Reader May 4 2017

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Supporting the arts in Sandpoint for 30 years

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LOCAL: 208.263.2138 TOLL FREE: 800.866.2138 476751 Highway 95, Ponderay 2 /

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(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

What do you think makes a good school board trustee? What qualities are you looking for?

“An effective trustee has a passion to improve the educational environment and also a passion to walk a delicate balance between regulations and relationships within the district staff.”

Paul Graves Elder advocate/author/former Sandpoint mayor Sandpoint “Someone who listens well, doesn’t arrive with their own personal agenda and who is ready to work in partnership with professional educators.”

Mindy Cameron Ret. Seattle newspaper editor Former LPO school board member for 11 years Sagle “Probably a school board member that visits each school and takes the time to learn the different personalities of the schools, as well as the specific needs of each one.”

Randy Wilhelm Teacher Career and technical education Lake Pend Oreille High School Laclede “Someone familiar with our community and the challenges specific to our community.

Also, someone who is willing to hear all aspects of issues.”

Stephanie Kohal Clinical supervisor, mother Sandpoint “I believe a school board member should have good listening and leadership skills as well as strong communication skills in order to voice their opinions.”

Savanah Groff Senior Sandpoint High School Sandpoint

DEAR READERS,

There’s a lot going on in the coming weeks. We have a school board trustee election on May 16th. Don’t forget to attend the forum co-sponsored by the Reader, SandpointOnline and KRFY 88.5FM on Wednesday, May 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Columbia Bank Building.

Also, city crews are working at night, installing traffic lights at new interchanges. It’s only a matter of time before the days of one-ways are over.

Finally, I was on hand to see the immediate aftermath of the train derailment south of Sagle on Monday morning. Driving back into Sandpoint, I realized that this could happen again, and next time we may not be so lucky. Next time it might be carrying oil and coal, and it might dump into our precious lake. I’m not dogging trains; they are a necessary means to distributing goods. I’m just conservatively concerned that more train traffic might equal more train derailment..

-Ben Olson, Publisher

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Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Nick Gier, Shannon Williamson, Brenden Bobby, Drake, Dianne Smith.

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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.

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COMMENTARY

Who is responsible for Cambodia’s ‘Killing Fields?’

By Nick Gier Reader Columnist “Pol Pot’s revolution would not have won power without the carpet-bombing of Cambodia’s countryside by American B-52s.”

—Ben Kiernan, ‘The Pol Pot Regime’

On this day 47 years ago, Ohio national guardsmen opened fire on protesters at Kent State University.

Four were killed and 13 wounded.

At the same time, I was leading a sit-in at Claremont Graduate University. We were protesting former President Richard Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia.

In March 1970 the U.S. supported the overthrow of the Cambodian government led by Prince Norodum Sikanouk. Our puppet Lon Nol, a right-wing general, proved to be no better than the generals we foolishly backed in Vietnam. Nol’s government fell to the Communist Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975, 13 days before the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam.

Led by Pol Pot and his henchmen, the Khmer Rouge launched an insane campaign of retribution that lead to the death of about 2 million people. In 1968 the Khmer Rouge numbered only a few hundred comrades, so what made it possible for the most extreme element of the Cambodian left to come to power? The U.S. must bear a good deal of the responsibility for what is now known as Cambodia’s “killing fields.”

Still revered as the “King-Father of Cambodia,” Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his son in 2004 and died in 2012. In March 1945 he declared Cambodia’s independence, but the French, with U.S. support, reclaimed its colonial possessions in Indochina. While Ho Chi Minh went to war with the French, Sihanouk remained staunchly anti-Communist and the French allowed him to retain his throne.

While remaining officially neutral during the Second Indochina War (our conflict), Sihanouk allowed the Vietnamese

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Communists to move supplies along on his side of the border—a system of paths called the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

In 1969 President Richard Nixon ordered secret bombing attacks in Cambodia and Laos, and then launched an invasion on May 1, 1970. The first killing fields were Cambodian villages where, from 1969-1973, at least 150,000 and perhaps as many as 800,000 people died by B-52 bombing raids.

Yale historian Ben Kiernan has done the most extensive surveys of the actions of the Pol Pot regime. Over 60 percent of those interviewed said that they turned to the Khmer Rouge because B-52s destroyed their villages.

On March 12, 1970, Lon Nol gave the North Vietnamese 72 hours to move out of their Cambodian bases, but he was unable to dislodge them. The North Vietnamese Army continue to send supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail, while China, where Sihanouk lived in exile, sent tons of military aid to Pol Pot whose forces gained more strength everywhere in the country. Mainly as a result Sihanouk’s prestige,

Khmer Rouge forces grew from 6,000 to 50,000.

After Pol Pot took power in 1975, he ordered several major cross border attacks, and the Vietnamese finally lost their patience with the Khmer Rouge.

Early in 1979 they launched an invasion of Cambodia and the Pol Pot regime crumbled within months. The Khmer Rouge were able to hold out for years in the jungles, primarily because of Chinese and North Korean aid.

Because President Ronald Reagan did not want to give any credit to the Vietnamese Communists, he opposed giving the Khmer Rouge’s UN seat to the new government. At the same time the U.S. gave aid to rebel forces who were opposed to the Vietnamese imposed government.

The indirect effect U.S. aid was to support the Khmer Rouge, who were in a coalition with the other rebels, and whose troops levels went back up to 35,000. The Vietnamese had to expend considerable effort to defeat Pol Pot’s forces, and he was finally forced over the border where the pro-American Thai

Options for Health Care...

ror stories didn’t want to change from the VA to private health care paid by the government; there is a deep suspicion that this is just a way for the government to stop providing vets with care. The vets I talked to didn’t like the new program of going to the local doctor either. They liked the simplicity of the VA. The single-payer system is when the government becomes everyone’s insurance company. Forty four percent of all healthcare cost is already paid by the government. The two largest programs are Medicare at 20 percent and Medicaid at 17 percent. Private insurance is 33 percent of the total market. All medical billing except VA and very small groups that don’t take insurance use the Medicare billing codes for determining payment. This isn’t by law, but by practicality. It costs millions to come up with the cost of each medical procedure and insurance companies are very happy to piggy back on the government’s work. In a single-payer system, you

Dear Editor, Like most people, I waited for the Republican health care plan, but before I could publish my opinion about it, the Republicans gave up. It seems blaming and blocking the other guy is easier than fixing problems. Now we must wait for Democrats to come back in power to fix health care.

Single-payer or single-provider are two possible options.

Single-provider is where the government provides not only the money but all the services as well.

This is the Veterans Administration, VA, health care. Four percent of all health care is paid by the VA. In a 2004 study, the VA was found to be more cost effective than private health care. Not only does it provide care, but most of the VA hospitals are teaching hospitals, so they are constantly replenishing the system.

What about quality? The veterans I’ve talked to either loved or hated the VA system. Even vets with hor-

A child stands before a mass grove of human remains in Cambodia. Commons photo.

government protected him.

In 1989 the Vietnamese withdrew all of its forces, and under UN auspices elections were held in 1993. Thirty years too late, Kaing Guek Eav (best known as “Duch”) was the only Khmer Rouge official convicted of crimes against humanity. Duch was head of an infamous torture center, and the judge declared that his crimes were “undoubtedly among the worst in recorded human history.”

For the first time since the French Protectorate of 1863, the Cambodian people can now

pursue their own affairs without adverse external interference.

They no longer have to fear a madman such as Pol Pot or dread quarter-ton American bombs dropping from 30,000 feet.

send your insurance premium to the government in the form of taxes.

The most cost-efficient system is the VA or single provider. There is no middleman, no complicated billing and guaranteed care, but not much choice. The second most cost efficient system is single payer.

There is no middleman or profits to be paid. Both veterans and retirees want to keep their systems. These systems would cost less and cover more people, so maybe we should at least consider them.

identified. The mystery third Friends of the Library (FOL) person in the photo was Cindy Hayes.

It was a great public outreach and great fun. We’d rolled 1,600 poems for the community’s pocket.

Some of the public even recited poems for us when handed one for their pocket.

Sincerely,

Mary Haley Sandpoint

Pocket Poems...

Dear Editor, Thank you for your dedication in getting a weekly newspaper to Bonner County residents. I enjoy the diversity and in-depth reporting.

Last week you published a picture of Poem in a Pocket. Rae Charleton and Shelby Rognstad were

Nick Gier of Moscow was co-president of the Student-Faculty Committee to End the War in Vietnam in 1965-66 at Oregon State University. He taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. Read the long version at www.sandpointreader.com.

Cindy Hayes Sandpoint

Cindy, thanks for clearing that up. We received confirmation that it was you, but the email came after we’d gone to press. Our apologies for not including your name. Thanks so much for taking part in this fun event. -BO Want your voice to be heard? Send us a letter! Please keep it under 400 words, refrain from using profanity or libelous statements, and please, no handwritten letters.

PERSPECTIVES

Maintaining the balance

•The Reader is the MOST READ publication in Sandpoint according to a 1/2017 survey

By Justin Henney Reader Staff Editor’s Note: The following piece of writing was submitted over a month ago but we have been backlogged with content, so we were unable to run it while the snow was on the ground. Because we enjoyed the piece so much, here it is.

Better late than never.

Recently I drove up to the trailhead, let my dog, Bodger, out of my car and got my snowbike off the back. I was feeling slightly out of balance due to a little too much wine the night before, and that imbalance reared its ugly head as I realized I had forgotten my biking shoes.

The shoes I was wearing were basically slippers—way less than practical since the ride involved several foot plants in deep snow and likely a crash or two. Bodger kept looking at me, tilting his head, wondering why I was standing next to my bike and not getting it off the car and riding up the hill as usual.

Seven minutes later we were back at our home, explaining to my wife and leaving again, this time by bike, across Lakeview Park and down to the lake.

My timing was fortunate as I witnessed a bald eagle attacking a Canada goose.

I was fortunate in the sense that it was wild and uncommon and kind of amazing for me to see this when only minutes ago I was in a warm home with store-bought food. On the other hand, unfortunate is an understatement in describing how the goose’s morning turned out. Within seconds, huge talons from one eagle ended the goose’s life, followed by several bald eagles landing on the ice within yards of the attacker.

Feathers and down were all over as a golden eagle landed a few yards away from the others.

How different life is for these eagles than for me. In some ways I think the life of an eagle on this lake/river is incredibly simple, yet more difficult than life for almost any human. Do eagles feel cheated and act like victims like so many people do because life is so hard for them? They sure don’t appear to feel sorry for themselves.

Bodger had been obedient on the ice,

DID YOU KNOW?

but finally was unable to restrain himself.

He ran toward the lone golden eagle, still on the ice. The others were now sitting on the top of posts in the water or flying overhead, waiting for us to leave.

Bodger is still a puppy, although nearly 100 pounds of puppy, and he acted like he wanted to play with the golden eagle.

Eagles, if they play, were having none of it today, with an immature Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Twenty minutes later we left the ice and snow on the river in Dover. Placing my feet in an adult moose’s prints, we hiked off the ice and began riding on plowed roads. Simple pleasures. In another 10 minutes we were passing the blue gate and heading up into Syringa Heights bike trails from the Dover side.

Bodger was getting tired, but I knew he’d be thinking about chewing my shoes the next day if he had too much energy, so upward we climbed.

