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PEOPLE compiled by

Zach Hagadone

watching

SOCIAL DISTANCE EDITION: “What’s your ‘specialty dish’ and how/ where did you learn how to make it?”

“My deviled eggs. I use special magic seasonings to make them savory/garlic deliciousness and now they are expected at potlucks. So of all the things I could take, I take deviled eggs to keep my people happy!”

Audra Gabica Garden Center employee Sandpoint “Roasted broccoli, tossed in a puree of garlic, rice vinegar, salt, red pepper and olive oil, garnished with lemon. It turns out your mom was making it wrong. I learned it where one learns anything: the internet!”

Jesse Wakeley Digital hustler Sagle “I guess my most requested dish (does that equal signature?) would be Manadrin Salad Pizza. Believe it or not, I had it at the one and only Pampered Chef party I attended. (I am not a fan of these types of parties!)

I get asked to make it for almost every potluck I attend!”

Stephanie Conlan Practice manager, CVT Pend Oreille Veterinary Service Sandpoint “Swiss fondue! Family tradition since the ’60s.”

Marsha Meury Host at The Fat Pig Sandpoint

“Likely a side of wild Alaskan sockeye salmon (shout out to Thunder’s Catch!) grilled lightly on a very hot iron, dab of mayo, touch of dill. Garlic baby potatoes.

Asparagus.”

Forrest Schuck Real estate agent, Century 21 RiverStone Sandpoint

DEAR READERS, The sun is coming out and warmer weather is on the way. Be careful in the mountains, though, since the heavy rain and warmer temperatures have caused some rivers and creeks to flood their banks. Several roads around the county are currently closed due to flooding. It’s always best to check with Bonner County Road and Bridge Department first to see if a road may be closed due to flooding before heading out there. Just trying to save you all some gas money.

Keep an eye on the Sandpoint Reader Facebook page on the evening of Tuesday, June 2, when we plan to have election results posted from the primary election. As Editor Zach Hagadone noted in his news article on Page 4, Idaho is witnessing a historic voter turnout for a primary election. It’s always heartening to see voters participating in elections in record numbers.

We’ll also have the full election results published in the June 4 issue of the Sandpoint Reader. Special thanks to all of those working in the Bonner County Elections office who have fielded a high volume of phone calls and have worked their tails off sending out and receiving ballots. This work is often thankless, but I for one am grateful for the good work they do.

In closing, I’d like to encourage everyone to practice a little bit of kindness. It takes such a small amount of effort to be kind, but that goes such a long way to your fellow humans. What are some ways to be kind that won’t take much effort? Compliment someone on their haircut or on a particular outfit. Tell someone that you admire their garden or, better yet, ask them tips on how to yield the most vegetables (I don’t know of any gardener who isn’t proud to share their garden, and even tips with others to help them along the way). Write a letter to the editor for your local newspaper that thanks or compliments someone for their actions or statements. Leave someone you love a flower without a note and make them wonder who it was.

In short: Be kind, Sandpoint. There’s too much anger in the world already.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

READER 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 Lyndsie Kiebert (Staff Writer) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Kirsten Hollan (cover), Ben Olson, Bill Borders, Janae Raphael.

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Cameron Rasmusson, Emily Erickson, Shelby Rognstad, Brenden Bobby.

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 photo shows some of the support given to local school teacher Clare Stansberry, who ran a marathon past every one of her students’ homes last week.

Photo by Kirsten Hollan.

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NEWS Idaho approaches Stage 3 of reopening plan State releases ‘Interim Guidance for Safe Gatherings and Public Events’

Bonner County voters push massive turnout for primary ballot requests

County clerk: ‘Bring those ballots in by hand’ by June 2 deadline

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

As Idahoans have done throughout the state, Bonner County residents leaned into the unprecedented mail-in-only 2020 priBy Lyndsie Kiebert mary election — navigating an improvised Reader Staff process and changing deadlines to participate in the election in historic numbers.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little will hold a According to Bonner County Clerk press conference Thursday, May 28 to Mike Rosedale, “it’s looking like 15,100 announce whether the state will enter people requested ballots, which for us is Stage 3 of the Idaho Rebounds plan — a 53.8%, which is really high.” four-step series of guidelines for reopenIn an effort to lessen the spread of ing the state’s businesses and gathering COVID-19, Idaho Gov. Brad Little orplaces amid the ongoing novel coronadered that the primaries would be convirus pandemic. Stage 3 is scheduled to ducted via mail-in ballots, rather than risk begin Saturday, May 30. exposing both voters and election workers The press event, slated for 1:30 p.m.

(Mountain Standard Time), will be shown to the virus at physical polling places.

At first, Idahoans had until May 19 to live on Idaho Public Television and request ballots in the primary to decide streamed online at idahoptv.org.

Stage 3 brings with it the reopening of legislative and congressional candidates. bars, which were originally scheduled to On May 21, the Idaho secretary of state’s open in Stage 4. Little announced May 14 office announced that the turnout would that bars would be moved up in the plan. likely surpass the largest of any non-guAlso during Stage 3, gatherings of up bernatorial primary election in Idaho history. More than 415,500 voters had to 50 people are allowed — with approrequested ballots statewide, representing priate social distancing — and non-esalmost 46% of registered voters. sential travel is no longer discouraged.

“The numbers truly speak for themVisitors to Idaho will also no longer need selves,” Secretary of State Lawerence to self-quarantine upon arrival.

Denney wrote in the release. “Voting is The governor’s office released “Ina right Idahoans hold dear and they were terim Guidance for Safe Gatherings and not going to let the coronavirus get in Public Events” on May 27 in an effort to their way of participating in the May prihelp Idahoans host “safe gatherings in the various stages of the Idaho Rebounds mary election. We want to say thank you to all of the Idahoans who adapted with us plan, and beyond.”

The guidelines — which give tips for through these changing circumstances.”

Circumstances weren’t done changing, both attendees and event hosts — emphathough, as Denney’s office on May 22 size social distancing, frequent disinfecissued another communication to the 44 tion and staying home if sick. county clerks throughout Idaho, telling “We’re dealing with an unexpected them that because of a ruling from Idaho disease that can show very mild or nonDistrict Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill, existent symptoms in some people and the deadline for ballot requests would be have devastating effects on others, and pushed to May 26 at 8 p.m. we all must do our part to protect others In the statement, the secretary of by following these measures,” Little state’s office said the seven-day extension stated in a press release announcing the new gathering guidelines. “In the coming resulted from a challenge brought by months, our personal actions in following U.S. Congressional candidate Nicholas the recommended guidance and protocols Jones — vying for the House seat held by will help us protect lives, preserve health Republican Russ Fulcher — who claimed Idahoans were being disenfranchised care capacity and rebound our economy because the office’s website went down more quickly.” several times ahead of the May 19 deadAccess the full list of guidelines at line, effectively making it impossible for rebound.idaho.gov. voters to request their ballots on time.

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Following the court order, county elections workers again scrambled to process new ballot requests and re-enter as valid those that had come in after the previous deadline — a massive task that kept county elections workers working late nights and weekends to process the influx of requests.

Altogether, Rosedale said about 700 requests came into his office during the week-long extension, helping further push participation to much higher-than-usual numbers.

With that kind of participation comes a potential problem, however, as the court order now gives those voters who filed a request during the extension period a narrow window in which to get their ballots filled out, signed and returned to the clerk’s office by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2.

“One thing that I would emphasize: Bring those ballots in by hand,” Rosedale said. “Make sure that they don’t get hung up in the mail, because it’s not when they’re postmarked, it’s when we get them. We have to receive them by 8 [p.m.] Tuesday [June 2].”

Voters can return their finished ballots to a drop box at the Bonner County Administration Building, located at 1500 Highway 2.

“That way you don’t even have to worry about if it’ll make it in time,” Rosedale said.

“We’re sending them out the absolute fastest we can do it,” but, he added, requests that came in after noon on May 26 were mailed out May 27, so the “best case scenario” is that those ballots will arrive on Friday, May 29.

That gives voters the weekend to fill out and sign their ballots, potentially being unable to drop them in the mail until Monday, June 1.

“In that case, we might not get them until Wednesday [June 2] and they won’t count,” Rosedale said. “I want everybody’s vote to count. That is my job, and if everybody gets to vote then I’ve done my job.”

As it is, Rosedale said ballots have already been “coming in non-stop” since the initial May 19 request deadline, pouring into his office in “massive batches.”

“I would say probably 10,000 are back. We’ve probably scanned 7,000 or 8,000, but we still have a boatful to do,”

he said. “We’ll get it done. There’s no problem there.”

Ballot requests broke down by party affiliation — or non-affiliation, as the case may be — with 2,115 Democratic ballots requested; requests for 2,430 unaffiliated/nonpartisan ballots; and 10,323 Republican ballots requested. As of May 27, Rosedale said his office still had about 100 requests to process — all of which came in on the day of the deadline.

Of the 15,000 requests put into the system, Rosedale said 43 were faxed; 333 came via email; 820 arrived in person; 5,096 came through the Idaho secretary of state’s website; and 8,703 arrived through the mail.

“Four years ago, which would be the most apples-to-apples kind of comparison of a presidential year and the May primary, we had 32.56% and we had 7,300 [voters]. This year we had more than twice the number of voters that we did four years ago,” he said. “From what I understand, all the counties are reporting that exact same thing and almost to the same percentage — to within 2% or 3%, all across the state.”

The massive turnout for ballot requests — which East Idaho News reported May 27 represents the highest voter participation in a Gem State primary “in at least 30 years” — would most likely not have occurred without the mail-in-only process.

“It was looking two months ago like [COVID-19] could be a firestorm, and that’s what [state elections officials] had to base their opinion on — what it looked like two months ago. All you can ever hope to do is make the best decision you can with the information you have at the time, and I think the state did do that two months ago,” Rosedale said, noting that “this way more eligible voters are actually voting than normally would have voted, so that’s a good thing.”

However, he added, “I hope it never happens again, I hope November is the good old-fashioned way, where some people can choose absentee and some people can choose polling places, whatever they want to do.”

Regardless, “It was a huge turnout and it will be interesting to see what the results are,” he said.

For more information on the primary go to bonnercountyid.gov/elections.

NEWS

County building regulations undergo change Board approves new Building Regulations Committee

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

The Board of Bonner County Commissioners unanimously approved a change to the county’s Title 11 building regulation code on May 26, eliminating the need for engineer-stamped architectural plans to be submitted when applying for a building location permit.

Planning Director Milton Ollerton said that because the county has not adopted any building codes, his staff does not review the stamped plans.

“We have no standard in our code that they should submit those to,” Ollerton said, “so it just seems unnecessary for us to be asking for those stamped plans.”

