Confederacy. There, after listening lonesomely to Les Paul and Mary Ford sing “The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise” all night on a jukebox in a hanger, I caught a free USAF flight to Arizona. Hitchhiking got me to Los Angeles.

A journalist colleague wed the base librarian in her hometown of Selma, Ala. I was a groomsman.

Montgomery and Selma! Rosa Parks. Marchers clubbed on the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Martin Luther King. Bloody Civil Rights battles. In the ‘50s. Who could have known the history that lay ahead?

Tim Henney retired in 1986 as corporate public relations director of “the old” AT&T in NYC when it was parent company of the erstwhile Bell Telephone System. He claims he never did understand how the telephone worked.

His discourse on the 50s will conclude next week, with Part Two.

By Louie de Palma - For SPR

It’s not winter anymore, and it’s not summer yet either.

I’m not going to tell you exactly what season has sprung, but it gave me another hour, and I’m sure you can figure it out before you fall back from thinking too hard. It’s spring. I’ll tell you just to be safe. The arrival of spring brings options of fabulous new wardrobe choices to sport and flaunt. One is able to shed their warmer winter clothes and finally wear whatever spring styles their heart desires.

As a taxi driver, I’m lucky to spend a lot of time driving around our beautiful area picking up customers from all over. This gives me the chance to observe people’s hip spring styles in their native habitats.

For this reason and this reason only, I feel I have the most authoritative finger on the pulse

of the community. You could say I’m the most fit to say what this season’s hip new spring fashions are and in turn judge this spring’s bestdressed man and woman. It may seem simple to you, but I assure you it is no easy task and can be quite dangerous. It’s not easy trying to drive around safely with a whole town of pale legs finally set free after months in confinement, casting reflective glares everywhere you look. One day without sunglasses and I could find myself in a real dangerous situation.

There were a lot of good styles out there this season and it was tough to make a decision. There were the obvious classics standbys of North Idaho spring fashion that are as timeless as Marylyn Monroe.

There’s the camo shorts with tie dye shirts allowing one to blend in multiple regional environments, of course. Wool socks with Birkenstocks paired with a breezy button up and khaki shorts are another popular option, as are Carhartts with logging boots and cut-off sleeves.

In addition, there are some new styles this year I haven’t seen

before, with two particular people ultimately taking the bestdressed prize.

I met our female winner one fine day when she called me to pick up her daughter and drive her to Spokane. I learned later that her daughter wasn’t aware of this plan which allowed time to get acquainted with our fahionista’s stunning spring garb.

She greeted me at the door with an elegant arm stretched out, displaying a brass key accessory placed delicately on a white paper towel, which matched the stark egg shell color of her elegant trash bag gown.

Two layers in the front and one in the back allowed for a more opaque, sassy display, trimmed around the bottom in red string.

Her black jazzy shoes were fit for the most prestigious dance hall or carpeted entrance.

All of this was tied together with a pair of noise-canceling headphones. This made any chance of interviewing her about the designer of the gown impossible, since she could not hear me. I forgive her though.

When one is dressed to the nines, is there really any need to chat with a lowly, drably dressed cabbie? Congratula-

tions, Sweetheart, for your win.

Look for her new line of gowns coming out next spring called Don’t Get Sad, Wear Glad Gowns by Bag Lady.

The very deserving male winner of our competition is a man that needs no introduction—mostly because you’ll probably smell him from a mile away. A man that smells like him probably should wear a trash bag but doesn’t. We affectionately call him Stink.

Ol’ Stink is a regular of sorts, a man clothed in the pungent smell of sweet-and-sour goat milk with a dash of BO. It’s hard to explain exactly, but that is what makes him a man of mystery. He accessorizes his blanket of stench with an unopened winter jacket and no undershirt. This creates a daring sense of youth rebellion.

For trousers he either sports women’s skin-tight black bell bottoms unbuttoned at the fly or a pair of gym shorts under a pair of sweats under a pair of jeans visibly layered like hard sedimentary rock. The whole look is topped off with a head of wild hair so large it is as untamable as his horrendous stench and as mysterious as his need for three

husband, lured by Bottle Bay and the charms of Sandpoint, we gave up Seattle 14 years ago to become active full-time residents.

All these years later it’s remarkable that Sandpoint can still pull this off. Lives change,

while music and cars of the ’50s remain the same – frozen in time like the picture on my cabin wall. Yet somehow, committed organizers are still bringing people together for a nostalgic weekend of old music, old cars and memories of old friends.

The Lure of the Lost

By Mindy Cameron For SPR

A large color photo has been on the basement wall of my lake cabin for well over two decades.

Three of the four gals are sitting on a motorcycle. One of the guy’s hands rests on the tush of his wife. We are dressed in what we hoped would pass for period costume. Flirty girls, nerdy boys and cool cats in full skirts, bobby socks, white shirts.

Yep, it’s Lost in the ‘50s and this is a cheesy remembrance of four couples from Bottle Bay who got “lost” in nostalgia sometime around the late ‘80s or early ‘90s. We were a collection of newcomers, part-timers and residents connected through our attachment to Bottle Bay and an affinity for the cultural under-

pinnings of the Baby Boomers.

Going to Lost in the ‘50s together was a bonding experience in the early days of our bayside friendship. “Lost” was an ideal setting for our enthusiasms, new friendships formed around shared memories of music – our music. We danced, we drank, we posed for the photograph. I don’t remember the performers, all I know is that they blasted out the rhythms of our youth, and that was enough.

Looking at the picture after all these years is bittersweet.

One has died and his widow is now a part-timer on Bottle Bay. One couple is long-since divorced; the wife has moved away. Sadly, they have lost a son. One couple remains in Spokane, still part-timers on Bottle Bay. As for me and my

pairs of pants. All in all, it’s a spring look that screams, “Hey world, I’ve been locked up all winter and am in need of a May shower, but don’t help me grow ‘cause I’m as wild and noxious as tansy weed.”

I can’t wait to see what other fashions are lurking around the seasonal corner, but you can bet there will be some good ones.

In the meantime, we will be selling garbage gown replicas out of the cab for a reasonable rate and were adopting the toms shoes model of business. Every time you buy one of our gowns, we’re going to give one free to a guy who smells like trash. So come on and take a ride with us. Be a part of the this season’s fashion and help a stinky community member in need.

LETTERS

Dear Editor,

In regards to Lee Santa’s letter... thank you! It came with perfect timing bringing awareness to this beautiful young lady during the week of her birthday (May 5, she would have been 36 years old). You are absolutely correct that Sandpoint’s reaction was paralyzed and I believe this was due to shock and even fear.

On the other hand, let us remember the courageous and outspoken Captain Dan (owner of Northwest Handmade). He set up one well-attended memorial of Jeanetta and is planning another.

I am confident that the Reader will have more information about this second public memorial in their first issue of July.

The memorial will be held on Jeanetta Marie Riley’s death date of July 8. A delayed reaction is better than none at all, so please, Lee, get connected with Captain Dan and be involved with this memorial!

Jodi Rawson Sandpoint May 14, 2015 /

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NEWS

Festival lineup announced

Arlo Guthrie. Courtesy photo.