As we climbed, I thought of how eagles keep balance in their lives. I assume they do not suffer emotional imbalance like humans, so that makes it way less complicated: eating, hunting, sleeping, migrating and reproducing.

The path became narrow on compacted snow. It looked to be about six inches wide. I loved the various pines, and the sun was trying to show itself.

The further I rode, the fewer people had hiked and ridden the trail. The path became narrower, and I began to see impressions of soft crash sites, some from me on other days.

The crunchy, dry snow, coupled with the scenery, was therapy for me. I also loved the way it felt and sounded under my fat snow tires. No one was up here that day except Bodger, a deer that just watched us pass and me. I smiled to myself as I thought of the people with snow bikes who only seem to ride them to bars and back home—at least they are drinking responsibly.

Further on I was keenly aware of the physical balance required to ride a snow bike up a section of trail called Sherwood Forest. Although I swore under my breath as I spun out on another

steep turn. Bodger put his ears up, tilted his head and looked at me (it’s OK, Bodge, you’re a good boy). I absolutely loved this challenge. The balance and focus required to ride up this hill on a narrow snow-packed path was more difficult than riding a unicycle on the same trail in the summer.

When I ride I almost always think of the other balance in my life. The silence, dopamine and intense focus on the trail help me think about my family and how much quality time I have been spending with them. Keeping my girls away from most television, violent computer games and the internet is only part of it. How engaged have I been with my daughters, listening to them and playing with them?

Riding on, I thought of how I would love to experience the results of training more than my typical three to five hours a week during the spring and summer.

Again, there is an imbalance of training more, which equates to less time spent with my girls and wife.

That day’s ride was rife with metaphor, and I can’t stop thinking about how riding on such a narrow, soft path represents my life in many ways. If my focus is strong and my effort great, I crash less and it is a soft landing. At home and at work, if I stay on task and keep giving it 90-95 percent, take the initiative and enforce boundaries, my life stays in balance, my crashes are minimal and my wife, daughters, friends and co-workers forgive me. If I give my life and cycling 100 percent, I’ll go anaerobic and burn out. Feeling content and clear is what I strive for out in the woods, and if I am lucky I’ll get a buzz that lasts for many hours after my ride.

I felt the endorphins already that day, and I hadn’t even finished my ride. I always feel a sense of gratitude at the end of my rides, and that day was an especially good one, even as it began to snow. My balance was good, and I couldn’t stop thinking how lucky I am for my family and to live where I live and do what I do.

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Peace...

Dear Editor, Ben, thank you for honoring my request for a retraction. I have enjoyed our recent conversations and getting to know you. I attend the Follies every year and also participate with the entertainment. I read the Reader.

Peace, Fiddlin’ Red Sandpoint

Scotchman Support...?

Dear Editor, I was glad to see the long list of involved citizens who “do NOT support the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.”

I interpret this to mean they are not opposed to it. Or perhaps they are simply “neutral” on the Wilderness designation.

This is good news for all of us 8,000-plus supporters.

Sorry if this sounds snarky or adds to the bickering, but I’m kind of a stickler on language.

Bill Stuble Dover May 4, 2017 /

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NEWS

Train derails south of Cocolalla Lake

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

A train derailed Monday morning south of Cocolalla Lake, directly in front of Valley Vista ranch adjacent to Highway 95.

The crash was reported around 6 a.m. and no injuries were reported.

The derailed train was carrying 110 car loads of corn, according to BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas. Twenty-five of the cars went off the tracks parallel to a straightaway section of Highway 95. The train originated in St. Cloud, Minn. and was destined for Kalama, Wash.

“The derailment happened roughly mid-way through the train,” said Melonas. “We’re assessing damage now, but the affected cars will most likely be scrapped on site.”

One main train line was cleared at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Vacuums were able to begin gathering the spilled corn and the damaged cars were shoved to the side while track crews replaced the damaged track with a new one. The second line was opened around midnight Wednesday morning, but clean up for the area should take anywhere from three to four

weeks.

Over 60 trains per day use the tracks, including two Amtrak passenger trains. One southbound lane of Highway 95 was closed briefly to allow emergency personnel access, but traffic has otherwise returned to normal.

According to Melonas, officials are still investigating the cause of the crash: “There are no public or environmental threats at this time. It’s a routine clean up now.”

The derailment brought out several different agencies to respond, including the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office. Undersheriff Ror Lakewold said, “We are happy with everyone’s response, and we think it was a great response by all agencies working together.”

Melonas said, “We appreciate the support of all the local agencies that pitched in and helped out.”

The crash comes at an inopportune time for BNSF, which recently announced plans to build a second rail bridge over Lake Pend Oreille. The second rail bridge would allow for two-way train traffic across Lake Pend Oreille, reducing the need for engineers to slow down or

Over 25 cars derailed from the tracks on Monday morning, spilling loads of corn. Photo by Ben Olson. stop while waiting for trains to pass.

Supporters of the plan claim less stop time for engineers will translate into less waiting time for drivers at train crossings, as well as an increase in efficiency.

Opponents say the second bridge will introduce more trains per day, increasing the chance of a dangerous accident in the lake, as well as wait times.

“My feeling is that we shouldn’t be concerning ourselves with building more tracks when we can’t ensure

the safety on the tracks today,” said Sandpoint mayor Shelby Rognstad, a vocal opponent to the second rail bridge. “This is the third derailment we’ve had in this area in a year. Obviously we have unsafe rain lines on the ground today.”

Melonas said the crash has no effect on the second rail bridge plans for BNSF. Rognstad acknowledged that the city of Sandpoint has little to no say in BNSF’s plans: “It’s their right of way. They own the property, they own the right

Planning begins on wastewater plant upgrade

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

The Sandpoint City Council got the ball rolling Wednesday on a long-planned upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant.

Members voted to approve a contract with J-U-B Engineers that will update the city’s wastewater treatment plan. According to Public Works Director Ryan Luttmann, the plan will help city officials determine whether it is more prudent to simply upgrade the existing wastewater

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treatment facility or build a new plant on city property off Baldy Mountain Road. The $201,925 contract is included in the city’s budget and is paid for in part by a $65,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

“Grants awarded under this program must be used to prepare facility plans that identify the most cost-effective, environmentally sound methods to upgrade public wastewater systems to achieve and maintain compliance with state and federal standards,”

Luttmann said in a memo to council members.

The question of whether to build a new site or upgrade existing facilities has long been a subject of council attention.

According to the city’s original wastewater treatment master plan, also compiled by J-U-B Engineers in 2007, the existing site on Ella Avenue won’t hold up to long-term use, and the construction of a new site is recommended. However, since collecting funding, completing a design and constructing a new facility usually requires

a minimum of 10 years, the master document suggests that facility upgrades might be sufficient to allow for a thorough planning and funding process.

According to Luttmann, it’s high time to take action on one of those options. In a memo to council memos, he said that a number of components to the existing plant are near the end of their life cycle.

This comes on the cusp of the city obtaining a new discharge permit with stricter discharge standards.

of way. Cities have virtually no control over how railroads use their properties.

“Thankfully BNSF has been good to work with and notifying us and keeping us in the loop about their maintenance programs, but I think it’s necessary for the rail lines to invest in rail safety,” said Rognstad.

“We narrowly averted disaster every time an incident like this happens. It would obviously be a disaster if the cargo was oil or toxic chemicals.”

Idaho Gives launches today Remember to support your favorite nonprofits when Idaho Gives begins today: Thursday, May 4.

Simply visit www.idahogives.org/organizations to find a searchable list by name, county location or nonprofit type and donate to your favorite nonprofit.

Any donation you make for Idaho Gives has the chance to earn more money and rewards for your chosen nonprofit, so there’s no better day to give generously. [CR]

NEWS

School board forum draws crowd

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

The Bonner County Republican Central Committee hosted a forum Wednesday night for the candidates running for the Lake Pend Oreille School District school board trustee election. The event took place at the Ponderay Event Center and drew around 100 people.

All candidates from Zones 2, 3 and 5 were in attendance and began the evening with five-minute introductory statements.

From Zone 2, Gary Suppiger stated he was a 25-year resident of Bonner County and has three children who graduated from LPOSD. Suppiger said he was running to give back to the community and said our school district was doing well, citing many awards that Sandpoint High School has achieved in recent years.

Suppiger’s opponent from Zone 2 was Richard Miller, who has lived for 20 years in Sandpoint and has a daughter who went to public school. Miller’s focus was on improving the vocational, P-Tech and life skills offerings from the district.

Zone 3 candidate Victoria Zeischegg, herself a public school graduate, cited her activities in local organizations such as parent teacher boards and principle advisory boards as evidence that she is invested in the public school system.

She advocated taking a “finetoothed comb to the budget to ask, ‘How can we do more for less?’”

Zeischegg’s opponent in Zone 3 is Lonnie Williams, who has lived in Bonner County since he was three years old, was a graduate from Sandpoint High School and claimed to be highly active in extracurricular activities.

“I feel our extracurricular activities are in jeopardy right now, which is why I’m running,” said Williams.

Williams, who works for a title company in Sandpoint, also stated that the health of our public school system has a direct relationship to the economic stability of our region: “When people are moving here, one of their first questions is, ‘What are the schools like?’ If the schools are rubbish, chances are, they won’t move here, and our growth goes stagnant.”

For Zone 5, which includes

greater Sandpoint, candidate Cary Kelly said he has been a Bonner County resident for 24 years after retiring from a career in the military. Kelly also received a master’s degree in education and worked briefly as a high school teacher before becoming involved in Bonner County government. He recently finished a four-year term as Bonner County commissioner.

Kelly recognized that he, as well as the greater Sandpoint area, overwhelmingly supported both the supplemental and plant levies last year: “A better option to generating a plant levy all at once would be to gradually take care of infrastructure problems,” he said.

Kelly’s opponent in Zone 5 is Anita Perry, who moved to Bonner County from southern California when she and her husband retired.

Perry holds a degree in social sciences and history and spent most of her career working in business management for California State San Bernardino, as well as managing records for two large police departments in California.

“Since I’ve retired, I’ve become very interested in public administration,” said Perry. “In a year and a half, I’ve attended almost every school board meeting, and I recognize that there is a divide in this community. … The school board needs to be the front lines of healing that divide. We need to be a watchdog for the community.”

After introductory remarks, the forum was open to questions from the audience. One in attendance asked Zone 5 candidate Perry why she didn’t support the supplemental school levy.

“I supported the $15 million figure, but not the $17 million,” said Perry. “The school district is in desperate need of repairing, but at some point, voters will say, ‘Enough’. … These people are in financial straits. This is putting this town in a downward spiral.”

Other questions dealt with the proposed vocational upgrades, asking candidates why and how it was to be done to increase these programs without adding to the budget.

“The info is out there, all we have to do is put in the effort and get it done,” said Miller. “Businesses need to get involved and donate, because this is their workforce. The school district can’t do everything.”

Throughout the evening, the

dividing line between candidates was clearly drawn by the audience as those who supported the recent school levies and those who didn’t.

Williams called out candidates who voted against the levies as voting contradictorily to their words: “You can’t stand up here and say you support your schools and vote against the money that funds them,” he said to applause from the audience. “Either you support the schools or you don’t.”

Zone 5 candidate Perry, who said she did not support the supplemental levy last fall, claimed it was important that the school district “do more for less.”

“How exactly do you propose to do more for less?” one audience member asked Perry. “Is that really possible?”

