Reader_Sept22_2022

The week in random review

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

a queenly tipple

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II at 96 on Sept. 8, followed by her state funeral Sept. 19, more than a few toasts have been raised to the late-monarch, who reigned for 70 years. Her majesty’s preferred libation was a 2:1 mixture of the French fortified-wine aperitif Dubonnet and gin (preferably Gordon’s London dry gin), built in a wine glass, served with “two perfectly propor tionate ice cubes” and garnished with a lemon wheel, which is submerged in the drink. According to Food and Wine, which profiled the cocktail in a piece celebrating the queen’s Plati num Jubilee earlier this year, Dubonnet includes blackcurrant, black tea varietals and quinine (of all things), and clocks in at 14% alcohol by volume. Apparently, the royal family likes Dubonnet so much that it achieved a Royal Warrant in 2021, and it was Elizabeth’s practice to enjoy her Dubonnet and gin each day right before lunch.

50

Number of years since M*A*S*H premiered on CBS. The show has been remembered not only for cloaking an anti-Vietnam War message in a “comedy” set during the Korean War, but for its extensive run of seasons. Its first ep isode aired Sept. 17, 1972 and it ended with a feature-length finale on Feb. 28, 1983 — long outlasting the war it was satirizing and more than three times the length of the war on which it was based.

banning throughoutbookshistory

As Banned Books Week continues through Saturday, Sept. 24, it is top-of-mind that efforts are afoot across the country to eliminate access to “offensive” materials from a huge swathe of schools and public libraries. This effort puts its proponents in some awful historical company. Aside from censorship be ing a cornerstone of Nazi and Soviet ideology, there’s Chinese Emperor Shih Huang Ti, who tradition holds buried alive as many as 460 Confucian scholars and burned all the books in his kingdom in 212 B.C.E. so no one could say that history didn’t begin with him. In 35 C.E., Roman Emperor Caligula cracked down on The Odyssey because he didn’t like Homer’s ideas of freedom. William Tyndale was kidnapped, tried for heresy, strangled and burned at the stake in 1536 for trans lating the New Testament into English. During the Bosnian War in 1992, Serbian soldiers bombed the National Library in Sarajevo, destroying as many as 3 million books and firing on those who rushed in to save the volumes. As recently as 2020, the Taliban torched as many as 10,000 books at a school in Afghanistan — part of a decades-long policy by fundamen talists throughout the region of destroying books and historic artifacts deemed offensive or irreligious.

quotable

“The civilized are those who get more out of life than the un civilized, and for this the uncivilized have never forgiven them.”

— Cyril Connolly, English literary critic, writer and editor, 1903-1974, from The Portable Curmudgeon, compiled and edited by Jon Winokur

DEAR READERS,

I hate to say the dreaded E-word, but election season is looming closer. I want to give ample notice to everyone that we are shrinking our word limit for letters to the editor from 300 words to 200 words. This will take effect immediately and run through Election Day. Afterward, we will go back to the 300-word limit.

The reason we are reducing the word limit for letters to the editor is because of the sheer volume of letters we receive prior to primary and general elections. I don’t love the idea of having page after page of black ink on newsprint with very little imagery to break up the pages. We earn no revenue for running letters to the editor, and with our printer repeatedly raising our prices over the past 18 months, we need to keep our overhead as low as possible to sustain this newspaper. All the same rules apply: no excessive profan ity and no trolling, and we ask that you please elevate the conversation. Also, no “toilet musings.” If you don’t know what I’m referring to, just imagine the type of nonsense you might send people while on the toilet. We don’t want it. Be relevant or be gone.

–Ben Olson, publisher

READER

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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 alterna tive by offering honest, in-depth reporting that reflects the intelligence and interests of our diverse and growing community. The Reader is printed on recycled pa per using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are col lected and recycled week ly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person

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About the Cover

This week’s cover was designed by Ben Olson, who has been a vo racious reader since he could pick up a book. Read banned books and stick it to the Nazis.

City to kick off ‘design competition’ for downtown waterfront

Process intended to increase design options and ramp up public involvement

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Members of the Sandpoint City Council heard a presentation at their regular meeting Sept. 21 on a unique way of determining the design of redevelopment projects at the downtown waterfront and potentially beyond — a competition.

“The way we would usually address this, and the way that cities usually address this, is to issue an RFQ [request for quote] for design services and select a qualified re sponder with the capabilities to provide the service,” said Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton, describing the competi tion model as, “another, more holistic, ap proach that provides for broader community participation, greater design team interest, addressing the community’s concern for influencing private development in the area and ensuring a design that uniquely fits the goals, history and character of Sandpoint.”

To guide the process, the city has contracted with internationally known Portland-based architect and master planner

Don Stastny, who has managed design com petitions around the country.

“What the design competition does for you is it gives you different ideas to look at,” he told the council via Zoom at the Sept. 21 meeting. “Instead of one single designer putting forth a plan that you then modify, you might have three or four plans to look at … and choose the best things out of the plans.”

According to Stastny, the cost for running a competition is typically similar to paying a single designer to provide a conceptual design but — in addition to generating more ideas — also gets more stakeholders involved.

Already, an advisory panel of 15 mem bers has been assembled to kick off the process, including individuals representing the city; downtown businesses and property owners; citizens; liaisons from the Planning and Zoning Commission, former Historic Design Standards Workgroup and Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation Commis sion; Kalispel Tribe; and other community leaders.That advisory group will develop the

Off-leash dog area at Lakeview Park gaining steam with workshop, public survey

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Area dog owners are getting closer to having a space in south Sandpoint to run their animals off-leash, with the city of Sandpoint moving forward on installing a water-accessible dog park adjacent to the boat launch at Lakeview Park.

City officials hosted a community workshop on the dog park plan Sept. 19 and launched a survey to gather public feed back. The survey will remain open through Friday, Sept. 30, accessible at slido.com by entering project code No. 3200552.

Among the questions on the survey are assessing how important the public feels it is for dogs to access the waterfront behind War Memorial Field, asking what amenities dog owners would like to see there and whether dogs should have water access at the location.

A dog park on the under-utilized piece of land between the boat launch bathrooms and treatment plant was envisioned in the Parks and Recreation Plan, adopted in Au gust 2020, but has been talked about at City Hall at least since 2017.