Commissioner Jeff Connolly said that he worried that by eliminating the requirement, the county would be opening the door to people “possibly just drawing on a napkin and building.”

“I’m all for reducing regulations and fees that have no real basis, but isn’t this the only thing that guarantees that it will be engineered?” Connolly said.

Ollerton said it is more likely that builders will obtain stamped plans for insurance purposes, or to meet state

building safety requirements.

“It guarantees that they’ll turn in a document, but we don’t inspect it,” Ollerton said, adding later that because the county has no building department, planners “have no way of knowing that that’s what [permit applicants] actually built.”

Commissioner Dan McDonald characterized the stamped plans requirement as “a nuisance and an extra expense” for permit applicants, and supported Ollerton’s proposed edits. Ollerton said this would not be the end of the discussion regarding the requirement of engineer-stamped plans for new structures.

“While it is going to go away in the short term, we will look at it again if we form this committee,” Ollerton said, referring to the next item on his agenda: a request to create a Building Regulations Committee. “The question is, what do we do with that [engineer-stamped] document once we have it? Right now, it’s just scanned into a computer.”

The board also unanimously approved Ollerton’s request to create a Building Regulations Committee to review and update Title 11. Ollerton said there are some discrepancies between Title 11 and Title 12, which covers land

use regulations. He said inconsistent definitions can cause confusion when determining whether a new structure requires a permit or not.

“The definitions of ‘structure’ in Title 11 and Title 12 — they don’t match,” Ollerton told the commissioners.

Ollerton said that he anticipates the board of up to five contractors or people from other building trades would meet

The Bonner County Administration Building in Sandpoint. Courtesy photo. bi-weekly for a couple months, then present a recommendation on how to update Title 11.

Ollerton said those interested in being on the Building Regulations Committee can send a letter of interest to the Bonner County Planning Department at planning@bonnercountyid.gov.

Festival gun suit hearing set for June 19 Judge to hear motions for summary judgment

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

The lawsuit Bonner County brought against the city of Sandpoint regarding the constitutionality of the weapons ban at The Festival at Sandpoint is scheduled for a hearing Friday, June 19 — a new date in a series of postponements.

The case has not seen a courtroom since late February.

Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing L. Haynes will hear motions for summary judgment from both

sides in the case at the June 19 hearing.

The city filed its motion for summary judgment on Feb. 25, and the county filed its motion April 28.

According to court officials, the June 19 hearing is scheduled to be conducted remotely via Zoom. However, “things could change between now and then,” according to lawyer Amy Clemmons, of Davillier Law Group, which is representing Bonner County in the case.

The hearing, which will not be accessible to the public if held over Zoom, is currently slated for 10:30 a.m.

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NEWS

County declares flood emergency

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

Also on May 21, the city of East Hope experienced accessibility issues with its Bonner County declared water intake system due to a local disaster emergenturbulent runoff conditions in cy Thursday, May 21 in Strong Creek. By May 22, city response to flooding in Hope officials contacted Howard to due to rapid snowmelt and inform him that the city had rain. no water. East Hope declared a County Emergency disaster the same day.

Management Director Bob On May 26, the city of East Howard brought the formal Hope’s Facebook page promotion before the commisvided an update on the city’s sioners May 26 to be signed. water intake system, which is However, Board Chairman Strong Creek roars during spring currently buried under two feet Dan McDonald made a runoff on May 21. Photo courtesy of rock and sediment due to the verbal declaration May 21, intense runoff. of the City of East Hope. as the emergency was in “The City’s water storage progress. tanks are finally full again,” the Howard said he received a call May 21 city stated in its post. “We have temporary that the west branch of Trestle Creek had lines providing raw water to the treatment topped its banks and was flooding nearby plant for processing now. We are working to residences. Howard and the Sam Owen Fire develop a plan to repair the intake system.”

District responded, identifying debris in Bonner County will remain in a declared the creek that was causing the flooding and state of emergency until East Hope officials deploying sandbags on the banks. feel they will not need any further assis“By the end of the day, the flood water tance from emergency personnel. had receded and the flood event had mostly Howard said the county has received no stopped,” Howard said. additional flood reports since May 22.

Bulldog Bench announces scholarship winners Local graduations on tap for next week

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Bulldog Bench, the booster club for Sandpoint High and Middle schools, announced the names of the 2020 SHS scholarship winners on May 27.

Maddie Morgan earned the $2,500 David I. Lyon Memorial Scholarship, while Brandon Casey, Izzy Edwards, Mikayla Schoening and Jenny Slavek all secured the David Jenkins Spirit of the Bulldog scholarship at $1,000 each.

Bulldog Bench President Bob Witte said that in previous years only one female and one male student earned the David Jenkins scholarship. However, he said the scholarship committee couldn’t narrow the female category to fewer than three, so Edwards, Schoening and Slavek received $1,000 each.

“They all deserve it, and this class has had it tough enough this spring and we are more than glad to help out,” Witte said.

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Athlete award, which highlights athletes with the highest GPAs. Witte said he wanted to thank Bulldog Bench officer Matt Mire for conducting scholarship interviews with a record number of applicants. He also noted that the annual Bulldog Spring Scramble Golf Tournament has been rescheduled to Saturday, June 27 at 9 a.m. at the Links Golf Course. The tournament is one of two major fundraisers the Bulldog Bench hosts each year.

These scholarships mark a major achievement for local seniors, who will also be participating in modified graduation ceremonies in coming days due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

First, seniors at Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School will partake in a “drive-in graduation” on Wednesday, June 3 at 7 p.m., during which each senior’s family will be allowed one car in the CFHS parking lot and graduates will be called to walk across an outdoor stage to receive their diplomas. SHS seniors will do the same on Friday, June 5 in the SHS parking lot at 5:30 p.m.

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: Antibodies from llamas can neutralize the virus that leads to COVID-19, several media sources are reporting, and appear to be more stable than human antibodies.

Research now shows that people testing as “re-positive” for COVID-19 are not contagious, and are also immune, according to bloomberg.com. The Korean Centers for Disease Control tested 285 patients, whose virus samples were dead, rendering them unable to spread and re-infect. The Korean CDC stated it will no longer be required to test negative to return to work or school after recovering from COVID-19.

The New York Times marked Memorial Day with a cover listing 1% of U.S. citizens who have so far died from COVID-19. Each of the 1,000 names included a brief comment, such as: Ruth Skapinok, 85, California, “backyard birds were known to eat from her hand”; Jose Diaz Ayala, 38, who served in Florida’s Palm Beach Sheriff’s office for 14 years; and Louvenia Henderson, 44, N.Y., “proud single mother of three.”

A Carnegie Mellon University study looking at popular COVID-19 tweets found that of the 50 most influential, 82% were from fake accounts called bots.

Those tweets focused on reopening, false cure information, crisis actors, pandemic exaggeration and COVID-19 advice that undermines acting responsibly to mitigate spread of the virus. A CMU professor said the bot tweets appear to be part of a “propaganda machine” that matches Russian and Chinese “playbooks.” But there’s been no way to prove who is backing the bots.

Those most vulnerable to COVID-19 include people with diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and chronic health conditions like heart and lung disease. As The New York Times notes, more than half of U.S. adults have at least one condition that puts them at high risk. According to The Times, the highest-risk regions of the U.S. are the swathe of country from West Virginia to Alabama and Louisiana. In the Inland Northwest, high-risk areas include Pend Oreille County in Washington state, adjacent to the Idaho panhandle.

According to a recent Columbia University study, 36,000 deaths could have been prevented if federal action to lessen the spread of COVID-19 had come on

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

March 7 instead of March 15.

Japan, with no lockdown, has fewer COVID-19 deaths proportionately as compared to the U.S. One reason, as reported in Vanity Fair, “nearly everyone wears a mask.” According to a joint UC Berkeley and Hong Kong University analysis, if 80% of a closed population uses a mask, the rate of COVID-19 infection would drop by a 1/12th, compared to a mask-free population. Economist and cyber security expert Guy-Philippe Goldstein, told Vanity Fair that combining a mask with social distancing can flatten the infection curve while treatments and vaccines are being developed.

Unemployment triggered by COVID-19 is likely to peak at 20%, then go down to 9% by the end of 2021, according to JPMorgan’s chief investment officer, Bob Michele, as reported

by Vox. He warned about parallels with the Great Depression: “There’s a lot of hardship ahead.”

To ferret out non-confirmed COVID-19 deaths, The Washington Post has compared the normal number of past deaths to current rates. If deaths are in excess of the norm, The Post reported, that indicates a reason to carefully consider if reopening is warranted.

Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug promoted by President Donald Trump as helpful to address COVID-19, is not supported for that purpose by research, according to findings in the medical journal The Lancet. A survey of 96,000 patients showed users’ death rate rose by 34%, as well as a 137% higher risk for heart arrhythmia. If taken with an antibiotic, Forbes reports, death risk rises to 45%.

Blast from the past: San Franciscans quickly responded to the 1918 flu pandemic by wearing masks (no mask meant a fine or jail) and shutting down gathering places. After two months, cases were so low that restrictions were relaxed. The next spring, however, the city had one of the nation’s highest flu death rates. The surge began in December 1918 and fueled by an anti-mask league; the mask order was lifted Feb. 1. Deaths then doubled by month’s end and the city’s flu death rate was 673 per 100,000.

And another blast: The number of U.S. dead from COVID-19 surpasses that of all deaths from the wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan, combined.

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Volunteer opportunity…

Bouquets: • I was saddened to hear the news that Bonner Community Food Bank Director Debbie Love and her husband, Will, suffered a house fire last week. Debbie does so much for this community through her work at the Food Bank, and school teacher Will has been an inspiration to countless students over the years. I’m sending them my love and positive thoughts while they deal with this calamity. It’s always a blow when bad things happen to good people.

We’re with you, Love family.

• I saw a post recently from Firewood Rescue volunteers, who had gathered to buck and split some downed trees in Dover Bay. Bouquets to all the volunteers who helped, including Brenda and Brian Boyster, Pat VanVolkinburg, Kyler Burnham, Jeff Demeny, Oliver Tree Service, Ralph Merrick, Dan McLaughlin, Leo Hunsaker, Sage Dixon, Jesse Jennings, Jerry O’Reilly and Eileen Esplin (along with original poster Paul Krames).

The hard work by volunteers helps ensure that no family goes without heat next winter. Krames noted that the group has received donations of splitters to help their efforts. If you’d like to volunteer or donate to their cause, check out the Firewood Rescue page on Facebook. Thanks for chipping in, everyone.

Barbs: • Bullies. I’ve written about them before and I’ll write about them again. I witness so much intimidation and bullying in this region, both on social media and in dealing with the general public.

