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PEOPLE compiled by
Ben Olson
watching
SOCIAL DISTANCE EDITION: “Do you have a long term goal? If you don’t have one, why not?”
“My long-term goal is to stop comparing myself to others and be content with the life I’ve created. It’s pretty awesome. And… to raise kind, confident kids.”
READER
DEAR READERS,
In lieu of my usual blathering in this space, I thought I’d offer a caption contest to help lighten the mood around here a bit. Please send your funniest ideas for a caption to the photo on the right to: ben@sandpointreader.com. Be sure to write “CAPTION” on the subject line. I’ll announce the winner next week and award them a special prize. Make me laugh, Sandpoint. – Ben Olson, publisher
111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208)265-9724
www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com
Your caption here
Lyndsie Kiebert (Staff Writer) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus)
Kristin Carlson External marketing specialist Sandpoint
Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com
“Using the words of John Prine, my long-term goal is to blow up my TV, plant a little garden and eat a lot of peaches. And raise my son to be compassionate and kind.”
Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie Tim Bearly, Mike Gearlds, PollyAnna, Hannah Combs, Ammi Midstokke.
Kelli Burt Manager, Sandpoint Farmers’ Market Sandpoint “To not die. Ever. Or, as Woody Allen put it: ‘I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.’” Bill Borders Cartoonist, children’s book author, ad man, etc. Sagle “I’d like to become ambidextrous and write a song someday. Otherwise, I just want to stay curious. I think happiness comes from being interested in life, not trying to conquer it.” Hannah Combs Museum administrator Sandpoint
“I want to finish my house, live until I’m at least 88, and be happy to do both.” Sandy Compton Writer Blue Creek
Contributing Artists: Chelsea Mowery (cover), Ben Olson, Bill Borders.
Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $115 per year Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho. We hope to provide a quality alternative by offering honest, in-depth reporting that reflects the intelligence and interests of our diverse and growing community. The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.
Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics. Requirements: –No more than 300 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 photograph was taken near Grouse Creek Falls by local photographer Chelsea Mowery, featuring her happy pooch Bodhi! Great shot, Chelsea! May 21, 2020 /
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NEWS
FSPW awards scholarships to Bonner County students By Reader Staff
With budding scholars across the country preparing to continue their education, Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness is proud to lend a helping hand. The wilderness organization awarded scholarships to seven Idaho and Montana students who submitted essays about their wilderness experiences. Winning students earned their awards by demonstrating an appreciation for wilderness values and capturing those values in their stories. In Bonner County, Travis Tuttle of Forrest Bird Charter School wrote about his experience climbing Mt. Whitney in California, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. Sophie McMahon of Clark Fork High School detailed the lessons and challenges of her backpacking trip in the Patagonia Wilderness. And Bradley O’Brien of Priest River Lamanna High School covered his time spent hunting in wild places. FSPW staff are asking scholarship-winning students to submit an audio recording of their essay. The recordings will be included in a future episode of the FSPW podcast, “Your Wild Place.” The Friends thank each student who submitted a scholarship essay. Based on the variety of ideas and enthusiasm in the submitted essays, Idaho and Montana students have a bright future ahead of them. They’re all great examples of why people raise their families in towns with a wild backyard. Check out more upcoming events and opportunities at www.scotchmanpeaks.org. 4 /
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Travis Tuttle.
Sophie McMahon.
Bradley O’Brien
Kootenai Bay Rd Quiet Zone sees progress By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff An official railway Quiet Zone will soon begin taking shape at the Ponder Point railroad crossing in Kootenai, as Bonner County commissioners approved a bid May 19 that would allow a contractor to install safety improvements in the area. The crossing, located on Kootenai Bay Road, will soon be quiet — meaning trains will no longer blow their horns when approaching the area. Ponder Point residents launched the Quiet Zone initiative last year, with a goal of raising $15,000 for the project. Bonner County commissioners sponsored the proposal in November. Under Federal Railway Administration rules, the entity that oversees the road’s maintenance must sponsor the Quiet Zone application. Funds
raised by the residents will be used to reimburse Bonner County for work on the project. According to FRA records, the Quiet Zone at Kootenai Bay Road will be the third in Idaho. The other two are located in Rathdrum and East Hope. The county awarded Weekend Hoe Excavation and Hauling the $11,338 contract for
installing safety features at the crossing, including a median to prevent motorists from driving around the crossing arms when they’re down. “[Weekend Hoe] did the similar project for the city of East Hope, so they are familiar with this kind of work,” said Bonner County Road and Bridge Staff Engineer Matt Mulder.
The railroad crossing in Kootenai. Photo by Ben Olson. Mulder told the Reader that he anticipates work on the Quiet Zone could begin in a month or two, depending on the availability of materials. “We don’t have any firm deadlines as of yet on this project,” he said, “but we do intend to continue moving forward.”
NEWS
Lake Pend Oreille on track for regular refill
By Reader Staff
Lake Pend Oreille sat just below 2,058 feet above sea level on May 20, keeping with predictions the Army Corps of Engineers shared earlier in the month that 2020 would see an average flood risk and be uneventful, barring any unexpected storms in the area. Tentative estimates — which are subject to change in the case of large weather events — have Lake Pend Oreille reaching 2,060 feet around June 1, leaving only two feet to go before cresting summer pool. This forecast is on par with early predictions from the Corps, which said the lake would reach summer pool in midJune unless any extreme storms occur in the Pend Oreille Basin. Lake Pend Oreille’s official measurements come from a gauge in Hope. For hourly updates on the lake level as measured at the Hope gauge, visit nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc.
Under the Long Bridge in Sandpoint. Photo by Ben Olson.
Kaniksu Health Services begins reopening all services
By Reader Staff During the past few months, many patients may have missed an important wellness exam, regular diabetes monitoring, dental care or mental health appointment. As the state of Idaho begins its phased return to “normal,” Kaniksu Health Service has begun reopening all its services. This includes treatment for patients whose care has been postponed. The organization follows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and takes the following precautions to keep both staff and patients safe as they enter the clinics: Exam rooms will be cleaned and sanitized between every patient.
Staff will wear appropriate personal protective equipment at all times. All social distancing guidelines will remain in place. Patients and staff will be screened upon entrance to buildings for COVID-19 symptoms and have their temperature checked. Wearing of masks or cloth face coverings is required of all patients. Patients will either be asked to wait in their vehicles for their appointment, or in the waiting rooms, which have been set up for appropriate social distancing. Waiting rooms will be sanitized throughout the day. Patients will be screened by phone for COVID-19 symptoms before in-office
Weight limits lifted throughout county
By Reader Staff
The Bonner County Road and Bridge Department announced May 18 that weight limits have been lifted from roads throughout the county. Weight limits were first posted to some local roads on Jan. 23 this year — earlier than most years due to a pattern of uncharacteristically warm weather. Limits for weight and speed are placed on county roads in hopes of mitigating
the serious damage that can occur when roadbeds are unstable. In Bonner County, that means a limit of 250 pounds per inch, or 98 pounds per centimeter of tire width, and a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour for trucks with a 16,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating. Anyone wishing to know more about weight limits can contact Bonner County Road and Bridge at 208-255-5681, ext. 1 or visit bonnercountyid.gov/weight-limits-information.
appointments. Patients are strongly encouraged to come alone to their appointment to limit the number of people in the office at any one time. Minors or other patients requiring assistance will be allowed one visitor. The visitor will be screened the same as a patient. The phase-in of services will continue to expand during the next months, with a focus on stringent measures to protect patients, staff and the community from COVID-19, including keeping well and sick patients separated. KHS stated that it will remain flexible in meeting the needs of our patients in the safest way possible. “We encourage those patients who are uncomfortable coming into a clinic, or are in a high risk category, to call to discuss whether a telehealth appointment is right for you,” the organization stated. “As we enter our phased reopening, we are happy to be able to provide all of our usual services once again,” said
John Seaman, M.D., KHS chief medical officer. “We are still concerned about assuring the safety of our staff and patients, even as we open to accommodate all of your usual health care needs. To that end, we will continue to implement measures for infection control including the use of appropriate PPE and segregation of sick and well visits. We appreciate your cooperation and patience as we do our best to provide the best possible care in the safest environment we can create.” As Idaho progresses through the phases of reopening, KHS officials said they will “continue to adhere to the recommendations put forth by state and national agencies, including the CDC, so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued, especially during this rapidly changing pandemic.” For more information, or to schedule an appointment, visit kaniksuhealthservices.org.
By Reader Staff
to COVID-19 and social distancing. “Thank you for your past support and we all look forward to 2021,” Hope Marina owner Pam Auletta wrote in a press statement.
City of Hope cancels July 4 festivities
The Hope Marina and the Hope Community announced a cancellation of their July 4 celebration for 2020 due
May 21, 2020 /
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Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond
East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact, which COVID-19 has illustrated so well. A recent sampling: To avoid a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided that non-essential travel should not be considered until 42 days after a decline in confirmed cases. The Associated Press reviewed the guidelines in the CDC report, which the White House had not planned to release. Too-rapid reopening can cause unnecessary deaths and suffering and a retrograde impact on economic recovery, according to a warning delivered to the U.S. Senate by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert for President Donald Trump’s administration. A new study shared by NBC News shows social distancing can cut COVID-19 spread up to 9% per day, and without shelter-in-place there could have been 10 times as many cases as of late April. COVID-19 is moving from more densely populated areas to rural ones, The Washington Post reports. That pattern of spread may have political implications, according to research at the Brookings Institution: In recent weeks, 1,014 counties that carried Trump in the 2016 presidential election are now “high-COVID” areas, since they report having 100 or more cases per 100,000 residents. Testifying before Congress, immunologist and vaccine expert Dr. Rick Bright said that without a solid plan to produce and fairly distribute COVID-19 supplies and vaccinations, the U.S. could face “the darkest winter in modern history” with “unprecedented illness.” His comments came when U.S. deaths hit 84,000, two weeks after they had hit 60,000. U.S. deaths exceeded 92,000 on May 19 (worldwide deaths were at 319,000). To dodge a winter of high COVID-19 cases, Bright recommends comprehensive national testing, more education about basic COVID-19 safety, ramping up production of equipment and supplies, and having ready a fair system for distribution. A COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna, tested on eight people, showed all subjects producing antibodies and replication of the virus had been stopped, The New York Times reported. It’s being fasttracked by the Food and Drug Administration and will next be tested on 600 people. Firsthand account of COVID-19 6 /
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By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist
at age 33: The day prior to manifesting COVID-19, New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay ran three miles and walked 10. The next day it felt like “hot tar buried deep in my chest. I could not get a deep breath unless I was on all fours.” A month later she has lingering pneumonia, uses two inhalers and can’t walk a block without stopping. She asks: “Why are more people dying of this disease in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world?” Gay’s op-ed, with more details, is on The Times website. The results of Trump’s proposed payroll tax cut to address COVID-19 financial concerns, according to Social Security Works: members of Congress, CEOs of Wall Street banks and Fortune 500 companies would see an annual tax cut of $2,754. There would be no tax cuts for the unemployed. A poll by Public Religion Research Institute shows voters over age 75 are now less supportive of the president: 56% supported him in March, but that slid to 34% in April. Review of the COVID-19 process, from The WEEK: A human carrier has trillions of the parasitic microbes — coughing, sneezing, talking or heavy breathing can emit 40,000 droplets that can lead to COVID-19 transmission elsewhere through the eyes, nose or mouth where the virus’ knobby spikes latch onto human cells. COVID-19’s vigor on surfaces, like plastic or metal, declines with time. In humans, COVID-19 first travels to the throat and sinuses. One is then a carrier but may never show or manifest symptoms. Onset of noticeable effects averages between two days to two weeks, when fever, dry cough and fatigue manifest. If the immune system can’t clear the virus, lung cell linings are attacked. Breathing is shorter and difficult; cells die and lungs can clog with fluid, causing pneumonia. In up to 3% of cases the immune system fails to respond appropriately, attacking both damaged and healthy cells. Fluids and dying cells then fill lung sacs, causing drowning and the potential for multiple organ failure. Why some get sicker than others is not yet known. Blast from the past: “It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.” Calvin Coolidge, 30th president, from 1923 to 1929.