In the plan, off-leash dog areas were described as among “the fastest growing parks” and typically community driven. “A real dog park” was listed among the community’s desired parks and rec. im provements, with dog owners identified as

under-served by the current parks inventory.

In addition to the Lakeview Park/War Memorial Field dog park, the plan also recommended establishing a dog area “somewhere within north Sandpoint,” and estimated the budget impact to be between $185,000 and $200,000, though capital cost estimates would depend on the amenities.

The Sandpoint City Council in May 2021 approved an amendment to City Code loosening the rules about where and when dogs could be allowed on public properties, including certain areas of City Beach. Cur rently, dogs are permitted on-leash and under control by their handlers on city rights of way; the Windbag and City Beach marinas; Lakeview and Hickory parks; the Sports Complex pathway, which runs through Tra vers, Centennial and Great Northern parks; and the City Beach pathway.

At the latter two locations, in addition to parking lots, dogs are allowed only on the pathways between Sept. 15 and April 15 — they are not to roam on the grassy or sandy areas of either parks, nor are they permitted on playground areas, sports courts or inside the fence at War Memorial Field.

Dogs are currently allowed off-leash on the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail and Mickinn ick trailhead.

To take part in the dog park survey, go to slido.com and enter project code No. 3200552.

competition, identifying the preferred cre dentials of contestants with an eye toward building design teams, then establishing the program itself — telling designers of the broad expectations for their submissions.

That could mean everything from build ing heights and setbacks to size, theme and all the “spaces in between,” meaning the overall context of the project area.

“We want to set a very high bar as to what you as a city want,” Stastny said.

Finally, the group will build the “jury” and selection process, consisting of a mix of specialists and members of the public who will collaborate on determining which designs to forward.

An overall budget, including honorari ums for competitors and/or jurors, as well as a schedule of the competition will be pre sented to the council in January 2023, with the competition expected to be concluded sometime in the summer of 2023.

In the meantime, the first of three work shops on the competition is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 27, covering the purpose of the competition, an overview of the process and preliminary definition of the study area. Further workshops over the next month will hone and refine those topics.

Stapleton said that beyond selecting de sign concepts, the competition is also intend ed to find ways for how “we might be able to effectively influence downtown.” That

could include code changes, design standards and best practices applied even to private development in the area with an eye toward “ensur[ing] it fits the character and history of the community effectively interfac[ing] with the publicly owned waterfront,” according to the Sept. 21 agenda materials.

“We’ve heard the concerns from the community,” Stapleton said.

Though the downtown waterfront project has been on city agendas since at least early 2020 — and included in the 2020 Parks and Recreation Master Plan — it drew widespread public interest, and no small amount of ire, in July when developer One Bridge Street LLC unveiled plans for a 65-foot-tall mixed-used development including 13 luxury condos at the corner of First Avenue and Bridge Street.

Councilor Andy Groat, in an apparent nod to the furor over the One Bridge Street devel opment, said “our town is very unique, our people are very unique, this is a very unique problem to find some answers for.” Mean while, he added, there are some “citizens who are incredibly grumpy about change.”

This process, Groat said, has the poten tial to get around conflicts and bring in the wider“Thiscommunity.isanopen invitation right now for our community and our citizens to come in and speak what it is that they want the next 10, 15, 20 years of waterfront to look like,” he said.

City, Dub’s owners respond to rumors of restaurant’s closure

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The Sandpoint rumor mill was at it again over the past week, with posts popping up on social media claiming that longtime beloved restaurant Dub’s Drive-In — best known for its burgers and ice cream — would soon be no more. The rumors were highly specific: that the location at 703 U.S. Highway 2 would be sold to the city “within two weeks,” the building torn down and replaced either with a parking lot or roundabout.“Yes,there are a lot of rumors float ing around about Dubs,” Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton told the Reader. “I can affirm that there is no timeline for sale of the property to the city and we would be required to hold a public hearing to consider acquisition of the prop erty. At this time, we do not have a public hearing

Formerscheduled.”ownerMarty Mire, who operat

ed Dub’s for 32 years, decided in 2020 that it was time to enter “semi-retirement” and hand the reins of the small-town diner to his daughter Kristi and son-in-law Austin

Terrell.Mire,

like the Terrells, was proud to car ry on the tradition, which actually began in the 1950s when the restaurant was founded as Dairy Delite. Later, Sandpoint Police Department veteran Dub Lewis took over,

Popular local diner will shutter for the fall and winter

Photo by Ed Van Vooren.

Sandpoint P&Z recommends approval of rezone, PUD plan for University Place Phase 4

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The fourth phase of the Uni versity Place development went before the Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission at its regular meeting Sept. 20, with commis sioners voting unanimously to recommend approval of a rezone from residential single-family to multi-family, a combined planned unit development preliminary and final development plan, and an amended preliminary plat.

University Place is the 75.2acre housing development along the east side of North Boyer Av enue, with its fourth phase being the 14.5-acre southern portion, located to the east of the inter section of Ebbett Way and North Boyer and west of Sand Creek, with its southernmost boundary running along the railroad tracks. That section would include 101 single-family townhomes, seven duplexes and 112 apartments, totaling 227 dwelling units.

The rezone from single-family to multi-family residential was intended to bring the project more in line with the future Comprehen sive Plan Land Use Map, which envisions a mix of housing types and higher density on the property.

The PUD development plan included “numerous deviations” from the residential multi-fami ly district, according to the city staff report, including housing units with more than 50% of their frontage taken up by garages, as well as side- rather than street-fac ing entrances. Building heights would also exceed the 40-foot limitation for multi-family in the current code, with the townho mes planned for 45 feet and four four-story apartment buildings rising to 48 feet. The plan also proposed smaller lot sizes for the

townhomes — reduced to between 1,118 and 1,523 square feet from the 3,500-square-foot standard in the RM zone, and widths reduced by up to five feet from the current 25-foot standard.

The development would elim inate or reduce setbacks — allow ing garages and housing frontages to come right up to street surfaces — and increase the amount of impervious areas (structures and pavement) by 20%, accommodat ing 210 parking spaces around the apartments, which is 88% more than the RM standard of 141. Total open space amounts to 8.3% of the development, whereas code stipulates a minimum of 10%.

“A PUD is a give and take, and it is that they are asking for waivers for a certain type of development that would perhaps not happen under current zoning,” City Planner Amy Tweeten said. “The commis sion must evaluate whether these requested deviations … warrant that tradeoff of giving some devia tions to the standard zoning.”