Did you happen to hear that muffled pop in the distance Wednesday evening? That was the sound of hundreds of minds being simultaneously blown by this year’s Festival At Sandpoint lineup.

Arlo Guthrie, Ziggy Marley, Vince Gill, Lake Street Dive, Trampled By Turtles, The Devil Makes Three and Wilco have all been tapped to headline the Festival’s 33rd year. The artists will be supported by equally eclectic openers, including Jonatha Brooke, Maw Band, The Barefoot Movement, Troy Bullock, The Ballroom Thieves, Vetiver and Owen & McCoy. Festival director Dyno Wahl sees the 2015 lineup as perhaps the most diverse in the Sandpoint institution’s history. No matter whether your preference is folk, reggae, country, jazz and soul, bluegrass or indie rock, the Festival has you covered.

“There really is something for everyone here,” Wahl said.

As with previous years, the 2015 Festival At Sandpoint is the result of a whole year’s planning. Wahl connected up with festival directors and band promoters across the country to find the right acts for the right price.

Some, like Vince Gill, have been wanting to find new and interesting venues to play and adjusted their rates for the opportunity.

Other bands came on board when Wahl teamed up with other festivals to guarantee a series of gigs.

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Ziggy Marley. Photo by Malia James.

one, so that works out great,” Wahl said.

Almost without trying, the Festival crafted a lineup that blends seamlessly from the traditional to the experimental. Longtime folk and reggae fans will thrill to the likes of Guthrie and Marley, while Wilco, The Devil Makes Three and Trampled By Turtles deliver the experimental and indie-driven sensibilities younger audience members have been requesting for years, Wahl said.

The 2015 Festival lineup features nothing less than the legacy of two musical legends. Arlo Guthrie brings the folk music and social conscience of his father, Woody Guthrie, while Ziggy Marley owns the same danceable rhythms and soulful awareness of his father, Bob Marley. Far from riding their famous fathers’ coattails, however, both have charted their own course to critical acclaim.

Arlo Guthrie opens the Festival 7:30 p.m. Aug. 6 with support from Jonatha Brooke, a favorite folk artist of the Woody Guthrie estate who was uniquely entrusted with the legend’s unheard lyrics.

Ziggy Marley, meanwhile, kicks off 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7 with opening duties by Maw Band, an acoustic-driven rock band. Get ready to shake your ass off, because this is the Festival’s dance concert with extra room provided for a very lively evening indeed.

At 6 p.m. Aug. 8, country hall-

of-famer Vince Gill is the headliner in a night filled with great country tunes. With 18 Country Music Association Awards and a pedigree built in the Grand Ole Oprey, Gill pretty much checks off every box when it comes to genre prestige. He is joined by The Barefoot Movement, an award-winning outfit that blends bluegrass, folk, rock and Americana into a sound that appeals to the old and new schools alike.

Also taking the stage is Troy Bullock, a Sandpoint resident who has played some of the biggest stages in the country.

Lake Street Drive takes the Memorial Field stage Aug. 13 for a night sure to thrill fans of Pink Martini and Norah Jones, Wahl said. Named after a band member’s hometown street filled with dive bars, the band takes a similar free-spirited approach to crafting its sound. Band member Mike Calabrese explains it best: “We want it to sound like the Beatles and Motown had a party together.”

Lake Street Dive is joined by The Ballroom Thieves, who whip up pop and folk into a tasty and addictive new dish. And those who like a little buzz with their live music should appreciate the featured “dive bar specials.” Music starts at 7:30 p.m..

If you like bluegrass but haven’t heard The Devil Makes Three or Trampled By Turtles, you owe it to yourself to fix the gaping hole in your musical repertoire on Aug. 14. The Devil Makes

By Cameron Rasmusson For SPR

Wilco, featuring Jeff Tweedy. Courtesy Photo.

Three blend too many musical influences to properly list, but the end result in something entirely their own. They focus their sound into performances that crackle with energy. And Trampled By Turtles are rightful heirs to the genre of “speedgrass”—many of their songs are fast enough to cause wonderment when the band doesn’t catch fire. Music begins 7:30 p.m.

Indie rock legends Wilco bring the lineup of guest artists to a close. Formed in 1994, Wilco rode the swell of indie music in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, finding a large audience thanks to frontman Jeff Tweedy’s alt country-flavored arrangements and imaginative lyrics. Joining Wilco is Vetiver, the brainchild of musical virtuoso Andy Cabic, and Sandpoint’s own Owen & McCoy. Wahl said Wilco handpicked the young musicians on the strength of their dueling guitars, vocal harmonies and original music.

“They’ve got to have talent if Jeff Tweedy says it’s so,” Wahl said.

Of course, Festival staples the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and the family concert are back as well. All in all, music fans who don’t plan on a season pass are going to have some tough decisions ahead of them.

Farmin Stidwell goes into lockdown

Parents got quite the scare last Thursday afternoon when Sandpoint Police announced Farmin Stidwell Elementary initiated a lockdown. The security measure went into effect when an unknown female called the school, claiming an armed individual was threatening kids.

According to Police Chief Corey Coon, officers swept the school in search of the alleged threat. Officers ultimately found no danger, leading some to believe the call may have been a prank. Law enforcement investigation is still ongoing.

Memorial honors fallen officers Thousands turned out to honor Coeur d’Alene officer Greg Moore, killed in the line of duty last week, at his funeral Saturday. For Sandpoint residents who wish to honor Moore and other fallen officers but couldn’t make the funeral, Bonner County Sheriff’s Office is hosting the Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony today.

The memorial takes place 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14, at the sheriff’s office, 4001 N. Boyer Ave. The event is held to honor officers’ sacrifices, both from recent years and from generations past.

NEWS FEATURE Candidates envision dramatically different futures for school district

By Cameron Rasmusson For SPR In Shawn Woodward’s mind, the local public school system is a jewel in the crown of the community.

Sure, as Lake Pend Oreille School District superintendent, he may be a little biased. But there’s good reason why both he and community members take such pride in the local school district.

Many of the schools within the district are among the highest academic performers in the state. Strong engagement with local businesses and nonprofits mean students receive a varied education with real connections to the community. A vast array of extracurricular activities and athletics give kids and parents alike an environment to connect and bond.

The policies and decisions set by the LPOSD Board of Trustees are the foundation of the school system. On Tuesday, the governing body is set to experience some potentially foundational changes, with two of five seats up for election. Voters have a clear choice in this year’s election as two highly conservative candidates position themselves as alternatives to the existing board.

Month after month, the LPOSD board of trustees do (mostly) quiet work passing budgets, approving policies and keeping abreast of the latest progress reports. They’re the ones that have to make the tough calls, like this year’s decision to cut $1 million from the district budget rather than ask residents to approve a local tax increase.

“One of the most unrecognized things about these board members is their ability to make those hard decisions,” said Woodward.

In recent years, the school board has also acquired attention for the implementation of Common Core, an educational standards system adopted in

almost all states. Conservative movements throughout the country have opposed the standards. They see it as a degradation of state and local control over education and worry that its data reporting system is an invasion of personal privacy.