Remember something about bullies next time you find yourself at the blunt end of their attempts: Bullies are either unable or unwilling to make their point(s) by civil discussion or reasoned debate, but instead resort to name calling, groupthink or spreading misinformation. That says it all right there.

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Dear editor, I recently completed my fouryear term on the city of Sandpoint Historic Preservation Commission.

It was a great experience and allowed me to continue providing service to my community in an area of extreme interest to me. With my departure there are a number of vacancies on this commission and, with those, an opportunity for some of you in either the city limits of Sandpoint or Bonner County to apply to be a member.

The commission is responsible for that terrific guide booklet, Sandpoint — a walk through history. The guide is available in printed form at many locations around town, at City Hall and at the county museum; an electronic version is on the city of Sandpoint website. Newly released is the walking guide brochure on pocketsites.com, which was created by the commission in collaboration with Rick Decker of The Sandpoint Group. The commission will be conducting free tours of downtown Sandpoint again this August. Watch for the date in the Bonner County Daily Bee or the Reader.

Additionally, the commission secures funding for surveys of historical areas of town, facilitates educational classes about historical structures and areas, and is currently involved in creation of a Master Plan and the updated Comprehensive Plan.

Commission members are working members, doing everything from distributing brochures to raising funds for the printing, creating content, conducting walking tours and attending monthly meetings.

There are also annual opportunities to attend conferences focused on historic preservation.

If you have interest in the history of our town and would like to participate on the Historic Preservation Commission, I encourage you to fill out an application, which can be found on the city website. The process involves nomination by the mayor and approval by the Sandpoint City Council. The work is very fulfilling and fun.

Carrie Logan Sandpoint

It’s the ‘R’ and/or ‘D’ thing…

Dear editor, Current partisan talking points: Trump lies, Obama lies, Pence is incompetent, Biden is incompetent, Pence is a sycophant, Biden is a sycophant. Would you agree that all

the above are true?

Does anyone actually believe a person can be elected president without being a skilled, bald-faced liar? Do many voters actually have any idea as to a candidate’s (in)competency? I doubt it. It usually comes down to the “R” or “D” after their name.

As for our 116th Congress: Why do we keep reelecting the same useless, partisan toadies? Again, it’s the “R” and/or “D” thing. Do I think Pelosi, McConnell and the other 533 members of Congress are altruists, i.e., looking out for us? Fat chance.

God bless America, and God bless our military.

Steve Brixen Sandpoint

We are gatekeepers...

Dear editor, Want to know how and why a man like Hitler could mesmerize Germans and march the country to ruin in only a dozen years? German-born American historian Fritz Stern died this month, at the age of 90. His professional academic life centered on this understanding. His final conclusion was: “Hitler’s rise owed less to the Austrian corporal’s personality, his thuggish supporters and brutish ideas, than to his opponents’ cowardice and the weakness of Germany’s ‘gatekeepers’ — the guardians of its cultural and moral standards.”

He ended his life worrying that democracy was disintegrating, just as it had in his youth. A life spent studying how quickly and terribly things can go wrong, and the cost of righting them, sharpens the senses for such things.

Our Founding Fathers gave us, Americans, the tools in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution to be our country’s gatekeepers. Our military personnel take an oath to “protect and defend the Constitution.” We too have a duty to know how to use those tools of our founding documents to protect our individual freedoms.

Maureen Paterson Priest River

Women are hardly a ‘minority’…

Dear editor, Responding to Steve Johnson’s suggestion In his letter to the Reader that the lawsuit brought by Bonner County against the city of Sandpoint be dropped [Letters, “County v. city suit should be dropped…,” May 14, 2020], Bill Litsinger tries to

make a point that one does not need to be in the majority to benefit from legal representation provided by tax dollars [Letters, “In America everyone deserves representation…,” May 21, 2020].

His point would have more credibility if he hadn’t identified women’s rights as a “minority cause.” At 50.5% of the population in America, women – and our rights – are hardly a minority.

Lexie de Fremery Sandpoint

Adolescence…

Dear editor, To paraphrase a quote I read recently: Loudly demanding your rights without also accepting the responsibilities of owning those rights, is not an example of freedom or liberty; it is an exhibit of childish adolescence.

Pierre Bordenave Sagle

Goose plan is ‘good money after bad’…

Dear editor, The city’s application to euthanize 150 Canada geese from City Beach was denied by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the legal authority.

Killing entire families of geese who feed and rest (and yes, poop) on the city’s lush green lawn was horrific.

But USFWS will allow 200 geese to be captured and relocated like last year. It’s only pouring good money after bad. Of the 100 banded adults and 44 young relocated last June, 65 returned one month later. I counted and photographed them during our First Presbyterian annual church service at the beach.

Unless hazed by dogs, or deterred by smarter devices than fake coyotes, geese will return to where they were born.

Why does the city continue to terrorize migratory geese families by paying the most despicable agency, USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services, thousands of dollars to do their dirty work? Neither Parks and Rec. Director Kim Woodruff nor Jennifer Stapleton, city administrator, understand what they are doing.

Woodruff told the public 5-10% would return. Wrong. They call the geese “resident” and “transient.”

Huh? They are migratory birds who nest elsewhere.

Perhaps wildlife are in the way of the proposed City Beach Master Plan.

Parks and Rec. could create an integrated management plan for geese.

Allowing dogs on leash would make a huge difference. Last year’s operation was filmed. Woodruff and chairperson Boyd may have laughed and joked, but I wanted to puke with what I witnessed. We need more humane, creative people working on this.

The mayor and council could listen to Idaho Fish and Game Regional Director Chip Corsi when he tells them he doesn’t like their plan and “it will not fix the problem.” Or watch our video and decide if it’s on the wrong track. We’re less than a month away from another unnecessary tragedy.

Jane Fritz Sandpoint

Big thanks for ‘Get a MealGive a Meal’ program…

Dear editor, I wish I could personally thank everyone who has donated meals through the local Get a Meal-Give a Meal program. By acting with compassion, you have helped this community in more ways than one. You have helped restaurants make it through this difficult time and you have supported multiple “neighbors” as they have adjusted to the consequences of living in this era of an unfamiliar risk to our health and economy. You have helped strengthen this amazing place where we live! I am so proud to be part of a community that continues to demonstrate kindness in so many ways.

I know there are people out there who have lost jobs, lost income or had their work hours reduced. I know there are people whose anxiety about these uncertain times has made dayto-day life extra challenging. I know there are families with children who are struggling to make ends meet. I know there are essential workers who have been exposed to uncertain health risks and I, for one, appreciate your presence at work (I’ve donated meals with you in mind). I also know there are meals ready for you to receive.

If you are someone whose life has been unsettled in the past few months, accept the generosity of unknown but kind neighbors and community members, and request meals for yourself and your family. When you do this, think about the people who have chosen to pay it forward and are saying, “we care about the health and welfare of everyone in this community.” And enjoy a special occasion with your family or friends at home.

Contact Sandpoint Community Resource Center at 208-920-1840.

They will connect you with the free takeout meals.

Krista Eberle Sandpoint

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

Sociality teeter-totter

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

I’ve always considered myself an equal mix of introvert and extrovert — feeling both comfortable and energized by social interactions, while needing adequate alone time to recharge after a gathering.

Like a teeter-totter oscillating between social butterfly and loner, I’m just as likely to thrive in a people-packed pub filled with small talk, laughter and fiddle-tunes as I am spending an evening in my mood-lit living room getting paint all over my fingers.

Throughout the seasons of my life, my “sociality teeter-totter” has rooted itself on one side or the other, weighted down by circumstances. While working as a tour guide or bartender, my extroverted self thrived — spending hours of the day in an energetic buzz of human interaction. Night shifts were capped by sharing beers and war stories of the evening’s events with my coworkers, and days off included coffee shop chatter and grabbing lunch with friends. Alone time was merely sprinkled into the bounty of shared experiences, and my comfort lay in filling up daily life with consistent interactions.

Then, the shifting winds of self-employment and working from home pushed my teeter-totter back to the side of solitude, introspection and

Emily Erickson.

carefully parseled, intimate interactions. My introverted self took over, thriving in consuming books, taking long solo runs and enjoying weekly gatherings with a friend or two for easy and familiar conversation. Large events became something to be geared up for and recovered from, and time inside my own mind became precious and necessary.

In an unprecedented season, the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine brought gales of isolation to my teeter-totter, breaking my extroverted self off at the fulcrum. Large group gatherings were not only not an option, but irresponsible and in poor taste. My world shrunk into the walls of my home, and my extroversion faded into a memory of a former self.

Now, in trying to reenter the world as an introverted half, it’s as if the unwritten social rules I’ve always understood — and my role within those rules — have lost clarity. The smallest interactions are now both complex and taxing, and

prompt unfamiliar questioning and self doubt.

Pre-quarantine, I could push my cart down a grocery aisle and my head would fill with recipes and excitement, reveling in the opportunity to stumble upon inspiration between the produce section and the bakery. I wouldn’t question a friendly hello or a passing greeting, and I’d leave feeling energized and connected to my community.

But today, this same trip produces white-knuckled grips and a mind racing with thoughts like, “Are they looking at me funny for wearing a mask?”; “Maybe I am overreacting and this is too much”; and, “But isn’t this what I’m supposed to do? Isn’t it what they’re supposed to do, too?”

I blow through the exit in a hurry, grocery bags filled with only the items on my list, and eager for the relief of my own space.

Strangers have turned from vessels of interesting stories and life insights into vessels of germs and the sum of unknowable choices — and every day brings the pressure of a new set of ethical dilemmas needing to be navigated with foresight, insight and grace.

Despite feeling more lost than ever, I find comfort in knowing it won’t always be this way, and social interaction won’t always be so complicated. With each bit of normalcy restored, I feel the pieces of my former self — the other half of my teeter-totter —

slowly getting put back together. I look forward to the days when I can go into a restaurant and not consider anything but the type of food on my plate, and can dance in sweaty, joyful community with friends and strangers at a show.

So, for now, I’m taking baby steps into reintegration and allowing myself to celebrate all the little victories

along the way. With a friendly hello here, and a to-go coffee there, I’ll be back on the playground in no time.

Emily Erickson is a freelance writer and bartender originally from Wisconsin, with a degree in sociology and an affinity for playing in the mountains.

Retroactive

By BO

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Mad about Science: potatoes

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist Judging by the number of Washington, California and Arizona license plates I counted on the corner of Boyer Avenue and Highway 2 while waiting for lunch at my favorite food truck, I have deduced that tourist season has finally begun. To those of you Sandpoint first-timers: welcome, and please treat our small town with respect. To those of you returning to Sandpoint, either for the summer or for a repeat vacation, the same goes for you.