Developer Derek Mulgrew, of M&W Holdings, told the commis sion that the requested deviations came after feedback from a P&Z meeting about a year and a half ago, asking that this phase of Uni versity Place not be “a community that’s just cordoned off.”

The development plan includ ed minimum rear yard setbacks on North Boyer of between zero and 14.3 feet, while the standard is 15“Thefeet.idea was to develop a community that faced outward and was appealing for people to traverse through,” he said.

Mulgrew touted the integrat ed design and engineering of the mixed-use development, led by Williams Homes, which includes increasing density from north to south, ranging from fee-simple

ownership to rentals, the lat ter which he said he’d hold for himself. Mulgrew described the townhomes, which are designed as three-, five- and six-plexes, as appealing to empty-nesters, retir ees and first-time homebuyers; the duplexes geared toward families relocating to the area but not ready to buy; and the apartments intend ed for workforce housing.

“I put a lot more into this up front,” he said, referring to the design and engineering. “What I want to portray to you all is that that’s a tremendous investment — it’s a lot of risk.”

“I felt that there was a need to address a product that could be more efficiently built and meet a different price point and fill a housing need in a fee-simple townhome purchase and also a rental environment,” he added.

Commissioners keyed in on the notion of “workforce hous ing,” repeatedly asking Mulgrew to indicate just how accessible the rental units would be to local workers.“Idon’t use the term ‘afford able housing’ because it seems like nothing is affordable anymore,” he said. “I couldn’t probably give you an accurate representation, but the intent is for it to be as economical ly accessible as typicallydwellingrablesquarementsaffordability,continuedwithhere,afford$35,000,asked,Commissionerpossible.”SlateKamp“Cansomeonewhomakes$45,000ayear,cantheyaplaceinthisdevelopment?”“Ifthey’rerentinganythingwewouldbecompetitivethat,”Mulgrewresponded.CommissionerAmeliaBoydonthequestionofnotingthattheapartrangebetween610and995feet,makingthemcompainsizetomanyaccessoryunitsinSandpoint,whichrentforbetween$1,400

and $1,500 a month.

“[W]ould that be some thing reasonable in terms of an amount?” she asked.

“For the small ones, yeah,” Mulgrew said. “We’re going to have to be market competitive. We’ve taken into consideration as much as we can … to keep the costsThatdown.”issue came up regarding the noise coming from the railroad tracks. Among the conditions for approval fronted by city staff was the use of sound mitigation ma terials for the apartments, which Mulgrew said would add to the cost of construction and therefore rental prices. Rather, he pointed to the “sound attenuation berm” — essentially a large pile of dirt — along the southern property line, as sufficient to block the bulk of the noise from passing trains.

“A berm is nice, but it does not alleviate the sound,” Boyd said. “Personally, I think it’s a right call to require that sound-proofing for those families, because that’s what it’s going to be in those apartments.”

Staff also recommended the 10% minimum open space requirement as a condition of approval. Commissioners agreed, and added further conditions that an 8,000-square-foot play ground/park be expanded with the removal or relocation of a garage facility, as well as extending a linear park pathway along the northern property line to connect with North Boyer.

Robert Osborn, who lives near the project, was the only member of the public to testify during the hearing, identifying himself as “neutral.”“Iunderstand that the project has been split into three separate projects; however, when you approved this, the dialogue was really nothing remotely similar

Renderings of what units might look like at the University Place development. Left: 3-plex townhome “Traditional”; center: 6-plex townhome “Contemporary Farmhouse” and right: 6-plex townhomeCourtesy“Traditional.”photos.

to what we’re ending up with,” he said, referring to the entire University Place development, including the subdivision to the north of Phase 4.

Specifically, he reminded the commission of repeated past asser tions by developers that University Place would be an explicitly green community with agricultural com ponents — including opportunities for food production — as well as prioritizing wildlife corridors and conservation efforts.

“This kind of dialogue goes on and on, and the result of what we have so far is nothing extraordi nary. We have a row of six houses on Mountain View Drive … [and] no opportunity to grow a straw berry plant, let alone a sustainable community of food production,” he said. “None of these things that have been promised have come to fruition.”Standing in for Commission Chair John Hastings, who was ab sent, Vice-Chair Mose Dunkel said the project will “fill some need on some level for a lot of people. Apartments are the closest thing we have to affordable housing.”

However, he added, “I’ve grown up here and that property has sat there, and a lot of people have strong feelings about what it was and what it should have been — and I share some of those — [but] the land that is in our city limits need to be available for people to live.”

With the commission’s unani mous vote to recommend approv al, the rezone, PUD development plan and preliminary plat amend ment now go to the City Council.

Bonner County secures first surplus-funded bridge contract

Idaho will foot the bill for replacement of the Grouse Creek Road Bridge

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

A couple of Bonner County bridges are slated for facelifts in coming years after commissioners voted unanimously Sept. 20 to move forward with securing state funding meant to improve at least one-third of coun ty-maintained bridges across Idaho current ly considered in poor condition.

Bonner County Road and Bridge Staff Engineer Matt Mulder submitted applica tions in May for five bridges to receive im provements through the state-run Leading Idaho Local Bridge Program, which stems from $200 million in surplus funds and is being administered by the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council.

“Bonner County submitted five appli cations for bridges to be considered for this program, and the Grouse Creek Road Bridge over Grouse Creek was one of the two bridges selected for the first round of funding,” Mulder said, noting in an email to the Reader following the commission ers’ meeting that the second application approved was for the Colburn Culver Road Bridge, also over Grouse Creek.

According to the agreement signed by the county and LHTAC, the Grouse Creek Road Bridge will be entirely replaced. Not all five bridges for which Mulder submitted applications will need full replacements, though.“Some of these only need repairs,” he told commissioners in May. “Some of them could potentially be replaced completely. Ultimately, those decisions will be made through the process as LHTAC figures out

how to most economically spend these funds and get the most bang for the buck.”

The Leading Idaho Local Bridge Program requires no financial match from Bonner County, as the state will foot the bill for all selected bridge repairs.

“This bridge has been on our list for a while,” Commissioner Dan McDonald said Sept. 20. “I don’t want to talk about the Rapid Lightning Bridge.”