Under the circumstances, it’s no wonder that interest in this year’s trustee election is higher than any other in recent memory. We reached out to the candidates for their thoughts on the issues.

cially when it comes to logical reasoning, math and writing skills. The real key to implementing the standards successfully, she said, is making sure teachers have the experience and resources they need. And while the school board can influence that outcome, members don’t have the authority to disregard the standards adopted by state officials.

“I think a lot of people are under the illusion that this school board chose to adopt Common Core,” she said.

Geraldine Lewis—candidate for Zone 4 trustee A Sagle resident, Lewis has lived in Bonner County for 20 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, a field in which she’s enjoyed a long career. She says the work has lent her an analytical approach to problem-solving that will prove useful on the school board. With four kids having passed through the school system, she also has plenty of experience volunteering with schools and parent groups.

Now that she and her husband are soon-to-be empty-nesters, she said she has the time to devote to trustee work. Trustee Mindy Cameron’s decision to not pursue re-election provided the perfect opportunity.

“It seems like a good transition from being a helper in schools to being a member of the school board,” she said.

Lewis sees the successful transition to Common Core as essential to the district’s continued success. She’s been mostly impressed with its influence on her daughter’s education, espe-

Tom Cleveland—candidate for Zone 4 trustee Cleveland, Lewis’ opponent, did not return multiple phone calls and emails requesting an interview. He also failed to submit candidate profiles and questionnaires to the school district and Sandpoint Online.

According to his social media supporters—largely far-right conservatives—he is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility and community engagement.

Kathy Rose—candidate for Zone 1 trustee Similarly, Rose has not returned candidate questionnaires to Sandpoint Online and the

school district. She said she didn’t have time this week for a more detailed interview, but she did send a letter detailing some of her positions.

As a Clark Fork resident, Rose is disturbed by some of the staffing cuts that have occurred in her regional schools—a consequence of the $1 million in cuts the school district initiated due to decreased enrollment funding. From her perspective, her opponent, incumbent Joel Molander, didn’t do enough to shield Zone 1 schools Clark Fork Junior-Senior High School and Hope and Northside elementary schools.

“We simply cannot afford to have a trustee who is merely a seat holder and a rubber stamp, and who may be planning to resign early,” she wrote in her letter.

Rose has experience serving on a school board in Pellham, Maine, and said she’s done her homework to learn about the local district. She is a former small business owner of 22 years and worked in manufacturing for 15 years.

“At the foundation [of my candidacy] is my belief in local control and fiscal responsibility,” she wrote.

best-performing schools in the state.

“You can’t knock success, and I think this has been a very successful board,” he said.

Molander says funding is the biggest obstacle the district faces, a problem shared by most school districts in Idaho. The decision to not ask for an increase to the supplemental levy to avoid cuts was a difficult one, he said. However, he said the board didn’t feel it was in the position to ask for more money from local residents.

Since some cuts centered on staffing to schools in his town, Molander said these cuts were particularly painful. Given the schools’ low teacher-to-student ratios, however, it was a sacrifice that had to be made.

As for Common Core, Molander believes the standards will succeed or fail on their own mertits. More exciting to him are the local programs that build skills and lead to careers.

He’s eager to support partnerships like those with the Sandpoint Conservatory of Music, the High School Aerospace Program and P-TECH, which help students learn an instrument, earn a pilot’s license or secure career skills and employment.

“These programs offer tremendous opportunities for our kids,” he said.

Do you qualify to vote in this year’s trustee election? Residents of zones 1 and 4 have the opportunity to support their candidate of choice.

The polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Tuesday.

Joel Molander—candidate for Zone 4 trustee As the Zone 4 trustee incumbent since 2011, Molander is proud of the work he and other trustees have accomplished in the past four years. He’s happy to be judged on the Board of Trustees’ record, which he said has has supported some of the

Zone 1 stretches north of Sandpoint and east of Highway 95 and includes Northside, Hope and Clark Fork communities. Zone 4 includes Sagle east of Highway 95 and north of East Dufort Road to south of Jacobson Road in Kootenai.

Visit www.sandpointonline. com/news/elections.shtml for more voter resources, including candidate information, school district zone maps, polling locations and more.

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An Interview with the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeepers

By Claire Honsinger For SPR On a gray, rainy morning in March, I parked on First Avenue in Sandpoint, across from Starbucks. Dodging raindrops, I ducked under the big blue sign that hangs above the office of the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper—members of the non-profit Waterkeeper organization that works to protect watersheds and educate communities worldwide. Having passed this sign many times before, I was vaguely familiar with the goings-on at LPOW. I knew they did good stuff for the lake and was glad for a chance to enlighten myself further.

I was greeted inside by an impressive collection of Ross Hall photographs on the wall.

They were on permanent loan from board members, explained Shannon Williamson, the executive director, as she shook my hand. After all, there are many ways to love our lake: photograph it, paint it, swim and fish in it, drink it, study it.

We walk through the office

as she explains Lake Pend Orielle Waterkeeper’s mission: to keep the lake and the surrounding watershed “swimmable, fishable and drinkable” now and in the future.

We are met by Kelsey Brasseur in the back room, at a handmade craftsman table created by a board member (I am pretty impressed with the board by now). Brasseur is the program director, responsible for community outreach. “Shannon works mainly on issues,” she tells me, “and I work on education. But we work together pretty closely.”

They are supported by LPOW’s board of directors, and by volunteers who sign up to take water samples from designated stations along the lake once a month for the summer.

The volunteers are trained and equipped with specially-designed tools that allow them to capture “clean” samples from a designated depth, allowing them to provide consistent data for water quality monitoring.

The issues Williamson focuses on involve managing wa-

Idaho Mythweavers

The second encounter between Kalispel tribal cultural specialists, Wilma Cullooyah and Kayleen Sherwood, and 80 fourth-graders at Farmin Elementary School took place this week in Sandpoint with exciting results. The students demonstrated to the Kalispel visitors that they indeed had learned so much over the past five months about the Kalispel heritage in our own backyard. The Kalispel and their ancestors have called Sandpoint and the vast, surrounding region home for thousands of years.

To celebrate this year’s success, Baxter’s on Cedar restaurant in Sandpoint is hosting a fundraiser for The Idaho Mythweaver Wednesday, May 20. A percentage of all sales that day at the restaurant from 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. The Mythweaver board of directors will be on hand to answer any questions and will also be selling raffle tickets for an upcoming drawing of a traditional root gathering basket, handmade in the traditional, flat-twined manner by Kalispel elder, Marie Grant.

ter sampling and data analysis, advocating with local, state and regional officials regarding oil and coal transport across the lake and working with the Idaho legislature. This year, they succeeded in passing a bill allowing live transport of noxious weeds (such as milfoil) for study. This makes it easier for biologists to study non-toxic means of eradication in a controlled environment like a lab.

During the spring and fall Brasseur heads to local schools, armed with a model of the lake complete with fish, snails, plankton and plants and hopefully a volunteer adult to provide hands-on learning about the lake’s aquatic ecosystem.

They also do dissolved oxygen tests to see how much oxygen is in a sample of lake water. This experience provides opportunities for students to discover the importance of a healthy lake, and discuss ways to keep it clean.