To many of the non-Idahoan eyeballs that may be curiously scanning our local paper, the sight of a potato is ubiquitous to the image of Idaho. It’s funny, then, that you will probably be disappointed by our local selection of spuds.

Sorry, folks. Hate to break it to you, but potatoes don’t fare so well in our neck of the woods, and the farmers of southern Idaho get top dollar for shipping the state’s best stock to places like New York and California, leaving very little in the way of high-end potato stock for us in the north.

The challenge of growing potatoes hasn’t deterred some local gardeners, however, and a basic truth of the panhandle is just as true for these starchy tubers as it is for any form of food: befriend a local gardener and you’ll enjoy a meal no restaurant or grocery store could ever properly replicate.

In the event that you can’t find any local gardeners, I’d like to invite you to check out any of our dozens of local restaurants to find that potato 10 /

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dish of your dreams. Not sure where to start? Try anywhere on First Avenue and work your way down the streets. I promise you will find something you will be talking about in your home state for years.

So, let’s get to the meat (and potatoes) of this science article.

Potatoes are a root vegetable native to the Americas. Originally domesticated somewhere in the Andes Mountains of Peru as far back as 8,000 BCE, the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere cultivated and spread Idaho’s signature tuber from South America to North America. It might surprise you that, despite the heavy cultural impact of potatoes on Europe, they didn’t exist in the Old World until the Spanish brought them home in the 16th century.

Potatoes as we know them are actually part of the root system of the potato plant.

Their heavy starch content is a byproduct of photosynthesis, by which the plant creates glucose molecules that get pressed together underground.

My research on why the plant stores all of this glucose was, ahem, fruitless, as virtually every article I browsed focused on the importance of complex carbohydrates in the human diet — not the plant’s diet.

As I couldn’t find any relevant information, the best I can do is conjecture that the heavy starch content is the plant’s way of creating a natural “battery pack” to jumpstart sprouts before they can produce roots and leaves of their own, hence your household potatoes’ tendency for creating vine-like sprouts when left in damp areas for too long.

Brought to you by:

I could very well be wrong on this, and I fully implore any botanists or home gardeners to provide some input on that subject.

Have you ever noticed a potato you’ve left out in the sun start to turn green and become extremely bitter? Well, you shouldn’t eat that potato.

Despite looking like a dumb brown lump, the potato is actually responding directly to the sun’s photons and producing something called glycoalkaloids, which are bitter and toxic, serving the dual purpose of protecting the potato’s exposed skin from the sun’s harmful rays as well as unwanted predators. The leaves of potato plants will also produce this compound.

The potato isn’t the only plant that produces glycoalkaloids. Tomatoes, nightshade and tobacco will also produce this compound in their leaves, though whether this is evidence of these plants’ possible shared lineage or a feature of parallel evolution is a discussion way above my paygrade.

Due to their heavy starch content, potatoes are versatile vegetables. Outside of their use in cuisine, the starch has been used as an effective organic adhesive as well as the base for some biodegradable plastics currently in use on the market.

As a final bit of curious information, did you know that there are more than 5,000 types of potato in the world? We see fewer than 10 in our everyday lives, with those consisting of the classic Russet potato, Yukon Gold potatoes, red potatoes and the various types that make up fingerling potatoes. Also worth

noting, it’s illegal in Idaho to plant a potato you buy from the grocery store. This is intended to preserve agricultural crops from contracting a disease that could potentially wipe out an entire type of potato that isn’t being carefully monitored by a professional.

However, the tuber seeds you can buy from farm and feed stores are not only safe, but legal to plant in our state.

If you’re just visiting, maybe watch and help a local with their garden. Don’t go planting stuff in the forest and leaving it to nature. That’s how plantbased epidemics start. If that sounds like fallacy, I implore you to explore the diseases wiping out the Cavendish banana crops that may drive America’s favorite cheap starch into extinction.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner Don’t know much about rain?

• Not all raindrops that fall from the sky reach the ground.

Under specific conditions, sometimes rain can fall but never touch Earth. This occurs when rain falling from a cloud evaporates or “sublimes” as it draws closer to Earth’s surface. When this happens, it forms what is known as “Virga Clouds” — a tail or wisp extending from a cloud in a downward position. Generally, these are seen to extend from cirrocumulus, altocumulus, altostratus, nimbostratus, stratocumulus, cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds.

• When raindrops fall on clay or dusty soils, they trap small air bubbles on the surface, which rise upward and burst out of the droplet. This then produces pockets of scent in the air, which are then carried by wind. This is what causes the familiar smell of rain, which is called “petrichor.”

• Raindrops are usually represented in the shape of a teardrop, but this is not their true shape. When raindrops form high

We can help!

up in the atmosphere, they take on a spherical structure as water molecules bind together and are held by surface tension. Their shape changes as they begin to fall, with air resistance causing the bottom of the drop to flatten and curve, resembling the shape of a jelly bean.

• An inch of rain can weigh around 226,000 pounds on an acre of land. Every minute, 1 billion tons of rain fall on Earth.

• There’s a scientifically proven way to get less wet in the rain: run. As Henry Reich, the brains behind the YouTube Channel MinutePhysics, explains, the faster you get out of the rain, the drier you’ll be — regardless of the additional raindrops you run into.

The TV show MythBusters also tackled this in an episode, coming to the same conclusion.

• Raindrops fall at an average speed of 14 miles per hour. Assuming a cloud base height of around 2,500 feet, a drop can take about two minutes to reach the ground.

OPINION

Mayor’s Roundtable: Update on master planning efforts

By Mayor Shelby Rognstad Reader Contributor

completed this week. Similarly, the Water Master Plan draft is complete In the midst of the and being reviewed COVIDd-19 pandemic, city by staff now. These business, along with the rest plans, along with of the economy, had slowed the Wastewater Capdown considerably. As ital Improvement businesses are now opening Plan and the Inflow back up, City Hall is getting and Infiltration busy. As I write this, the Reduction Plan, will final touches on Phase 2 of all be rolled into a the downtown project are city-wide capital being completed.

Mayor Shelby Rognstad. improvement plan Thanks to the hard work for adoption by the of our Infrastructure Services manageSandpoint City Council this fall. Collecment team, we have another capital tively, they will help the Council prioriproject that came in on time and under tize project funding well into the future. budget. Similarly, the Memorial Field The Comprehensive Land Use Plan, project is coming along on schedule. Just now about 60% complete, is expected this week the city received two grants to to go before Council for adoption in support Phase 2 of the Memorial Field September. In July, the city will launch a project: one is for boat launch improvesurvey on the Opengov platform (through ments, including new bathrooms; and another is for a kayak launch at the site. The our website or on the Engage Sandpoint mobile app) to vet the goals and objeccombined amount is nearly $400,000. tives with the public. Part of that process The coronavirus pandemic has also will also invite public feedback on land slowed our extensive master planning use priorities and preferences regarding efforts. Most plans were delayed between future land use and potential development 60 and 90days due to impacts on our scenarios. ability to meet and engage the public for Next week at the regular City Council necessary input. The Multimodal Transmeeting, Wednesday, June 3, there will be portation Plan picks back up this week with a series of team meetings. One com- a public workshop to discuss site-specific details of the Parks Master Plan. The foponent of the plan includes the sidewalk cus will be on City Beach, the downtown network, for which there will be a public waterfront (Farmin’s Landing and the workshop in June.

Simultaneous to these master planning Sand Creek lot) and the Sports Complex (Travers and Centennial parks). efforts, which require public input and Site plans for each will be posted on buy-in, are capital improvement plans, our website for public review by the end which are technical plans prepared by of this week. professional contractors. The TransporThis will be the first Council meettation Capital Improvement Plan is being

ing open to the public since before the COVID-19 closure of City Hall. Social distancing only allows a seating capacity of 50 — including mayor, Council and staff — so in-person public participation is still limited. However, we will continue to live-stream and the public can still participate via Zoom (the link is available on our website, sandpointidaho.gov, under “meetings”).

The Council meeting Wednesday, June 17 will open with a public workshop on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. This portion will focus on operational priorities, policies and recommendations of the plan. The whole plan will be brought before Council for adoption in July.

The Little Sandcreek Watershed component of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan will be addressed this fall. The environmental review of the watershed is currently underway and, by August, I expect a decision framework that will provide staff and Council with a process for approving or denying proposed recreational projects and programs within the watershed.

This process ensures that any proposed recreational activity within the watershed will be thoroughly vetted to protect water quality and ecological health.

I encourage readers to re-engage with the city’s master planning efforts as we head into this final phase of planning. I can’t overstate the importance of your participation, as the priorities and strategic investment decisions

made now will determine the liveability of Sandpoint for future generations.

Please join me for the Mayor’s Roundtable to discuss all this and more on Friday, May 29, at 3 p.m. on Zoom: bit. ly/2ZHEC9l (meeting ID: 874 9211 0111, password: 051350), or you can watch on Facebook Live through my page, Mayor Shelby Rognstad.

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FOOD

Brave new (hungry) world

Restaurateurs share insights about running eateries during COVID-19

By Ben Olson Reader Staff With restaurants opening for dine-in service last week after Gov. Brad Little announced the beginning of Stage 2 of the Idaho Rebounds COVID-19 reopening plan, we thought it would be a good opportunity to check in with a few of our local restaurant owners about how their businesses have fared in the age of coronavirus.

We emailed each three questions and have provided their answers below.

If you’re a restaurant owner and want to answer our three questions for a future edition of the Sandpoint Reader, please contact ben@sandpointreader.com with your answers.

QUESTIONS: 1. What are the top three things you’ve learned about the food industry during this pandemic?

2. Do you see any opportunities for growth or pivoting your services from this situation? If so, what are they?

3. What message would you like to share with your customers?

HEART BOWLS Jamie Terry (co-owner) 1. First of all, because Heart Bowls has been open through the pandemic we got to see firsthand how powerful it is to be a point of human connection when almost everything else is unstable and unsure. We felt like a port in the storm.

People have been so happy to see us and we do not take that for granted.

Katie and I have observed restaurants where the customer was almost treated like a nuisance — an obstacle between having to be at work and getting to go home. That is a miss. Having a job and having people to serve is a gift. Feeding a person is a privilege.

My two other points of learning have more questions than answers: First, the food industry has a lot of power to change the world for the better — so why don’t we? Second, if a one- or two-month closure can bring restaurants to their knees, and if restaurants employ such a large 12 /

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percentage of our population and could help change the world for the better, why aren’t they better protected? Are restaurant owners taught to build up emergency funds? Are there other ways that we can protect such a precious industry, which provides opportunities for health and happiness? Something needs to be done about this.

2. We started in a food truck because we didn’t have any money. Who knew that that decision would set us up well for a situation like this? We have been fortunate in that nothing about our business model, our service delivery model or our core values had to change. I’m not sure what we would have done if staying open meant manipulating who we are. That would be deeply difficult to navigate.