“Not yet,” added Commissioner Jeff Connolly, hinting at possible future approv al from LHTAC to replace that bridge in an upcoming round of funding. Rapid Light ning Bridge No. 4 over Rapid Lightning Creek is among the five bridges Mulder nominated for the Leading Idaho Local Bridge

WhileProgram.atimeline for work under the program remains unclear, Mulder told the Reader that LHTAC is likely to award de sign contracts to engineering firms “quick ly,” but then “things are going to move at a slower pace as design of dozens of bridge repairs and replacements takes considerable amounts of time — especially with all of the environmental permitting that will like ly be required on many of the projects.”

“I wouldn’t expect construction to start earlier than 2024,” he said, “and potentially several years later than that.”

Bits ’n’ Pieces

From east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recentLegislationsampling:that would put new re strictions on congressional lawmakers’ ability to buy and sell stocks is planned for consideration this month, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A Morning Consult poll showed close to two-thirds of respondents oppose any buying or trading of stocks by congressional members.

Writing in American Prospect, Robert Kuttner said inflation is subsiding “based on a variety of indicators, and the economy is heading for the proverbial soft landing without a recession — if the Fed doesn’t screw things up with excessive rate hikes.”

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said they’ve come up with a battery made from common ma terials — aluminum, sulfur and salt — that could bypass the need for limited resources like lithium, nickel and cobalt.

The House Jan. 6 Committee hearings will continue on Wednesday, Sept. 28. According to Business Insider, the panel is attempting to get more testimony from Se cret Service officials, Republican lawmakers who have defied subpoenas, and high-pro file people of interest, like Newt Gingrich and Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham sur prised fellow lawmakers last week when he introduced a bill to ban abortion nation wide after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The party has noted that threats to abortion ac cess have driven more voters away from the party’s anti-abortion stance, NBC reported.

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

meant to distract voters from less popular Republican stances against abortion, con traception and marriage equality. Historian Heather Cox Richardson pointed out that the immigrant debate is complex: migrants need safety, the U.S. needs workers, immigrant processing is understaffed and immigrant laws are Floridaoutdated.Gov.Ron

DeSantis claimed that flying Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard would cause local residents to “go berserk,” but the opposite unfolded: the migrants were given necessities like food and shelter. It came to light they were not illegally in the U.S.: all have cases in immi gration courts and can stay while their cases are being considered.

The migrants have told authorities they were misled about the flights, such as being told they would go to Boston where they could receive “expedited work papers,” Popular Information reported. Brochures given to the migrants show they were false ly promised benefits like food, housing, cash, job placement and other services. Now it is being explored if those arranging the flights for migrants actually committed fraud, false imprisonment or kidnapping.

The Texas-to-Massachusetts flights also cost $12,000 per person, according to Public Citizen.

renaming it Dub’s.

Since then, generations of families have been Dub’s regulars, making it a favorite for post-game celebrations and a venerable after-school haunt for teens.

Austin Terrell said the rumors are just that: “Like most rumors, that rumor is not true.”There are, however, some changes com ing for “OurDub’s.family had an opportunity open up for us that we are going to take advan tage of, but that will include putting Dub’s on hold for a bit,” Terrell told the Reader

in a message that has since been posted to Facebook.“Asof right now, we are just planning on closing for the winter/slow months. I will be moving into that new opportunity and my father-in-law Marty (previous own er) has quite a bit of travel planned for this winter, so we decided to just take the winter off,” he added.

In the meantime, the doors at Dub’s will be closed temporarily beginning Saturday, Sept.“We24.plan to do some work at Dub’s and make a plan for the future of the restaurant over the winter and go from there,” Terrell said

A group of 77 House Democrats are disagreeing with pro-fossil fuel provisions being included in an upcoming must-pass spending bill. Removing the provisions will protect the climate as well as people living in fossil fuel production zones. A leaked draft has the watermark of an oil and gas industry lobbying group, several media sources reported. The final text remains secret as of this writing.

Concerns raised include lack of reliable analysis about climate impacts, that it was negotiated by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, top recipients of fossil fuel industry campaign funds; weakening of en vironmental laws and expedited timetables that could exclude public feedback; and allowances for pipelines that could signifi cantly add to greenhouse gas pollution.

Republican governors of southern border states are sending immigrants to Dem ocratic strongholds. Political observers speculate that the immigrant arrivals are

An extended monsoon season and high temperatures that melted glaciers in Paki stan have led to a third of the country being flooded, the deaths of 750,000 livestock and 3 million acres of agricultural land being completely washed away. Estimates of damages are at least $30 billion, with the loss of 1,500 lives, people forced to flee and more than 1 million homes damaged.

“I have never seen climate carnage on this scale,” said U.N. Secretary General AntónioCountriesGuterres.that contribute far more to cli mate change than Pakistan are being asked to financially help the nation, insidecli matenews.org said. Alaska, Puerto Rico and Japan are also being weather-smacked.

This past spring, those 50 and older who had a single COVID-19 booster died from the virus at four times the rate of those with two booster shots, according to the CDC.

Blast from the past: Five times in U.S. history candidates who lost the popular vote were seated as president due to the Elector al College. They were Andrew Jackson in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benja min Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

Grouse Creek Road Bridge. Courtesy photo. DUBS,

An ‘unprecedented flood’ of book bans engulfs U.S. school districts, PEN report says

The list includes 26 books that three Idaho school districts have banned this year

By Ariana Figueroa States

MoreNewsroomthan1,600

book titles across 32 states were banned from public schools during the 20212022 school year, with the bulk of the ban requests coming from a handful of right-wing groups pushing for censorship of books that feature LGBTQ+ characters and characters of color, a new report issued Monday said.

The list includes 26 books that three Idaho school districts have banned this year.

“What I want to be really clear about is the books are a pretext,” Ashley Hope Pérez, an author of a banned book, said. “[Book ban ning] is a proxy war on students who share the marginalized iden tities of the authors and characters in the books under attack.”

In 2015, Pérez wrote Out of Darkness, a young adult romance about a Mexican American girl and an African American boy set in the 1930s, but the book was banned from school districts last year.

The states with the most inci dents of banning are Texas, Flor ida, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, according to an updated report released Sept. 19 by PEN Amer ica, a group that is dedicated to fighting book bans and advocates for the First Amendment. Overall, there were 2,532 incidents of ban ning across the United States.

“[T]he scope of such censor ship has expanded drastically and in unprecedented fashion since the beginning of the 2021-’22 school year,” the report found.