PERSPECTIVES
Propaganda, with its myriad colors and shapes, is a ubiquitous and unrelenting force. Whether you’re watching TV, listening to the radio, reading a magazine or mindlessly scrolling on social media, you can rest assured that someone somewhere is attempting to sell you something, proselytize you, turn you against a particular demographic, persuade you to vote for this or that politician, or alter your perception of reality in one way or another. How effective a particular form of propaganda is depends on how cognizant we are of the fact that we are being propagandized. It would not be hyperbolic to say that our future — as individuals and as a species — rests not only on our capacity to understand when we are being manipulated but on our willingness to educate and inoculate ourselves against the never-ending onslaught of misinformation. Those who peddle lies and deceptions can propagate their falsehoods with more ease than ever before. But if we arm ourselves with knowledge and awareness of how propagandists operate, we can empower ourselves to mitigate the effect their propaganda has on us. The menu is too large to cover all propaganda techniques in one sitting, but don’t fret, dear reader, I’ve sampled some of the more pungent flavors so you don’t have to. Spoiler alert! They all gave me a bit of indigestion.
Appeal to Emotion One of the most effective and most commonly used rhetorical devices in the propagandist’s toolkit, the “appeal to emotion” fallacy can be used to manipulate people into making emotional decisions instead of logical ones. This can be accomplished with an appeal to compassion: “think of the children.” Or an appeal to fear: “We must attack them, or they will attack us.” It can be used to win elections: “Vote for me, or else…” It can be used to sell goods and services: “Use this product, or else…” And it can be used to convert people to any particular religious, economic, or political ideology: “Adhere to this doctrine, or else…” Of course, sometimes the claims may be legitimate, which is why we must look at the facts and refuse to allow ourselves to be governed by our emotions. Divide and Conquer Pitting opposing factions against each other in order to maintain power and control over them is one of the oldest tricks in the book. With this strategy, the goal is to encourage division among subjects who would otherwise be allies. Group A and Group B, if united, can become a force to be reckoned with; however, if they can be manipulated into quarreling with each other, then they can be more easily subjugated. In addition to making rival groups less powerful by breaking them apart, this technique also serves another
important purpose: it diverts public anger away from the corruption of the sovereign.
of course, is a mixed economy (which is what we currently have in the United States).
Cherry-picking A go-to tactic for the hucksters of half-truths, cherry-picking — a term that references the harvesting of only the good fruit — occurs when someone chooses to focus only on the data which helps his case and sweeps under the rug all data that hurts his case. When, for example, a news network focuses all of its attention on the violence that group X is responsible for and turns a blind eye to all of the violence that has been perpetrated by group Y, it’s safe to say that the data has been cherry-picked. One must consider the agenda of such “news” networks.
Whataboutism Another in vogue political technique, whataboutism is used to deflect the criticism that is leveled against a particular person, group, or ideology. Typically this is accomplished by simply pointing the finger back at someone else: asserting that “So-and-so is much worse,” is a common example of whataboutism. Perhaps so-and-so is, in fact, much worse, perhaps not — that fact, nevertheless, does not negate the criticism leveled against the original target.
False Dilemma The maxim “You’re either with us or against us,” is perhaps the most common example of a false dilemma. This strategy can be used for silencing dissent — if people feel that their loyalty will be questioned if they are critical of something, then they will be less inclined to be critical. After all, you have but two options: “Love it, or leave it!” False dilemmas are typically presented as either/or kind of scenarios where one must choose between either black or white (when, in fact, there are many different shades of gray). For example, the “capitalism vs. socialism” debate is often presented as a false dilemma — a third option,
Euphemism Whoever first said, “honesty is the best policy” certainly wasn’t talking about government policy. Dishonesty, it regrettably seems, is the best policy in the realm of politics. Dishonest pundits and politicians will often use euphemisms to manipulate ambivalent voters into supporting legislation that may otherwise oppose. For example, when terms like “civilian casualties” and “torture” have an adverse effect on public opinion, phrases like “Collateral damage” and “Enhanced interrogation” are effective substitutes. DOMA (the “Defense” of Marriage Act) and the “PATRIOT” Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001) are a few examples
of how euphemistic and obfuscatory titles are sometimes given to legislation that may otherwise be deemed repressive, immoral, or unconstitutional. Like all of the aforementioned propaganda techniques, euphemisms are not exclusive to any one party or political group. Indeed, one can’t survive in Washington unless he or she understands the importance of using more gentle sounding words in place of harsh words. While “nice guys finish last,” honest guys generally aren’t even allowed in the political race. This is by no means a comprehensive list — we have only scratched the surface of a broad array of propaganda techniques that are used to control the way we think and act. A better understanding of these techniques will serve to vaccinate us against the ever-spreading scourge of lies and misinformation; It is critical, however — If we do not wish to be pawns on someone else’s chessboard — that we don’t just focus on how the members of some other group are being manipulated; we must also examine the behavior of the groups to which we belong and consider the likelihood that we too are being manipulated. Dr. Timothy Bearly, GeD, is an autodidact who attended the prestigious Barnes and Noble University in Riverside, Calif., before moving to North Idaho, where he continues his studies at the Sandpoint Library. May 21, 2020 /
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Bradshaw knows the county and its people…
Bouquets: • I’m thankful for the great men and women who work at our local U.S. Post Offices around North Idaho, as well as the rest of the nation. Our local postal workers are on the front lines during this pandemic, continuing to get the mail out day after day. I appreciate them so much, though I’m biased since my dad was a postal worker and I know what kind of tough work these folks have to deal with. I’m thankful for all of them. • On May 14, a local news reporter in Long Island, N.Y., posted a short video he took while covering a lockdown protest. The video is so difficult to watch. The amount of hatred, anger and incivility directed toward this reporter doing his job was appalling. Protestors shouted profanities, flipped him the middle finger — one even crowded the reporter, menacing him and refusing to back off when asked to do so. Naturally, President Donald Trump tweeted not once but twice, giving an “atta-boy” to the protesters who showed such ugliness. On May 16, Idaho Gov. Brad Little tweeted the following: “Our local journalists have worked tirelessly through this pandemic to provide the public with up-to-date and accurate information. Thank you for keeping Idaho informed!” I don’t know whether Little was inspired to tweet that after watching the video from Long Island or not, but I do appreciate his words. On behalf of journalists everywhere, we are thankful for the support from our governor. Barbs: • I’m so sick of people being cruel. I’m over the outrage. I’m done with the false equivalency and name calling. I’m tired of how we seem to politicize everything. Reasonable people can disagree about many subjects, but the moment you see someone acting like a fool and abandoning all sense of decency in order to make a point, remember it. Anger is never the right tack when trying to make a point. Channel it into something worthwhile and decent, instead of adding more ugliness to the world. 8 /
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Dear editor, A county commissioner candidate should have experience and history with the county they are seeking to represent. This is crucial to decision making, understanding the needs of county residents and applying their local experiences to county issues. Commissioner Steve Bradshaw has been a Bonner County resident for 35 years. He knows the county, its people, what works and what doesn’t, and how best to apply tax funds. No wonder he was unanimously endorsed by the Bonner County Republican Central Committee. Don’t be fooled by newcomers to our state and county who want to bring change masked in the form of “qualified leadership,” and must rely on inside handlers to feed them the information they don’t know about the county. Please know that there will be only absentee ballot voting for the May 19 primary election. No polls will be open on election day — so you can only vote by absentee ballot. Please call Bonner County Elections Office at 208-255-3631 to obtain an absentee ballot. Be an educated voter. Vote to retain Commissioner Steve Bradshaw in the 2020 primary and general elections. Gary Domke Priest River
Bravo to Suppiger for tackling ed funding… Dear editor, I have known Gary Suppiger for many years. My admiration for him started when he volunteered, at the school where I taught, to teach additional math skills to students before regular school hours. He did this consistently for over 10 years and his program not only excited kids about math but culminated in a yearly math competition and overnight trip which he chaperoned. When Gary told me he intended to run for the school board, I wasn’t surprised because it was in perfect order with his commitment to children and their education. I was thrilled when he won. Now, I believe running for state representative in District 1 Seat B is, again, in perfect order with Gary’s belief that schools are the heart of our community and our future in general.
I understand his concern about the inadequacy of the current way of funding schools in our state and the disparity this system inherently puts in place. Bravo to him for wanting to tackle this issue. Gary Suppiger is a devoted husband and father of three, a successful small business owner and a man with a strong sense of civic duty, integrity and intelligence. His desire to serve the citizens of North Idaho has expanded and constantly grown over time. I wholeheartedly endorse Gary Suppiger for state representative in District 1 Seat B in the upcoming Republican primary on May 19. Liz Gollen Sagle
All property owners pay into the Ambulance Levy. County residents and visitors deserve the best EMS “system” we can (collaboratively) provide, county-wide. Our commissioners should ensure this. We need a new commissioner — one who understands the importance of being conservative, economic principles, leadership and service delivery/management concepts. One with a work ethic, who listens, is willing to speak up, then acts for the betterment of all the county. I’m voting for Butch Horton, Republican. Mark Sauter Sandpoint
Bradshaw absent on EMS issue…
Sage Dixon is the true Republican choice...
Dear editor, Our primary is our chance to weigh in on the direction of our county. Our commissioners are paid well to represent our interests and to answer the question, “What’s best for the people in Bonner County?” In January 2019, Commissioner Steve Bradshaw said he supported improving our Emergency Medical Service system in a public meeting. He mentioned his awareness of fire departments delivering EMS efficiently. Back then, the commissioners were talking about having a nonprofit from another county take over the day-to-day operations of Bonner County EMS and having the employees move to a different pay/ retirement system. What happened to his interest and support? Bradshaw didn’t ask any questions of the fire chiefs. He didn’t attend any of the fire chiefs’ EMS “findings” presentations, either. Where did he go? Bradshaw supports building two more “ambulance-only” stations instead of housing the ambulance crews at existing fire stations, for free. Was doing something fiscally responsible with the fire districts even considered? The large EMS reserves for new construction come mostly from not supporting the volunteer ambulance and fire crews in the less populated areas. Redistribution of taxes — is this the conservative model? One of the fire chiefs’ suggestions was staffing another ambulance in Sagle at no extra cost. What happened to that idea? Why can’t the less populated areas get more support and service?
Dear editor, Because he supports businesses large and small, Sage Dixon is endorsed by both the Farm Bureau and the Associated Logging Contractors. His opponent is endorsed by the radical leftist agitators of Reclaim Idaho. Sage Dixon believes in our right to self-defense, as well as our right to free speech and association as guaranteed by our First Amendment. His opponent believes that safety trumps the health of our economy, and that Idahoans should report their fellow citizens for stayat-home “order” violations. Sage Dixon champions lower taxes and regulation and supports representative government. His opponent sat in a courtroom fighting to keep a permanent levy whose ballot violated Idaho law saddled to Bonner County property owners, and supports majority-rule direct democracy that bypasses our elected representatives. Sage Dixon is a conservative who never wavers from his bedrock principles. His opponent presents himself as a Republican, but fights for hefty tax increases that harm area property owners and is supported by the left. It’s clear that one of these men is the true Republican choice for District 1-B while the other is something else. Please give Rep. Dixon your May 19th primary vote. Mike Telles Sandpoint
Editor’s note: The reference to Idaho District 1-B candidate Gary Suppiger’s view on “reporting” those who violated the governor’s stay-at-home order comes from a letter to the editor published in the Bonner County Daily Bee on April 10 and titled, “Officials engaging in reckless coronavirus politics.” In the letter, Suppiger criticized Rep. Sage Dixon for “lobb[ying] to have the violation reporting link on the state website deleted.” He did not advocate “that Idahoans should report their fellow citizens for stay-at-home ‘order’ violations.” Find a video of a virtual candidate’s forum, presented by the Sandpont Reader and Sandpoint Online, at bit.ly/BonnerCandidatesForum2020. View the portion of the discussion centered on the stay-at-home order protests at the 53:27 mark. Furthermore, First District Judge Barbara Buchanan ruled in late-March that the Lake Pend Oreille School District levy violated no Idaho statute.