Thankfully, apart from adding extra, extra cleaning measures and testing out home delivery, we kept on truckin’ and serving healthy food, as usual. One blessing in disguise is that we got the push that we needed to develop our online ordering system. We were heading in that direction anyway, but this challenge actually sped us along that path.

3. Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for choosing to eat nourishing food with us. While there are factors out of your control — and that can be scary — you also have the power to positively impact your health and that helps everyone around you become healthier, too.

We are blessed to live in a beautiful place with fresh air and space to roam.

As we move into the fall and winter and flu season returns, your healthy immune system will be more important than ever.

Start building that now. Continue on your healthy habits path now.

We love you and want you to not live in fear. Take back your power, eat plants and be well.

SWEET LOU’S Chad and Meggie Foust (owners) 1. Even though other restaurants in town are to be considered competitors, we rode this wave together. We worked closely with several fellow restaurant owners and in the past few months we’ve shared ideas, plans and even to-go boxes when we were in a pinch. It’s a lesson that

goes back to elementary school — teams are always stronger when you’re working together.

We definitely became a strong team of independent business owners and I hope we continue sharing tricks of the trade for years to come.

We are one of the cleanest industries you’ll find. We almost had to laugh at the suggested cleaning procedures the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] provided. We have already been doing those things for years.

We have classes we have to take and health permits that mandate a sanitary workplace. All of our employees are trained in processes and procedures to keep guests and employees safe and healthy. We have stepped up our cleaning processes even more — but rest assured that we already had all of the guidelines in place.

It’s necessary to stay ahead of the game as much as possible and continue to be innovative and ready to adapt as quickly as possible. In January, I wouldn’t have imagined all that we have been through taking place. But it’s impossible to stay in the

Top: The Heart Bowls food truck in Sandpoint, near Boyer Ave. and Hwy. 200. Courtesy photo. Bottom: Chad and Meggie Foust and family stand in front of Sweet Lou’s in Ponderay. Courtesy photo. game if you’re just waiting for things to go back to normal. You have to change your business model to be in line with current events — even at a moment’s notice.

2. During Stage 1 [of the reopening plan], take-out was our only option. We really streamlined some processes, including adding parking spots allocated for take-out only and investing in tablets that allow customers to pay from their cars.

Take-out will continue to be a larger part of the business than ever before — we are learning as we go and see this as an area of opportunity for growth.

3. Thank you! Thank you for sticking with us, thank you for being patient and thank you for your ongoing support. We are proud to be able to serve our quality meals to our fantastic guests and we are proud to employ some of the best in the industry at both of our locations.

We hope to see everyone soon.

FEATURE

Passing the test

The struggle to expand COVID-19 detection as Idaho reopens

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Contributor

It’s no mystery how to get Idaho back on its feet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the beginning, public health officials have been beating the same drum: testing, testing, testing. It provides the clearest starting point to determine infection rates in a given area, and it allows for further investigation through contact tracing to provide even more detail about the nature and extent of viral spread.

“Without knowing, without testing, it’s like moving blindfolded,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told NPR. Actually getting testing to the level it needs to be for health officials to make informed decisions is more complicated than it might seem. Health care workers say the supply chain of testing kits has to date been unreliable. Meanwhile, state officials are working to improve supplies in anticipation of ambitious testing goals set by Idaho Gov. Brad Little.

According to Kristin Carlson, Bonner General Health external marketing specialist, the hospital has tested a total of 563 people as of May 26. To date, health workers have confirmed four cases of COVID-19, none of which are still being monitored.

The majority of tests are conducted and processed at the BGH lab, with a smaller percentage sent for external processing.

Bonner General Health has also begun serology testing, which determines whether or not a person has contracted the coronavirus and is producing antibodies. The hospital has conducted 85 of these tests, with 84 negative and one positive.

Not just anyone can get a test on a whim. Both COVID-19 and antibody testing require an order from a doctor. In the case of COVID-19 testing, the patient must also have symptoms consistent with the viral infection: coughing, breathing difficulty, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat and loss of taste or smell.

It’s important to make sure that tests

are put to the best use possible. That’s because there’s no guarantee from week to week how many kits will arrive, Carlson said. Each week, BGH lab managers put in an order for the maximum allowable number of viral tests from medical technology company Becton Dickinson, but it’s anyone’s guess whether or not that request will be fulfilled.

“Some weeks we get our full order, other weeks, only a few,” Carlson said.

“This could be due to the manufacturing demands and shortages, or that priority is given to areas with more widespread exposure.”

Given the circumstances, BGH Lab Manager Cherie Proctor is more or less satisfied with where testing stands. Yet, she also sees a need for greater volume.

“The biggest issue with testing more part of our strategy,” Little said. “We people has been a shortage of supplies,” have an impressive team of very capable she said. “If I had the ability to test local clinical and laboratory and research 10,000 people I would be more satisfied, experts from across the state helping but I think the [doctors ordering the us navigate this crisis, and I sincerely tests] have done a fabulous job screening appreciate their help.” patients and testing appropriately.”

The new guidelines categorize In the meantime, curbside candidates for testing in five levels of COVID-19 testing is available through priority. Priority 1 includes the most atthe BGH Emergency Department, Mon- risk individuals — symptomatic health day through Friday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. care workers, hospitalized individuals “Based on the availability of or nursing home residents, for instance.

COVID-19 testing, it is still the emerPriority 5, comprises the lowest-risk gency physicians’ discretion whether or category of Idahoans. This includes not to test an individual,” Carlson said. asymptomatic individuals who have re“We try to test everyone who fits the cently used commercial transportation, criteria; however, day-to-day availabilworked at crowded events or participatity of test kits is the determining factor.” ed in contact sports.

Testing may become more freely Testing will need to ramp up dramatavailable if state officials are able to ically to meet the goals set by the state. successfully impleAccording to Boise ment the governor’s State Public Radio, “The biggest issue with testing more 43,000 tests per strategy for a drapeople has been a shortage of supmatic expansion of week are needed for COVID-19 testing. plies.If I had the ability to test 10,000 the first two priority The plan, announced groups alone. people I would be more satisfied ...”

May 22, aims to Meanwhile, facilitate an ecoLittle said the federal -BGH Lab Manager Cherie Proctor nomic reopening of government supplied Idaho while limiting Idaho with 40,000 the risk of a secondary outbreak — and tests for the month of May, with another another shutdown.

40,000 expected for June.

“A strong economic rebound can only The testing plan arrives as Idaho preoccur with a combination of efforts, and pares to enter Stage 3 of the “Idaho Reexpanded and targeted testing is a big bounds” phased approach to reopening.

Photo courtesy Bonner General Health.

Scheduled to be announced by Little on May 28 and begin Saturday, May 30 — assuming Idaho meets guidelines for new cases of COVID-19 — the stage allows for higher-risk businesses like bars to reopen if they meet safety guidelines. Even more relaxed standards will go into effect Saturday, June 13 if new cases trend downward.

The challenge now facing the state is dramatically ramping up testing to the thousands of tests per week recommended by the governor’s Testing Task Force. To aid in the expansion of COVID-19 testing capability, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is sending $56 million to the state, according to a report from the Associated Press. It’s unclear yet exactly how that money will be spent. However, the funds are contingent upon a plan to test 2% of Idaho’s population.

“The takeaway message from these recommendations is that we will need to build incredible testing capacity plus the ability to respond to all of those results with appropriate clinical and public health follow-up care, if we hope to provide wide-scale and repeated testing for all Idahoans who may need to be tested,” said Dr. Christopher Ball, chief of the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories and co-chair of the Testing Task Force.

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EDUCATION

Teacher runs marathon for her students When the going gets tough, the tough go running

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Ask any teacher what the most difficult part of the lockdown has been and invariably they’ll respond that they miss their students.

When Sandpoint Waldorf School teacher Clare Stansberry first saw school and events canceled across the region in March, she said she spent a lot of sleepless nights wondering what was going to happen.

“There was this cascading feeling of ‘everything has been canceled,’” Stansberry told the Reader.

At one point, she awoke one night and formulated an idea that could give her students something positive in which to take part: she would run a marathon throughout Bonner County and plan the route to pass by every one of her students’ homes so she could say hello to them. More important, she wanted to give them something to look forward to.

“I wondered if I could go to everybody’s house in one run,” Stansberry said. “In the morning, I started mapping things on my computer and realized it was remarkably close to a marathon to go past everyone’s house.”

The next morning, Stansberry mentioned the plan to her run14 /

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ning buddy — Renee Nigon, who teaches sixth grade at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary School — and was pleased when Nigon agreed to accompany her on the cross-county trek.

“We had a goal now,” Stansberry said. “There was something on the calendar that couldn’t get canceled.”

Working with a seven-week preparation timeline was a bit rushed, Stansberry said, but since the route was on flat ground and they wouldn’t be in a hurry, they felt it was enough to prepare.

Stansberry said she ran her first marathon last summer with Nigon, which turned out to be a challenging experience. This route was destined to be much kinder, despite a chance of rain showers in the forecast.

Stansberry planned a route to pass all 16 of her students’ houses and informed them and their families that the marathon was on for Friday, May 22. Only one students’ home was located too far outside of Sandpoint to be plausible, so Stansberry asked them if they wouldn’t mind driving into Sandpoint along the route so that she could visit them, too. The student’s family happily obliged.

Stansberry’s route began in Sagle, just past Sagle Elementary School, then wound north along the Long Bridge past Memorial Field, onto Ontario Street and

back over Lincoln Street through Sandpoint and out toward Schweitzer. From there, she cut across into Kootenai and went toward her last stop on Selle Road. The total distance turned out to be 28.85 miles — more than two miles farther than the standard 26.21 miles that constitutes a marathon.

Stansberry and Nigon completed the route in about 5.5 hours, with another hour added for interactions with students and snack breaks.

Along the way, Stansberry and Nigon were greeted with festive signs, cheering supporters and several students who ran along with the pair for up to two miles in some cases. At one point, the runners had accumulated more than half a dozen students jogging in their wake, picking up more students as others dropped behind.

At each stop, Stansberry took a moment to interact with students individually, reading a hand-selected verse to each student.

The gesture was well-received, said parent Jessica Shicker, whose son Deacon made special preparations for the event.

“It was sweet to see my son make sure he was well-rested and hydrated the night before the race,” Shicker said. “He asked a lot of questions regarding the distance, and was in disbelief as he grasped the concept of just how far 26 miles is, comparing it to

the times he had run a mile or two around our block with his dad.”

Shicker said her son was so excited, it even convinced their 7-year-old sister – a first grader at Waldorf School – to join in the fun.