For busy adults, LPOW is hosting a monthly “lunch and learn” series at Di Luna’s cafe, on the third Friday of the month.

Check their website for upcoming topics, or stop in at noon and see what’s happening.

I’d like to leave you with some ways that you can join the Waterkeepers and help keep Lake Pend Orielle swimmable, fishable and drinkable: Make a donation!

LPOW is a nonprofit organization grateful for the generosity of our community.

Volunteer: Go to their website and sign up, indicating your preference.

Water sampling: The orientation/training is happening May 19 and again in June. You can sign up to be on-call if you don’t want to commit for the whole summer.

Watershed Discovery Camp in August: Counselors are needed.

Adopt a neighborhood: Label storm drains along your street to minimize dumping of pollutants.

In addition, volunteers are

Panida Membership Drive The Panida Theater membership program is back and better than ever. A unique way to structure donations to the historic theater, the program uses several different donation levels, each bringing its own set of rewards. Donations are tax deductible, and for longterm supporters of the theater, membership carries additional prestige and bonuses like free popcorns, movie tickets, mentions in newsletters or even on-stage mentions.

Membership categories are as follows: Stagehand—$10-49 annual donation.

Actor/Actress—$50-124 includes 2 complimentary fountain drinks and popcorns.

Stage Manager—$125-349 includes tickets to a film in the Global Cinema Café series, popcorn and drinks for two.

Playwright—$350-500 includes tickets to a film in the Global Cinema Café series, popcorn and drinks for four, e-newsletter listing.

Director—$1,000 includes tickets to a film in the Global Cinema Café series and tickets to a Panida sponsored event, popcorn and drinks for four, e-newsletter listing, and stage mention.

Producer—$1,000-5,000 All of the benefits of a Director plus your name/or business listed on a refurbished theater seat.

Check out www.panida.org for more information.

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Shannon Williamson, Waterkeeper and Executive Director (left), and Kelsey Brasseur, Program Director outside the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper office in Sandpoint.

needed for classroom activities, special events, sample loading (the coolers are heavy, and there are a lot of them!) and beach cleanups.

Land Trust Trail Run

Kaniksu Land Trust, in partnership with Outdoor Experience, hosts the 2015 KLT Trail Run Series at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch featuring a 5K on May 19, a 10K on June 16, and a 15K on July 28. Registration is available at Outdoor Experience in downtown Sandpoint.

Registration for a single race is $25 (no T-shirt) and registration for the three race series is $60 with a T-shirt. Start time is 6 p.m.

If any registration spots are available, day-of-race registration begins at 5 p.m. at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch. In addition, a race launch/packet pick will be available at Baxter’s on Cedar May 19 from 4-7:30 p.m.

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Classic Car Parade and Street Dance 6pm @ Downtown Sandpoint Parade leaves SHS at 6pm and winds its way to downtown Sandpoint, followed by the Street Dance by the Jeff Jones Town Square. Bashful Dan will be the King of the Street DJ. Free to attend!

Dance until you drop, daddy-o!

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Vintage Car Show 9am - 3:45pm @ Downtown Sandpoint Downtown will be bursting with hot rods and classics. On First, Second and Third avenues, and Cedar and Main streets.

Free and open to all! Awards ceremony will follow at the corner of First and Cedar in front of the Cedar St. Bridge.

219 Lounge Lost in the ‘50s Party 1pm - 4pm @ 219 Lounge Featuring local musical favorite Miah Kohal and his band, drink specials and more.

Come out and enjoy viewing the cars, listen to some great music, and have some fun at the 219 Lounge, the official Lost in the ‘50s bar!

4th Annual Cl 12pm - 3pm @ Browse a coll Awards will be Unique Bicycle gers or call 255 Live Music w/ 5:30pm @ Pen A fusion of jazz Live Music w/ 5:30pm - 7:30p

Aspirin Rally Fun Run and Car Rally — 5k run @ 10am, Car Rally @ 11:30am Everything starts and ends at Second Avenue Pizza

So You Think You Can Sing Auditions 1pm @ Panida Theater Ages 13 and older, a cappella auditions for Life Skills NW event in June Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Weekly infusion of blues from the Man

“The 3pm The H ducti cally

Pajama Story Time 6:30pm @ East Bonner County Children are encouraged to com

Karaoke Night 9pm - Midnight @ 219 Lounge

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven XI 7pm @ Panida Theater This popular show sells out almost every year, and is the open for the 30th annual Lost in the ‘50s celebration. This year’s ers include Justin Shandor, Lance Lipinsky and Bobby Brook Rebel Without a Cause These boys are the “Best of the Best” when it comes to impers 7:30pm @ Panida Theater James Dean in his most famous role

Kaniksu Land Trust Trail Running Series 6pm @ Western Pleasure Guest Ranch Kaniksu Land Trust, in partnership with Outdoor Trivia Night hosts the 2015 KLT Trail Running Series. Featuring 7pm - 9pm @ MickDuff’s 19, 10k June 16 and 15k July 28; registration is n Test your useless knowledge and watch Outdoor Experience. For more information, call 304 how it flitters away after your fifth beer Sandpoint Farmers Market 3pm - 5:30pm @ Farmin Park Live music by Mike Ross Five Minutes of Fame 6:30pm @ Cafe Bodega at Foster’s Crossing Writers, musicians, listeners ... all are welcome to attend. Come at 6 p.m. for dinner!

Live Music w/ Bright Moments 5:30 @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Featuring Maya Goldblum—an upbeat classic jazz band with trumpet and keyboard. Maya will be sharing her original music and sound backed up by Bright Moments.

Idaho Walk Bike Alliance Gala Fundrais 4pm - 8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority The event includes live music by Marty Pe ron and Doug Bond, raffles and silent auctio provided by Oskar Blues, and more than 2 generous local donors, drink and food

Open Mic Night with Scott Reid 6pm - 9pm @ Monarch Mountain Coffee All are welcome to attend. Held every first and third Thursday of each month

ful

May 14 - 21, 2015

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

Roadkill and Rebellion Tour 9pm @ Eichardt’s Pub s the opening event With Lorin Walker Madsen and the Hustlers his year’s perform- along with special guest Randall Conrad Olinger bby Brooks Wilson. Live Music w/ Patrice Webb and Tom D’Orazi to impersonators. 6pm @ Monarch Mountain Coffee An evening of original songwriting

Third Friday Live Music 5:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall ts way to Free and open to everyone over 21 he Street Live Music w/ Jacob Cummings shful Dan 5:30pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery to attend! This guitar singer/songwriter out of Everett, Wash., performs the blues/ pop genre with an easy listening feel

nnual Classic/Unique Bike Show - 3pm @ Greasy Fingers Bikes N’ Repair se a collection of classic and unique bikes. ds will be given to People’s Choice and Most ue Bicycles To enter your bike, visit Greasy Finor call 255-4496. Entries and admission are free!