In total, there are 1,648 unique book titles that were banned in 2021-2022. PEN previously pub lished a report in April that found 1,586 instances of individual books banned, affecting 1,145 titles, in 86 school districts across 26 states.

Groups demand bans

The new report found that 50 groups at the state, national and local level, with as many as 300 chapters, “have played a role in at least half of the book bans enacted across the country during the 2021-’22 school year.” Of those

groups, 73% were formed in 2021, according to the report.

“Those who are advocating on this issue are within their rights, their freedom of assembly, mobili zation, using their voices, and that’s perfectly appropriate,” Suzanne Nossel, chief executive officer of PEN America, said during a press briefing with reporters Sept. 19.

“But when the end goal is censorship, as a free expression organization, it’s our obligation to call that out and to point out that even the use of legitimate tactics of expression can sometimes lead to a spurious and speech-defeating result,” she said.

Some of the states with book bans, according to the PEN report, include Idaho, Wisconsin, Michi gan, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas, Minnesota and New Jersey, among others.

“The unprecedented flood of book bans in the 2021-’22 school year reflects the increasing organization of groups involved in advocating for such bans, the increased involvement of state offi cials in book-banning debates, and the introduction of new laws and policies,” according to the report.

“More often than not, current challenges to books originate not from concerned parents acting individually but from political and advocacy groups working in con cert to achieve the goal of limiting what books students can access and read in public schools.”

Book Ban Week

The report was released in con nection with Book Ban Week, an annual campaign by the American Library Association and Amnes ty International to celebrate the freedom to read and push back against censorship.

The ALA also released its own report that found from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31 of this year, there were 681 attempts to “ban or restrict li brary resources, and 1,651 unique titles were targeted.”

Some of those groups that have challenged school boards include Moms for Liberty, an organization formed in 2021 that has strong

GOP ties and local chapters that “target local school board meet ings, school board members, ad ministrators and teachers” to push right-wing policies, as reported by Media Matters. Moms for Liber ty has about 200 local chapters across 37 Floridastates.Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at a Moms for Liberty convention in the summer, where he touted “parental rights,” and praised the group for its efforts to get books banned from public schools. In Florida, there are 566 books that are banned, according to the report by PEN.

Republican lawmakers at the state level are also joining the movement to ban books from public schools and libraries.

Nossel said this idea of “pa rental rights” is “sort of the rubric that gets used to promote these movements.”

She said it’s beneficial for parents to be involved in their children’s education, but “that is not what this is about when parents are mobilized in an or chestrated campaign to intimidate teachers and librarians to dictate [to] them certain books be pulled off shelves even before they’ve been read or reviewed.”

“The trends are very clear that this is a targeted effort,” said Jona than Friedman, director of free ex pression and education programs at PEN America and lead writer of the Friedmanreport. said that book bans occurred in 138 school districts, representing 5,049 schools, across 32 states. He added that the bans affect nearly 4 million students.

“Overwhelmingly we are seeing people Google what books have LGBTQ content whatsoever. Even just a book that has an illustration of a same-sex interracial couple gets thrown onto one of these lists and ends up banned in some dis tricts,” he said during the press call.

PEN found that 41%, or 74 of the 1,648 unique titles that ad dressed LGBTQ+ themes or fea tured main or secondary characters who are LGBTQ+, were banned.

Bans tied to ‘sense of power’

Cheryl Lewis Hudson, an au thor and publisher specializing in children’s books celebrating Black culture and Black history, said that book bans are about power and that they are nothing new. She said the trend of book bans is not only censorship, but erasure of margin alized

“Wecommunities.canrecallhistorically that in the United States, enslaved per sons were prohibited by law from learning to read or write, and slave masters really understood that this special control of slaves was a sense of power — if you couldn’t control slaves’ bodies, you could control their minds by denying them access [to knowledge],” she said.

Hudson said Jim Crow laws prevented her from accessing pub lic libraries, and she was not able to get her first library card until she was 13. She added that the segregated school she attended did not have a library for students.

“So banned books are not new, nor is the access to knowledge, and the data that PEN is providing reveals really alarming trends in terms of access to ideas,” she said.

She and her husband founded a publishing company that published more than 50 books featuring Black historical figures and culture.

Hudson said the common theme in books that are being banned is not the content of the books, but because “the authors of those books are African American, the contribu tors of those books are from multi cultural or non-white backgrounds.”

PEN found that 40%, or 659 of 1,648 unique titles, that were banned had main or secondary characters of color, and also found 20%, or 338 titles, that addressed race and racism were also banned.

“So there is a trend and an un derlying pattern of white suprem acy, really that is challenging the actual existence of people of color in a democracy,” Hudson said.

This story was produced by national nonprofit reporting proj ect States Newsroom, which has affiliates in 29 states, including Idaho. For more information, visit statesnewroom.com.

Idaho’s banned books

The PEN America report lists the following book bans in Idaho’s school districts this year:

Bonneville Joint School District No. 93, banned from libraries after a formal challenge in April

Nampa School District, banned from libraries and classrooms after an administrator challenge in May •Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders

•33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp

•A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses Series) by Sarah J. Maas

•City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments Series) by Cassandra Clare

•Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices Series) by Cassandra Clare •Crank (Crank Series) by Ellen Hopkins

•Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier

•Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

•Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

•It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris

•l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle Leah on the Offbeat (Simonverse Se ries) by Becky Albertalli

•Looking for Alaska by John Green •Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

•Sold by Patricia McCormick

•Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

•The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater

•The Absolutely True Diary of a PartTime Indian by Sherman Alexie

•The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

•The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

•The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

•The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

•The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

•Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

West Ada School District, banned in libraries and classrooms after a formal challenge in February

•Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

•This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson

Bouquets:

GUEST SUBMISSION:

•“Much too early in the beau tiful summer, my S.O. and I expe rienced the unfortunate event that can happen to any boat owner. We found ourselves stranded on Lake Pend d’Oreille due to unforeseen outdrive problems. But this turned into a wonderful time to experience the diligence and kindness of the Bonner County Dispatch and the Bonner County Marine Patrol. They were patient, kind and carefully towed us all the way back to the boat ramp. They ensured our safe return. Some may say they were just doing their jobs, and that may be, but the professionalism in which they performed their jobs was out standing. Thank you!”