“The kids eagerly waited in the rain and cold, looking intently in the direction she’d appear,” Shicker said. “... When she did appear, they could barely contain their excitement, and my throat closed off as I swallowed a rush of gratitude at seeing someone offer such a grand gesture of love and honor to my child. … My kids came home with a sense that they had just participated in something much bigger than themselves, and with very full hearts and spirits.”

“I was very sweet,” Stansberry said. “Lots of students came and ran with me for short segments, or came out and said hello. Everyone was really excited. It was so fun to see everyone.”

As with other area educators, Stansberry said one of the hardest parts of the lockdown has been not seeing her students on a regular basis. She began teaching this particular class while they were in first grade, and the class will be entering fourth grade next season (Waldorf teachers stay with their classes from first grade until they graduate in sixth grade).

“As a teacher, you’re really energized by your students, seeing

Top left: Clare Stansberry (in black) and Renee Nigon (in yellow/green) run a marathon May 22 past all of Stansberry’s students’ homes. Top right: Students greeted Stansberry and Nigon with signs.

Photos by Kirsten Hollan. Bottom right: Stansberry recites a verse to her student Deacon Schicker. Photo by Jessica Schicker them learn and working with them every day,” she said. “This has been a challenge, because you don’t get as much of a sense of how they’re doing and you miss all the silly things they say and do, which is a big part of being a teacher. I’ve been with my students so long. They started as almost kindergartners and now they’re starting on the path of being really grown up.”

After the marathon-plus concluded in Selle Valley, Stansberry and Nigon arranged for a ride to pick them up and deliver them home so they could recover in style.

“We had made a lasagna and a bunch of Rice Krispie treats,” Stansberry said. “We lounged on the floor, stretched and ate lasagna, and I was really grateful for it. Parents had texted me pictures they had taken. It was so amazing to see how the community was there when I was out running.

People were honking in their cars, some left baskets of snacks for me on their porches. It was so special to feel that support.”

COMMUNITY

ICL announces 2020 Wild Idaho! award winners

By Reader Staff A well known late-Sandpoint resident featured among the honorees at the Idaho Conservation League’s annual Wild Idaho! member meeting May 21, which also marked the fifth anniversary of the Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness Act. The organization included among its distinguished friends ICL Board Member Steve Lockwood, who passed away in January. Lockwood, a longtime Bonner County resident and active in numerous local organizations and causes, won the Axline Award for Environmental Activism.

According to ICL, “Steve was a passionate environmentalist, a wonderful member of the ICL family and a friend to many.”

In addition to ICL, Lockwood also served on the Sandpoint City Council, the city planning and zoning commission and the Lake Pend Oreille School District Board of Trustees, among many other groups.

Named to honor ICL members Keith and Pat Axline of Challis, “this award honors those who actively promote conservation values and are deeply committed to the cause,” ICL stated.

Among the other award winners included the late-Dr. John Freemuth, whom the organization honored with its Cecil D. Andrus Award for Conservation in Public Service.

Freemuth served as distinguished professor of public policy and Cecil D. An-

drus Endowed Chair of Environment and Public Lands at Boise State University.

His work helped spur the creation of the Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership and numerous other groups across the state aimed at navigating public land challenges. Named for former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, the award is given for extraordinary service to conservation in the state and not necessarily given every year.

Greenwire/E&E reporter Jeremy P. Jacobs earned the J. Robb Brady Award for Environmental Journalism, with special note paid to his report, “Bloodbath: Red Ink Pours Over Northwest Dams,” in which he explored the Bonneville Power Administration. The Brady Award is named after the former publisher of the Idaho Falls Post Register. Begun in 1999, the award celebrates excellence and integrity in press coverage of environmental issues.

Finally, Boise high-school senior Asa Menlove won the inaugural Alex Frizzell Award for Youth Activism, saluting her work with ICL to foster environmental activism among high-schoolers throughout Idaho — in particular, preservation of salmon and steelhead, and Earth Day observance.

Named after fellow Boisean and former ICL intern Alex Frizzell, who died at age 21, the award recognizes young people for their engagement and conservation efforts.

Visit idahoconservation.org for more info, including on future virtual meetings.

One man’s path to heroin addiction explored at Lifetree Café

By Reader Staff The societal impact of heroin addiction will be examined Monday, June 1 at Lifetree Café. The program, titled “The Heroin Addict Next Door: One Man’s Painful Story,” will take place at 2 p.m. and features a filmed interview with Rocky Romano, a former heroin addict.

During the interview, Romano explains that his downward spiral began with alcohol and grew worse from there.

“By the time you know you’re in trouble, it’s too late,” Romano said. “You start to trade one addiction for another, and that’s where the drugs start to come in.”

This Lifetree episode will also explore whether a connection exists between early childhood trauma and self-destructive behavior.

Admission to the 60-minute event is free, though the gathering at Jalapeno’s Mexican Restaurant (314 N. Second Ave. in Sandpoint) is contingent upon the enactment of Phase 3 of Idaho’s coronavirus recovery plan on Saturday, May 30.

Lifetree Café is a place where people gather for conversation about life and faith in a casual, comfortable setting. Questions about Lifetree may be directed to stan@ followcommunity.org or 208-304-6465.

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STAGE & SCREEN

Reimagining ‘Dreamland’

Netflix series Hollywood rewrites film history, but stumbles between cynicism and optimism

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Netflix calls its new seven-part miniseries Hollywood “lavish, soapy and emotional.” That it is.

The colors are rich; the banter is crisp, wry and jargon-y; the soundtrack is period-boppy; and the costumes are immaculate.

We meet our first protagonist — a Missouri farm boy named Jack Castello (David Corenswet) — as he sits alone in a jewel box theater, watching a newsreel that provides a handy primer on the socio-economic conditions of late-1940s Tinseltown.

In short order, the narrator tells us of the city’s transition from the military-industrial complex to a dream factory, noting that wide-eyed wannabe stars from across the country were “swarming like so many locusts” to L.A. to make it big — a sly reference to Nathanael West’s 1939 satirical novel about the grimy substructure of the movie industry, Day of the Locust.

As Jack munches away on a box of popcorn, a gleam in his

eye, we’re off and running at a brisk clip. In short order, Jack runs into the classic dilemma: “pretty face, but no training; kid, you’re a dime a dozen,” as he’s told when angling for a job as an extra. Deflated and jobless — and with a pregnant wife at home — he washes up at a dim-lit bar where he’s swooped up by silver-haired, smooth-talking Ernie West (another apparent Nathanael West reference).

It turns out that Ernie (Dylan McDermott) owns a service station called Golden Tip Gas that only employs good-looking male attendants. Why that is becomes clear when, on Jack’s first day on the job, Ernie tells him with a wolfish grin that “some of my customers don’t just come here for gas.” Rather, they pull up to the pump with fantasies and desires, which Ernie fulfills via his stable of uniformed prostitutes.

As he says, “Sometimes you have to service ’em.”

This part of Hollywood has a firm basis in fact; there was a real-life service station, owned by pimp Scotty Bowers, that catered

to the bored-rich and famous.

Lucky for Jack, his first client is faded silent film star Avis Amberg (Patti LuPone), whom the talkies shut out for being too “ethnic,” in her case, meaning Jewish. As it happens, however, Avis is married to the head of the studio where Jack is fishing for a big break, and his first triumph is making her “feel like I matter, even if it’s a lie.”

That idea of being “seen” provides the motive force behind Hollywood, as a rag-tag band of dreamers — all marginalized for their gender, ethnicity, sexuality or a combination of the three — rise through the cesspit of “Dreamland” to take charge of their own narratives.

This is a counterfactual history of Hollywood, which to this day is marred by sexual exploitation, misogyny and underrepresentation of artists of color. Rather, Hollywood proposes that if even one major studio film had allowed these silenced or sidelined creators to shine on their own terms, the industry — and by extension the United States itself — would

be a different (better) place.

Critics and audiences are in sharp disagreement over this plotline, with the former challenging the coherence of the series’ juggling of cynicism and optimism, and the latter applauding its stylish vim and bold message of the power of cultural representation.

We meet screenwriter Archie Coleman (Jeremy Pope) whose script is rejected once the curmudgeon studio mogul learns that he’s black — he’s also gay, and in a relationship with the striving actor who became Rock Hudson.

Then there’s newbie director Raymond Ainsley (Darren Criss), who is in a secretive relationship with actress Camille Washington (Laura Harrier), who because she’s black is relegated to playing maids. Though Raymond is himself half-Phillippino, he can “pass” as white, and thus enjoys greater success than his counterparts.

Whether it be putting on a front of moxie to mask insecurity, pretending success to hide failure, or the more on-the-nose notion of passing for an “acceptable”

ethnicity or sexual orientation, the inherent tension of all this artifice is the transactional nature of maintaining it: everyone is buying or selling everyone else in a web of quid pro quo relationships supporting the crooked structure of the business.

That said, the best parts of Hollywood come in its first half — in other words, the episodes in which our subaltern heroes and heroines are launching their first salvos against the sordid Tinseltown establishment. It gets scattered as it enters counterfactual territory, propping up the notion that if only certain people had been more courageous, certain people more visionary, even certain people suffered massive heart attacks, then “everything could have been better.” The upshot is reinforcing Hollywood’s toxic sense of its own importance.

Though a pleasure to look at and engaging to watch, for a better grip on the machinery of “Golden Age” showbiz, pick up a copy of Day of the Locust.

Robbery and romance

Restored version of 1982 film The Grey Fox next in Panida virtual screening series

story, The Grey Fox chronicles the adventures of Miner upon being released from San Quentin prison in 1901. After three Released in 1982, The Grey decades behind bars, it’s a new Fox tells the story of stagecoach century and, for Miner, a new robber and recently released world. It’s not long before he is prisoner Bill Miner, played by back to his old ways.

Richard Farnsworth. A restored Miner is known to history version of the film will screen as the first man to successfully as part of the Panida Theater’s rob a Canadian train, which Virtual Viewing Rooms Series. happened in 1904, Viewers can access the film anytime Fri- The Grey Fox (PG) so there’s plenty of action in store for day, May 29 through those who stream Thursday, June 11 Friday, May 29-Thursday, June 11; viewing this classic Western from any home available anytime for 72 film. Miner also device with a $12 hours after payment; $12. falls in love, but will purchase to benefit Access the film at panida. he give up his wild the Panida. org/event/the-grey-fox. life of crime for Based on a true

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

romance?

The version of The Grey Fox that the Panida is streaming has been restored in 4K, giving new life to a film that critic Roger Ebert regarded as “one of the loveliest adventures of the year” when it first hit theaters, describing it as “a movie about a stubborn, indomitable character who robs people because that’s what he knows best.”