Music w/ Chris O’Murchu m @ Pend d’Oreille Winery ion of jazz, latin and blues Music w/ Justin Lantrip m - 7:30pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

m

Reader recommended

The Conversation 6pm - 8pm @ Ivano’s Ristorante This week’s guest is dancer Brietta Leader, a teacher of dance in its many forms of healing, prayer, play, conditioning and performance. Free to attend

Lost in the ‘50s Show and Dance with The Crests 7:30pm @ Bonner County Fairgrounds Featuring Tommy Mara, the Crests will perform all your favorites like “Sixteen Candles” and “Step by Step” and so many more. With special guest Johnny Contardo, the former lead singer from the group “Sha-Na-Na”, and the best band on the planet, Rocky and the Rollers. Also Al Brady as master of ceremonies. A doo wop night of delight. Tickets $35. Call 208-263-9321 for ticket inforation.

Lost in the ‘50s Show and Dance w/ Frankie Avalon 7:30pm @ Bonner County Fairgrounds This is the big one! Get your engines revved up for Frankie Avalon, the Lost in the ‘50s guest artist, along with The Dixie Cups. Plus, don’t forget that the Best Band on the Planet will be there as well - Rocky and the Rollers, with Al Brady as the Master of Ceremonies for the entire weekend

“The Platinum Review” Matinee 3pm (MST) @ Heron Community Center The Heron Players present their 20th anniversary production. Expect the usual hilarious, interactive, politically incorrect and fun afternoon of laughter

Sandpoint Farmers Market 9am - 1pm @ Farmin Park Treat yourself and family to locally grown fresh produce, baked goods and handcrafted arts and crafts. Live music by Ruff Shod

er County Library ged to come prepared for a bedtime story with pajamas and their favorite cuddle toy or blanket

ies

Sip and Shop 4pm - 9pm @ Pend Outdoor Experience, d’Oreille Winery Featuring a 5k on May 10% of proceeds will ation is now open at benefit Angels Over n, call 304-0477 Sandpoint

International Wine Dinner — 6pm @ Forty-One South Explore wine through seven different countries—France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and Israel—with a decadent seven-course dinner and inspired wine pairings for each course. Tickets are $95 per person (includes tax and gratuity).

Book reservations at 208-265-2000.

Free Community Track Meet - 3pm @ SHS Track Fundraiser Sandpoint Parks and Recreation, SHS Track and Field Team, and SHS Cross Country Team ity are proud to present the 2015 Sandpoint Community Track and Field Meet. Pre-registration Marty Peris encouraged. You can get a registration form online at www.teamsideline.com/Sandpoint lent auction Bingo Night ore than 20 The Ride of Silence - 6pm @ City Beach An event where cyclists ride single-file silently to honor 6:30 @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall food those who have been killed or injured while bicycling

ffee very h

Find out why we’re a

A DOWNTOWN FAVORITE! Try a YUMMY Grilled Wrap today @ the Cedar St. Bistro

Alzheimer’s Support Group 1pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Free respite care available during group session with advance reservations; contact Jan Griffitts for more information at 208-290-1973

located on the historic

CEDAR ST. BRIDGE in Sandpoint, Idaho

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We’ve gotten a great response to our call for your pet photographs. To submit your own pet photos, please send a photograph and a little bit of information about your special friend to ben@sandpointreader.com.

Please put “PET PHOTOS” in the subject line. Keep them coming!

Broadcasting in Sandpoint on 106.7 FM and in Digital HD

-Susie & FoxyThis is a picture of my dogs Susie and Foxy.

Sue has a lot of health problems, and was 13 1/2 when this was taken. She had been very listless and sleeping a lot, and I thought I would be losing her soon.

We went camping Memorial Day weekend at Garfield Bay, and drove down to the boat launch, where she acted like a puppy again when we threw sticks for her and Foxy!

Anyway, love the joy they get from swimming and chasing sticks. Susie is still ill, not as bad as last year. I treasure every day I have with my buddy, and hope you find the picture as inspiring as I do.

Linnda Dumont Sandpoint

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Rebel Without a Cause appearing at the Panida

By Ben Olson For SPR

When you think of the cultural icons from the ‘50s, a few images always rise above the rest; Elvis Presley thrusting his hips on stage, Marilyn Monroe’s scene holding her dress down from the street vent and James Dean in his bright red jacket from “Rebel Without a Cause.”

Released in 1955, right after Dean’s untimely death, the film was an enormous success.

The story takes place within a 24-hour period of time and follows teenage delinquent Jimmy Stark (Dean), who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Arrested on a drunk-and-disorderly charge, Stark is confronted by his bourgeois parents, who have been forced to move from town to town due to their son’s delinquent activities.

Talking with his tough but well-meaning social worker Ray, Dean plays the tormented tough guy with a glass heart to perfection. Watching how his parents interact with one another in trying to figure out how to deal with their wayward son, you can feel the betrayal in Stark.

All the tormented characters of the film are introduced during this night court session. Judy (Natalie Wood), is brought in on curfew violation under suspicious of being a streetwalker because of the bright red lipstick she wears. Plato was arrested for shooting a litter of puppies with his mother’s gun.

In revealing their frustrations to the officers, it’s understood that each suffers from intense problems at home.

The next day, Stark attempts to start clean in a new high school. He meets Judy again and, though she attempts to act aloof, it’s clear there is a sexual chemistry at work. Stark quickly runs afoul of the local gang leader Buzz (Corey Allen), who also happens to be Judy’s boyfriend.

Anxious to settle their differences, Stark agrees to challenge Buzz on a “Chicki Run”: He and Buzz will each hop into separate stolen vehicles and race toward the edge of a cliff. Whoever jumps out first is the “chickie.”

At night, the “Chickie Run” takes place, and tragedy brings the three misfits Stark, Plato and Judy together.

The film, directed by Nicholas Ray, came right on the heels of 1953’s “The Wild One” starring Marlon Brando, another teen angst feature that departed from the nostalgic mirth of earlier film depictions of teenagers.

The film can be considered a eulogy of sorts, as many of its stars died untimely deaths. Dean’s passion for auto racing was

famously reported during his short career. En Route to a racing event in Salinas, Calif., Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder collided with another motorist, killing him instantly. At the time of his death, his first starring role “East of Eden” was the only movie he was known for. “Rebel Without a Cause” and his final role in “Giant” had not yet been released. Dean was 24 years old when he died.

Sal Mineo, who played Stark’s trouble new friend Plato, was stabbed by an unknown murderer in 1976. He was just 37 years old at the time.

Natalie Wood’s death remains shrouded in mystery to this day. In 1981, her and husband Robert Wagner, along with fellow actor Christopher Walken were on a yacht headed to Catalina Island. In the early hours of the night, she disappeared from her stateroom and was found drowned. Many suspected that Wagner had murdered her, and the case was just recently reopened by her sister.

Through the years, “Rebel Without a Cause” remains a key film of not just the ‘50s, but of American culture. Film buffs will have a chance to see it on the big screen at the Panida Theater during the Lost in the ‘50s Weekend. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. May 14 and 1 p.m. May 16.

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Sandpoint’s Biggest Party of the Year!

Illustrations by Daniel Cape

30th Anniversary May 14, 15, 16 & 17, 2015

Thursday, May 14th Rock N’ Roll Heaven XI — 7 p.m. @ Bonner County Fairgrounds An explosive night of music and energy that will last you for days! This year’s performers include Justin Shandor, Lance Lipinsky and Bobby Brooks Wilson. These boys are the “Best of the Best” when it comes to impersonators, plus they have loads of talent and keep the place jumpin’! Elvis, Jerry Lee, Jackie Wilson ... you need to see to believe!