“We are above our state staffing formula,” said Perry. “I think it’s necessary to go through the model and see if there is a more efficient way. If we are overstaffed, what are we doing wrong and how do we fix it? More for less is possible. Our budget is very large. We need to go over every detail and see where we can save money. Do we really need

to look at academics before we look at salaries?”

“You can’t do more for less, obviously,” Suppiger said. “We have five schools in our district that are under 200 enrollment. I would never support consolidation and closing of these rural schools.”

Another audience member asked candidate Miller, who lauded the benefits of increasing vocational education, how he would save money on these programs when they cost anywhere from 30 to 50 percent more per pupil.

“It is expensive,” said Miller.

“But guess what? They deserve it.

Those students will be left behind.

You either have to open your wallets now or support them for the rest of their lives.”

Zeischegg compared the “more for less” question with learning how to cut out a pattern for sewing: “You can cut out patterns as they say how to, or you can find out how to lay the patterns down in a different way so you might save more fabric.”

Kelly emphasized the importance of not leaving our students behind: “Student achievement is

number one. Every student should have the opportunity to develop their full potential.”

With the Bonner County Republican Central Committee forum concluded, there are still a few more chances to learn about school board candidates.

The 88.5 KRFY Morning Show has one more interview scheduled with Zone 2 candidates Richard Miller and Gary Suppiger for 8 a.m. Wednesday, May 10. You can also listen to past interviews with Zone 3 candidates Lonnie Williams and Victoria Zeischegg and Zone 5 candidates Cary Kelly and Anita Perry at www.krfy.org/podcast.

KRFY, Sandpoint Online and the Sandpoint Reader will also host a candidate forum set for 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, at the Columbia Bank community room. The forum will also air live on 88.5 KRFY. As always, you can find candidate info, links to maps of each zone’s boundaries and more election information at the Sandpoint Online Election Central: www. sandpointelections.com.

Sandpoint residents march for climate

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Hundreds turned out Saturday for a climate march that connected Sandpoint to an international movement.

Branded the People’s Climate March in Sandpoint, the local outfit was one of around 300 marches coordinated around the world.

The march was a reaction against government policies regarding climate change and the environment, particularly the Trump Administration’s plans to curtail elements of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act. “Everyone was really upbeat and respectful and committed to the cause,” said Rebecca Holland, a member of environmental organization 350Sandpoint and one of the march organizers.

According to Holland, between 350 and 400 people attended the march, which began in Farmin Park and ended at Sandpoint Community Hall. The team was quite pleased with the turnout.

“We’re happy to say we got

Residents gather for the People’s Climate March in Sandpoint. Photo by Marsha Lutz. at least 350 people, given we’re 350Sandpoint,” she said.

Partway through the march, the group stopped at Sand Creek for a talk on the importance of water quality to the region. The demonstration ended at Sandpoint Community Hall, where several environmental and conservation organizations were on hand to detail practical avenues toward further action.

According to Holland, the priorities of the march were threefold: resist environmentally unfriendly policies, build new approaches to

achieving sustainable energy and rise into an international group with real political influence. She encouraged anyone who felt motivated by the march to find the group on Facebook at 350Sandpoint.

The Sandpoint march was in good company across the country and world. More than 200,000 people marched in Washington, D.C., and the Idaho Statesman reported that 1,000 attended a sister march in Boise.

“It was comforting to know there are huge numbers of people that feel this way,” said Holland.

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LPOSD School Board Trustee election Bouquets: •Sandpoint Parks and Recreation is sponsoring a great event called “Unplug and Be Outside” on May 9, 10 and 11, 2017.

The event encourages people to step away from televisions, computers, tablets, phones and other brain-sucking devices for the three days coming up.

Check with the Parks and Rec. to find out about 11 free events taking place over the three days that help empower families to be physically active. Each youth that attends two or more events during the week and collects the event leader signatures on their passport is eligible for a fun prize drawing. Visit www.sandpointidhao.gov or call 263-3613 for more information.

Barbs: •I’m thinking of changing the name of this Barbs column to “Trumps” based on the continuous stream of idiocy coming from the Oval Office.

First of all, Trump’s interview with Reuters last week showed that he is in fact overwhelmed by doing the job of the president. He said, and I quote: “I actually, this is more work than my previous life. ... I thought it would be easier.”

No kidding? Being President of the United States is a lot of work?

Who’d have believed it?

Second, Trump’s confusing comments about the Civil War earlier this week show just how little he knows about American history. He asked the Washington Examiner columnist during the interview: “Why was there a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” He then praised Andrew Jackson: “He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. And he was really angry that he saw what was happening, with regard to the Civil War. He said, there’s no reason for this.”

A. Slavery was the underlying issue behind the Civil War. B. Andrew Jackson died in 1845, a clear 16 years before the Civil War began. Also, at the time of his death, Jackson owned 150 slaves.

It is so embarrassing to have a president who knows less about American history than a freshman in high school. Sad! 8 /

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Meet the candidates Education: BA Victoria Zeischegg Stanford University, Anita Perry Graduate DiploAge: 62 ma, University of Years of residence Age: 70 Stockholm, Sweden, in Bonner County and What particuYears of residence in lar experiences or Graduate Marine Idaho: 7 years Bonner County and Idaho: skills qualify you Command and Staff Marital status/ 12 years to serve on the College, MEd Mafamily. Are, or were, Marital status/family. school board? rymount University, you a parent of a child Are, or were, you a parent Idaho Education in the school district?

Victoria Zeischegg. Married to Peter of a child in the school I bring 20 Credential (Social Anita Perry. district? No. years of manStudies), Non-profit Leadership Zeischegg, five children. I am a Course, University of Idaho parent of two children and stepHow can the public contact agement experience in public you? administration to the table. At Cal (2017) parent of three. My children were Website: Perry4Schools.com.

State San Bernardino, where the Recent or pertinent employeducated in the public school email: perry4schools@gmail.com mission was to train, credential ment history: system in northern California.

Phone: 208-255-5749 and prepare teachers and school 28 years of military service, How can the public contact Qualifications administrators for their posiNaval Aviator, retired Marine you?

Education: • BA degree, dual tions, I observed firsthand the Colonel, total of 22 years with Website: VoteVicZ.com major in Social Sciences and Hisimportance of having qualified Bonner County - 18 years with the email: votevicz@gmail.com Sheriff’s Office in the Marine DiviPhone: 208-477-1651 tory from Cal State San Bernardipersonnel enter those fields. I sion (11 years supervisor) and four Qualifications no, in the teaching track. served on the faculty recruitment • Post-baccalaureate coursecommittee, hired and managed years as County Commissioner.

Education: BA degree from Any public offices held: UC Berkeley work in Public Administration at staff, administered the budget, and developed and oversaw the Bonner County Commissioner Recent or pertinent employCal State Northridge. implementation of policies. As 2013-2017 ment history: Recent or pertinent employrecords manager at two large Nonprofit and service groups Managed our Chiropractic ment history: • Business manager/adminispolice departments I was responor relevant professional organiOffice for 12 years currently sible for hiring and managing trative analyst, School of Educazations to which you belong: manage our health and wellness tion, Cal State San Bernardino, clerical personnel, budgeting and Board of Director for Panhan- website, DrZ.org. for seven years. developing departmental policies dle Animal Shelter.

Any public offices held: Baldy and procedures. In all positions, • Police records manager, Precinct Republican CommitteeRialto and San Bernardino Police interaction and communication What particular experiences woman, State Committeewoman Departments, California, for 13 with the public, elected officials or skills qualify you to serve on for the Bonner County Republiyears. and other departments was an the school board? can Central Committee Any public offices held: important part of the job.

Nonprofit and service groups • Board member (Secretary) The experience of or relevant professional organiof Bonner County Republican Cary Kelly zations to which you belong: having served as the Central Committee for two years • Past board member of Anchairman of the Board • Current Precinct ComAge: 75 gels Over Sandpoint of Bonner County mitteewoman, Bonner County Years of resi• 6 years on the board of BonCommissioners will be Republican Central Committee, dence in Bonner particularly valuable to ner County Republican Women, in Washington Precinct.

County and Idaho: the school board. Both in my fifth year as president of that organization Nonprofit and service groups 24 years organizations have or relevant professional organi• Member of the Bonner Marital status/ many similarities: they County Local Emergency Planzations to which you belong: family. Are, or were, are public identities • 12-year member of Sandpoint you a parent of a ning Committee governed by elected Community Assistance League, • Associate member of Priest child in the school officials responsible Cary Kelly Lake Search and Rescue including serving on the grants district? Married to the residents, have committee and volunteering at 53 years, one daughter, one son. large number of employees, budWhat particular experiences Bizarre Bazaar for many years.

Five grandchildren, all attended gets and are regulated to some • 12-year member of Bonner or skills qualify you to serve on public school in Sandpoint. degree by the state. There are, of County Republican Women, the school board?

How can the public contact course, differences between the Serving on the boards and including two years as president you? county and the school district, committees here in Bonner and eight years as board member, Website: CaryKellyFor but many of the problems are the County has given me the expechairing or serving on various SchoolBoard.com. same. rience that is so important in the committees. email: cmkelly211@gmail.com • Member of the Bonner role of school district trustPhone: 208-946-6550 --ZONE 3-ee. The trustee position requires County Property Rights Council Qualifications --ZONE 5--

appointed by County Commissioners, 2014.

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< con’t from page 8 > the ability to work with others, even when there are differences and come to consensus for the best interest of the district. When my children were in grades K-12 I volunteered on a regular basis in their classrooms and booster clubs, served on the board of the Parent Teacher Organization, and when they were in high school served on the Principal’s Advisory Board.

N.C., 1975. Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry Duke University, Durham N.C., 1977. Masters Degree in Forestry Recent or pertinent employment history: Business ownership and management, Forest Products Manufacturing Nonprofit and service groups or relevant professional organizations to which you belong: Lonnie Williams Sagle Elementary School; (Candidate responded to questionnaire fourth, fifth and sixth grade, but not within our deadline. We’ll run Mr. Math Coach - 12 years Williams’ responses in next week’s issue) Boy Scouts of America; Troop 308, Ass’t Scoutmaster, --ZONE 2-Sandpoint - 6 years Sandpoint Soccer AssociaGary Suppiger tion; Head Coach for Sandpoint Strikers - 3 years Age: 63 Sandpoint Soccer Years of Association; Assistant residence Coach for Sandpoint in Bonner Strikers - 3 years County and St. Joseph’s Catholic Idaho: 25 Church; Finance Comyear resident mittee - 12 years of Bonner Cocolalla Lake AsCounty sociation; member and Marital volunteer 24 years status/family.

Coaching RecreAre, or were, Gary Suppiger. ational Soccer; Football, you a parent Baseball, and Basketball - 6 of a child in the school district? years I have been married to my wife Sally for 26 years. Our children What particular experiences are Gerhart, age 24; Madeline, or skills qualify you to serve on age 22; and Caroline, age 19, who the school board? attended LPOSD district schools I am a small business owner from K-12. They all thrived in and understand the definition the classroom and outside the of economy and value. In many classroom. They were able to ways education is a business. take challenging college prepaThe students and taxpayers are ratory classes. They participated entitled to a quality education, in student leadership, band, art, value and accountability for their academic competition, service investment. As a non-educator, I clubs, and athletics. They chose have a number of qualifications to pursue education beyond high school, were admitted to selective for the LPOSD school board. I have also served on a number colleges and are now pursuing careers. Their success would have of district level committees.