Bradshaw walks the walk... Dear editor, As a longtime Clark Fork resident, I strongly opposed the Scotchman Peaks federal wilderness designation being pushed by “Friends of Scotchman Peaks.” Claiming widespread support for it in Bonner County, FSP Chair Phil Hough, then-County Commissioner Cary Kelly and Bob Boeh, of Idaho Forest Products, traveled to Washington, D.C., to peddle this lie to U.S. Sen. Jim Risch to get him to sponsor legislation for it. The ensuing uproar in Bonner County culminated in a decisive vote against the designation. Why am I telling you this? This same Bob Boeh is now the treasurer for “Butch” Horton’s campaign for Bonner County commissioner. And Horton admits he would have voted for the wilderness designation and would support it again. Unsurprisingly, FSP members have his campaign signs on their lawns. He is beloved by the Bonner County Democratic Central Committee and well-known local Democrats, environmentalists and “moderate” Republicans, although he calls himself a “conservative Republican.” If birds of a feather flock together, this bird is no Republican, let alone a conservative one. A resident of Bonner County for barely a
< see LETTERS, page 9 >
< LETTERS, con’t from page 8 > year, he immediately connected with Friends of Scotchman Peaks and began running for commissioner. FSP has found itself a shill. We have a choice, though: Steve Bradshaw, the conservative county commissioner who is honest about who he is and what he stands for. He doesn’t just talk, he walks the walk. This principled man has earned the unanimous endorsement of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee. He deserves our vote. Sharon Banning Clark Fork
Suppiger will look after our best interests… Dear editor, There is an upcoming election with a new candidate, Gary Suppiger. Gary and his family have lived a few houses away from our family for the last 30-something years in Cocolalla. We raised our families together. I know that Gary is a good, conscientious man who will tirelessly look out for the best interests of our families, community and education system. I’m very excited to see a man with such good character step into the political circle. Vote for Gary Suppiger by mailing your Republican ballot to Bonner County Elections by Tuesday, June 2. Thank you, Gary. Lonny Hawkins Cocolalla
Vote for the ‘mainstream’… Dear editor, Voting for the same people over and over again and expecting different results is the same as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results: A sign of madness. Voting for Bonner County Commissioner Steve Bradshaw or Sheriff Daryl Wheeler and expecting the county to not continue the money-wasting exercise of the gun rights suit against the city of Sandpoint? Good luck there. Or ignoring the citizens and voting for more asphalt plants? Or law enforcement officials saying they will only enforce laws they agree with? Or cooperating with and voicing fringe divisive issues put forward by radical unelected figures and out-of-area agitators, instead of addressing issues such as jobs and housing? Well, good luck there, as well. The other end of the political spectrum is just as bad in other ways. When it comes to voting for Sandpoint city officials, such as the current mayor and most of the current Sandpoint City Council members, when they come up for re-election you can expect more decisions like buying 30-plus garbage cans at $3,700 each.
More lavishing millions of dollars on a few blocks downtown. More ignoring the majority when they decided to install artificial turf at Memorial Field — a product that will require an expensive machine to keep it clean and, from what I recently heard, will only last about five years before it wears out in our four-season environment. All the while, they ignore the fact that most of the streets in town need repaving. If you’re happy with both of these extremes, well keep voting like you do. If not, vote for a mainstream conservative – or two – for the county commission and state legislature. Lawrence Fury Sandpoint
In America everyone deserves representation... Dear editor, Steve Johnson in his editorial re: the lawsuit between the city and county over “guns at The Festival” [Letters, “County v. city suit should be dropped…,” May 14, 2020] doesn’t consider the two individuals involved as part of all the people in the county that the commissioners should represent. Why are these two people not allowed representation? Since when do we have to have a majority of the people in favor of something before public funds are spent? If you look back in recent history, public funds have been spent on minority causes (school integration, public housing, women’s rights) just to name a few. Does Steve have a problem with those particular expenditures? I doubt it. The government has in its tradition on numerous occasions spent public funds when those in power feel the need and the necessity to represent the few. Where would Steve go if he felt his rights were being violated? Steve is old enough and educated enough to know that many a public dollar has been spent on just a few. Steve also brought up some interesting numbers regarding community support for The Festival. Steve mentions, “A Vast Majority.” I believe that when discussing a vast majority in these instances you use the figure 62%. With a rough population of 43,000 in Bonner County that would mean approximately 26,600 people support The Festival. I would challenge his assessment of support. I don’t have a dog in this fight, and I do support The Festival but seldom attend. When I do attend, I do so unarmed. These are just my thoughts on the matter and I might add this is election time and a vote is a vote. Bill Litsinger Sandpoint
Biden, a la El Cid... Dear editor, The DNC strategy is to focus our attention on the vice presidential candidate, rather than Joe Biden, the unspoken but hinted-at reason being that he is 77 and fading. But it’s not clear how they intend to replace Biden if he wins. Persuade him to resign? Use the 25th Amendment to force him out? Let him serve his term, but keep him from running for a second? The first two options call for enhanced scrutiny of the VP candidate, but the third option, which doesn’t involve the VP for four years, is the most likely — and at the rate Biden is fading his staff will be the de facto president, just as President Woodrow Wilson’s inner circle (including his wife) was after he suffered a stroke. Although it’s nice to think the people around Biden would cooperate with efforts to replace him with the VP if (when) he becomes too addled to run things, that’s not how it works in Washington, D.C. — the land of competing fiefdoms. If you were the person behind the curtain actually pulling the levers, would you willingly give up that power? El Cid appeared to be leading his men into battle; but, unbeknownst to them, he was actually dead and his aides riding next to him were propping him up and guiding his horse. Rather than focusing on the VP candidate, the focus should be on Biden’s handlers, who will actually be running things for four years. Unfortunately these people prefer to operate behind the scenes, so it’s hard to know who’s calling the shots, and the people in charge one day may not be in charge the next day after the internecine warfare that will likely follow. People for Biden need to know who they’re really voting for. Trump voters do. Dave Mundell Sandpoint
A vote for Suppiger is a vote for integrity... Dear editor: I want to urge all Bonner County Republicans and unaffiliated voters to cast their ballots Tuesday, June 2 for Gary Suppiger, representative candidate for District 1-B. A vote for Gary is a vote for integrity, public education solutions, and a voice of Republican reason. Gary has owned and operated his own Forest Products company in Bonner County and has worked tirelessly for the cause of public education. As a businessman and a person who has served on our school board, he understands problem solving and accountability. If you want someone who works to improve our education system, someone who can
figure out how we fairly pay for our schools and someone who understands the benefits of education, (less unemployment, better wages, more family stability). Then vote Gary Suppiger. If you vote for Gary you can count on his honesty. He won’t be telling different people what they want to hear for a vote. If you vote for Gary he will go to the Legislature to improve North Idaho and our state and to improve our education system. He will not obstruct and he will not try to destroy the ballot initiative and the rights of citizens to have their voice. Return your ballot to Bonner County Elections by Tuesday, June 2. Diana Dawson Sagle
Bradshaw is not ‘transparent’... Dear editor, Transparency is a word we hear frequently at election time from public officials. Commissioner Steve Bradshaw makes a claim to this, but he’s been anything but transparent when it comes to the gun lawsuit he initiated with Commissioner Dan McDonald. Answers to public record requests for the amount of taxpayers’ money paid to Davillier Law, the “outside council” on this case, have been obscure. All we get is a running total, now at $71,893. There’s no information given beyond that. Also troubling is the amount paid to this law firm for other matters. In January, $39,341.05 was mailed to New Orleans. In February, $55,839.50 went south. What does over $100,000 get us? Requests are denied under the blanket of “client privilege,” but aren’t we, the taxpayers, the clients and entitled to know the financial expenditures? Fact is attorney George Wentz has a questionable history of padding bills (Google his name with “Utah”). Butch Horton is running against Bradshaw. He has said he “would’ve exhausted all avenues to settle this issue before engaging the county in a lawsuit.” He would have approached the city in a civil manner to request a formal legal opinion from our state attorney general. This, at no cost to taxpayers, would have provided a legal base of understanding. Bradshaw purposefully filed this lawsuit in front of Steve Herndon’s efforts, who was already fundraising for legal fees before his confrontation at The Festival gates. Commissioners bumped their salary 24% in three years. Bradshaw is now making $6,326 a month even after declining last year’s increase for this election year. McDonald takes it all, making $7,109 a month take-home. For those registered as unaffiliated or Republican, please vote Horton for county commissioner to bring genuine transparency into our county government. Don and Rebecca Holland Sandpoint May 21, 2020 /
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Mad about Science:
Brought to you by:
film photography By Ben Olson Reader Staff I’m sitting in for Brenden Bobby this week, so I thought I’d look into a subject that has always been near and dear to me: film photography. To understand film photography, it’s helpful to break down the Greek roots of the word itself: photos (light) and graphos (writing). Photography means, literally, “writing with light.” When a human eye captures light from the sun through its lens, it sends a signal to your brain, which results in an image. The same thing happens with a camera, with light passing through a lens and projected onto a surface to view it. The main difference is the image that is captured through a camera is permanent instead of constantly updating with newer images, as happens with the human eye. While the word itself means “writing with light,” it isn’t actually the light doing the “writing,” but the chemicals placed on a film negative that change as a result of the light exposed onto it. Film is a piece of transparent plastic material called celluloid that is coated with a very thin emulsion gel containing light-sensitive crystals. Imagine a purified, thinner version of Jell-O. Within this gel is where the magical photochemistry takes place, transforming a split second image into a permanent picture. The gel contains tiny grains of light-sensitive silver halide crystals. These crystals come in a variety of mixtures, usually combining silver-nitrate and halide salts, which are a mixture of chloride, bromide and iodide. The resulting image depends on 10 /
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the crystalline size, shape and composition. Photographic speed — referred to as ISO or ASA ratings — depends on the size and light-sensitivity of the grain. For example, a low ISO rating of 50 means it takes more light to make the crystals react, but the resulting image is less “grainy.” A higher ISO of 800 means less light is needed to make a clear image, but the resulting image turns out a bit grainier since the crystals are larger. This means if you are photographing a nature scene with plenty of natural light, a lower film speed would create a cleaner image. Conversely, if shooting indoors or in low light, a higher film speed is needed since less light is available to create the image. Now that you understand the film medium, let’s talk about how to take a photo with a film camera. When film is loaded in the camera body, the first step to taking a photograph is to focus the image on the surface of the film. This is done by adjusting the glass or plastic lens that bends refracted light from the objects onto the film. After you achieve focus, it’s important to set the correct exposure on your camera to capture the image. Exposure refers to the amount of time a specific amount of light is exposed to the film stock inside the camera, or the balance of light intensity and exposure time. Most modern digital and film cameras have intelligent auto-exposure settings that detect the amount of light needed to take a clear photograph in any situation, but in the early days of photography it was necessary to utilize a light meter to measure the correct exposure. To adjust the light intensity
that will hit the film, a photographer adjusts the aperture, which is a circular opening on the lens similar to the iris on a human eye. A smaller aperture means more light is needed to expose the photograph, a wider aperture means less light is needed. A smaller aperture also means a larger depth of field, which roughly translates into how much of the subject matter in your print is in focus. You’ve no doubt seen photographs that have captured a subject in crisp focus, but the background is soft and fuzzy, creating a depth effect. This is achieved by using a smaller opening and less light. After the desired aperture is set, the exposure time is manipulated by setting the shutter speed. The shutter is much like a window shutter — it’s always closed until you click the button on the camera, which quickly opens and closes the lens to allow light into the body, washing it over the film stock. When the shutter is opened quickly, less light reaches the film. When a shutter is opened for a longer period of time, more light reaches the film stock. Different effects can be created by manipulating the aperture and shutter speeds for any given shot. To achieve a crisp action shot — such as a photo of an athlete kicking a soccer ball without motion blur — a quick shutter speed is needed. For landscape photography, in which a tripod can be used to minimize camera movement, a quick shutter speed isn’t desired, since the photographer can set a small opening in the aperture and “leak” the light in slower — creating a richer image where more of the subject is in focus.