Saturday, May 16th Car Show — 9:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. — Downtown Sandpoint Downtown will be bustling with hot rods and classics on Main and Cedar Streets, First, Second and Third Avenues. Awards ceremony will follow at the corner of First and Cedar in front of the Cedar Street Bridge.

Show & Dance — 7:30 p.m. — Bonner County Fairgrounds

Frankie Avalon Actor, singer, playwright, and former teen

th

FRIday, May 15

idol. The star of such movies as “Beach Party,” “Beach Blanket Bingo,” “The Alamo,” and “Grease.” Some of his hits are “Venus,” “Why,” “Ginger Bread,” and “Don’t Throw Away All Those Teardrops.”

Vintage Car Parade — 6 p.m. — Downtown Sandpoint Cars need to be at the Sandpoint High School parking lot at 5 p.m. All vintage and classic cars welcome!

Street Dance — Following parade — by Jeff Jones Square Back to when vinyl was the disc jockey’s best friend and the music rocked your soul. Everyone’s favorite deejay Bashful Dan will be the King of the Street Rock night!

Show & Dance — 7:30 p.m. — Bonner County Fairground The Crests featuring Tommy Mara With special guest Johnny Contardo, former lead singer of “Sha-na-na” The Crests will be singing all the great songs such as “Sixteen Candles,” “Step

by Step,” and so many more, with special guest Johnny Contardo, the former lead singer of “Sha-Na-Na.” This night will fill your soul with great Doo Wop music! Plus, don’t forget that the Best Band on the Planet will be there as well - Rocky and the Rollers, with Al Brady as the Master of Ceremonies for the entire weekend.

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Don’t forget about the best band in the land, Rocky and the Rollers, and everybody’s favorite MC Al Brady. Let’s rock ‘n’ roll forever!

sunday, May 17th Aspirin Rally-Run — 10 a.m. at Second Avenue Pizza This will be the 26th year for the Aspirin Rally-Run. If you’re one of the “crazies” this day is for you.

Whatever happens, you learn it’s part of the game. 5k Run, Car Rally, Road Trips, Prizes, Trophies, Food and Drinks!

5-K Fun Run @ 10 a.m.

Tickets and information: Second Avenue Pizza 215 South Second Ave. Sandpoint, ID 83864

Car Rally @ 11:30 a.m.

208-265-LOST 208-263-9321 lost50s@sandpoint.net sandpoint.org/lostin50s.asp

Thirty years of Lost in the ‘50s

By Cameron Rasmusson For SPR For one longtime fan of Lost in the ‘50s, the scheduled headline performance by Frankie Avalon this year was a cause for celebration.

The next time she saw Carolyn Gleason, the creative force behind Sandpoint’s famous weekend of music, parades and classic cars, she made sure to tell her how happy the booking made her. After minutes of gushing, she apologized for her enthusiasm.

“I know I’m driving you nuts,” she said.

“No, you’re not driving me nuts—you’re making my day!”

Gleason replied.

It’s moments like this that Gleason carries away with her each year—and this year makes 30.

“You want to know what my favorite part [of Lost in the ‘50s] is?” she said. “It’s those little moments no one sees but me.”

But that’s just the kind of excitement Lost in the ‘50s inspires. A generation of Sandpoint natives, now in their 20s and early 30s, have grown up with the event since its debut in 1986. It is such a nostalgic staple of their youth, they can’t believe it doesn’t happen everywhere. Take the young military recruit who tried in vain to secure leave during Lost in the ‘50s. After several requests, his commanding officer finally asked what this Lost in the ‘50s was that had him so worked up. The young serviceman was flabbergasted.

“You mean they don’t have this everywhere?” he later asked his mom.

It’s a favorite story Gleason loves to retell. “He thought this was an actual holiday,” she said.

Considering its now-iconic status as a Sandpoint event, Lost in the ‘50s’ humble beginnings are surprising. In fact, the barest kernel of the idea can be found in a series of mix tapes Gleason made for driving in her Thun-

Carolyn Gleason at her restaurant, Second Avenue Pizza, where much of the weekend’s activities take place. Photo by Ben Olson derbird. When it came time to label the tapes, she struck upon the name Lost in the ‘50s.

“Then I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could bring these artists here?’”

Gleason said.

She initially tried to give the idea away. When no one seemed interested in pursuing it, she decided to develop the concept into a full-scale event herself.

The first year featured artists Bobby Vee and Del Shannon— impressive names for a debut event, Gleason figured. But days before the show, the event budget was still in the red.

“We didn’t even have half of what we needed to break even,” Gleason said.

In desperation, Gleason contacted participants of the Auto Boat Speed Show in Spokane, asking that they bring their classic cars out to help promote the shows. A couple dozen people

responded to the request. Days later, the Vee and Shannon performances packed the house.

When Lost in the ‘50s returned next year, around 60 classic cars turned out for the occasion. The event was on the rise.

“This was initially just a gimmick car show created for fun, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger,” Gleason said.

Lost in the ‘50s eventually expanded to three days of activities and entertainment. Then, for the 10th anniversary, Gleason and company ballooned the May staple to a four-day blowout. They figured this would be a one-time deal, but there was no putting the genie back in the bottle once it was out.

Since then, Lost in the ‘50s has had its ups and downs.

Some years surpass expectations in event participation and ticket sales, while other years are markedly leaner. Regardless

of the total business, however, the event invariably draws in the tourists—some from the far corners of the earth. The activity is invaluable for local restaurants, hotels and other branches of the local tourism industry riding out the shoulder season before the summer kicks off.

Gleason has met visitors from Sweden, Norway, Canada and many more countries, as well as the numerous out-ofstaters that drive in for the occasion.

“Some of the greatest people in the whole wide world have been here,” Gleason said.

Similarly, some of the most legendary artists from the ‘50s and ‘60s have performed for the weekend. Even so, Gleason still has a few regrets. One year, for instance, she had the opportunity to book Roy Orbison, but he was just a little too expensive.

She now wishes she would have ponied up the extra cash—Or-

bison died before the next Lost in the ‘50s rolled around.

“They really are legendary performers,” Gleason said. “I call them that because once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

Planning and executing the event is, for Gleason, an utterly exhausting effort fueled entirely by passion. It certainly isn’t the pursuit of profit—Gleason said her fundraising and ticket sales only just cover the expenses.

By the time mid-May rolls around, Gleason inevitably starts wondering whether her and her team’s hard work is worth it. Then, when Lost in the ‘50s hits and she sees kids asking one another, “Did you go last night? Oh man, it was so cool!” she has her answer for another year.

“As long as we don’t go broke, we’ll be back,” she said.

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater

By Marcia Pilgeram For SPR I relish the flavor of Lost in the ‘50s: the great old classic cars, dances with yesterday’s music and lively street vendors. Personally, I’ve been lost in the

‘50s for about 20 years. That’s when I met Maybelle, or rather, her personal effects. She was my mother’s neighbor in Montana, and upon chance, I was visiting Mom over a weekend shortly after her passing and noticed her estate sale.