These include curriculum, levy, not been possible without the edand parent district coordinating, ucation they received at LPOSD. How can the public contact you? which I chaired.

Web page: www.SuppigerRichard Miller ForSchools.org email: suppigerforschoolAge: Over 60 years old board@gmail.com Years of residence Phone: 208-263-4603 in Bonner County and Mobile: 208-290-5922 Idaho: Resides in Sagle; Qualifications Bonner County property Education: Raised in Southowner for 23 years ern Illinois, attended public Marital status/famschools K-12 ily.

Are, or were, you Duke University, Durham a parent of a child in

the school district? My wife, Susan Arima-Miller and I have been married for 25 years. Our daughter, Brighten, is a successful graduate of the LPOSD. She graduated with honors from SHS and was awarded a scholarship from the University of Idaho where she is studying towards a career in speech pathology. GO VANDALS! How can the public contact you?

Facebook: RichardJMiller4LPOSD Website: VoteRichardMiller.com email: Dr.Splinters@gmail.com Donations/address: 217 Cedar Street #170, Sandpoint, ID 83864 Phone: 208-255-6304 Qualifications Education: I hold a Master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and support and participate in several local causes.

Recent or pertinent employment history: I own and operate a small business, Dr. Splinter’s Woodworks, out of Sagle since 1997.

My wife, Susan, has been practicing acupuncture in Sandpoint since 1999.

Nonprofit and service groups or relevant professional organizations to which you belong: I currently serve as a Board member on the local Injectors’ Car Club. In addition to car shows and events, we believe in actively supporting our community with fundraisers to support hospice, Toys for Tots, the food Bank, Senior Center and Cancer Society. The Injectors also help SHS football team by assisting with the car for their annual Lost in the ‘50s car raffle.

What particular experiences or skills qualify you to serve on the school board?

I offer my 40 years of experience as a successful business owner and craftsman to guide and support P-Tech and the restoration of our aging schools facilities. Pro-education and fiscal responsibility supports both our students and community.

Richard Miller.

Q&A

Here are a couple of questions to the candidates. For their full responses, please check the SandpointOnline.com election page at: www.sandpointonline.com/news/elections.shtml

1. Why are you running for trustee? How much time can you devote to board service?

past year? How many schools in our district have you visited? Are you involved in other school activities?

AP: While our community is generally supportive of its schools, there is a deep divide when it comes to the school board’s decisions and actions. As “education watch dogs” trustees are on the front line of healing that divide through better communication with the community. I am retired and able to allocate as much time and effort as necessary to serving on the board.

AP: For the last year and a half I have regularly attended school board meetings as well as several levy presentations by Superintendent Woodward. My interest in the school board goes back as far as the tenure of his predecessor, Superintendent Cvitanich, whose levy meetings I also attended. As president of the Bonner County Republican Women, our board awarded a $1,000 scholarship to a Sandpoint High School student, which I presented at Clark Fork High School. I’ve also attended sports events and regularly support student fundraising efforts.

CK: I am running for trustee because I think education is vitally important, and I believe I am the best qualified person for the job. Having just retired, I can devote as much time as necessary.

VZ: Unfortunately, there is a lot of discord in our community right now, and I am running for trustee to help heal that division and bring our district together to create a bright and sustainable future for LPOSD. I work from home running our health and wellness website. My work is part time and I have flexible hours. I plan to devote the time and energy to whatever the office of trustee requires.

GS: I am running for trustee because I am a firm believer in public education and am concerned about the future of education in this community. All my children graduated from SHS and are in college or beyond. I work full time running my business but without children at home have 10-plus hours per week to devote to board service.

RM: I have been a local specialty building contractor for over 20 years.

Having worked with many contractors and businesses, a common theme emerges, lack of qualified motivated employee candidates for various areas of the trades. I am running to further promote and support a more flexible and responsive educational experience for those students who are not college bound but show aptitude and interest with tactile skills. I can devote at least five hours per week, more when required.

2. How many school board meetings have you attended this

CK: I have attended 1 board meeting and listened to three recordings of previous meetings since I retired from the county. I have been to every school in the district except for Southside. Also, I have been a substitute teacher at both Sandpoint High School and the Middle School. As commissioner I participated in the “mock interview” program at the high school the past three years. In addition, I have attended many functions at various schools in which my grandchildren participated.

VZ: I have attended four school board meetings in the past year, and have watched a few of the school board recordings online. I attended a levy presentation by Superintendent Woodward and CFO Lisa Halls this past March. I have visited Farmin Stidwell School as a volunteer for the Ready for Kindergarten program when the Angels Over Sandpoint were helping, and to help with the Back Pack Program.

GS: I have been to three regular trustee meetings in the last year.

Over the last 15 years I have been to many more. I have visited every school in the district I know most of the administrators. I have volunteered at Sagle Elementary for 12 years as the Math Team Coach. As coach I volunteer at the school twice a week from October through May and work with fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students who want to

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< con’t from page 8 > expand their math skills. We prepare for two competitions in the spring. The first is at SHS for all LPOSD elementary schools. The second is the Washington State Math Olympiad where we complete against teams from Spokane and all across Eastern Washington.

RM: Eight school board meetings. I have visited six area schools – SHS, SMS, Sagle, Washington and Farmin Stidwell Elementary. I support and have attended football, soccer and la cross games as well as drama and musical performances and concerts as well as the many fundraisers to support these important activities.

3. Do you believe the district is doing a good job or poor job in educating students? Why? AP: LPOSD’s recent awards and academic performance ratings in preparing students for college point to a job well done. But we can do better in the area of training students for jobs in trades and other non-college-related fields that fit within the local economy. Specifically, employers in the service and manufacturing sector speak of difficulty finding employees with basic work ethic and job skills.

CK: I think the district is doing an excellent job of educating our students. I follow the progress of my grandkids through the schools here, and I am very pleased with the results. Two are in college now, one is headed to college next year and then another one the next year.

VZ: Yes, however we can do better. We need additional focus in training and education for those kids that are not college-bound. There is a need for training for what will be our local workforce. I’ve heard from a number of local employers, especially in the manufacturing sector, that are having a difficult time finding employees with even basic skills.

GS: The current Board of Trustees and administration of LPOSD are guiding our district well and have us in an excellent position. Graduating students are succeeding. We are doing well with reviews including audits, accreditation and performance rankings. Our relationship with the community, state and teachers is positive. The state is finally increasing funding for K-12 education. Our district is thriving but, there is always room for improvement. My agenda as a trustee would be even greater academic excellence, more public involvement and accountability. Budgets must be compressed into a format that patrons can understand.

The district must be more transparent with its planning, budgeting and decision-making.

Every program must be accountable for its success. I want our graduates, whether they are going into the work force, military or vocational, technical or academic institutions, to be prepared for the careers of the 21st century. I seek this position to contribute in recognition for everything LPOSD has done for me, my family, and our community.

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RM: In academics, relatively yes. However, in other areas of preparing our students to succeed in practical life applications, this can be greatly improved.

4. The recent $17 million supplemental instructional levy passed March 14, with 64% voting in favor. Did you vote for or against this levy, and why?

AP: I supported the existing $15.7 million levy after attending all of the school board meetings during which the levy was discussed.

I am aware that the state does not fully fund education and that therefore supplemental levies are a necessity, but I came away from these meetings with the conviction that some of the justifications for this particular levy were questionable. One of the seven options on the table during the discussions was the retention of the existing $15.7 million levy. That is the option I supported, and I believe that it would have passed without opposition by the community.

CK: I voted for the levy and strongly supported it. I voted for it because the state of Idaho does not adequately finance public education.

VZ: I understand the state does not fully fund education and a supplemental levy is necessary. I support a $15.7 million supplemental levy.

GS: I did support the $17 million supplemental instruction levy. Our state does not adequately support K-12 education. The 2017 state legislative has just increased education funding by 6.5 percent which brings the state contribution up to the levels of 2009, before the recession. We rank 49th or 50th in the nation in what our Legislature provides per student for K-12 education. Our district and over 80 percent of the districts in the state depend on our patrons to support a local levy to provide the balance of the necessary resources. LPOSD has grown to depend on the local levy for 30 percent of its resources. Without these funds rural schools would close, class sizes would go up by 50 percent, important curriculum and programs would be lost and all extracurricular activities would be dropped. Without these levy funds the district would be a shell of what it is now and the looser would be the most vulnerable with the smallest voices, the kids.

RM: Zone 2 voted 57 percent against this levy. Their reasons varied: a. Lack of budget transparency b. School maintenance deferred 10 years c. Why the district runs levies off normal voting cycle at a cost of $75,000 each time they run their special election. The county taxpayers are paying for this in addition to any levy amounts.

For more questions and answers from the candidates, see:

www.sandpointonline.com/news/elections.shtml

Mad about Science:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist The two things we love most: Ooey-gooey things and lizards!

If they fired exploding insects the size of planets out of their mouths, it’d be a match made in Mad About Science heaven.

Luckily for us, salamanders don’t do that. Oh man, could you imagine? Awesome.

You’ve probably seen a salamander or newt at some point in your life, though it likely wasn’t in the wild. More than likely you’d stumbled upon cage of them at a pet shop or a collector’s house. Are they lizards? Are they frogs? Are they dangerous?

Nope, nope, and well... Some of them can be.

Salamanders are amphibians, like frogs. Similar to frogs, they lay their eggs in water and have larval babies. What that means is that their offspring look like squirmy little tadpoles and they eventually metamorphose into full blown salamanders. Most of the time.

Some salamanders are neotenic, which means they retain much of their larval attributes into adulthood. Axolotls, sometimes called Mexican salamanders (or Mexican walking fish, despite not being a fish) are the most obvious example. They have funny feathery-looking gills jutting out of their heads, which they use to filter air from water so they can breathe. Their tails also look much like a large tadpole’s.

Not every salamander is like that, however. Some will shed their gills during metamorphosis and develop lungs that allow them to breathe air on the surface. Others won’t develop lungs, but will be able to respire through their skin, which is pretty awesome.

Mucus glands in their skin keep their skin gooey and allow it

Brought to you by:

salamanders

to both keep them cool from the heat and also filter air and keep them from getting bad infections.

Most species of salamander can also regenerate limbs. I don’t mean like creating scar tissue over a wound, I mean that if one gets in an accident or a fight and its entire arm gets ripped off, it’s capable of growing the whole thing back.

Could you imagine if we figured out how to do that? Doctors have been studying these little guys for years to find out how and why they can do this. They believe there may be applications for modified cells that could help battle things like HIV and cancer or repairing nervous connections in the spinal cord, which would benefit people that have been partially or completely paralyzed by accidents or disease.

Not all salamanders are looking out for your good health, however. Some are, like certain tropical frogs, excruciatingly poisonous. Luckily nature has labeled them with bright cautionary “don’t mess with me” colors, so if you’re ever unsure about whether or not to pick that amphibian up and put it in your mouth, nature has your back.

Though if you’re putting strange creatures into your mouth to test their lethality, nature is probably taking its course in another direction.

Speaking of putting strange things into your mouth, salamanders share a similar feeding pattern to the one I had adopted through my early 20s. If it fits in their mouth, they will eat it.