— By Joelle Hofer

Barbs:

• The Idaho Republican Party, under new direction of nutter Dor othy Moon, released its 2022 par ty platform, and boy, it’s a doozie. Here are some gems to show you just how ridiculous Republicans in Idaho have gotten (taken verbatim from their platform):

Human life begins at conception; Social Security must be privatized, re peal the 16th and 17th Amendments, abolish the Federal Reserve Bank, encourage citizens to systematically acquire precious metals to replace paper currency, give the GOP com plete control over the redistricting process, encourage discussing the Bible in classrooms, Repeal the Af fordable Care Act in its entirety, sup port the supreme authority of parents in all medical decisions for their chil dren, limit marriage to that of a man and woman, support criminalization of all murders by abortion, construct a border wall along the entire south ern U.S. border, privatize Public Television, thwart absentee voting and severely limit who can vote in a Republican primary.

Seems like the party of “person al responsibility” and “freedom” is more interested in taking rights away from people, doesn’t it? But what do I know? I’m just some naive American who thinks people should live and let live in a country not bound by religious doctrine — just as our founders intended it.

Dear editor, Gas in Sandpoint was always more expensive than almost any where else in Idaho. I used to get excuses about transportation costs, etc. But on Sunday, Sept. 12, you could get a gallon of gas for $3.95 in Bonners Ferry while the best you could do in Sandpoint was $4.29, and many places were asking $4.39. Gas used to be more expensive in Bonners Ferry than Sandpoint. What’s the excuse this time?

Donald L. Kass

that way today, Sen. Jim Woodward would have won. His opponent, with his deceit and ideological motives, would not have had a chance.

We can elect a person devoted to public service, who will stay in touch with all his constituents, and who will listen to and work for all citizens in the district. Turn out to vote and write in Steve Johnson, making sure to also fill in the oval to the left.

District 1 Idaho senator than Steve Johnson. Write in Steve Johnson for District 1 Idaho Senate. Thank you, River Burdick Sandpoint

Scott Herndon’s ‘extreme views’ should not be imposed on constituents…

Dear editor,

November. Why? My family has lived in Idaho for five generations and we know that Steve Johnson will repre sent our true Idahoan values.

SandpointDeareditor,Severalofmy

Missing ‘People Watching’…

friends, including my wife, enjoy your new Page 3 articles [“Junk Drawer”], but we all really miss the man/woman-on-thestreet interviews [“People Watch ing”], which give locals their little minute or so of fame while com menting on local issues. Isn’t there space somewhere where you could bring this space back to life?

James Richard Johnson Clark Fork

It takes a big effort and a lot of people willing to write in a candi date, but we can do it if we all show up and vote. Steve Johnson has a history of public service in the schools. He has farmed and logged, too, and understands the complexi ties and issues involving hard work and resources. He knows the people of North Idaho. He knows the histo ry of our region, and understands the need to balance growth and preservation of the environment and our quality of life.

Dear editor, We can do this by writing in Steve Johnson for District 1 Senate. Johnson is a longtime North Idaho resident who understands us and our way of life.

Please join me in writing in Steve Johnson for District 1 Senate. Show up at the polls on Nov. 8, re quest an absentee ballot at voteida ho.gov or from your county clerk. You can also vote early beginning Oct. 24 through Nov. 4 at the county elections office, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Write in Steve Johnson because District 1 needs credible and effec tive representation.

Jacinda Bokowy

SandpointDeareditor,Notlongago,

Bonner County voters did not have to declare a political party affiliation in advance of primary elections. One entered the polling place and named which ballot one wanted. We mostly voted for the people and how they might serve us constituents. If we voted

If elected, his opponent, Scott Herndon, will push his extreme ideology instead of addressing the needs and wants of this district. His campaign was one of deceit and fear mongering. He would dictate what medical care women can receive, including contraception. He wants to turn down federal funding of import ant programs and undermine public education. Book banning, threatening libraries and intolerance are his features. Is that what we want?

Steve Johnson will provide us with true representation; he will address the issues facing Idaho with thoughtfulness and consideration.

Ann Warwick Sandpoint

Write in Steve Johnson for Dist. 1 Senate…

Dear Theseeditor,days it seems like the loudest, most bizarre, mean-spirit ed voices dominate the news. Going against that grain is why I am writing to share my endorsement for Steve Johnson for District 1 IdahoSteveSenate.Johnson is a kind-hearted person who works hard and cares for his community. Steve will always give time and listen with an open mind and give an honest, thoughtful reply. Steve was raised here on the family farm and went on to become a school teacher and principal. Steve has an open mind and sense of humor and fairness that would serve us well. He truly cares about people and is honest in his dealings.

There is no better candidate for

A few years ago, we (including a child) drove out of the parking lot of Shakespeare in the Park only to have our headlights unavoidably strike large posters of aborted fetus es. The distress of that imposition still lingers in me, which I under stand was the intent. Such graphic exposures have been one tactic of the abortion abolition movement. Being the creator and host of the website AbolishAbortionID.com, Scott Herndon was instrumental in writing the current anti-abortion law. He calls all abortion murder and intends to outlaw all abortion from fertilization on (including some forms of contraception), with out any exception.

As a naturopathic physician and mother, I am passionate for life. Familiar with Herndon’s communi ty, I know of the strict patriarchal hierarchy based on fundamentalist Christian values, that rules girls and women’s lives. The fervor to push these extreme views on all women is clearly restricting women’s freedom for self-determina tion, and has no place in somebody seekingHavingelection.talked extensively with Steve Johnson, I was reassured that he has no intention of imposing personal views onto all constit uents. I appreciate his genuine listening skills and willingness to negotiate and compromise in the Legislature to address divergent views on issues of public interest, such as property taxes, education and rural lifestyle preservation, rather than ideological viewpoints. He is adamant about making sure women’s lives are safe as well.

I honor different, even extreme opinions, but cannot condone their imposition by elected officials on all constituents. I will vote for Johnson as a write-in candidate.

Gabrielle Duebendorfer Sandpoint

In five generations, my family has never seen the likes of Scott Herndon. His proposed policies would not work to protect our country life — they favor selling our public lands to the highest bidder. Steve Johnson, on the other hand, has lived and worked in North Idaho for decades. I’ve met him several times and it’s clear he understands the importance of fighting to pre serve our rural lifestyle.

His top priority is to reduce property taxes. With the incredible growth our region has seen over the past 10 years, we need a state senator who will protect the values of rural Idahoans like myself. Steve Johnson is the man for the job. Please join me in proudly voting in November — write in Steve Johnson for Idaho Senate.