I should mention, my only character flaw is an addiction to estate sales. In a moment of weakness, I once bought an entire Marilyn Monroe memorabilia collection. Ryanne’s words still haunt me: “Mother,” she wailed, “everyone else’s parents have a 401K plan, and you? You have a Marilyn Monroe collection!”

It was my best luck ever to be right next door to Maybelle’s estate and one of the first admitted to the sale. Her belongings had been impersonally yet neatly arranged by a professional dealer.

Childless and 97 when she passed, she’d

Maybelle’s Breakfast Casserole

outlived her contemporaries and now her heirlooms bore price tags. It was clear to see she was not a typical “fifties” matron, and at once I was struck by the remarkable person who’d dwelled in this home: an artist (who made WPA posters, among other work), seamstress, milliner, world traveler and fabulous hostess.

With sadness and a strong personal desire to protect and preserve her legacy, I began to gather all of the treasures I deemed her favorites, such as an overstuffed accordion recipe file, a couple of old cookbooks, paints and brushes, a collection of classical music on vinyl, cocktail shakers and other trappings to mix a fine drink.

For 20 years I’ve poured over her recipes, which were torn and clipped and scrawled on notes and letters from steamships and trains and far-flung locales. Through these writings, I’ve come

to know Maybelle well. Her avant-garde lifestyle is evident, and 60 years ago, while my own darling mother was chopping canned ham and boiling water for Jello salad, Maybelle was cooking with curry and chutney and espousing the merit of the new Viking Polar Route over Greenland.

I like to imagine the following recipes were some of Maybelle’s favorites from the ‘50s. This past weekend, I took a dry-run and tested these recipes (and yes, I know there is a lot of cheese here folks, so do yourselves a favor and grate all the cheese for both recipes at the same time). I got two thumbs up all the way around, and one international guest deemed the Bombay Cheese a revelation! And I am here to tell you folks, it pairs real nicely with the Moscow Mule.

Don’t forget to raise a mug to Maybelle.

Maybelle’s Cheese Bombay

INGREDIENTS:

•8 oz cream cheese •6 oz sharp cheddar, grated •1 Tbs curry powder •3 Tbs Sherry •2 large garlic cloves, finely minced •¼ cup sweet onion, finely chopped •½ cup Mango Chutney •¼ cup dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped •2 Tbs minced scallions

INGREDIENTS: •Butter (to grease pan) •10 slices white bread with crust removed •10 oz sharp cheddar, grated •1 lb seasoned, bulk breakfast sausage (or 1 lb small cubes of cooked ham) •1 small can sliced mushrooms •½ cup finely chopped green pepper •½ cup finely chopped onion •2 cups half and half •1 tsp dry mustard •2 tsp parsley flakes •1 tsp salt •Dash of fine white pepper •8 fresh eggs •Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and line the bottom of a greased 9 by 13 inch casserole dish.

•In a medium skillet, brown the sausage over medi16 /

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um heat until fully cooked. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels to remove most of the fat. Spread the cooked sausage over the bread.

Sprinkle mushrooms, onion and green pepper over the sausage and then top with the cheese. Pat entire surface to compress a bit.

•Whisk together the half and half, dry mustard, parsley, eggs, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the cheese. Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.

•In the morning, while preheating the oven to 350 degrees, set the casserole out to warm up a bit.

•Bake the covered casserole until set and slightly golden, about 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes to brown. Remove from oven and allow the casserole to set for an additional 10 minutes before serving.

Soften cream cheese and mash together with grated cheddar cheese cheddar, then blend thoroughly.

Add curry powder, Sherry, garlic and onion. When smooth, mound on center of a platter and chill for several hours. Just before serving, frost with chutney and sprinkle with scallions and peanuts.

Serve with Ritz crackers.

Moscow Mule INGREDIENTS:

•2 oz Vodka •Juice of ½ lime •1 split Ginger Beer

Combine and serve over ice in a copper mug. Drop in the lime shell.

Crossword Solution

MUSIC

This week’s ‘50s edition RLW

by Ben Olson

Doo-Wop? How about the other music of the ‘50s?

By Tim Henney For SPR

Many people younger than I am (but then, who isn’t?) consider doo-wop the signature music of the ‘50s. I don’t. The ‘50s spawned a host of vocal groups who wouldn’t have known doo-wop from their elbow. The Kingston Trio was one. The Four Freshmen was another.

At a fraternity party at my parents’ rambling, Spanish-style Long Beach, Calif. home in 1955, I was dancing in the living room with Alice Heckendorf (that was her name, really and truly), a lively, cuteas-a button cheerleader at Long Beach State. We were barely moving to the Four Freshmen harmonizing “It’s A Blue World.”

The fly in the ointment, so to speak, was that her steady boyfriend, a tall, muscular lifeguard named Phil Riley, was sitting on the sofa with other tall, muscular lifeguards, glaring in my direction (many fellow fraternity members were tall, muscular lifeguards, Long Beach being a laid-back body surfing town before offshore oil rigs, the Queen Mary and big time entrepreneurs arrived).

Alice Heckendorf and I, gazing passionately into one another’s eyes, then danced to an equally sensuous Four Freshmen song, “It Happened Once Before.”

I forget what happened next. I think Phil Riley rose from the sofa and I split. Without the foxy Alice Heckendorf. And it was my house!

(If you want to hear some really mellow, doo-wop-less 1950s love lyrics, listen to those two Four Freshmen recordings.

It helps if you’re a hopeless romantic with a good memory.

Helps even more if you knew the cheerleader Alice Heckendorf).

Later, at Cal-Berkeley summer school in 1956, I fell desperately in love. And, let’s be fair, in lust. All summer, this stunning girl and I listened to

the LP recording of Broadway’s “My Fair Lady,” which had just opened in New York City (we were to see it together twice, with the original cast, the next year in New York, something we couldn’t even fantasize about as students on the opposite coast a year earlier. I mean, who knew?). But 1956 was the year of Elvis. “Heartbreak Hotel.” “Blue Suede Shoes.”

“Hound Dog.” “Love Me Tender.” And the debut of rock ‘n’ roll and doo-wop. The golden age of pop music was on the slippery slope to oblivion.

The Platters’ recording of “Only You” and a 1939 revival of “My Prayer” were among the first doo-woppers and rock ‘n’ roll records. So were “Blueberry Hill” by Fats Domino and the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love.” The Platters modeled themselves after pop tenor Bill Kenny and his famed 1940s vocal group, The Ink Spots.

According to many scholars of popular music, Kenny was the “godfather of doo-wop.”

But not of rock ‘n’ roll. I never knew the difference. Many of us who were feeling our oats in the 1950s much preferred Bill Kenny and The Ink Spots’ “We Three” and “To Each His Own” to anything by doo-woppers.

We still do.

In March, 1957 a lumbering TWA Constellation with three fins on its tail took me from Los Angeles to New York City for a job interview. Twenty minutes out of L.A. the plane banked sharply and headed back. An optimistic flight attendant (stewardess in 1957—”coffee, tea or me?”) came on the loudspeaker and said, “There’s probably nothing to it, but someone called the airport and said this plane has a bomb on it.”