The image captured on the film stock comes as a negative, which means all the colors and shades are a direct opposite of how they appear in real life. When developing a roll of film to make a print, the negative images are then reversed in the darkroom to create what we see as a snapshot in time as captured by our film camera. Though it may seem a bit complicated, film photography is actually a simple process by
which artists can use chemistry to create a wide array of images that help document and explain our world. Next time you snap a photo with your digital camera, take a moment to appreciate how photographers of the past made this magic happen by understanding how to “write with light.” Brenden Bobby will be back next week with his usual weekly column.
Random Corner s?
Don’t know much about movie • The dinosaur noises in the Jurassic Park movie were made from recordings of tortoise sex. • More than 90% of American movies made before 1929 are lost — no copies are known to exist. • The word “mafia” is never mentioned in the film version of The Godfather because the actual mafia demanded it. • Movie trailers used to play after the film. • Movie theater popcorn costs more per ounce than filet mignon in the U.S. • After watching Star Wars, James Cameron decided to quit his job as a truck driver and enter the film industry. Also, Cameron was homeless when writing the movie The Terminator, and sold the rights for $1, on the condition he could direct it. • The movie Little Miss Sunshine was partially inspired by a quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger saying: “If there’s one thing in this world I despise, it’s losers.” • The time traveling machine in the movie Back to the Future was
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originally supposed to be a refrigerator. • When Charlie Chaplin received his honorary Oscar, he got a 12-minute standing ovation, the longest in Oscar history. • The movie industry relocated from New York to L.A. to escape Thomas Edison’s patents on most of the equipment, screening and distribution methods needed to make and view modern films — patents that, as one source put it, he was prone to use as a “cudgel,” demanding exorbitant royalties for their use and/ or suing those who resisted. • Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has the highest body count of any movie ever made, with 836 on-screen deaths. • Jeff Daniels made just $50,000 in the original Dumb and Dumber while Jim Carrey was paid $7 million. • There’s a Starbucks coffee cup in every scene of Fight Club. • Donald Trump was the inspiration for the character Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future trilogy.
FEATURE
Dine in, work out
Idaho enters Stage 2 of the Idaho Rebounds plan
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Idaho Governor Brad Little announced in a press conference May 14 that the state would move into Stage 2 of his Idaho Rebounds plan, as scheduled on Saturday, May 16. The plan is meant to reopen businesses and gathering places in stages every two weeks, as long as Idaho does not see a spike in novel coronavirus cases during the process. Each stage brings with it new guidelines, and new businesses allowed to reopen. The current guidelines In Stage 1 of the plan, gatherings of any kind were not recommended. In Stage 2, gatherings of 10 or fewer people are allowed with social distancing precautions in place. Perhaps most notably, Stage 2 brings the openings of restaurant dining rooms, salons and indoor gyms. These businesses are following strict protocol from local health districts, so scenes inside these establishments may look a little different for some time. At The Fat Pig restaurant in Sandpoint, that means socially distanced tables, a heavy emphasis on reservations in order to avoid crowds waiting to be seated, a sanitation station for customers and more. Owner Kelley Kennedy told the Reader that reopening has been smooth. “They have been kind, generous and wonderful,” Kennedy said of her customers. “So far, full steam ahead, and we couldn’t be happier.”
Tables are also being spaced at Di Luna’s, where owner Karen Forsythe said they have instituted a single location where diners can order and pay before sitting down, limiting interactions between customers and wait staff. “It is a slightly stressful situation for all, but we are adapting to what we need to do to insure the safety of both the customers and staff,” she said. Local gyms are also making adjustments. Indoor operations restarted at CrossFit Sandpoint this week, the business sharing on its Facebook page that class sizes would be limited to 10 people and everyone will be asked to practice social distancing. Kathy Chambers, owner of Sandpoint Dance Fitness, also announced via Facebook that she would be reopening, but that classes would be limited to 10 people at a time. “Hopefully this will be a short-term situation,” she wrote. What’s next? Little announced during his May 14 press conference that bars — originally scheduled to reopen in Stage 4 — could begin creating plans to reopen in Stage 3, which is set to begin May 30. Also during Stage 3, gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed and non-essential travel is no longer discouraged. Visitors to Idaho will also no longer need to self-quarantine when visiting the state during Stage 3. Stage 4, slated to begin June 13, brings gatherings of more than 50 people, as well as the reopening of large venues where such gatherings may
take place. Telework will no longer be considered necessary, but social distancing in all settings will still be encouraged. The plan sees pushback The Idaho Rebounds plan has revealed fissures in the relationship between Little’s office and that of Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin — a relationship McGeachin recently characterized as “tense” on the Crosspolitic podcast, a Moscow-based religious show, according to KTVB. McGeachin released a column to Idaho newspapers on May 13 alleging that small businesses and entrepreneurs are underrepresented on the governor’s Idaho Rebounds committees, and that “the effects of the executive branch’s unilateral decisions will impact us for years.” “We must have the courage to tell it straight: Realistically, there is a segment of our population that will remain at risk during this pandemic and there may be a spike in COVID-19
cases as we reopen. I agree that we should do all that we can to protect our vulnerable citizens, as well as our frontline workers. But there are other facts to consider,” McGeachin wrote, detailing the financial hardships many Idahoans are facing under the ongoing pandemic and related restrictions. She pointed out that Little ran for governor while promising the “lightest hand of government.” “To me, this means getting out of the way and letting Idahoans get back to work,” she wrote. Bonner County Commissioner Dan McDonald has also been vocal about changing the approach to economic reopening in North Idaho due to lower COVID-19 case counts. In an email sent May 14 to the District 1 officers of the Idaho Association of Counties, McDonald asked them to join him in signing a letter urging the governor to consider lifting restrictions according to “facts on the ground” in separate coun-
ties in order to mitigate damage being done to small businesses under current restrictions. McDonald said in the email — which he also shared on his personal Facebook page — that he believed Bonner County should be in Stage 4 based on it’s low case count. “We are at a critical point whereby the cure is going to cause more damage than the virus ever will, and that damage will go on far longer,” he wrote. “We see the goal posts continually moved, using the excuse of public safety when most of the stats in the 44 counties in Idaho don’t support the action.” In a follow-up email to the Reader on May 19, McDonald said a few of the IAC officers have replied and are willing to sign a letter to Little pushing for the county-by-county reopening strategy. McDonald also reiterated that his aim is to “eliminate [restrictions] based on the facts on the ground in our area along with the detrimental economic impact these illogical rules have created.” May 21, 2020 /
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FEATURE
‘Asking for help is not a bad thing’
Local mental health agencies turn their attention to Bonner County’s struggling youth
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff
Around the age of 6 or 7, a doctor diagnosed Evelyn Towry on the autism spectrum. Bipolar tendencies, anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder also surfaced due to negative early school experiences. Her mother, Spring Towry, took a difficult parenting step in an effort to get her daughter the help she needed: she sought out mental health intervention, and the family has now been clients of North Idaho Children’s Mental Health for more than a decade. By utilizing a combination of oneon-one counseling, psychosocial rehabilitation and developmental disabilities counseling, Evelyn — now 20 years old — is able to advocate for herself and manage her mental health issues. “This whole asking for mental health services, or even having them offered to you — the dynamic has changed quite a bit over the years,” Towry said, detailing her own negative experience being diagnosed with a learning disability as a child. She said she had some fears about getting Evelyn help because she worried her daughter would be “poorly treated or mismanaged.” “But Victor [Brotherton-Manna] — he really, really helped me understand that that wasn’t what was going to be happening with their facility,” she said. Brotherton-Manna co-founded NICMH with his wife, Jenny, but he died in 2013. Jenny now operates the agency, which is one of many taking part in the Bonner County Youth Mental Health Collaborative: a recently formed group aiming to make mental health resources more available to local parents. The effort is co-chaired by Joy Jansen, director of Special Education and Elementary School Counseling for the Lake Pend Oreille School District; and Dion Heller, probation manager for Bonner County Justice Services. Jansen and Heller created the group when both noticed that mental health struggles had begun to intensify among 12 /
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local children in elementary and middle school. Heller said this marked a change, as he and Jansen were more accustomed to seeing these issues among high-school students. Bonner County children are susceptible to mental health struggles for a myriad of reasons, according to Heller, who said factors like rural living and poverty can hinder access to mental health services. He said the “North Idaho mentality of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” and the idea that people can “tough it out” often causes a stigmatized view that seeking help is “weak.” Heller also said adverse childhood experiences — known among counseling professionals as ACEs — can lead to mental health issues among young people. ACEs are caused by anything traumatic experienced in childhood. “Research does show that ACEs scores in northern Idaho are significantly higher than the rest of Idaho and the nation,” Heller said. With a little digging, Jansen and Heller discovered that local mental health agencies were already making efforts to address this new trend. “What we found out was that there were a lot of providers out there doing their own thing and everyone was being spread so thin,” Heller said, adding that the first goal is to get each of these entities to share ideas and strategies. The Bonner County Youth Mental Health Collaborative also plans to make services more accessible, and to raise
community awareness about the severe issue of children’s mental illness. Providers joining forces in the effort include Bonner General Health and Behavioral Health, North Idaho Children’s/Community Mental Health, Sandpoint Psychotherapy, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Kinderhaven, LillyBrooke Family Justice Center, North Idaho Crisis Line, Panhandle Health District, Kaniksu Health Services, Sandpoint Teen Center, Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office, Bonner County judges, Head Start programs and Journey Pediatric Therapy. “We want to end the stigma that comes from receiving any type of mental health services, and we want to acknowledge how hard it is to stand up and acknowledge the hardships that come with living with a mental illness,” said Jenny Brotherton-Manna of North Idaho Children’s Mental Health. “Our clients are brave and strong and we appreciate all they teach us everyday.” While Evelyn has come a long way thanks to agencies like North Idaho Children’s Mental Health, Towry has another daughter, older than Evelyn, who “has been lost” to Towry due to mental illness despite Towry’s best efforts to get her the mental health intervention she needs. Towry is now raising her grandchild — the daughter of her eldest daughter — because her older daughter’s mental health struggles make it so she is unable to care for the girl herself.
“I think that a lot of people feel like — especially myself, who has more than one child who has some sort of a mental health issue — that maybe it’s my fault,” Towry said. “It isn’t your fault, and it isn’t my fault, or any other parent’s fault that their child has mental health issues. That is a really difficult thing.” She said the first step to getting past those beliefs is to stop asking “why,” and begin asking “what will help my child?” “If you kill yourself on the ‘why’ — which, that’s what I’ve done over the years, ‘why, why, why’ — you’re never going to focus on what your child needs. Just skip that part. Skip that completely, because you’re never going to find out,” Towry said. She said the best thing a parent can do is rise to the challenge with skills acquired through some outside help. “You just need to learn how to parent a little bit differently, and that’s what these mental health facilities can do for us,” Towry said. Evelyn Towry is an example of the positive outcomes that can follow childhood mental health intervention. “I’ve taught her and given her the tools to understand that asking for help is not a bad thing,” Towry said. “That’s probably one of my biggest accomplishments in life, is that I have helped somebody who probably could have been swept under the rug if her parents didn’t want to seek help for her.” It’s a lesson in parenting that Towry hopes she can pass on to others. “I want parents to let their children know they are their biggest advocate,” she said. “I will go to bat for my daughter — I don’t fight her battles for her, but I will always support her and advocate for her. I am her biggest fan, and she is one of my heroes. She faces generations of social dogma that needs to be changed. It can be changed with advocacy and tools like therapy and counseling.”