There’s an actual term for this, and unfortunately it’s not Pac-Man Syndrome. It’s called opportunistic predation, and it’s an important survival tactic for small omnivores in areas where they’re not the biggest guy on the block.

This also means that if you

own a salamander as a pet, you should be pretty careful about what you put in its area. They are not equipped to eat everything but gasoline like we are, and in captivity they need to have a pretty restrictive diet or they’ll get sick and probably die.

Salamanders and newts (another species of salamander with some variations to their physiology) can make great pets if you’re into raising the unusual creature, or are allergic to animals with hair.

However, they’re a surprising amount of work and definitely not recommended for a first time pet buyer. Being amphibians, most like to be able to get out of the water if they need to. Depending on where they’re from, they might need a certain temperature of water, and the water also needs to be treated. While chlorine might be great for us, it wreaks havoc on creatures that need water in order to breathe.

Repeating myself from every other article I’ve ever penned about pets: Do your research. Animals are not an impulse buy. They are living creatures worthy of your attention and care. They depend on you to keep on living and living well. If you feel laziness creep in, just put yourself in their situation. How would you feel in a glass cage and an owner that “doesn’t feel like” feeding you?

Speaking more on the awesome side of salamanders, did you know that they have carved out a niche of mythology? As far back as the 1300s, Westerners have attributed salamanders to fire; great beasts capable of controlling huge blazing infernos.

Awesome! But why? Aren’t they around water?

They sure are! The origin of this myth seems likely to come from the nature of wood peo-

The Axolots, or Mexican salamander, which uses its feathery appendages to filter air out of water so it can breathe.

WikiCommons photo.

ple burned throughout Europe at the time. Large, half-rotten trees felled by nature were a lot easier to carve up and dump on a bonfire than tall growing trees that needed a season to dry out.

Turns out salamanders may have enjoyed these wooden husks as a home, and as soon as thing started heating up they would just start spilling out of every nook and cranny to terrify the humans around the fire.

Pretty crappy for the extra crispy salamanders, but at least they got a cool reputation out of it.

I’ve got one last bit of awesome amphibian information for you. This whole time, you’ve been imagining cute little gooey guys that can fit in the palm of your hand.

Turns out that Japan, home of

the weirdest and most awesome things on Earth, plays host to something called the Japanese giant salamander, or osanshouo (giant pepper fish). These guys are vulnerable and considered a federally protected species in Japan. While their Western cousins are attributed to fire in myth, these guys have inspired the Japanese myth of the Kappa, or an amphibious beast that would emerge from rivers and devour people.

While at first you might find this silly, might I remind you that these beasts can get up to five feet long and eat anything that fits in their mouth.

I’m fairly sure at that size, Shaq’s big foot could fit in one of their mouths.

Size 22 food for thought!

Random Corner ter?

Don’t know much about Twit

We can help!

• 350,000 tweets are sent every minute.

• “Friendstalker” was one of the early names considered for Twitter.

• The official Twitter account of @Sweden is given to a random citizen every week to manage.

• In 2013, a fake tweet temporarily wiped out $130 billion off the stock market.

• A day’s worth of Twitter posts would fill a 10-million-page book.

• The CIA reads up to 5 million tweets a day.

• Facebook, Twitter and the New York Times have been blocked in China since 2009.

• 44 percent of registered Twitter users have never tweeted.

• According to the Vatican, you can reduce the time you spend in purgatory by following the pope on Twitter.

• Twitter’s bird is called Larry.

May 4, 2017 /

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More than a store, a Super store!

Get ready for spring!

*Mowers and BBQs available on order

MONDAY-FRIDAY 8AM-8PM / SATURDAY 8AM-6PM / SUNDAY 10AM-6PM

Sunshine

GOLDMINE

fine jewellers & goldsmiths

repairs custom jewelry

(208) 263-6713

110 South First Ave. Spt, ID

www.sunshinegoldmine.com

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“The Zookeeper’s Wife” 7:30pm @ Panida Theater Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

May the fourth be with you and IDAHO GIVES! 4:30-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority It’s the annual celebration of Bonner County Nonprofits and your opportunity to donate with us for the day. You can also donate online for this Idaho fundraising event at IdahoGives.org

Live Music w/ The Brandon and Cole Show 7-10pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Live Music w/ Marty Perron & Doug Bond 5:30-7:30pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs & Chris Lynch 9pm @ 219 Lounge Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes 6-8pm @ Cedar St. Bistro Wine Bar Live Comedy Show • 8pm @ 219 Lounge Morgan Preston hosts this live comedy show with James Heneghen and Derek Sheen. A great night of comedy

BG 6p Sh Th 6-8 He

Cinco De Mayo Bunco Party 6:30pm @ Memorial Community Ce Enjoy a no-host bar, great prizes an raffle. Advance tickets are $15 each 2 Cinco de Mayo Party • 9pm @ 219 Reps from Hornitos and Patron Tequ on hand with prizes and drink spec music w/ Brian Jacobs and Chris Lyn

Art Place Sandpoint Grand Opening Rec 4-7pm @ Art Place Sandpoint, 120 S. Second The public is welcome to come visit with see the gallery of instructors’ work, and lear about upcoming classes and workshops. En Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip freshments and appetizers. Free admission 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority A Novel Night Gala Kayak Slide show presentation 5pm @ Columbia Bank Building 4pm @ Sandpoint West Athletic Club Presented by the Rotary Club, a gala fun Join Jim Payne at SWAC for a free slideshow to benefit Your Library Transformation! A l presentation of his kayaking adventures themed event, attendees are encouraged to d First Fridays w/ the Beat Diggers accessorize as their favorite book character 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Live Music w/ Chris Lynch Local crew of musicians 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante

Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Night Out Karaoke 9:30pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Sing your hearts out, my pretties

Homework Help •3pm @ Sandpoint Library For high school and middle school students; space with peer to peer & library staff collab

Geezer Forum 2:30-4:30pm @ Tango Cafe The Geezer Forum is held the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month, and is sponsored by Elder Advocates. 208-610-4971

Meet and Greet for Women Morning League 9am @ Elk’s Golf Course Sign up to golf with us. All are welcome - from beginners to experienced. Refreshments served.

League play start May 17. Info: 610-5914 Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs 9pm @ 219 Lounge

Game Night at the Niner 9pm @ 219 Lounge Come down and take part in game night w

Hiawatha Drum Circle! Unite the Tri 6:30-8pm @ Memorial Community Cen A journey through the spirit world. Not to bring your own drum. For more info c (208) 304-9300 or memorialcommunity

War Memorial Field Replacement Workshop 5:30-7:30pm @ City Council Chambers (City Hall) The City of Sandpoint hosts its second community workshop to discuss the replacement field options at War Memorial and receive public input. Field options, including natural, hybrid and artificial turf will be discussed

ES!

Nonfor aho

ful

May 4 - May 11, 2017

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

Reader recommended

BGH Community Hospice Adult Grief Support Group 6pm @ Bonner General Health classroom Share stories and feelings. 265-1185 for more information Thursday Night Solo Music w/ Wyatt Wood 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Hear Wyatt’s originals as he prepares for tour

arty munity Center prizes and a bucket $15 each 264-5481 pm @ 219 Lounge atron Tequila will be drink specials. Live Chris Lynch

ening Reception S. Second Ave. visit with artists, k, and learn more shops. Enjoy redmission

gala fundraiser ation! A literary raged to dress or character

POAC’s ‘Piecing it Together’ exhibit 5:30-7pm @ POAC Gallery Do you enjoy assemblages, found object pieces, collages, or installations? Then this is your exhibit. Free and open to all First Fridays w/ Devon Wade 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Sandpoint’s country artist

Idaho Gives!

4:30-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Raising money and awareness for Idaho nonprofits. Go to IdahoGives.org to support your favorite nonprofit

Cinco de Mayo Fundraiser Party 4:30pm @ Trinity at City Beach Leadership Sandpoint presents an evening of fun and frolic including a silent auction, raffle, taco bar, live music, and refreshments. Free!

Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante

Viggo Mortensen Online Art Auction May 6 - May 21 @ KRFY 88.5 FM Come to the opening reception for an online auction featuring Viggo Mortensen’s original artwork and music, some of which is signed. Reception at Syringa Cyclery on May 6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Farmers’ Market Grand Opening 9am @ Farmin Park The Farmers’ Market is back! Head down to Farmin Park for fresh produce, garden starts as well as live music and fun for the whole family

me night with Racheal

8th annual High Tea With the Angels 2pm @ Ponderay Events Center Celebrate Spring with the Angels Over Sandpoint. This event helps the Angels provide services to Bonner County residents in need. Tickets $35. (208) 290-5895

Free First Saturday 10am-2pm @ Bonner Co. History Museum Everyone is invited to enjoy the museum free of charge. This will be the last chance to see “The Dark Side of Bonner County” and “The Doctor is In” exhibits

Relax! It’s your day off!

The Pioneer Square at 819 Hwy 2, Ste:102-B

The Cedar St. Wine Bar is officially open!

With a huge selection of great wines and a fabulous tapas menu it's a party every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night!

Join us 5-9 with live music on Fridays!

The Wine Bar on

CEDAR ST. BRIDGE in Sandpoint, Idaho check us out on

The Wine Bar at Cedar St Bridge

nt Library students; a quiet study Escape Room • 4pm @ Tango Cafe Test your logic, problem-solving, and collaboration skills aff collaboration in this fun group event. You’ll be “locked in” the room and will have 45 minutes to find hidden items and solve clues to escape. A partnership of the East Bonner Cound and ty Library District and Sandpoint Teen Center. For more sponinformation, contact Morgan at 208-263-6930 ext. 1245 71

May 12 Contra Dance @ Sandpoint Community Hall May 13 Queen B. Drag te the Tribes!

The Conversation Farmers’ Market Show @ Sandmunity Center (Hope) 6-8pm @ Ivano’s Ristorante 3pm @ Farmin Park orld. Not a class! Try A free night of connection with The afternoon market on point Eagles more info contact Jack Vickie Edwards, founder and Wednesdays for all your May 18-21 ommunitycenter.com Owner of Art Place Sandpoint produce needs!

Lost in the ‘50s LPOSD Trustee Candidates Forum Kinderhaven Fundraiser we ekend @ Sand5:30pm @ Columbia Bank Building 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority ll) Hosted by the Reader and Sandpoin- Slate Creek Brewing Co. beer on point and beworktOnline, a free forum. For those who tap. Live music, complimentary yond, Daddy-O ar Me-

luding d

can’t make it, the forum will be aired appetizers and raffle prizes. Proceeds benefit Kinderhaven live on 88.5 KRFY

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Making a difference, one ski lap at a time:

Matt Gillis has raised over $150,000 for Cystinosis research

By Ben Olson Reader Staff It’s easy to grow disillusioned with the world, it seems. Then you meet someone who changes your life. For Matt Gillis, meeting young Henry Sturgis—otherwise known as “Hank”— was the event that kicked him into the reality that he could change the world, one ski lap at a time.

Hank was born with an extremely rare genetic disease called cystinosis, which affects about 2,000 people worldwide, mostly children. The disease causes the amino acid “cystine” to accumulate in the body’s cells. As the cystine builds up over time, it slowly destroys the functions of certain organs like the kidneys, liver, muscles, eyes, white blood cells and central nervous system.

Gillis met Brian Sturgis, Hank’s father, while they were both employed at Coldwater Creek.