Two hundred passengers pooped in their pants.

We landed in L.A. and no bomb was found. The trip took about 11 hours. Propellers, no jets. I bought a three-piece suit and a hat at Brooks Brothers historic original store, Fifth Avenue at 43rd, years before

Brooks moved into outlet malls and lost its elan. Got the job and flew happily home.

I finished college at California State Long Beach. With the G.I. bill and a media job I could drive a British roadster and be a big fish in a small pool at fledgling Cal State. I taught everyone all those naughty songs I had learned in Dixieland from guys who had gone to ebullient institutions like Duke, Georgia, Tennessee, William and Mary and University of Virginia.

In August 1957, my Berkeley beauty and I wed on an island off Rhode Island, then lived in Greenwich Village. We used to walk downtown in the mornings to the Wall Street area and have breakfast across the street from my office. Then I’d go to work and my bride would catch the subway back to the Village.

The restaurants were located on 16 acres of Old New York that later were razed so the original World Trade Center could be built. The one that came down on September 11, 2001.

Much of the music that merrily accompanied my bride and me through the second half of the decade was rooted in Broadway. The Broadway Musical Theater became our passion. Many students of musical heater say the ‘50s were Broadway’s golden age. “Damn Yankees.” “Paint Your Wagon.” “My Fair Lady.” “Call Me Madam.” “Guys And Dolls.”

“The King And I.” “Can-Can.” “Silk Stockings.” “The Music Man.” “Flower Drum Song.”

“The Sound Of Music.” “Pajama Game.” “Bye Bye Birdie.”

“West Side Story.”

Off-Broadway we saw “The Fantastics” at the Sullivan Street Playhouse and “Threepenny Opera” at the Theater de Lys, just around the corner from our Village brownstone.

We saw many of the big Broadway shows, usually from cheap seats, and bought most of the 33 rpm original cast recordings, which we still own.

A characteristic of the ‘50s was their relative innocence.

That naivete—compared, at least to today—was reflected in the popular music of the decade. Doris Day, the “girl next door” and one of the brightest stars of 1950s movies and music, recorded a song in 1952 called “A Guy Is A Guy.” It is about a stranger. Here is a sample of the lyric: “I walked down the street like a good girl should. He followed me down the street like I knew he would. Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be. So listen and I’ll tell you what this fella did to me. I walked to my house like a good girl should.

He followed me to my house like I knew he would. I walked up the stairs like a good girl should. He followed me up the stairs like I knew he would.”

In 1952, the song was just a cute novelty number. Today that guy would be considered a stalker.

To many of us of a perfectly drinkable vintage, the 1950s were easily The Golden Age of Broadway—and, not incidentally, of all popular music.

For instance, in 1952, Doris Day made her earlier recording of “It’s Magic” the theme of her radio series, “The Doris Day Show.” Between 1952 and 1959 “It’s Magic” was recorded by Tony Martin, Dick Haymes, Gordon MacRae, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, among others. Not a doowop in the bunch.

Doris, today an animal rights activist in Carmel Valley, Calif., was the Les Brown Band vocalist before becoming a movie star. She was the singer on 1945’s epic recording of “Sentimental Journey.”

Her version of “It’s Magic” is among the most beautiful popular songs ever recorded. Or listened to. Which is what my 1957 bride and I did all through the ‘50s. It was a musically magic decade.

READ

There were a lot of great books written in the ‘50s, but one of my all-time favorite novels is “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck.

Set in the Salinas Valley in California, Steinbeck’s magnum opus involves the interwoven stories of two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks.

There are some of Steinbeck’s most powerful characters in this novel, and arguably it remains one of his most critically acclaimed works.

LISTEN

Some would argue that Hank Williams was more of a ‘40s star, but some of his best tunes were recorded in the early ‘50s, right before he died.

There is a nostalgic quality to Williams’ music, and a heartbreak in every lyric. It’s good music to listen to while drinking whiskey in a quiet hotel room, or bouncing down the road in your old blue pickup truck.

If you have the misfortune to be on the wrong end of a break up, ol’ Hank will see you through it.

WATCH

“The Bridge on the River Kwai” by David Lean (1957) remains one of my favorite WWII films.

The film depicts a fictional scene based in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Thailand. American soldiers are forced to build a railroad bridge over the River Kwai to connect Bangkok with Rangoon.

The soldiers do everything they can to sabotage the construction of the bridge, which will aid their enemy.

One memorable scene is when the prisoners whistle a tune that you often hear repeated on forced marches.

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w o N & Then compiled by

Ben Olson

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

Historical information provided and verified by Bonner County Museum staff and volunteers (special thanks to Olivia Morlean, Will Valentine, and Allen Robertson). If you have any scrapbooks or old photographs taken in Bonner County that you would like to see Then & Now’ed, please submit them to the Museum so they can digitize and return the photographs to you. The Museum is located at 611 S. Ella — (208) 263-2344.

1958

The same building today. It is now occupied by First American Title. You can see the new Bonner General Health skybridge under construction to the left of the frame, but not much else has changed on this corner since the ‘50s.

2015

Corrections? Nada. Zip. Zilch. We’re trying not to get a big head.

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CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Second Avenue and Alder Street, looking northwest. The old Sandpoint Post Office, built around 1927. It was altered to be the library in the 1960s. The Bonner County Historical Society was housed in the basement until the 1970s. It was also the State Office of Mental Health in the basement until 1974

ACROSS 1. A proofreader’s symbol 6. Arab chieftain 10. Gestures of assent 14. Entertain 15. Part in a play 16. Wicked 17. Noteworthy 19. Marry 20. Guarantee 21. Writing liquid 22. Break 23. Nimble 25. Highly favored 26. Bristle 30. Renter 32. A male witch 35. Food turner 39. Personification 40. Anagram of “Rental” 41. Goddess of retribution 43. Insecticide 44. Humorously vulgar 46. Impetuous 47. Religious fathers 50. Loamy deposit 53. Thin strip 54. Band booking 55. Benni 60. Indian dress 61. Delinquent 63. Therefore 64. Pearly-shelled mussel 65. Nipples 66. Observed 67. Knife 68. Binge

DOWN 1. Concern 2. Ends a prayer 3. Certain card games or liquors 4. Brother of Jacob 5. Latin name for our planet 6. Historic period 7. Moving 8. Sickness 9. Stink 10. An open letter 11. Sheeplike 12. Stars on stage 13. Napped

18. Beer barrel 24. Type 25. Legumes 26. An aquatic bird 27. Overhang 28. Streetcar 29. Change 31. Box 33. Fertile area 34. Baby’s bed 36. Forearm bone 37. Wreaths 38. Eyebrow shape 42. Prominent 43. Citrus drink

Solution on page 16 45. A roofed arcade 47. Donkeys 48. Cacophony 49. Flatboat 51. South southeast 52. Religious splinter groups 54. Wildebeests 56. Stair 57. A long way off 58. Speechless 59. If not 62. Toss

With every sunrise, there is a new chance.

But with every sunset, you blew it.

DAN - (208)597-5339

TIM - (208)304-7868

521 B, North 4th, Sandpoint (right behind Horizon Credit Union)

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