I signed up online for an absentee ballot so I can vote while juggling taking care of my young children, farm animals and proper ty. You can, too! Request an absen tee ballot at voteidaho.gov — it’ll take you two minutes.

For Idaho,

Emma Stanford Sandpoint

Dear editor, He praises Putin — his great leader, his hero. He has groped women and bragged about it. He lies about almost everything to feed his sociopathic ego. His divide-and-con quer attitude causes Americans to look on and call each other enemies.

He’s taken top secret, extremely classified documents from the White House. What is he going to do with them? Has he passed some of them to who-knows-who, because some folders had documents missing marked “classified.”

He’s been cheating on his taxes. He can’t admit that he’s a loser and made the lie up that the election was stolen. His lies have caused death.

He has dragged our democracy through the dirt. Wake up America!

If you made a mistake by voting for him, don’t make the same mis take

Iftwice.itwalks like a duck and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it must be Donald Duck.

Dear editor, This here country gal is writing in Steve Johnson for Idaho Senate in

Americans, please, for our coun try’s sake, don’t be fooled again.

Jeremiah Plevniak Sandpoint

What’s the excuse for Sandpoint’s high gas prices?…

‘District 1 voters, it’s time to stop the extremists!’…

Electing Steve Johnson will take a big effort, ‘but we can do it’…

‘Real rural girls support Steve Johnson’…

‘If it looks like a duck’…

A case for human compassion

Showing love, empathy and understanding is the only way forward

By Nishelle Gonzalez Reader Contributor

I often get curious when someone has different political ideals. I honestly don’t like talking about politics in the frame of “what side are you on?” or the wrong”“I’m-right-and-you’re-sense.Ilikeaskingques tions about the specific individ ual’s experience that led them to the belief system in which they dwell, oftentimes in conflict with their religious affiliation and livedDeeyahexperience.Khan, who made the film White Right: Meeting the Enemy, went into the belly of the far-right white supremacy groups, attending their training camps and rallies as a Muslim woman. As you could guess, she was met with intense and terrify ing hatred. She also document ed a similar extremist group: jihadists. Khan couldn’t help but notice the similarities between them. Her approach was one of empathy, asking questions, per sonifying the human that seemed to hate her so violently.

As she accompanied the neo-Nazi man littering anti-Mus lim fliers around their commu nity, she asked him why he was doing this. She asked him if it should bother her that the hate mail was literally attacking her very personhood as a Muslim woman. The man began to get very agitated at her line of questioning, because his answers sounded robotic and practiced, not coming from a place of personal lived experience. Their frequent encounters and Khan’s curiosity and empathetic de meanor led the two to become actual friends. He and many others eventually left the group and they are friends with Khan to thisNoneday.of the neo-Nazi mem bers actually knew any Muslim people, so their lived experience contradicted their stance of hate.

The man handing out fliers answered her questions about his life, illustrating a tragically typical experience of American poverty. His life was rife with the same traumas that were un covered in her Islamic extremist documentary, Jihad: A Story of the Others. All the members were mostly men who had not experienced safety in the basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter and two stable parents. No access to health care, educa tion, in and out of the prison sys tem, no sense of community or belonging. These are the victims that extremist groups prey on. If it’s a cult, a gang, a church or an extreme political or hate group, they all shop around for the lost souls of their communities to gainMostmembers.ofthe time, it’s the lack of human connection and belonging that sparks a desire to support such groups; they find themselves having a community for a common cause, often for the very first time in their lives. These groups use their traumas and exploit their anger and pain by directing the fault of this disenfranchisement to other poor and foreign individuals — with whom they actually have more in common than the right-wing, wealthy, white politicians they keep voting for.

Had these individuals lived within a society that was caring for and creating systems that supported the most vulnerable among us, they would not have experienced most of the traumas that led to this sort of blamegameLeadersvictimhood.ofany group need to re-examine their approach if they are using the tactic of hating the same people as a cause for connection and meaning. It is not a real connection, as many people know who have experi enced religious outcasting when expressing ideas or questioning a belief system that claims to be

“the only way.”

Sadly, Sandpoint isn’t im mune to this sort of division. Whether you’re a local or a transplant, white or a person of color, Democrat or Republican, for or against vaccinations, gay or straight, young or old, wealthy or poor, seasonal tourist or year-round resident, for or against rural development — we have been encouraged to be pitted against one another.

My vision for our community is one of realizing that we are all on the same side.

I saw it when my neigh borhood was under lockdown during the surge of COVID-19 and citizens were concerned that we were all healthy and getting groceries safely. I see it during these wildfires and other natural disasters, with people coming together in the face of tragedy to help one another. I see it when there’s a car accident, heavy snow or any inclement weather. In the face of human suffering, most of us don’t think twice about helping or caring or coming to the aid of the afflict ed. Their humanity is always honoredSo,I am asking you to make a case for the value of human connection. Instead of hating and fearing others who don’t agree with you in any arena, ask

yourself, “How can I show up and understand those who think differently in an attempt to make a connection that may actually dismantle their defenses and cre ate a different lived experience from their narrow ideology?”

Simply ask for understand ing. Sometimes their answers re veal contradictions in their own beliefs, making you an ally who can actually support a transition in their perceptions about the world around them.

Yes, there are reasons to be angry and frustrated with the status quo, especially for the vic tims of human rights inequality. But if we can understand where this hate comes from, we can add love to hopefully dismantle

it, not create more division by judgment and further perpetu ating the great human divide. When we shame someone who thinks differently from us, it immediately shuts down any chance for connection.

Is your goal to be right or to find common ground? That is an important distinction to make. Until we can agree on the approach of how to heal a divided country, all we can do locally is show love, as love is the only way.

Celebrate National Public Lands Day with Idaho Trails Association

By Reader Staff

The nonprofit organization Idaho Trails Association is looking for volunteers for a trail maintenance project for National Public Lands Day on Saturday, Sept. 24. ITA is recruiting vol unteers for a project on Boulder Meadows, a section of the Idaho

Centennial Trail in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. The volunteer crew will work to improve the tread and brush the trail. Afterward, the crew will enjoy refreshments together to celebrate public lands. No ex perience necessary to join.

boulder-meadows-fallidahotrailsassociation.org/event/Visittosignup.