“We shared a lot of the same interests,” said Gillis.

Both Gillis and Sturgis shared ski racing backgrounds. As they became closer friends, Sturgis opened up to Gillis and told him about the details of their situation and struggles with Hank’s diagnosis.

“We began kicking around the idea of endurance type events that revolved around the mental and physical toll cystinosis played on their family, but more importantly, Henry,” said Gillis.

Gillis joined the 24 Hours for Hank board, which raises money for cystinosis research. He and the board began formulating the plan for a fundraising event

that would involve 24 hours of skiing.

“I felt it was necessary to pay it forward,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate in my skiing and the opportunities it has afforded me. For Brian and Hank and Tricia, the whole Sturgis family, they’re incredible people. This foundation and the chance to give back came at a point in my life where I needed an outlet and a way to focus my time on something more than ‘me’.”

Gillis and the board worked closely with Mary Quinn at Schweitzer Mountain Resort and, nine years ago, held the first 24 Hours for Schweitzer fundraiser event.

“Schweitzer has been really gracious in opening up their ski resort, their facilities, the food an beverage, the lifts being run all night,” said Gillis. “The staff was super energized.”

If you’ve never been to a 24 Hours for Schweitzer event, get ready. Imagine skiing for 24 hours straight. Sometimes I can’t even make it past lunch on powder days.

“After the first event, the quest for completing 200 laps began,” said Gillis.

Over the years, milestones were set and broken. On the third annual fundraiser, Gillis finally surpassed his 200-lap goal.

“I might be one of the most competitive people on earth,” said Gillis. “In most cases I would rather eat crow, kiss my sister or die rather than not winning.”

After 24 hours of straight skiing, with water-filled ski boots and a bruised, battered body, Gillis learned he has skied 202 laps, but more importantly, he raised $35,000 in doing so.

The 9th annual 24 Hours for Sch-

Listen in Sandpoint to KPND @ 106.7 in HD 14 /

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Matt Gillis, center, pounds a fist with Hank Sturgis during 24 Hours for Schweitzer 2017. Courtesy photo. weitzer event took place on March 24-25. This year, instead of focusing on the endurance aspect of the event, Gillis said the event has embraced the idea of team challenges.

“Every hour there was a new challenge,” said Gillis. “One was to shoot water balloons down No Joke. Another was to hit golf balls while in your ski boots through rings for points.”

When it was all said and done, Gillis raised $38,000 in 2017 for cystinosis research, making the total amount he’s raised a whopping $150,000.

“Over the years the money we have raised for cystinosis research has done absolute wonders for not only Henry, but for every single child who is plagued by this horrible disease,” said Gillis.

Gillis gave examples of how the fundraising has had a real impact on

Hank. With the release of a slow-release drug, Hank and his family have gone from having to administer medication every 6 hours to every 12 hours. Also, instead of needing eye drops every hour on the hour in the past, Hank now has micro-wafer contact lenses that dissolve over the course of a week.

“Donations for this cause are making a significant difference,” said Gillis.

“Our community does so much, it’s really something. It’s incredible to see the giving nature our community offers and they we support our own.”

If you would like to learn more about the 24 Hours for Hank foundation, check them out at www.24hoursforhank. org. The next fundraising event is Swing for a Cure on September 29. 2017 at StoneRidge Golf Club.

K&K Spring Derby Standings - Day 4

LPOIC Club President Barb Gillespie safely catching and releasing a 30.5 inch Rainbow. Courtesy photo.

Rainbow Division Rodney Vanoever - 15.90 lbs. 31.5” Jeff Baugh - 14.48 lbs. 33.5” James Chapman – 13.98 lbs. 31” Vern Scott – 13.52 lbs. 31” Charles Oliver – 12.66 lbs. 29.5” Mackinaw Division Scott Plue - 23.34 lbs. 35” Derek Blanchard – 22.90 lbs. 37” Randy Michaels – 19.92 lbs. 35.5 lbs.

Becky Morrison - 19.72 lbs. 38” Jan Deife - 18.86 lbs. 36” Junior Division - 14 to 18 years old Luke Stebman - 10.78 lbs. 28” Dawson Mackay - 9.94 lbs. 27.7” Ryan Johnson - 9.14 lbs. 28” Youth A Division 9 to 13 years old Londyn Speckman - 10.34 lbs. 29.5” Grace Hackney - 6.54 lbs. 23” Caleb Roeder - 4.88 lbs. 33.25”

Youth B Division 0 to 8 years old Jackson Sifford - 15.90 lbs. 33.25” Jace Chapman - 12.46 lbs. 29” Carley Laybourne - 11.3 lbs. 29” German Brown Division Brad Andies – 3.12 lbs. 20.25” Mac of the Day 4/29 - Becky Morrison - sponsored by Mirror Lake Golf Course 4/30 - Derek Blanchard - sponsored by Sandpoint Marine and Motorsports 5/1 - Jim Carothers - sponsored by Pacific Steel and Recycling 5/2 - Joseph Eicher - Dr. Benjamin Hull DDS 5/3 Scott Plue - To be announced

Why use Sandpoint Property Management to manage and lease your property?

List your property with us and get results that benefit you!

Sandpoint Property Management provides:

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SCHOOL TRUSTEE CANDIDATES FORUM Wednesday, May 10, 2017 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Columbia Bank Community Room 414 Church St.

Ask about our Mother’s Day Spa Packages

Specializing in Large Trees and Quality Work

Free and open to the public. You will have the opportunity to ask questions in a moderated format. For those who can't make it, the forum will be aired live on 88.5 KRFY as well as via Facebook Live by Sandpoint Online.

South of the river; west of Highway 95; south of Sagle

•Richard Miller •Gary Suppiger

West of Highway 95; north of Sandpoint

•Victoria Zeischegg •Lonnie Williams

co-sponsored by

STC.

•Planting •Pruning •Hazard Tree Removal

Downtown Sandpoint; west including Dover

•Cary Kelly •Anita Perry

263.1103

Grand Opening SANDPOINT

Saturday, May 6th • 4pm - 7pm The public is welcome to come, visit with the artists, see the budding gallery of instructor's work, learn more about upcoming classes and workshops while enjoying refreshments

Art place Sandpoint is a new art center offering Artisan Crafts and Fine Art workshops. Daytime, evening and weekend workshops available. Watercolor, pen and ink, encaustic, jewelry, slab pottery, beginning book making, basket weaving, textile art, calligraphy with more added to the schedule weekly!

120 S. Second Ave. | www.artplacesandpoint.com | 208-920-0796 Founder/Owner, Vickie Edwards

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A Reason to Celebrate:

Cinco de Mayo a key day for nonprofit fundraising

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff For years, the Leadership Sandpoint class has owned local Cinco de Mayo festivities.

This year doesn’t look to be an exception.

The popular Mexican holiday and celebration of Mexican-American culture has taken on an additional significance in Sandpoint as a day to support worthy local nonprofits. That’s thanks largely to the Leadership Sandpoint class, a long-running Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce program for community members to improve their networking and leadership skills. For the better part of a decade, Cinco de Mayo has served as one of the group’s most successful fundraisers. For yet another year, Trinity at City Beach hosts an evening full of games, food drinks and more starting 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 5.

According to class member Tamara Cornwall, this year’s class chose to focus on nonprofits that benefit children. To that end, the May 5 festivities will support the work of Kaniksu Land Trust, which hosts many outdoor recreational activities for kids, and Food For Our Children, which fights against child hunger in Bonner County.

“We wanted to get more bang more our buck [with our nonprofit selections,]” said Cornwall.

It’s that kind of worthwhile cause that makes an enjoyable occasion even better. And there’s plenty of fun to be had this year, with a taco bar, drink specials and a special Trinity menu adding to the spirit of the Cinco de Mayo occasion.

Panhandle Cone and Coffee is also contributing its signature homemade ice cream for the event. Raffles and silent auctions will boost the fundraising effort, while local musicians

Brian Jacobs and Chris Lynch will keep the atmosphere energized with live music. This year, families are also welcome to bring the youngsters along, a fitting touch given the organizations being supported. According to Cornwall, the event will maintain a family-friendly atmosphere and feature games to keep the kids entertained.

Planners also made a point of reaching out to city officials for the occasion. Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad will be the event emcee. And in a demonstration sure to provide both entertainment and a cautionary message, Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon will be on hand with his beer goggles—that is, a literal pair of goggles that affect hand-eye coordination to simulate inebriation. Attendees will be able to undertake a series of challenges that will test their abilities while reminding everyone that dangerous tasks like driving are best done sober.

As with previous years, the Cinco de Mayo fundraiser party is the result of the skills and talents unique to each Leadership Sandpoint class. Program participants quickly learn how to delegate responsibilities to those best suited to the role.

For example, Olivia Morlen, executive director for the Bonner County History Museum, used her administrative skills to plan the fundraiser logistics.

“Our goal was to have a well-rounded event with activities and attractions for everyone, and every age, while at the same time raising monies for Kaniksu Land Trust and Food for our Children,” Morlen said.

“I am looking forward to seeing the community come out in support of these wonderful organizations and seeing the hard work of the Leadership Sand-

point class come to fruition.”

Leadership Sandpoint has raised thousands of dollars to benefit nonprofits over the decades the program has been in place. According to former participant and Trinity owner Justin Dick, his class first struck upon the idea of using Cinco de Mayo as an effective fundraising day.

“The crazy thing was that no one was doing anything on that day,” he said.

Since his 2010 class had ambitions of upping the ante for fundraising expectations, members saw the wisdom in dovetailing with an established and popular holiday. It proved the key to dramatically increasing Leadership Sandpoint’s fundraising potential, Dick said.

“If you really want to hope for some money, you want to put together something bigger,” he added.

Since then, Cinco de Mayo has become a centerpiece for the nonprofits the Leadership Sandpoint class has chosen to support. Those nonprofits are selected after class members receive a crash course of presentations, where representatives of the dozens of local organizations introduce their focuses and goals. It’s as much as tool for class members to learn Sandpoint’s dizzying array of charitable organizations as it is a means to build class consensus on the nonprofits to support.

According to Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce President Kate McAlister, this year’s class tackled the selection in a systematized way she had never quite seen before.

They collected all the relevant data about nonprofits, arranged it according to their priorities and soon arrived at their decision: Food For Our Children and Kaniksu Land Trust.

“They were very good at nailing down what they wanted to do,” McAlister said.

The group quickly figured out how to best utilize their unique strengths, and according to McAlister, that’s largely the point of Leadership Sandpoint. Oftentimes, participants find that while they may not be good at, say, asking for money, they have a knack for organization or event planning.

Learning how to find individual roles within the context of Sandpoint’s leadership network is vital to creating a legacy of invested community members, McAlister said.

“I learned organization

skills I still use today,” added Dick.

The class is also essential in educating its students on Sandpoint’s needs and resources.

According to McAlister, many students are surprised at the number of worthy Sandpoint organizations that depend on community support. The goal is to create a self-perpetuating cycle of experienced leaders creating new leaders who can keep those lines of support open.

“Once you realize the need out there, it becomes a choice,” McAlister said. “You’re either going to deal with it, or you ignore it.”

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One never knows (and even that’s not certain)

“The only Zen one finds on the top of a mountain is the Zen you bring up there.”

—Robert M. Persig

By Barry D. Burgess Reader Contributor I recently brought my BMW Motorcycle out of a long winter storage. I missed riding it and now is the time to get ready to rumble.