HEALTH
It’s time for a property tax freeze By Mike Gearlds Special to the Reader
For reasons best explained by them, Idaho legislators again failed to pass property tax relief or reform measures in the past session. They roused from their torpor just long enough to approve a 2% pay increase for state workers, even while 16% of the state’s 900,000-person workforce faced a COVID-19 pay decrease of 100%. Yeah, lots of ideas were bandied about — stuff like replacing school district levies with a state sales tax increase or boosting the homeowner’s exemption. Some even made it to House and Senate votes, only to meet rejection. Those bills were doomed by lobbying and whining from cities, counties, school districts and other such taxing entities unwilling to give up some — or even any — revenue in a time of financial crisis for all of us. Of these bills, arguably the most controversial and important was HB409, which proposed a statewide one-year freeze on local governments’ property tax budgets to give officials time to fix the current system, which most lawmakers say is broken, by an increasing overreliance on residential properties for dollars. Education levies would be exempt. The bill was sponsored by House Majority Leader Mike Moyle (R-Star). A real property tax freeze would work like this: This year’s property tax statement would look exactly like the one you got in 2019. Same rates; same total bill. The freeze wouldn’t include new construction or sales of existing properties, so overall government revenue still would increase. Homeowners and businesses alike would benefit from this relief, not to mention the certainty and continuity it provides. It would give the state government time to finally take property tax issues seriously and get something done after kicking the can down the road for more than 30 years. Why should a freeze be considered now? Because property values are about to take a flaming nosedive from the giddy heights of 2019. Remember what happened to home prices back in 2009 during the Great Recession? Properties that easily sold for $400,000-plus in 2008 were begging for offers in the $250K range. Some luxury condos in Coeur d’Alene were on the market for less than half their original asking price, and that was with a free car thrown into the bargain.
The recession of 2008-’10 was bad, but it will seem like a birthday party in the park compared to what we’re facing now. Idaho unemployment reached 9% in 2010: Compare that sad statistic to the 20% we have now, then layer on a fearsome pandemic, shuttered businesses, unprecedented government debt and a divisive election year, and you have a recipe for all kinds of financial mayhem Property assessments are figured in arrears, so 2020 tax bills are based on estimated 2019 values. In Bonner County, median home prices rose by 9.5% from 2018’19. That increase has likely evaporated already, gone the way of the dodo and the Edsel. Unless bold action is taken right now by officials, county Boards of Equalization will be overwhelmed by a veritable tsunami of property tax appeals from owners who see their homes valued at artificially high levels, based on 2019 economic good times that will not return for years. And how will counties handle assessment appeal hearings this year? You can’t eat in a restaurant, and even outdoor festivals are canceled, so how can numerous hearings be safely conducted, with a lengthy parade of property owners ushered into a meeting room along with county officials and staff? Yes, assessors are mandated by state law to value properties at fair market value. For this, they employ “trending” factors based on broad market and local conditions. These trending factors often deviate from reality by a wide margin, and always in favor of higher numbers. In other words, assessors have wide leeway to determine what is “fair.” They typically pick the biggest trending numbers they think the public will tolerate. As Yogi Berra once said, “In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they’re not.” Think it can’t happen here? It already did. Back in the distant past of 2006, the Bonner County assessor jacked up property values by an average of 62% from the previous year — a number unsupported by the real world. The resulting taxpayer revolt made headlines and rocked county commissioners with more than 2,700 assessment appeals — a number of hearings they never could hope to conduct. Frustrated commissioners finally threw up their hands and voided the 2006 assessments, rolling back valuations to 2005 and doing away with the need for appeals. The state got involved and eventually a compromise emerged, with most of the hated
2006 property valuations dialed down to more reasonable numbers. In 2020, we don’t have the time or assets for fun and games like this. Property tax is an odd duck: If you stay in your home all year and don’t sell it, you’ll still end up paying increasing taxes on money you haven’t made, for something you haven’t sold. If you do sell your house and make money, those bucks are tax free, unlike capital gains. The poor bozo who bought your house for appreciably more than you paid for it is the one who ends up paying the higher taxes. Yes, Idaho property taxes are low compared to most states, but we have all the other taxes that lots of states do without — income tax, state and local sales taxes — even a lucrative state monopoly on liquor sales. Our property taxes should be low, considering we pay taxes on pretty much everything else A freeze would hardly cripple the ability of cities and counties to finance their operations. Contrary to what you might think, property taxes only amount to about 25% of a city’s or county’s revenue. A freeze to last year’s levels would impose a 1% or less loss of revenue, with new construction and sales factored in. The belt-tightening and sacrifice expected of the general citizenry in pandemic times should be shared by state, county and city governments. It can’t all be on us property-owning schlubs. Bonner County commissioners have done a good job at controlling budget increases, but the essential problems of residential property taxation remain here and statewide. Advocating for a property tax freeze might seem naïve, ignorant, simplistic, unrealistic — pick your adjective, but I have lots of company: In February, two-third of the Idaho House of Representatives approved the HB409 freeze by a 46-23 vote. The Senate, caving to special interest pressure, then voted it down 24-11. The state could step in with a special legislative session and reconsider the property tax freeze they killed in March, even as the true scope of the present economic calamity unfolded — but don’t count on it. It’s probably up to Idaho counties to declare an emergency and get on with the dirty job of actually helping Idahoans. Self-professed “conservative libertarian” Mike Gearlds is a retired engineer, reporter, columnist and journalism instructor. He has lived in Bonner County for 20 years. May 21, 2020 /
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COMMUNITY
Remembering those we lost Why we celebrate Memorial Day
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer, when stores host big sales — families load up gear to camp or recreate together and workers get a much-needed day off. But it’s important to remember the real significance of the holiday. Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, is a day to remember those who have served in the American armed forces who have given their lives in service to our country. The holiday originated in the years following the Civil War, but didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1971. The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history, which led to the establishment of our country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, some American cities began holding springtime tributes to fallen soldiers, gathering in cemeteries to decorate graves with flowers. One account showed one of the earliest Memorial Day ceremonies was organized by a group of freed slaves in Charleston, S.C., a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. But the federal government declared Waterloo, New York as the official birthplace of the holiday. In Waterloo, the first Memorial Day was celebrated on May 5, 1866, when businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags. In 1868, General John A. Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance to occur every May in the U.S. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose 14 /
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of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” Logan proclaimed in 1868. By 1890, each of the northern states had declared Decoration Day an official state holiday, while southern states continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I. Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated in several states such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and parts of South Carolina. While Decoration Day became known as a holiday to honor those lost while fighting the Civil War, the holiday evolved over time to recognize the American service members who died in all wars, including World War II, the Vietnam War, the Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, in 1968 the U.S. Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect 1971, which also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Cities around the country celebrate Memorial Day in various ways. Some host parades incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations. Others hold graveside services where fallen soldiers lie. Many Americans wear a red poppy in remembrance of those who
have fallen in war – a tradition that began with a poem written by a Canadian Lieutenant Colonel named John McCrae. The poem, called “In Flanders Field,” channeled the voices of fallen soldiers who were buried under a field of red poppies that had sprung up a few years after a particularly devastating
An American flag is displayed by the grave of a fallen soldier. Stock photo. battle. So, while spending time with your family over the long weekend, be sure to take a moment to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to our country.
Though veterans’ ‘Forget-Me-Not’ fundraiser is canceled, you can still help By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The annual Disabled American Veterans’ “Forget-Me-Not” fundraiser scheduled for Monday, May 25, has been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The event is a major source of income for the transportation
of veterans to and from Veterans Administration facilities in Spokane, Wash., every week — “rain or shine,” according to a news release from DAV officials. The service is provided solely by volunteers. In light of the cancellation, area residents are invited to contribute as they normally would on Memorial Day, Mon-
day, May 25. Checks or money orders may be sent to: DAV c/o Bill Stevens 1325 Pine St. Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864. The veterans group wrote: “We want everybody to stay safe and stay healthy in this time of crisis. We hope to be able to continue this event on Memorial Day 2021. Thank you for your support.”
HUMOR
We should count our blessings in the era of coronavirus Even compared to the rest of the U.S., we’re spoiled rotten By PollyAnna Reader Columnist I finally hit the mostly unemployed status that a lot of folks are currently enjoying. I say “enjoying” because — let’s be honest — in this season of homebound navel-gazing and child-chasing, so far, most of us are damn lucky, folks. For one thing, we’ve got relief checks coming our way — even if it takes until midsummer for them to arrive in our bank accounts. A lot of countries aren’t getting squat. Even these few weeks of lockdowns are threatening starvation for untold millions of people on the continent of Africa. Because a majority of African economies rely on tourism, the oil industry and money sent home from the diaspora of legal workers abroad, economists are projecting large-scale economic and nutritional collapse for much on the continent in the coming months. (Let’s not forget that most of East Africa was already being ravaged by a desert locust swarm.) In India, which faces similar levels of poverty, hundreds of thousands of internal migrants recently walked home from major cities as all their jobs came to an end. Many workers trudged home empty-handed — some of them hundreds of miles — back to agrarian regions where they have little-to-no access to jobs, medical services or running water, but may be able to join their families for basic meals. Still unknown is whether they brought the virus home to their villages. Here’s another thought: Even though it’s nightmarish sorting through the tried and not-so-true stories circulating on the news and social media these days, at least we have the option to do so. Back in my childhood home of the Democrat-
ic Republic of the Congo, the average member of the population had never heard the word “coronavirus” before their first lockdown was put in place. They were given fewer than 24 hours advance notice. The results, in a wartorn country where few people have an extra 50 cents at the end of each day, were mass panic, instances of looting and total chaos. Even compared to the rest of the United States, we’re spoiled rotten. We live in a beautiful, rural area where exercising outside while avoiding other people is easy. My sister Fran in Philly tells me she can’t even go for short walks right now, due to her neighborhood being too populated with incautious people — and because the authorities have closed all nearby parks and paths. Life in North Idaho has never been sexier. But... ugh. There’s really not a lot of joy in being better off than the rest of the world, and this is theoretically a column on positivity and the silly sides of life. So, what’s the positive side to a global pandemic? Maybe the gift is just in the “waking up.” We get to share a mindset that most of our global family experiences on a daily basis. The world has always been a wee bit out of control. It’s just those of us blessed enough to live in the recent miracle of Western comfort who have been able to pretend otherwise. But wait, here’s the best part: We adapt that perspective, and we do good. Like the folks at the Pack River Store, who are doing their best to ensure no local child goes hungry during the school closures. Or like my coworkers, who are using their time off to raise their first round of chickens, to pick up neglected musical instruments and
prep amazing gardens. Like my college friend, Scott, who is manufacturing reusable click-in floors for refugee camps, to stall the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases among those who already have suffered more than any of us will ever understand. Or like my local friends, who are sewing or crafting medical personal protective equipment for our local hospitals using their personal sewing machines and CNC routers. Yep, life is chaotic. Let’s make it good.
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TECHNOLOGY
OK, Zoomer Who are you in the age of Zoom?