Though Ebert acknowledged that The Grey Fox portrayed the life of a true character in history, he wrote, “that doesn’t matter half as much as that Farnsworth bases his performance on how he sees the truth of Bill Miner.”

This is the final film in the

A still frame from The Grey Fox. Courtesy image.

Panida’s virtual series, as the theater plans to reopen in time for its Tuesday, July 7 screening of the documentary When God Left the Building.

To access the Panida virtual screenings, go to panida.org and

click the “tickets/events” button at the top of the page. Streaming costs $12 and films can be viewed anytime during the 72hour period following payment.

All proceeds benefit the Panida.

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PETS & ANIMALS

‘He’s just his own man’

Wilder the Market Cat lives his best life at Davis Grocery & Mercantile

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Visitors to Davis Grocery & Mercantile in Hope are sure to notice a Frito Lay box and blanket tucked beneath a table, and a bowl of food by the door. Perhaps harder to miss, though, is the gray cat lounging on the steps, offering a gravelly meow of greeting to all who approach.

Wilder arrived at the market — then known as the Hope Marketplace — as a young stray.

Kally Thurman, who owned the business at the time, said she tried to give him away twice, but to no avail — he came back to the market, clearly having found his home. Thurman and neighbor Vera Gadman began feeding him, then had him fixed.

Tentative estimates by both women place Wilder at more than 14 years old — surprising, as he remains agile and active around the property. Yet, for my 24-yearold self, it is impossible to remember the market without him.

Through the many iterations of the neighborhood — including the

grand transition the market made in 2018 from the Hope Marketplace to Davis Grocery & Mercantile — Wilder has remained a constant. He spends most of his time on and around the building’s deck, and spends much of the winter beneath one of the cabins behind the market. Early attempts to bring him inside on particularly cold nights did not sit well with Wilder — he’s an outdoor kitty, through and through.

Thurman said he is a “fabulous hunter and gatherer — just doesn’t brag about it.” Currently, Wilder receives three meals a day thanks to a woman named Cheryl who lives near the market. Cheryl spends time with Wilder each day, and takes him to the veterinarian whenever it’s needed — a service that members of the Davis family, who now own the store, said they appreciate.

Beyond his relationships with people like Cheryl and others who frequent the market, Wilder is not the kind of cat to seek attention.

He will accept affection on his own terms, but more often prefers peaceful, non-physical cohabi-

tation on the deck. As Thurman summed it up: “He’s got rules.”

Even I — decidedly a dog person — have an understanding with Wilder. I’ve spent a lot of time on the deck using the WiFi as of late, and Wilder is always nearby as I approach.

“Good morning, Wilder,” I say.

“Meow,” he replies, his voice — with its signature gritty undertone — coming across as begrudgingly hospitable. Still, he remains near me as I work — a solid and kind presence amid the busy foot traffic in and out of the market.

Wilder chooses his relationships carefully, but never communicates his distaste with hostile actions.

If anything, he simply exits the deck with purpose — as if he has something more important to do. In all honesty, he probably does.

“He’s just his own man,” Gadman said.

The Davis family met Wilder in June 2016 when they moved to town and took a walk to the post office. At the time, they had no clue they’d end up owning the market and simply stopped to love on the resident cat. Now, Wilder is

CAPTION CONTEST WINNERS

often present as the Davis kids and their friends ride bikes around the store, ready to accept a quick ear scratch whenever it’s offered.

“He is such an important member of our crew,” said Jamie Davis. “He’s always there to greet customers and to be our store ‘caretaker.’ He really is a big piece of the charm of owning the store and has become part of the family.”

Davis Grocery Cafe Manager Cinnamon Miller said she’s had customers come in simply because they’ve heard about Wilder and want to meet him.

“My favorite thing about him is [when he meets] me at my car and walks me to the door — and

Wilder the cat living his best life at Davis Grocery & Mercantile in Hope. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert. if I’m late, boy does he let me know,” she said. “He is very much loved.”

While many people have taken ownership of Wilder over the years, forming relationships through food and the occasional cuddle, it is clear: No one person has truly adopted Wilder. In fact, it might be argued that he — more than anyone — owns the property. We are only visitors to his bustling abode.

“Wilder adopted the market,” Thurman said. “We just named him.”

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Thanks to all who submitted captions for the photo at right from the May 21 edition of the Reader. I love seeing the creativity and humor of our readers at work.

We selected a winner and some honorable mentions. The winner is William Platt, who will receive $50 in dining and drinking bucks from Eichardt’s Pub. Want another shot? The next caption contest is on! Send ben@sandpointreader. com your caption ideas for the photograph of the girl with the chicken on her head (far right). Be sure to write “CAPTION” in the subject line.

Winner

“Is it Phase 4 yet?”

!

-William Platt

Honorable Mentions:

“Fluffy was never the same after watching Tiger King.”

-Chris Park

“When pets see their owners leave the house without a face mask”

“There be dragons!”

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-Michael Anderson

Michelle Shorman

Your caption here!

Iyla Raphael and the chicken Bigwig. Photo by Janae Raphael.

COMMUNITY

Do you have an Idaho caribou story?

By Reader Staff

A pair of University of Idaho graduate students are working on a project about the recent loss of North Idaho’s Selkirk Woodland Caribou herd. Jack Kredell and Chris Lamb will be traveling to the Selkirk Mountains and surrounding communities to gather ecological, historical, graphic and geo-

graphical data that will be incorporated into a “deep map” (multilayered interactive map) documenting the ecological/ community response to caribou absence in the formerly designated critical caribou habitat.

A key component of this project is the collection of oral histories from communities surrounding this area.

Kredell and Lamb are seeking volunteers who have stories pertaining to caribou for incorporation into the project.

If you have a story about a caribou encounter — or anything pertaining to the former Idaho Woodland Caribou herd — that you would like to share, please email Kredell (jkredell@uidaho. edu) and/or Lamb (clamb@uidaho.edu).

WEIRD NEWS

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

KITTEN BORN WITH TWO FACES IN OREGON

Photo by Biscuits_andgravy on Instagram.

As if 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, now the cats are getting in on the action.

When an Oregon family tended to their barn cat’s birth on May 23, they were surprised to notice the newborn kitten had two faces on a single head.

The cat’s owner, Kyla King, told WTHR-13 in Albany, Ore., that their 1-year-old barn cat gave birth to six kittens and noticed the runt of the litter had two mouths, two noses and four eyes. The King family dubbed the kitten Biscuits and Gravy, or Biscuit for short.

The kitten’s rare condition is believed to have been caused by a birth defect known as diprosopus, or craniofacial duplication. Felines with the condition are known as Janus cats, after the ancient Roman god often depicted with two faces.

Despite the efforts of the King family to hand-feed the kitty, it passed away three days after its birth. Janus cats often don’t live for more than a few days, but one born in Massachusetts holds the record for living for more than 15 years.

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DRINKS

Mixing beer

What kind of sorcery is this (and why do I like it so much?)

By Ben Olson Reader Staff In the salad days before the coronavirus, I recall a pivotal moment in my beer-drinking existence. I was having lunch with Reader Editor Zach Hagadone at Utara Brewing Co. and, as was our custom, we enjoyed a fine local brew to go with their fast casual Indian cuisine.

I was torn between two choices they had on tap: a special brew with a sharp gin taste and a tangerine pale ale. Utara owner Dave Kosiba put both hands on the bar and said, “Have you ever tried mixing beers?”

The suggestion seemed blasphemous at first. Mixing beer? Do I look like the type of guy who puts ice cubes in his red wine?

Who puts A-1 sauce on his steak?

Who wears socks and flip flops?

Kosiba then poured a taster half full with the gin brew and half full with the tangerine brew, and slid it over the bar to me without a word. I sipped it and felt the confluence of two very different tastes merging into a wholly new flavor. It was as if the sweet tang of tangerine bliss calmed the dominant juniper flavor. I set down the taster and immediately abandoned my snobbish, predisposed idea that beer mixing was sacrilege — I ordered one, then another, and haven’t looked back (note to Utara:

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Consider calling this concoction the “Tangerine Raj,” if you ever put it on the menu).

Beer mixing is hardly a new fad. Quaffers in England have been blending different beers since at least the 17th century. One famous concoction is the “black and tan,” which is a beer cocktail made by layering a pale ale and a dark beer (they call the drink “half and half” in Ireland, because the term “black and tan” is considered disrespectful, owing to its reference to the uniforms of the British-paid police force during Ireland’s 1920s war for independence from Great Britain).

When pouring the drink correctly, a server will take special care to pour the dark beer on top of the pale ale with an inverted spoon so that the two distinct layers are kept separate. The result is not only delicious, but aesthetically pleasing.

Fast forward to modern times and it’s clear that beer mixing is very much enjoying a surge in popularity. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that many alternatives to beer have emerged on the market, including Truly and White Claw hard seltzers. Or it’s due to the ever-changing taste preferences of beer aficionados, who are always looking for the next big thing.

Either way, beer mixing is again enjoying its moment in the sun.

In celebration of this re-

surgence, here are some of my favorite beer mixtures. When the bars and breweries are back in full swing, don’t be afraid to ask your bartender for their favorite combinations.

Black and tan As noted above, pour a half a glass of pale ale (I actually prefer Harp lager), then invert a spoon and carefully pour a dark beer (Guinness is my go-to) so that it floats on top of the lighter ale. Éirinn go brách!

The radler or shandy The radler or shandy is gaining traction in today’s beer-drinking market. Take a pilsner, hefeweizen or any other lighter beer and mix it half and half with lemonade or lemon-lime soda. The result is a light, refreshing drink that is popular on hot days, or if you’re at a daytime barbecue and you’d like to meter your drinking to avoid the dreaded evening hangover.

The radler was first concocted in 1922 by a Bavarian man named Franz Xaver Kugler, who was hosting a gathering for hikers and cyclists on a hot day in June and realized he didn’t have enough beer to go around for everyone.

So he mixed what beer he had left with lemon-lime soda to extend the supply and was pleased that those in attendance responded positively to his mixture. The name “radler” honors the cyclists in

attendance (radler is the German word for cyclist).

The Michelada The Michelada is quite a drink.

Imagine a bloody mary from south of the border. One popular story of this beer cocktail’s inception goes back to 1960, when Michel Esper, a customer at Club Deportivo Potosino in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, began asking for his beer with lime, salt, ice and a straw in a special cup called a “chabela,” as if it were a beer lemonade, or limonada. Other members of the club began asking for “Michel’s limonada” with the name shortening over time to Michelada. As time went by, bartenders and drinkers alike added other ingredients, and today there are myriad variations.