I assumed the trickle charge I had given the battery would keep it alive, but I turned the key and the battery was kaput.

I worried the sharp winter blasts of last January had killed it forever. Dutifully, I pulled the seats, the gas tank, and arranged the various tools for battery surgery. Beemers are quality motorcycles; mind you, technological wonders, and beautiful machines to comprehend and ride. Yet, repairing one can be a daunting task for the faint of heart.

With a grip on fortitude and a yeoman’s effort I extracted the battery (grip, twist and pull, like yanking teeth) and ran it off to be charged. After a day or so I was anxious, ready to reassemble the works. I put back the cabling, the gas tank, the bike toolset, and the seats.

I climbed on board, turned the key and nothing — ?#@*&%!.

Stone dead.

Okay, if I am anything at all, I am persistent and methodical, but a mechanic I am not. And, the four hundred page manual had no description for what I was about to do which was to investigate the entire wiring system of an R850R. After the first few hours of—try this—then try that, frustration was mounting. I was not to give in; however, so I called my neighbor who is a patient man, with technical skill and a Houdini with electrical tools. Beyond the sixth hour we managed to test all the fuses, even the hidden ones, the starter switch included, then we disassembled the relays and followed every path of wire 18 /

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that shown any relation to starting a motor. We searched every color-coded wire—powered each and still nothing worked.

It was the one single black wire that confused us. It went somewhere. We sat a long time puzzled and we looked at each other with that distant forlorn look. Finally, I crawled under and laid on the cold hard floor looking at the damn starter motor and that skinny black wire leading to where we didn’t know.

Now, I am telling you this because I learned something a long time ago, not about motorcycles. I learned something about character measured with the maintenance of motorcycles. That lesson doesn’t always come from a book. But, there is an “art to motorcycle maintenance.” And, character was similarly learned and taught by Robert M. Persig, a motorcycling genius who had authored a book about life’s humble lessons in: “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

The book was published in 1974 and was based on a motorcycle trip he took in the late 1960s with his 12-yearold son, Chris. The author died just recently. A lot like today, Persig wrote the book at a time when our culture was reeling from the losses of a disreputable war, a world in turmoil, an upheaval of society, and a people’s yearning for stability and quality. Funny how history repeats itself when we’re not looking.

His book was about fixing a motorcycle on the road and the parallel search for quality in one’s life along the way. So few knew much about him, a brilliant philosopher. A quality note from the website chron.com gives us a smattering of his story:

Robert Pirsig and his 12-year-old son Chris on the back of a Honda SuperHawk CB77. Wikipedia photo.

“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” ideally suited a generation’s yearning for the open road, quest for knowledge and skepticism of modern values, while also telling a personal story about a father and son relationship and the author’s struggles with schizophrenia. A world traveler and former philosophy student, Pirsig would blend his life and learning, and East and West, into what he called the Metaphysics of Quality.

“But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality,” he wrote. “But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof!…”

Having read the book back then, I too came to search for quality in everything I saw. It took me a long time to realize

quality is definable only as much as we define it inside ourselves and it is there we find our Zen. So, I lay on the concrete slab looking over the starter motor and found a skinny black wire that seemed to go nowhere and I thought about motorcycles and their maintenance and about Persig, about character, and the persistence of searching for answers.

Then I noticed how that wire led directly to the back of the kickstand. How funny is that, I thought—a stupid wire that goes from the starter switch to the kickstand. I jumped up and said: “Okay, watch this…” and swung my foot into the kickstand, flung it back, grabbed the key and turned it and twisted the throttle.

My neighbor’s jaw was as long as a necktie. We both stood with surprise etched in our faces — the motor was

humming in a cloud of exhaust. I smiled, gobbled down a mountain of humble pie and apologized for taking up my neighbor’s afternoon with a fool’s errand.

It was one of those (stupid) moments in my life. I had forgotten the ignition is tied to a safety switch on the kickstand to preventing one (like myself) from dumping the rider on his or her face when starting the engine. You see, one doesn’t need to perform an autopsy, all one has to do is turn the key and kick back the kickstand.

I guess it was a long winter. I think I’ll read again, “Zen and the Art” of you know what.

Robert Maynard Pirsig, born September 6, 1928, died April 24, 2017. Rest in peace, Mr. Persig. Thank you for your motorcycle ride and the maintenance required of us.

Hallmark donates to Pend Oreille Pedalers

Free Saturday at the Museum

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

POP Board Member Julie Meyer accepting a check from Sharon’s Hallmark owner Deanna Harris

Sweetie and Sinatra, the pair of Canada Geese who have returned to the same planter box to nest behind Arlo’s Ristoranté for 16 years, are pleased to announce the birth of this seasons’ goslings. The eggs hatched Sunday morning, and we are happy to report everyone is happy and healthy. Photo by Ben Olson.

By Reader Staff

The Pend Oreille Pedalers (POP) Bicycle Club would like to thank Deanna Harris and the team at Sharon’s Hallmark for choosing POP as their nonprofit to sponsor for the annual “Spring for Sandpoint” event on April 22.

In honor of Earth Day, more than 20 downtown Sandpoint merchants teamed up with local nonprofit organizations with environmental missions. Sharon’s Hallmark chose to donate a portion of the day’s sales to POP because of the club’s dedication to promoting bicycle safety, bicycle advocacy, local conservation efforts and trail building.

The Pedalers would also like to thank the board members and officers Julie Meyer, Mike Murray, John Monks, and Steve Sanchez for volunteering their time to represent and promote the club during the event. “It was a great opportunity to meet and talk to people who maybe didn’t know the club exists and to promote our trail building and conservation efforts,” said club president Mike Murray. “We had given out all of the membership applications we brought by the end of the day, and some people I spoke to were surprised to find out that all of the Syringa Heights/Sherwood Forest trail system was built by POP volunteers. They have hiked and ridden those trails for years, and were eager to join POP to continue supporting our efforts,” said Steve Sanchez, Club Advocacy Chair.

After the event, Sharon’s Hallmark presented the Pedalers with a $150 check.

This donation will be used to purchase equipment and supplies for POP’s trail work parties as they work hard to complete the next phase of the Watershed Crest Trail.

Please support local businesses like Sharon’s Hallmark by buying local!

For more information about the Pend Oreille Pedalers Bike Club and their trail building work, please visit their new webpage at www.PendOreillePedalers.org, and follow them on Facebook!

Around 350 people turned out for the People’s Climate March on Saturday, April 29.

Here, marchers congregate in Farmin Park before hitting to the streets.

Dems donate to Library fund

The Bonner County History Museum will be offering its “Free First Saturday” on May 6.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with free admission for all who would like to attend. May’s Free First Saturday is sponsored by Ruth and Dan Wimberly.

This month is the last chance to catch the popular “Dark Side of Bonner County” and “The Doctor is In” exhibits.

The Bonner County History Museum is located at 611 S. Ella Ave (behind Memorial Field in Lakeview Park). For more information, contact the museum at (208) 263-2344 or online at www. bonnercountyhistory.org.

The museum will be closed May 20 to June 2 for the installation of their next exhibit, “Once Upon a Time in Bonner County.”

May 4 @ 7:30pm | may 5 @ 5:30pm May 6 @ 3:30 & 7:30pm | may 7 @ 3:30pm

“The zookeeper’s wife” friday, may 12 @ 7pm

full draw film festival little r theate

friday, may 12 @ 7pm

“vaxxed’ film

may 11 @ 7:30pm | May 13 @ 3:30 & 7:30pm may 14 @ 3:30pm

“after the storm” may 16 @ 7pm

the sisterhood of shred Donating to the basket auction to help fund new construction of the East Bonner County Library are representatives of the Bonner and Boundary County Democratic Central Committees: left, Jessica Chilcott, state committee woman; center, Brenden Bobby, library reference technician; and Stephen Howlett, District 1 State Representative candidate and Boundary County Democratic Central Committee member.

Thursday, May 25 @ 7pm

SHS Jazz and Concert Bands Spring Concert may 26 @ 7:30pm | May 27 @ 3:30 & 7:30pm may 28 @ 3:30 & 7:30pm | may 29 @ 7:30pm

“colossal”

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The Straight Poop:

The quest for dog-friendly businesses in North Idaho

By Drake the Dog Reader Pet Columnist

Where am I taking my humans today? We’re fetching out a dog friendly business that started out as a dream and has turned into a howlin’ desire to produce the best product in the business, while focusing on quality, purity, fun and dogs!

Hey, Reader peeps, chew on these kibbles to figure out my destination: •The human owner grew up in Sandpoint •His parents still live in Sandpoint and show up at his place of business every Thursday to play dominos •You can find the product in a gazillion states •This product is not good for dogs--but I enjoy watching humans lap it up •The biz is owned by a K9—sort of—and the succession stick was recently passed to his feisty son •Trader Joe’s carries the product •I love the trademark—it makes me smile!

Have you fetched it yet? We’re on our way to get the Straight Poop from Fred Colby, Founder and Executive Brewer at the NEW Laughing Dog Brewery and Taproom, located at 805 Schweitzer Plaza Drive in Ponderay.

This is pawsibly the best story ever!

Fred is quick to tell us that in 2004 he cheerfully walked away from his position as a server engineer (fancy words for IT), at a well-known locally-based company to start the brewery. Fueling

his passion since December 31, 2004 (yes, it was a Hoppy New Year), the taproom/brewery is in its third location since 2005. Take a bow-wow Fred!

One day, Fred’s pack decided to come up with a name for the brewery.

They were drinking beer and looking at a picture of Benny, Frank’s yellow lab, who was loyal, and lived a relaxed lifestyle. Benny was smiling, and one of Fred’s friends exclaimed, “He’s a laughing dog!” and the rest is history. Benny was almost 14 when he passed away the week before Christmas 2016.

The K-9 owner stick was then passed to Benny’s 11-year-old son, Ruger.

He is shy and doesn’t laugh so much, because he misses his dad. Ruger is the inspiration for the brew Devil Dog, as it matches his personality.

Wowza, this place turns out over fifteen varieties of beer, such as Rocket Dog, Anubis, Dogzilla, Cold Nose, Dog Father and Huckleberry Crème

We are a weekly pop–up take–out restaurant offering authentic Indian cuisine every Monday in Sandpoint, Idaho.

•Open from 12–6 every Monday •Walk–in lunch special: 2 curries + rice, $8 order online at:

www.SandpointCurry.com 723B Pine Street • (Pine Street Alley) •Sandpoint, Idaho

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Ale, just to name a few. Inquiring minds want to know—how in the bark does this team come up with beer names? Here we go: If Benny liked the new ideas for brew and flavors, the team would hear one bark; not so much—two barks.

Hot diggity dog! CSB was named after Benny’s bad habit—ask Frank about that one!

All brews are focused on purity, and with a few exceptions, the only ingredients used are water, barley, hops and yeast. Today, the brews are distributed in Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Alaska, down the Eastern seaboard, across the Southern U.S. and anywhere there is a Total Wines and More. So what’s Fred’s favorite beer? The one that is in his paw!

Because of Fred’s association with the Idaho Brewer’s Guild, children are now welcomed in the taproom with their parents. Check out the tasty snacks, hot wings, French fries, corn dogs…and sniff out the dog cookies!

And give Fred slobbery kisses of thanks for serving on the board the Panhandle Animal Shelter, and the staff for hosting the first Yappy Hour of the season!