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff
A YouTuber named Preston Reid recently produced a video titled “Different types of Zoomers,” in which he demonstrated more than a dozen different personalities you’ll encounter during Zoom calls. The video, which went viral thanks to so many people utilizing the video call application during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, includes the Virtual Backgrounder, The One in Front of a Window, The One With Pets, The One on an iPad and more. As for the weekly Sandpoint Reader editorial meeting, currently held over Zoom each Friday morning, we have our own variety of video conference personas. I am the Exotic Locale Zoomer. Without adequate internet service at my house in east Bonner County, I venture down to the local store to use the faster WiFi. Sometimes my background is a sunny lake view while I sit on the deck at the store. Other times, it’s the backside of the building, where I hide from the coffee club that meets out front. Most recently, I Zoomed while sitting cramped and cross-legged in my car, parked near enough to the building to scrape the inter-
A rare sighting of the elusive “Pizza Zoomer.” Courtesy image. net but away from the banter of the coffee club and out of the rain. My Zoom style may give the endearing impression that I am adventurous and versatile. However, it more adequately illustrates my desire to secure better WiFi at my house. When I do get to sit in peace and (almost) quiet on the deck, I often wear the hat of Social Butterfly Zoomer as I smile, wave and mouth a quick “hello” to almost everyone who enters the store. This involves the occasional removal of
headphones and a breathless “I’m-in-a-meeting-can’t-talkright-now” greeting when the silent “hello” doesn’t quite get the point across. Then we have Zach — well dressed and only occasionally suffering from audio connectivity issues. The first time we attempted to meet via Zoom, we spent a solid 10 minutes pantomiming problem-solving suggestions to one another until he finally used Zoom’s chat feature to type “I ****ing hate the ****ing 21st century.” Seeing as anyone who
knows him would agree that Zach does not, in fact, belong in the current century, he is our Reluctant Zoomer — not necessarily because he doesn’t want to use the application, but because he appears so perfectly out of place during a conversation through a computer screen. Zach also doubles as our resident Homeschool Teacher Zoomer, as he handles a work meeting and keeps his school-age children on task at the same time. Here’s to all the parents juggling that life right now — you’re almost to
summer break. Finally, we have Ben. He directs our meetings, sharing his screen through Zoom so that we can all see the layout of the upcoming newspaper. Ben could almost fit the bill of The Drinker, from Reid’s YouTube compilation, in which Reid sips from three different drinks in rapid succession. However, Ben always has one drink: a vibrant glass of delicious and nutritious Emergen-C (this may seem strange, but have you ever seen the man sick? No). Ultimately, Ben is the Zoomer With His Shit Together — mostly prepared, sitting in a consistent and tidy spot in his apartment, sending links for the meeting and asking us how we’re doing while we abruptly join the meeting from strange locations with audio troubles. Alternatively, Ben could be called the Mother Hen Zoomer. Every meeting has one — think about it. We have been able to plan great issues over Zoom, although the process has not been ideal for anyone. I look forward to the day we can meet in our dorm room of an office again, where we all can assume our normal in-person identities: salty journalists, ready to tackle another week.
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HISTORY
Trees as old as time Bonner County’s ‘big trees’ are part of its long history
By Hannah Combs Reader Contributor My first spring in Sandpoint, I visited a friend at her cabin and she wouldn’t let me leave without a visit to “the big tree.” The property behind her home turned into a mass of creek channels during spring runoff, and she lent me thigh-high muck boots to slog through the frigid water. Clinging to shrubs, I propelled my way across, only looking up when I was on dry land again. I was standing in the shadow of the most incredible tree I had ever seen, a lone western red cedar whose fellows had been cut or fallen decades before. More than eight feet in diameter, it was stretching out into the creek, looking as though it might go for a walk at any minute. The interplay with water through the years had sculpted its lower trunk into a fantastical twisting growth of burl and roots. Coming from the Midwest, this first encounter with a “big tree” was a moving experience, with waves of pure wonder pouring over me. For those who have lived their entire lives here, the imposing trees of the West may not be such a surprise, but they still inspire awe and respect. As one of our native species, cedars have played a role in local history for thousands of years. The cedar has been used by the Kalispel tribe for many daily practices, from building canoes and bark baskets to smoking fish, and cedar is still a popular building material, cut and milled for everything from roofing shingles to guitar soundboards. Cedar forest provides wildlife habitat for species like black bears and hairy wood18 /
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A magnolia tree in full bloom in south Sandpoint. Photo by Hannah Combs. peckers, and old growth stands are resilient to forest fires because they do not support the dense understory that provides fuel for the fire. After more than a century of human development, pockets of old growth cedar can still be found close to home. Though the Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars northwest of Priest Lake and the Ross Creek Cedar Grove just across the border in Montana are two of the most popular places to stand among these giants, cedars can be found all over Bonner County. The “Grandfather Tree” at Schweitzer is one iconic example. Nestled near the Springboard run in the Outback Bowl, the towering cedar can
be discovered in the winter or summer months, though a summer hike might entail more of an expedition. Though neither native to North Idaho nor as imposing as the cedars, the magnolia tree’s history goes back much further. Known for its exquisite and ephemeral pale blooms, the magnolia was one of the earliest flowering plants, developing during the Cretaceous Period. The fossil record shows magnolias on Earth as early as 95 million years ago. The magnolia developed some interesting characteristics throughout its ancient past. According to local gardener and BCHS Volunteer Coordinator Jacquie Albright, “The petals
of the magnolia flower are quite strong and feel thick to the touch compared to other petals.” That is because the magnolia was around before bees and butterflies, so it adapted for a different pollinator. “The petals have to be strong enough to hold a beetle as it enters into the center of the flower,” Albright said. The oldest magnolias are native to eastern Asia and eastern North America — the magnolia is the state flower of Mississippi, where the record-holding largest tree stretches to 122 feet and has a diameter of more than six feet. Yet, the 200+ subspecies of the tree have adapted to a variety of climates, including that of
North Idaho. With blooms that usually appear before the leaves, magnolias always put on a stunning early spring display, which can be seen throughout our community. Bonner County is home to a few record trees of its own. The University of Idaho Big Tree Program recognizes six Bonner County trees as the largest in the state: the Douglas maple, red alder, butternut, subalpine larch, paper birch and black cottonwood. The record-holding subalpine larch can be found near the upper Roman Nose lake. The paper birch and black cottonwood can both be seen on the Gooby farm near the base of Gooby Road. The Sandpoint Tree Committee’s “Outstanding Trees of Sandpoint, Idaho” booklet says of this black cottonwood, “This multistem giant measures 8 feet in diameter and reaches a height of 113 feet.” The black cottonwood’s sap was used by some Native American tribes as a glue or even for waterproofing, and today its flower buds are used in some perfume fragrances. Whether your favorite tree is hidden deep in an old growth forest or on colorful display for everyone to see, take a moment this spring to visit your tree and stand in awe of its beauty. The history of these ancient species precedes us, and there is much to learn from their grace and resilience. Brought to you by the Bonner County Historical Society and Museum. Research courtesy of U.S. Forest Service, Sandpoint Tree Committee, University of Idaho and Jacqueline Albright.
COMMUNITY
Stephen Morse Lockwood (1939-2020)
Steve was born in Portland, Ore., on Feb. 8, 1939 to William (Bill) Edwin and Helen Scott (Guild) Lockwood. Young Steve enjoyed scouting, skiing, family camping trips and visits to the Oregon Coast — all infused with his trademark smile, quick wit, clever ideas (some mischievous) and humor, which he later described as “sometimes unfortunate.” In 1956, Steve graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland. He briefly attended Reed College, leaving to marry Sally Louise Leech. They soon welcomed their son, Brent, and two years later, Dale. Steve began his 30-year career “fixing phones” at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. Servicing radio repeater stations on mountaintops was perhaps his favorite assignment. During a stint in human resources, he interviewed about 5,000 candidates for technical jobs. His career culminated as operations manager for Oregon, overseeing all AT&T operations for Oregon and managing major computer upgrades without disrupting customer service. In an era of managers dressing formally, Steve sported bow ties, khaki pants and white socks. Steve’s noteworthy 1970s volunteer service: encouraged by Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone, he was on two major committees that exemplified his interest in the relationship between land use and air quality. He served as the cities of Clackamas County representative on the Columbia Region Area Government’s Citizen Advisory Committee that established the Portland region’s first Urban Growth Boundary
and chaired the Oregon DEQ Air Quality Advisory Committee, which implemented the 1977 Clean Air Act amendments in Oregon. In 1984, Steve married Molly O’Reilly; and, upon retiring in 1987, they toured the continent in a VW van he remodeled for camping. Canoe atop, they wandered happily for nine months. Upon returning to Portland, Steve designed and built homes, starting with their own, then one for friends at the Oregon coast. Steve next bought SV Halo, an ocean-worthy Cape George 31 sailboat. He and Molly sailed five months per year for four years starting behind Vancouver Island, then north to the Haida Gwaii Archipelago (Queen Charlotte Islands), to Hawaii and back and north to Lituya Bay, AK. Emboldened, in 1995, Steve outfitted Halo for cruising and the couple headed for Ecuador and destinations in the South Pacific. They flew home annually to visit family, and, in 1999, sailed back from Australia — settling in Sandpoint to be near family. In Sandpoint, Steve continued sailing, hiking, camping, and spending time with family and friends. He envisioned, designed and constructed with his son Brent an award-winning, small, sustainable apartment community focused on energy efficiency and livability. Steve also served on the board of the Lake Pend Oreille School District (which educated four of his grandchildren: Ben, Jessica, Danielle and Laura); the Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission; the Sandpoint City Council; and the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Board.
He was a past board member of Idaho Smart Growth and the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society. In 2018 he ran for Bonner County commissioner, raising important concerns and ideas, despite an ultimately unsuccessful bid. Steve was serving on the Idaho Conservation League board when he died. The League posthumously awarded him their Keith and Pat Axline Award for Environmental Activism, its highest honor. In a Jan. 23, 2020 tribute to Steve, the Sandpoint Reader wrote: “Beyond all the offices he held and the volunteer hours he donated, Steve’s real gift to his fellow citizens was his example. Through his energy, breadth of knowledge and experience, keen analytical sense and — most important — his humor, Steve showed us all what it really means to be a contributor to society: not a critic nor a snide commentator, not a gadfly or a keyboard warrior, not a partisan ideologue nor a political grandstander. Steve’s commitment to his adopted hometown was a living portrait of an engaged citizen; the kind of person so often alluded to as an ideal, but so infrequently met in real life. Always constructive, always collaborative and always challenging others to meet him on the high road.” On Jan. 15, 2020, Steve died unexpectedly at his winter home in Tucson, Ariz. He had been suffering from Stage 4 Lymphoma, though he was adept at masking the severity of his medical conditions and symptoms. His glowing smile, quick sense of humor and fun,
insights and friendliness are sorely missed. Steve was self educated and capable in many fields, growing throughout his life with self reflection and humility. He was predeceased by his son Brian, from his second marriage. He is survived by his widow, Molly; first wife Sally Lockwood; sons Brent (Gretchen), Dale (Corinna) and Andrew (by second wife Rita); his sister Susan (David) Swanson; niece Amy; nephew Scott (Lisa); and his grandchildren; and great-grandchildren. The family is planning a me-
morial for Steve in Sandpoint. Date to be determined, in light of current social isolation. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests remembrances to Idaho Conservation League, Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society or the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force.
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COMMUNITY
Lions offer scholarships to local students
By Reader Staff
The Sandpoint Lions Club recently awarded three deserving high school graduates scholarships. The Lions awarded Lions Club Memorial Scholarships to Sandpoint High School
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Courtesy photo. graduates Jake Suhr and Isabel Edwards. The Lions also awarded a Lions Club Del Brown Memorial Scholarship to Clark Fork High School graduate Charles Abbott.
STAGE & SCREEN
Marley & Me & ugly crying
I watched the famed sad dog movie Marley & Me and recorded my experience
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff I have long lived in fear of the 2008 movie Marley & Me. Nearly everyone who has seen it is first appalled that I haven’t, and then they immediately warn me that “it is so sad.” I’ve seen my share of sad dog movies, including Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows. However, in the two years since I got my own dog and discovered the magic that is unconditional canine love, I’ve known that watching dog movies would become next to impossible unless I wanted to induce a sobfest for some sick reason. Well, thanks to a lack of local events to fill this page and an apparent lack of self-control or respect on my part, I am going to watch Marley & Me. I will pause the film every 20 minutes to write about how I’m handling it, resulting in a sort of real-time journal of my undoing. Wish me luck. (Spoilers ahead.) A jolly 20 minutes in So far, so good. The happy
acoustic music gives the impression that this is a feel-good family movie, which is comforting, despite my expectation that the worst is yet to come. I had no clue that the main characters are journalists, which is fun and relatable. The puppy is cute as hell — of course — and his cries during his first night locked in the garage have my own dog, lying on the couch next to me, freaking out. I had my doubts about Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston being a good fit for the main characters, John and Jen, but I have no complaints. Who, exactly, is this movie about? As a first-time dog owner, I became a huge nerd for books, blogs and anything else I could get my hands on to give me guidance on how to raise an obedient but happy dog. Lucky for us, and our comedic benefit, the characters in Marley & Me essentially did the opposite. Marley is truly a mess, but it’s hilarious to see it unfold. However, I expected at this point to be more emotionally attached to Marley, yet I’m over here falling
in love with John. I get the distinct feeling that this movie isn’t actually about the dog, after all. Owen Wilson is OK, I guess I have now shed a single tear, when Jen had her miscarraige. It marks the first real downer moment of the film, and now I know Marley & Me has the potential to punch me in the gut. Also, any inhibitions I had about Owen Wilson in a sentimental role diminished when he talked to Marley about “not freaking out” when they did bring their eventual first baby home — that was beyond cute. Big yikes Naturally, family life is taking its toll on Jen and John. Marley is still being naughty, but it’s less funny now. In fact, it’s a little painful to watch as he causes his regular havoc but it becomes too much as kids are thrown into the mix. Now Jen is telling John that Marley is a “horrible animal” and just to “get rid of the dog.” Is this movie going to just make me dislike humans more than I already do?