The classic Michelada is made by running a lime across the rim of a mug, then dipping the mug in Tajin, a popular seasoning in Mexico containing mild chili peppers, lime and sea salt. Then add ice, squeeze more lime juice, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, two dashes of habanero pepper sauce, then fill with 4 oz. Clamato and top with a Mexican beer (Pacifico or Negra Modelo are my favorites). Garnish with a lime wheel and click your heels, you just made a Michelada.

The Black Velvet This recipe goes back to 1860s London, when it was first made

by a bartender of Brook’s Club in London to mourn the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s prince consort. The drink is supposed to symbolize the black cloth armbands worn by mourners.

This simple beer cocktail can be achieved with just two ingredients: Guinness and champagne.

The two are mixed in equal parts, and the result is an elegant layered drink that merges the earthiness of Guinness and the levity of champagne.

Honey basil beer julep The Kentucky Derby has come and gone, but break out your biggest hat and celebrate in the yard with a special drink that combines so many delicious flavors.

The sweet honey and herbaceous basil merge with vanilla and toasted oak bourbon flavors to make this carbonated beer cocktail a perfect twist to the mint julep.

In a shaker pint, muddle basil leaves with 1/2 oz. of honey syrup.

To make the honey syrup, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil, reduce heat and stir in 1/2 cup of honey until completely dissolved. Cool before mixing.

After adding the honey syrup, add 1 1/2 oz. of bourbon and ice, then shake vigorously and strain into a glass over ice. Top with a few ounces of pale ale and garnish with a basil leaf.

MUSIC

Thom & Coley to play Di Luna’s June 12 Show comes after a live music drought in Sandpoint

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Country singer-songwriter duo Thom & Coley — made up of husband and wife team Thom and Coley Shepherd — is returning to Di Luna’s Cafe for one of the first local live music events since the novel coronavirus pandemic brought Sandpoint events to a halt in mid-March.

Both accomplished musicians and songwriters in their

Thom & Coley Friday, June 12; 7 p.m.; $20; Di Luna’s Cafe, 207 Cedar St., 208-2630846, dilunas.com. Listen at thomandcoley.com.

Call Di Luna’s for tickets and dinner reservations.

own right, Thom & Coley are known for fun, interactive live performances and vivid storytelling. As Thom told the Reader: “When people come to see us, it’s like they’re in our living room.”

There are only 30 tickets available for this show, as Di Luna’s makes an effort to follow social distancing rules outlined in the state’s Idaho Rebounds economic reopening plan. Tables for two will be available, and groups of four are able to sit together as long as plans are made ahead of time to accommodate them.

No solo seating will be avail-

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

READ

Most of us have seen the landmark film Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, but have you ever read the book by Thomas Harris?

Harris has penned four novels about Hannibal Lecter, one of the most interesting characters/villains in literature. Harris is a bit of an anomaly, himself — he avoids publicity and has only given a couple of interviews in the past 40 years. When asked about his fame, he said notoriety is “more of a nuisance than anything else.”

That works for me.

LISTEN

able for this show, and seating will be limited to dinner customers only.

Di Luna’s owner Karen Forsythe asks that all customers respect social distancing

Thom & Coley beside a North Idaho cabin. Courtesy photo. measures and be respectful of those who may choose to wear face masks.

I’ve spent my time working from home going on some deep dives into the music I listened to as a youth. Some of my selections have made me blush for my own lack of taste as a teenager. Others have been like seeing an old friend again.

Pete Yorn’s 2001 album musicforthemorningafter is one of the latter. Yorn has fizzled out since then, but this debut album has some damn good stuff on it.

WATCH

Magicians can be... problematic. They’re either too cheesy or campy for my taste, or they’re too moody and act all supernatural — as if these sleight-of-hand tricks are more than just illusion.

One show on Netflix I ingest every so often is Magic for Humans, featuring a new type of magician: Justin Willman.

Willman fuses good-natured humor and everyday banter with his tricks and illusions, and doesn’t take things too seriously, which I appreciate. And let’s face it, his tricks are pretty phenomenal. For a magician.

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STAGE & SCREEN

Controversial opinion:

Game of Thrones books vs. Game of Thrones series From Northern Idaho News, June 28, 1921

KIRKPATRICK FINDS STILL AT NEWPORT Sheriff Kirkpatrick found a still at Newport, Idaho this morning and arrested the operators who were brought to Sandpoint along with the paraphernalia. They are Jack Harris and Lethia Sloan.

The house in which the still was located was in the city limits. It was recently purchased by the people who operated the still. They had been living in Newport, Washington. About two weeks ago, they bought the house, a dilapidated structure, and set up their still for operation. When discovered by the sheriff they had about a gallon of moonshine on hand.

Sheriff Kirkpatrick was in Newport on other business when he rain on to this outfit. It is an old house and the windows are broken out. Old pieces of carpet were hund up to the windows. It is likely that these served as their undoing for they naturally brought suspicioun to the premises.

Mrs. Sloan had lived in Newport, Wash. for a number of years. She went away a few years ago and returned about two years ago and had lived there until she moved to the Newport of this state with Harris. Harris represents himself to be a painter.

The still which was brought in was a very crude affair, about the poorest rig that has been captured. It was made from a copper boiler.

They will be held in the county jail pending their preliminary trial.

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By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff My wife and I can’t remember when we started reading The Game of Thrones — the first book in fantasy author George R.R. Martin’s yet-to-be finished seven-book series A Song of Ice and Fire. Though it was published in 1996, we didn’t come to the world of Westeros until sometime in 2009 or 2010, about a year before the premiere of the HBO series Game of Thrones.

What we can remember is tearing through the then-available books prior to Season 1, being fully-up-to-speed “book readers” by the time there was such a thing as “show watchers” in the GoT fandom.

This used to be rare; now it’s not. Regardless, I’ve been thinking about the world Martin built for more than a decade now, and I’m about to write something that will make me a bigger traitor in some people’s eyes than Roose Bolton at the Red Wedding: Altogether, the show is better.

I have come to this harsh conclusion after much consideration, facilitated by our ongoing quarantined lifestyle, during which my wife and I have revisited the entire HBO series, plus listened to hours upon hours of fan-produced YouTube podcasts and tried — emphasis on “tried” — to reread the currently published five Ice and Fire books.

I could pretend that there’s widespread debate on this question of “books vs. show,” but I’d be a bigger liar than Petyr Baelish.

The overwhelming consensus is that Martin’s books are far superior to the version conjured by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which ran for eight seasons from 2011-2019.

Still, I can’t help but think that a big part of this latter-day GoT hate is sour grapes over the — I admit — pretty disastrous final sea-

son, whose finale aired almost exactly a year ago on May 19. However, I submit that people wouldn’t have hated Season 8 so much if they hadn’t loved the previous seven seasons so much. During its heyday, almost every critic who cared to weigh in praised it as the greatest small-screen spectacle of all time.

Here’s my beef with Martin: His prose is god awful. For instance, I can’t stand how often he feels the need to tell the reader that a character “broke fast” in the morning. That’s a super cool old-timey way of saying “breakfast.” Also, who cares?

And another thing: People thought the show wantonly killed characters? Martin will spend three whole pages introducing some “ser” (his nifty way of writing “sir”) astride his “destrier” (a horse) — complete with his “broke fast” menu, his house and sigil (coat of arms), and his three closest relatives — then chop off his head for no damn reason at all.

I remember reading that stuff and having to put down the book with an audible WTF? There’s a reason his books are so long.

Speaking of irrelevance, I skipped every other chapter on Brienne of Tarth because all she ever did was break her fast and ride her destrier around failing to do much of anything but wring her hands over Renly Baratheon’s death. I feel like this went on for at least two books. Meanwhile, the show version of Brienne was among my favorite characters — and, yes, I wept when Jaime Lannister knighted her in the final season.

Finally, people always tittered about how much sex Benioff and Weiss put on the screen. Well, their version paled in comparison to how much getting it on got gotten on in the books. However, and back

STR8TS Solution

Sudoku Solution

to this issue of Martin’s prose, he wrote about sex like a Jane Austen translation of the Marquis de Sade. I’ve read finer-crafted scenes of sensuality in Dean Koontz books (and let’s not forget that Martin’s female characters, especially, were typically in the 13- to 16-year age range).

Ultimately, I argue that Benioff and Weiss contributed by trimming away most of Martin’s excesses to streamline the plot — thank the Seven that Lady Stoneheart never made into the series — and still managed to convey the sweeping terror and epic romance intrinsic to the story in a way that we’ve never seen on television.

Maybe if Martin’s editors had performed this service to begin with, we might also be reading those final two promised book installments right now.

Crossword Solution

I think the monkeys at the zoo should have to wear sunglasses so they can’t hypnotize you.

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22

Laughing Matter

indemnity

Woorf tdhe Week

By Bill Borders

/in-DEM-ni-tee/

[noun] 1. Compensation for damage or loss sustained.

“In 1892 the United States paid an indemnity of $25,000 to Italy.”

Corrections: A sharp-eyed arboreal-minded reader informed us that the piece “Trees as Old as Time” (May 21, 2020) erred in suggesting magnolia trees are not “native to North Idaho.” In fact, this reader informs us, trees of the Magnoliaceae family grew in this region going back 15 million years, when the climate was warmer and wetter. What’s more, back then they could have been as big as huge western cedars. Thanks for the deep history dive.

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CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Chain of hills 6. Black, in poetry 10. Anagram of “Crab” 14. Negatively charged particle 15. Tardy 16. By mouth 17. Horse 18. “Do ___ others...”

19. Rodents 20. Ownership 22. P P P P 23. Anagram of “Dimes” 24. Open grassland 25. Bristle 29. Live together 31. Invade in great numbers 33. Aircraft engine enclosure 37. Joyous 38. Elderly 39. Craftsperson 41. Distinguish 42. Earwax 44. Feudal worker 45. Cirrus or cumulus 48. Sexually assaults 50. Egg-shaped 51. Resembling snoring 56. Former Italian currency 57. Melody 58. Close-knit group 59. Weight loss plan 60. Historical periods

Solution on page 22 61. Drop to one’s knees 62. On the left or right 63. Marries 64. Rope fiber

DOWN 1. Coarse file 2. Within 3. Perishes 4. “Comes and ____” 5. Ceased 6. Evasion 7. Cast out 8. Footstool

9. A noble gas 10. Proficiency 11. Disney mermaid 12. Sped 13. Highly favored 21. Laic 24. Transgressions 25. Couch 26. Always 27. Exam 28. Eloquent 30. A medieval steel helmet 32. Levelled 34. Untruths 35. Forsaken 36. Sea eagle

40. Take care of 41. Make downhearted 43. An unnaturally frenzied woman 45. Respiratory infections 46. 58 in Roman numerals 47. Rowed 49. Hosiery 51. Goulash 52. Hindu princess 53. Poems 54. Component of urine 55. Peddle May 28, 2020 /

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