Laughing Dog Brewery owner Fred Colby with a harem of chuckling pooches; Belle, left, Drake, center, and Scooter, right.

Laughing Dog Rules: 1. Humans must be on a leash (your dog can bring you in).

2. Aggressive behavior not accepted.

3. Clean up your mess.

4. Stay in the taproom (no meandering behind the bar or production area).

5. Beer is not good hooch for the pooch as it causes hyperthermia – drink water instead.

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

Festival at Sandpoint announces 2017 lineup

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

One of the traditions of spring is eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Festival at Sandpoint’s lineup of fabulous music for the summer concert series.

As usual, there’s a little something for everyone this year, as the Festival celebrates its 35th season under the stars.

Thursday, August 3 Spend an evening with Pink Martini for the opener. Hailing from Portland, Ore., Pink Martini has a diverse genre that crosses genres of classical, jazz, indie and old-fashioned pop. The band left their mark on Sandpoint the first time they played the Festival, and fans are eager for a repeat performance.

All tickets $44.95.

Gates open at 6 p.m.

Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, August 4 Get ready to dance the night away with the world’s greatest party band, the B-52’s!

With such household hits as “Love Shack” and “Roam” this band has helped people shake their money makers for 40 years.

All tickets $54.95.

Gates open at 6 p.m.

Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

This is a dance show.

Saturday, August 5 Get your boots on and prepare for red hot country artist Jake Owen, who was named American Country Music Awards’ Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2012.

Owens’ hits include “Barefoot Blue Jean Nights,” and “The One That Got Away.”

All tickets $74.95 Gates open at 6 p.m.

Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, August 13 Sunday, August 6

Friday, August 11

Musical fun for the young and young at heart with the Family Concert “The Frog Prince,” with music by Jules Massenet and choreography by Marc Spielberger. This concert features The Festival Community Orchestra and Sandpoint’s Studio One Dancers.

Pre-concert activities include an instrument “petting zoo,” an animal petting zoo, pony rides, clowns, face painting, games and more.

All tickets $6.

Activities begin at 2:30 p.m.

Show starts at 5 p.m.

Get a double dose of positive vibrations with Iration and The Wailers.

Iration is an alternative/ reggae group with deep-rooted reggae influence fused with rock, dub and pop.

The legendary Wailers started playing as Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1974 and have left their mark on reggae across the world.

All tickets are $54.95 Gates open at 6 p.m.

Show starts at 7 p.m.

This is a dance show.

Indie folk-rock darlings The Head and the Heart will kick off the second week of action.

Their 2011 self-titled debut album with hits like “Lost in My Mind,” “Rivers and Roads,” and “Coeur d’Alene,” captured an undeniable creative partnership between six strangers and street musicians thrown together by little more than a shared love of music.

The Roman Candles, who are touring with the headliners, will open the show.

Also, the Brew tasting is featured for this show.

All tickets are $44.95.

BrewFest tickets are available for $10, which includes a commemorative pilsner glass and premium microbrew taste.

Concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Rock icon George Thorogood and the Destroyers will bring their 2017 Rock Party Tour to Memorial Field for Saturday’s show.

With such renowned hits as “Bad to the Bone,” “Move it On Over,” “Who Do You Love?” and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” Thorogood will be joined by The White Buffalo, an American singer-songwriter named as one of NPR’s 12 New Artists to Watch.

All tickets are $74.95 Gates open at 6 p.m.

Music starts at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, August 10

Saturday, August 12

The 35th annual Grand Finale Concert is themed “Nordic Nights,” featuring Spokane Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Gary Sheldon.

The Scandanavian-inspired program opens with Clark’s Prince of Denmark March and Alfen’s Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, followed by Grieg’s powerful Piano Concerto featuring the triumphant return of piano soloist Tien Hsieh.

Preceding the concert, the annual “Taste of the Stars” Wine Tasting will take place.

Fireworks will follow the show, as usual.

Adult tickets are $39.95.

18 and Under are $10.95.

Gates open at 4:30 p.m.

Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

For ticket sales, or more information about this year’s Festival at Sandpoint, go to www.festivalatsandpoint.com, or stop by to see them in person at 525 Pine St. in Sandpoint. (208) 265-4554.

Crossword Solution

READ

Every once in awhile, I’ll read a book that makes me sad, angry and fed up all at once. Such was the case when I read “Boy Erased,” by Garrard Conley.

“Boy Erased” is a memoir of a man who grew up as a gay son of an Arkansas preacher. Rather than being ostracized by his family, Conley agrees to undergo “gay conversion therapy,” which ultimately did more damage than good.

This book is heartbreaking in many ways, but ultimately, it will help you understand and forgive those who seek to put you down.

LISTEN

I like when bands I revere put out new albums. Just the other day, I was thumbing around Spotify and saw the Cold War Kids had released their sixth studio album, “L.A. Divine.”

It’s worth a listen, as this uptempo indie rock band continues to create a genre inside a genre with their infectious sound.

This is mostly thanks to Nathan Willett, whose unique voice and songwriting prowess keeps even the most jaded hipster bumping their skinny-jeaned hips.

WATCH

Remember “Futurama,” that other animated show by Matt Groening, the creator of “The Simpsons?”

The premise is simple: a dim-witted boob named Fry accidentally falls into a cryogenic chamber and wakes up after 1,000 years in the year 3,000.

With writers from “The Simpsons” at the helm, “Futurama” held its own for seven seasons, mining fertile comedy ground and creating some great commentary on our silly world along the way.

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Living Life:

‘13 Reasons Why’

Sandpoint Reader awarded business of the month

By Dianne Smith Reader Columnist “13 Reasons Why,” the Netflix show dealing with teen suicide, is exploding on the scene with much controversy. If you are a parent of teens, please know that your child may be binge watching all 13 episodes. As a mental health professional I recognize the importance of suicide awareness and how bullying can push someone who is already struggling to the brink where they would consider taking their life.

It is important that we help our teens deal with their struggles and as parents recognize when we need to reach out to professionals for help. Sandpoint High School has some wonderful resources on its webpage for those who are struggling and the community has many professionals who can offer help.

The show, however, concerns me as a mental health professional. I believe no teen should watch it without some caring adult to help them process the feelings that may be triggered from the intensity of what they saw. There is a reason the movie received the rating TV-MA. A month prior to the release of “13 Reasons Why,” Dan Reidenberg, the executive director of national organization Suicide Awareness: Voices of Education, said he was contacted by Netflix and asked to provide guidance. He said he told Netflix that they shouldn’t go ahead with the project. The show is very seductive, he felt, and there is no message telling struggling viewers how to get help. The National Association of School Psychologists issued a cautionary statement about it, expressing concern of copycat behavior by at-risk young people who watch the show. The organization provided resources for parents to help guide conversations Some professionals feel that because Hannah got everything she wanted after death—sympathy, deep regret, guilt and ultimately love—some teens will glamorize suicide and make it an OK option or choice. Nowhere in the movie does it discuss mental health and the depres22 /

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sion, anxiety and PTSD that teens are struggling with, nor does it mention how to get help through a trusted adult. Instead the focus could be viewed as revenge through suicide that in the end gets Hannah the results she wanted.

Unfortunately teens’ brains are often not mature enough to process all of the information shown in the film, and the film does little to empower youth to stand up to bullies and sexual assault or to bounce back from adversity.

The film does, however, provide a starting point for parents who watch it with their teens to have a discussion about values, bullying, how to ask for help and how to stand up for others.

For parents is also gives them a time to reassure their children that if they are struggling that as parents they are there for them and wanting to help. It is important for parents to have these discussions so they are more informed on their children’s thoughts and feelings and what they might be able to do to be more supportive if their child is struggling socially or to help their child if they are on the other side and bullying others.

There are wonderful mental health professionals in the community, and I would encourage parents of any struggling teen to reach out and get the support that they may need. Sometimes just talking to another caring adult can provide that extra support and encouragement that can tip the scale in a positive way. As a community the more support we can offer our youth the more they will thrive and the better they will navigate what can be a very difficult and tumultuous time. Please parents hug your children and check in with them to see how they are doing.

Dianne Smith, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist with over 30 years experience. She has an office in Sandpoint and in Bonners Ferry and can be reached at (951) 440-0982.

Steve Sanchez, representing the Chamber, stands with Reader editor Cameron Rasmusson to present the Business of the Month certificate. Publisher Ben Olson is missing from the photo due to overseas travel. Courtesy photo.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Although we hate to toot our own horn too much, I feel the need to share this great recognition we recently received.

The Sandpoint Reader was recognized as April’s Business of the Month by the Greatest Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. The award was handed out at the Chamber’s monthly meeting on April 13, 2017.

I was out of the country at the time of the award, so Steve Sanchez with the Chamber awarded the certificate to our intrepid editor Cameron Rasmusson.

To give a little back story on the Reader, it was first launched in 2004 by Zach Hagadone, John Reuter and Chris DeCleur. I was also involved from the first issue as a contributing writer. The Reader published for eight years until, in 2012, both remaining owners Hagadone and Reuter received job offers and were forced to cease publication.

After a nearly three-year hiatus, I brought the Reader back in January, 2015 with the help of Keokee Publishing, who also shares co-ownership of the Reader. With the addition of Ras-

musson as editor and Jodi Taylor as advertising director, the Reader now has a full staff and has published for nearly two-and-a-half years since being resurrected.

In the awards ceremony, Sanchez highlighted the community programs the Reader takes part in, including our Reader Reels film series in partnership with the Panida Theater, the “Live @ the Office” live music series where we hosted singer/songwriters in our office to promote local artists. Rasmusson also is one of the originators and organizers of the annual Sandemonium event held each August at the Sandpoint Library.

In addition to its regular weekly publication, the Reader is an in-kind sponsor for CHaFE 150, Team Autism 24/7, 24 Hours for Hank, The Festival at Sandpoint, Pend Oreille Arts Council and the Panida Theater.

Special thanks go out to all of our loyal readers and advertisers who have helped the Reader establish itself as one of the most read publications in Sandpoint. We appreciate you!

Basically, there are three ways the skunk and I are a lot alike.

The first is we both like to spread our “stink” around. The second is we both get hit by cars a lot.

The third is stripes.

The Reader goes to Italy... sort of

CROSSWORD

By Charity Luthy

Eric Fulgenzi of Sandpoint recently brought the Reader along to Italy with his significant other, Kim Mlinarik. He can be seen here looking very absorbed in the Reader at St. Peters Square in Rome. Photo by Kim Mlinarik.

Hourly rates • Day rates • Image packages •Portraiture: business/school/ holiday/family/pure enjoyment •Commercial Photography: lifestyle/brands/architecture •Stock imagery for sale: business/website/branding Woods Wheatcroft • 208.255.9412 • www.woodswheatcroft.com

avarice

Woorf tdhe Week

/AV-er-is/

[noun] 1. insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth.

“Mr. Burns exhibits great avarice with every wheezy breath.”

Corrections: A photo in last week’s issue came in without attribution, so we were unable to publish one woman’s name. Cindy Hayes, sorry about excluding you! -BO

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Highlands North Day Spa Salon

1315 W. Hwy 2 Ste 5 Sandpoint, ID 83864 www.highlandsnorthdayspa.com

Hours By Appointment

Tuesday - Saturday g am - 7 pm Closed Sunday & Monday I Groups Welcome