100 minutes in Alright, we appear to have worked our way through the marital bumps and we’ve got a happy family of six — including Marley. However, this movie is clearly not about the dog. I’m starting to see that it’s about how we don’t deserve dogs. Marley is getting a little gray, and despite years of avoiding this movie, I am not ready.
out. Marley & Me is not about a dog, or a family. It’s about how we learn more from dogs than we will ever know. How to live in the moment, how to forgive, how to love. In the end, Marley & Me is more surprising than I expected. Yes, it’s sad, but it’s also funny, joyful and honest. Please excuse me while I smother my dog in kisses and remind her for the thousandth time that I love her with all my heart.
Now I’ve seen Marley & Me There are not enough tissues in the world for what I am going through right now. The sounds coming out of me are now freaking my dog
Ground control to Spaceship Earth The stranger-than-fiction story is showing as part of the Panida’s Virtual Screening Rooms Series meant to be a countercultural commune where a group of artists, adventurers and ecologists hoped to create a model for If you think the coronavirus sustainable living on earth — quarantine has lasted a long also known as Biosphere 1. The time, talk to the crew of Bioexperiment didn’t exactly go as sphere 2. planned. In 1991, a group of eight The Panida visionaries spent Spaceship Earth (NR) Theater is showing two years quarSpaceship Earth as antined inside a Streaming Friday, May self-engineered 22-Thursday, May 28; viewing part of its ongoing Virtual Viewing replica of Earth’s available anytime for 72 Rooms Series. The ecosystem called hours after payment; $12. film documents Biosphere 2. The Access the film at panida. the epic story of experiment was org/event/spaceshipearth
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
the trials and tribulations the Biosphere 2 inhabitants went through, including food shortages, oxygen deprivation, accusations of being a cult and ubiquitous media scorn. Ultimately, the biospherians completed their mission, but became such a phenomenon, most of their messages were lost in the negative media coverage. Spaceship Earth is an epic tale that spans half a century, examining the forces that threaten the planet, but also the power of small groups to literally reimagine the world.
Biosphere 2 inhabitants at home in their stylish garb. Courtesy photo. May 21, 2020 /
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EATS & DRINK
It’s a booze, booze world Drink recipes for the people
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Before I entered the exciting and glamorous world of small town newspaper publishing, I worked as a bar manager and bartender in Sandpoint (R.I.P., Downtown Crossing). During
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those wild times, I developed some drink recipes that stick with me to this day. Since we’re still a couple weeks away from bars opening to the public, I thought I’d share some of the fruits of my labor in case you want to wow your roommates with some new drink recipes.
Some of these recipes are my own, but most are variations of other drinks. I’ll try to provide context to outline the best time and place to serve each recipe. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Mix yourself a drink.
have been known to finish it in one long gulp. By some I mean me, of course. This is a great recipe to bring camping, and it also makes a great noontime drink on a hot day after working in the garden.
The Red Ben While managing the bar at the Downtown Crossing, I was introduced to Campari, a bitter, blood-red aperitif with a unique flavor that defies adequate description (and formerly drew its vibrant color from the crushed shells of the cochineal insect of South America). Infused with herbs and fruit, Campari smells bitter from the get-go, similar in the way that orange rinds and bitter greens smell. The bitterness is evident at the first taste, but then the notes of sweet cherry and orange tone it down nicely. You can even detect a spicy dollop of cinnamon in the aftertaste. Campari is usually drunk by itself or mixed in cocktails like the Negroni. I developed the Red Ben by accident, and began ordering it around Sandpoint bars in the late 2000s. There are still some bartenders who remember how to make it — if you give the correct secret knock on the bar — or you can just make it at home. It’s a great beginning-of-thenight cocktail for people who like something a little less sweet.
• 3 oz. red wine (zinfandel or cabernet sauvignon are my favorites) • 1 oz. orange juice • squeeze 2 lime wedges • fill the cup with Dr. Hansen’s pomegranate flavor natural soda The Montana Mimosa This drink has many different variations, but this version is dubbed the Montana Mimosa because it uses Miller High Life (the “champagne of beers” — see what I did there?). The flavor is similar to a shandy, which is a mixture of beer and juice. You can adjust the portions to taste. • Fill a glass 3/4 full with Miller High Life • Fill the remainder with orange juice • DRINK!
• 2 oz. gin (preferably Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire) • 3-4 oz. tonic water • splash of grapefruit juice • big splash of Campari • squeeze 2 lime wedges and float in the drink
The Vesper Martini (or the ‘Bond Martini’) This is a martini recipe I learned after reading Ian Fleming’s 1953 book Casino Royale. The recipe was created by Fleming, and is interesting because it combines gin and vodka with dry vermouth. Don’t forget to order it shaken, not stirred. My variation of this recipe calls for lemon and lime peel instead of Fleming’s original recipe, which only called for lemon.
The BOCA Wine Spritzer I developed this recipe with my beautiful girlfriend while camping on the lake one weekend. It’s refreshing, hydrating and delicious. Be careful: some
• 3 oz. Gordon’s gin • 1 oz. Grey Goose Vodka • 1/2 oz. Lillet dry vermouth (or any brand) • garnish with lemon peel and lime peel
The Ouzo Rocks Do you hate the taste of black licorice? If so, you probably won’t like this drink. Ouzo is a dry anise-flavored aperitif that is popular in Greek and Cyprus. Ouzo is made from rectified spirits with a similar anise taste to Sambuca. It can be comparable to absinthe, and has even been called “a substitute for absinthe without the wormwood.” When mixed with cold water and ice, ouzo becomes cloudy white — almost with a blue tint. The Ouzo Rocks is great with Greek appetizers such as olives, feta cheese and pita squares. • 2 oz. Ouzo poured over rocks in a lowball glass • Add cold water until the drink turns cloudy • Add a whole coffee bean and enjoy The 219 ‘Papermaker’ In happier days before the coronavirus, we used to celebrate the conclusion of deadline night with a stop at the 219 Lounge. There is an old rule in publishing (which I just made up): If you don’t baptize the forthcoming issue with booze, it won’t take. Never let it be said that I don’t value traditions (which I make up on the spot). The following is my standard order at the 219 on deadline nights, which is a variation of a boilermaker. I look forward to the day when we can celebrate the deadline again. • Bulleit rye whiskey, neat • Rainier beer (bottle), cold
OUTDOORS
The Duck Boat
An ode to the finest flat-bottomed craft on Pend Oreille By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
W
hen I brought my then-girlfriend (now-wife of almost 14 years) to Sandpoint for the first time in 2002 or thereabouts, she said that my childhood must have been like something out of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer. Fair enough, she said that while I had her standing on a raft that my dad, brother and I built back in the mid-1990s, and I was poling/paddling us up Fry Creek. There are more dramatic bodies of water than Fry Creek, but few that I know better — at least I did in the old days before it was banked up with McMansions. As it is, I’ve been mucking around on Fry Creek for my whole life — one time while ice skating we found a beaver frozen dead in the ice, then chipped it out like Ötzi the Iceman, only to let it rot in a comedy of errors in a sink over the summer at Sagle Elementary School. But that’s another story. My grandmother, whom I miss daily, lived for my whole life in a little lakeside house with access to Fry Creek, and my brother and I and sometimes our assorted friends spent every summer from the 1980s onward messing around there. We’d swim, fish and float various watercraft on the creek, chucking goose-poop-filled balls of mud at each other and intentionally sinking our favorite plaything: the Duck Boat. Yes, the Duck Boat. An old olive-drab, three-seat, flat-bottomed aluminum skiff that my dad bought when he was a kid and, apparently at some point, used to hunt ducks. Hence its name, though none of us have ever hunted ducks from it nor ever saw my dad do so. Instead, we’ve been hauling that thing down to the water’s edge for decades, bumping and scraping against the rocks during low-water times and bobbing easily into it during full pool. Who knows how many sandwiches and candy bars have been eaten on board the Duck Boat. Who knows how many times we’ve cast a line over its sides. Who knows how many times we’ve heard the creak and squeak of the oars in their locks as we pull against the water — sometimes glassy, sometimes in monster chop. My brother and I used to take the Duck Boat out during ferocious storms that blew in from the north, seemingly off the very peak of Roman Nose, and ram its square bow into the huge white caps. You’d look over your shoulder, drenched in rain and
wash and heaving against the oars, and see the train bridge wrench up and down as the boat guttered out in the waves, only to be thrown high atop the next swell. Our grandma was not amused — especially when there was lightning. Anyway, we never got sizzled. The best feature of the Duck Boat, at least according to a bunch of grubby 10- to 13-year-olds, was that you could pull out the stern plug and sit in it while it slowly sank. And believe me, the Duck Boat was not built to sink. It took some doing. The fun of that, of course, was letting it go down, then swimming to the bottom to haul it up. One time, my brother and one of his buddies sank it so deep in the mire of Fry Creek that there was some speculation about whether we could ever get it up again. We stood on the busted boards of our old family dock on Fry Creek and scratched our heads for a long time. We considered the probability of getting tangled in the weeds down there and never coming up again. I considered whether the bass in there would eat a corpse. More important, we thought about how pissed off grandma would be that we lost the Duck Boat in the middle of Fry Creek and how hard it would be to dig it out of that stinking mud come drawdown in the fall. Undaunted, my brother’s friend — a beast of a man even then — sucked in a Viking-sized lungful of air and muscled the Duck Boat up from the muck after what seemed like an impossible amount of time underwater. We joked for years that he might have gotten the bends. Another time, I took a very young Paul Gunter — music teacher, musician and Festival Big Boss — on a short jaunt up Fry Creek only to strand him in the Duck Boat with no plug. It was a dirty trick, and I feel bad about it to this day. Yet, no one got hurt. Though a Canada goose bit me on the bank opposite the dock, so maybe someone did get hurt. Then there was the time my friend, Brandon Johnson, and I — then-middle-schoolers — rowed up to the little island past the Lignite Road bridge and, midstream, bumped into a veritable yacht loaded with cute girls. Stunned, and sitting in the least sexy of watercraft, we tried to play it cool. At least, I did. Brandon stood up as if possessed, a glaze on his eyes, and raised his hand in a seeming effort to throw a jaunty wave. Instead, he made a motion like turning a doorknob. The raucous bikini-clad yacht loungers,
who had up to that point been waving and hooting at us, fell silent. I fell silent, too. Brandon was in a trance, so who knows what he was thinking. He made his doorknob move and slowly sat down. We rarely spoke of it afterward. Not too long ago, I forced my kids to take a trip up and down Fry Creek with me on the Duck Boat. We fished, ate sandwiches and candy bars, and didn’t catch a darn thing (maybe a nibble or two, but most likely bumping bottom). Still, we saw an osprey take a fish, picked up some trash, scored a half-inflated float tube and those poor children had to listen to all of the aforementioned stories. Sitting on the Duck Boat with my kids, I felt a bit of what I felt back when I was a kid, too — especially when my son wanted to row us to shore. Some people feel true independence when they get their driver’s license. I felt that way with the Duck Boat. It has always been my direct line to Lake Pend Oreille and, by extension, the motive power of myself. After being away from Sandpoint for the better part of 10 years, when my family and I moved back in 2019 one of the first things I did was rush to the old cabin and haul out the Duck Boat. Each Thursday, in the pre-coronavirus days, I would end my Reader delivery route with a visit to the family patch and sit by the water. This past winter, I wrestled the Duck Boat down
The author’s son experiencing the Duck Boat on Lake Pend Oreille. Photo by Zach Hagadone. from its traditional perch atop a couple of old logs and hauled it across the rocks to the then-very low waterline. It was a rough day on the water but sunny. Snow everywhere on the surrounding mountains. I pushed out, pulling the oars against the waves and puffing through my pounds of wintertime beer fat. I rowed to a point equivalent with the center of the Long Bridge and sat for a long time, letting the inevitable current draw me back to shore. There, I thought, you really can go home again.
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MUSIC
Musical nostalgia for the masses
How certain songs help transport you back to cherished moments in life
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
Nostalgia, like junk food, is excellent when done right, but can be a disaster when slopped together. Whether you are a nostalgia junkie or a cold-hearted snake who never looks back, it’s hard to argue that certain songs or styles of music can instantly transport us to a time and place in our lives that left an impression on us. It happens all the time. Maybe a passing car is playing a song you remember from high school, or a sad song on the overhead speakers at the grocery store reminds you of that terrible break-up in college. How exactly is music related to memory, and why are we sometimes able to gain an instant connection when hearing a particular song? The science behind it is fascinating. For instance, a team of researchers at the University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City published a study in 2018 that reported “objective evidence from the brain imaging shows personally meaningful music is an alternative route for commu-
nicating with patients who have Alzheimer’s disease.” The study demonstrated that familiar music may activate regions of the brain spared by Alzheimer’s, resulting in increased attention, reward and motivation. This might help manage emotional distress in Alzheimer’s patients. The reason is that musical memory is considered to be independent from other memory systems. In Alzheimer’s patients, as well as those suffering from different types of dementia, musical memory is more robust than researchers once thought. In the August 2015 issue of Brain, a team of scientists reported that subjects’ brain responses to familiar and un-
familiar music activated isolated areas of the brain where musical memories are stored. A second study compared MRIs of individuals with Alzheimer’s versus a control group, determining that the areas of the brain associated with musical memory were well preserved, despite the progression of the neurodegenerative disease. But what is it about music that helps make humans nostalgic? Neuroimaging has shown that songs stimulate a few different areas of the brain, while also giving us a shot of dopamine for good measure. Also, listening to the same song over and over, especially during formative periods in our lives, can make them stick — sometimes for the rest of our lives. Also, according to an article by Vice, listening to music lights up the brain’s visual cortex, which means when listening to a particular song, you’ll start associating it with memories or other images almost immediately. Since teenagers are heavy consumers of music — coupled with the fact that our brains develop a lot during those years — many of the nostalgic
memories associated with music transport us back to those awful/ amazing days of adolescence. There’s even a term for the disproportionately high number of memories we hold onto during our formative years: “reminiscence bump.” The memories we reserve from our teenage years, as well as those from our early 20s, are often the ones we cherish and return to more than others. That explains why every time I hear a Blink 182 song, I think about driving across the Long Bridge on my way to college on a sunny August day in 1999. Or how Radiohead’s song “Creep” will always remind me of listening to music in my car with a friend who passed away in high school. So, when you’re listening to the radio and a song from the Smashing Pumpkins flashes you back to being an awkward 15-year-old, you can be thankful that your brain had the foresight and ability to store that song in a safe place with those precious memories. If it’s a song you don’t like, or a time you don’t like –- well, there’s not a lot you can do except try to build more memories for the future and hope that radio jingle doesn’t remain with you forever (it probably will).
Hayley Williams’ solo LP is an 11/10 By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The latest solo album from longtime Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams, Petals for Armor, is her ultimate arrival. “Alexa, do you have anything that’s mad, sad, horny and hopeful?” Williams wrote in a promo Facebook post alongside a photo of a billboard advertising the new album, which dropped May 8. All in all, it’s an apt description of her 15-track act of personal reclamation.
Williams doesn’t shy away from mental illness, sexuality and profound vulnerability in her lyrics on Petals for Armor, all the while putting the words up against experimental sounds on tracks like “Simmer” and “Sudden Desire,” or poppy dance jams like “Over Yet.” The album’s star track, “Dead Horse,” exemplifies Williams’ ability to address hard topics with a sense of peace, but not without her brutally honest brand of self-deprecating humor. “I held my breath for a decade,
dyed my hair blue to match my lips,” she sings over upbeat music, “cool of me to try, pretty cool I’m still alive.” Petals For Armor is a feat, proving that a woman known best for fronting a male-dominated band since her early teens can break away and create something all her own to critical acclaim. Her vocal and lyrical prowess shines in her solo work like never before; and, above all, her ability to convey acceptance and hope on top of a sick groove is unmatched.
Learn more about Hayley Williams and her work at petalsforarmor.com.
This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone
READ
Most people groan about hating history in school, yet eagerly sit for all manner of historically-themed TV shows, movies and novels. Clearly, there’s been a disconnect between the entertainment value of telling stories of the past and learning about them in an academic setting. A Little History of the World, by E.H. Gombrich, reconnects readers — especially young ones — with the richness and satisfaction of understanding our shared past.
LISTEN
It seems clear that we’re seeing a resurgence of the “radio drama” form of entertainment, as podcasts and audiobooks take up an increasing amount of our entertainment bandwidth. Now comes what is, essentially, a 4.5-hour audio movie with the comedy Escape from Virtual Island, starring a load of big names including Jack McBrayer, Paul Rudd, Jane Krakowski, Jason Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, Kenan Thompson, Olivia Wilde, Rachel Dratch and Henry Winkler. Find it on audible.com.
WATCH
Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is back with a 1.5-hour “interactive” special, which puts viewers in the driver seat as the eponymous Kimmy — with all her goofy naivete after years in an underground cult — goes on one of her madcap adventures. This time, she’s on the trail of her former cult leader, taking her from a fairytale New York wedding to the backwoods of West Virginia through a maze of “choose your own adventure”-style decisions (super bonus if you meet Mr. Frumpus). May 21, 2020 /
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HEALTH
A grain of salt
Community care
From Northern Idaho News, May 26, 1925
TALK STEEL BRIDGE FOR CEDAR STREET The actual business transacted at the council meeting Thursday evening was small but the work put under way was large. Chief of these was a solution to the everlasting increasing cost of maintaining the Cedar street bridge. The committee to who was referred the need for repairs while not a position to report at the meeting, stated they had made a partial survey of the situation and the bridge was in bad shape and they estimated it would cost between $5000 and $7000 to put it in first class shape. It was suggested the committee ascertain the cost of filling in both approaches with concrete retaining walls, and using 100 foot steel span on the part across the current on the stream. It was thought the Northern Pacific might cooperate in this undertaking and while the cost might be more than the fixing of the old bridge if the steel bridge was erected, the everlasting expense of keeping it in repair would be eliminated. It was pointed out that the bridge was costing the taxpayers $5000 to $7000 every two or three years and the drain was too heavy. The committee was instructed to secure approximated costs on repairs and on the new bridge and then ascertain the attitude of the Northern Pacific toward cooperating.
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A health column... sort of
By Ammi Midstokke Reader Columnist I have decided that living with trauma is kind of like having emotional fibromyalgia. Some days, everything hurts and all the inexplicable tender parts feel raw and confused. The pep-talk literature cries out “self-care!” and “boundaries!” but trauma survivors are better known for their coping mechanisms than their mental hygiene. Cocaine and gratuitous sex being frowned upon in most societies, I have struggled to develop my own set of healthy self-care rituals when everything hurts. “Have you tried breathing exercises?” The science is there. We all know this works because someone in yoga class said the outbreath in particular stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. I nearly suffocate myself trying to breath out, out, OUT. “Do you journal?” Are you kidding me? I make Anais Nin look like a polite, illiterate prude. Go to therapy. Check. Sunlight. Check. Exercise. Check. The Best Brown Service Dog. Check. Still, some days, the wounds won’t close and I frantically seek the cause and the cure. Because just sitting with it would be ridiculous. Just feeling the feels, accepting the tragedies and truths along with the miracles and resilience is too much. That is when I most miss the coping
mechanisms and maladaptive behaviors and blissful ignorance. It is also when I observe that self-care, while good and well and essential, is not the same as community care. It is when I know that the worth I can’t find in myself can be found in others, in service, in the humor of my child. “I’m riding the trauma train today,” I say. “Choo-choo!” she cheers, as she wraps her lanky arms around me and hands me a tissue. Then there are the people who take me on long runs, invite me over for a sauna, buy me lunch, and gently encourage me back out of my head and into my heart. It is my community that has been and continues to be the most powerful medicine. It’s not just the yoga classes, but the compassionate teachers and shared struggles with everyone else who can’t stand on their heads. It is not just going to therapy (good god, so much therapy), but the competent and genuinely caring practitioners that lay the tracks for that train I’m conducting. It’s the baristas that remember that I am allergic to almonds, the patients that inspire me with their courage, and the friends that love and accept me just the way I am — striped overalls and all. So yes, self-care, but not because no
STR8TS Solution
Sudoku Solution
one wants to care for us or no one can. Not because we ought to isolate for protection. Our self-care should include the creation of a community that helps us care for ourselves; filled with humans (and brown dogs) who keep us afloat when we forget how to swim. And those people should come supplied with chocolate and funny movies and hugs. Of course, the latter will need to wait until social distancing is not in vogue anymore. Ammi Midstokke is an author and nutritionist. When she’s not writing and saving the world with vegetables, she’s washing her hands.
Crossword Solution
If they have moving sidewalks in the future, when you get on them, I think you should have to assume sort of a walking shape so as not to frighten the dogs.
Solution on page 26
Solution on page 26
Laughing Matter
By Bill Borders
ACROSS
1. A single-masted ship 6. Data stream manipulator 11. Risk 12. Embodiment 15. Achievable 16. Peed 17. Ancient unit of measure 18. Gaping sleepily 20. A late time of life 21. Hodgepodge 23. Alleviate 24. Paris airport 25. Extend credit 26. Half of ten 27. Invigoration 28. Jittery 29. Genus of macaws 30. Moisten 31. A loose affiliation 34. A friction match 36. A parcel of land 37. Rodents /weel / 41. Afresh [noun] 42. 11th Hebrew letter 1. well-being, prosperity, or happiness 43. Send forth e h of t 44. Alright “For the public weal, the city has installed new sidewalks downtown.” 45. Claim 46. Early 20th-century art movement Corrections: I identified Kathy Andruzak as the “owner” of 47. Church bench the Heartwood Center in the May 14 issue, which was a mis48. Misinform take. Andruzak is the manager, Mark and Susie Kubiak own the 51. ___-zag Heartwood Center. Apolgies for the confusion. Also, we dropped 52. Cross a word on the cover teaser. That’s it, I’m going back to bed. -BO 54. Cleanse from impurities
Word Week
weal
Copyright www.mirroreyes.com
CROSSWORD
Solution on page 26 56. Hypodermic 57. A loud resonant noise 58. Duck down 59. Croons
DOWN 1. Rotted 2. Tilting 3. Sphere 4. Greasy 5. Entreaty 6. Cherry 7. Express a thought
8. Little dent 9. Estimated time of arrival 10. Clique 13. Easygoing 14. Countercurrent 15. Wild Asian dog 16. Out of stock 19. Strange 22. Amazing adventure 24. Commanded 26. A temple (archaic) 27. Wager 30. Shower alternative 32. A type of evergreen tree 33. Thicket
34. Deceit 35. Oblivious 38. Uncanny 39. News 40. Platform 42. Visage 44. Chooses 45. Sad song 48. Fix 49. Circle fragments 50. Sandwich shop 53. 7 in Roman numerals 55. Air movement device
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