Nishelle Gonzalez is a local business owner who contributes occasional essays on social issues.

Courtesy photo.

Science: Mad about

Banned Books, part II

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

It wasn’t my intention to leave you on a cliffhanger for a full week, but apparently my body had other plans. No longer incapacitated by an unfortunate act of biology, I have returned full of vim and vigor!

Drink your water, dear readers.Two weeks ago, we learned about Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s obsession with banning books, despite his penchant for keeping the very books he banned in his own personal collection. This week, we’ll learn about another mustachioed 20th-century monster that was hellbent on ridding the world of books that threatened his power: AdolfCensorshipHitler. by the Nazi Party began in earnest in May 1933. Earlier that year, Hitler had been appointed chancellor by President Paul von Hinden burg. Germany’s government is a pretty confusing thing for an outsider. Most of the German president’s duties are symbolic, though include some influen tial string-pulling, and the real power lies with the chancellor, who is appointed — but not con trolled — by the president.

In retrospect, it might seem like complete insanity to ap point someone like Hitler to the position of chancellor. At the time, it was an act of massive hubris and short-sighted polit ical gain. The Nazi Party was gaining momentum in Germany and it had secured enough seats to effectively lock down the rest of government. If you wanted to get something passed in parlia ment — then called the Reich

stag — you had to play ball with the GermanNazis. politicians at the time believed they could manipulate Hitler and the Nazi Party to serve their own ends. Unfortunately, for all of his evil intentions, Hitler was a keen political schemer.

Within months of his ap pointment as chancellor, Hitler manipulated passage of a huge number of laws in Germany to benefit the Nazis, and many of these were heavily supported by the German people. It was made illegal to mock Hitler or the Nazis. Meanwhile, any written correspondence or literature that portrayed Germany in an unflat tering way was swiftly censored and the author punished.

The stark contrast between Hitler and Stalin when it came to banning books was that Hitler made political theater of it in order to bolster his image at home. He convinced the Ger man people that certain books were harmful to them and their national pride and, on May 10, 1933, his supporters marched through the streets at night and burned more than 25,000 books in dozens of university towns.

The action had two distinct messages: this literature was not wanted in Nazi Germany, and this party will resort to violence against anyone that disagrees withTheit. most alarming thing about Nazi censorship was how complicit German librarians and public servants were in not only the removal, but the destruction of materials the party deemed “un-German.” This was the defining act that solidified Nazi power and paved the way for Hitler to declare himself führer of Germany, which he accom plished after Hindenburg’s death

in 1934 — merging the powers of the president and chancel lor, dissolving the democratic Weimar Republic and creating the authoritarian regime he had promised for years.

The apathy and complicitity of the German people at the time was one of the most chilling aspects of the Nazis’ rise to power. There was much to be gained by those who were in the good graces of the party. Many people were happy to let their neighbors’ houses burn down if it meant they got a bigger yard out of it — figuratively and, sometimes, literally.

Of course, this wasn’t true of every German — there were plenty of good people stuck in a bad situation — but enough people were complicit to allow some of the greatest atrocities in world history to take place.

All things considered, the escalation from violent fringe political activism to full-blown autocracy was a lightning-fast affair. World War II officially be gan with Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, just six years after Hitler made a show of burning books in the streets. The Nazis’ use of censorship was pivotal in their ability to ob fuscate facts and propagandize everything, which in turn led to the ease with which they took power and executed the atroci ties of the

ThoughHolocaust.hediedin 1856, German poet Heinrich Heine aptly described some of the events that were to come in his country: “Where one burns books, one will soon burn peo ple.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Heine was among the writers, thinkers and artists whose work the Nazis targeted for censor ship and destruction.

Despite the atrocities com mitted by the Nazis, their playbook is still being followed: suppressing information, threat ening violence, excluding “the others,” and using religion as a shield and sword for validation andItvindication.allbeginswith censoring books and blocking other infor mation that can hurt “the party,” whatever it might be.

If you really want to stick it

to Nazis, read a book. Read All Quiet On The Western Front. Read Franz Kafka. Read Bambi. Read Hemingway. Read some thing that makes you uncomfort able, because it makes you think. Then be vocal about it.

Stop by the library and check out the Banned Books display. You might even find a new favorite read for the coming autumn months.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner

Don’t know much about sunflowers? We can help!

•A young sunflower will al ways face the sun. This sun track ing is called heliotropism, which is a plant’s response to sunlight and corresponds to the directional growth of the •Scientistsplant.believe sunflowers participate in heliotropism due to an internal clock, similar to hu mans. This biological clock helps the plant grow to its fullest and receive the most energy possible.

•The plant moves by elon gating its stem during the day to support the moving head. In the morning, the east side of the stem will expand as the day goes on, allowing the head to shift west. At night, the west side of the stem will elongate to allow the head to move back east, where it will face the next morning, ready for anoth er day of tracking the sun.

•As sunflowers mature, they stop tracking the sun because their overall growth slows as they reach their peak. But one other

reason sunflowers cease their he liotropic ways is to cater to bees. Bees are five times more likely to land on a flower facing east than one facing west. This is because the flower will warm quicker from the morning sunlight and bees prefer warmer

•Sunflowersblossoms.arenative to the Americas, cultivated as far back as 3000 B.C.E. when they were developed for food, medicine, dye and oil. They were exported to the rest of the world by Spanish conquistadors around 1500.

•Sunflowers grow as tall as 16 feet, but one farmer named Hans-Peter Schiffer grew one in 2014 that reached 30 feet 1 inch, giving him the Guinness World Record for the third year in a row.

•Once the flower heads are empty of seeds, they can be con verted into disposable scrubbing pads for jobs too tough for your cleaning tools.

Worldwide 100,000 Poets for Change event planned for Sandpoint

By Reader Staff

Lost Horse Press and the Bonner County Hu man Rights Task Force are co-sponsoring a poetry/ music/art event Saturday, Sept. 24 to coincide with the 100,000 Poets For Change event taking place all over the world. On that day, more than 100,000 poets, artists and musicians in cities and small towns around the world will gather to promote peace, sustainabil ity and justice while calling for positive social, environmental, economic, political and personal change.

Those interested in reading a poem — either their own or someone else’s — singing an original song or introducing a piece of art are invited to contact Lost Horse Press at losthorsepress@mind spring.com to register.

The overarching theme for the pre sentation is positive change and the local theme for this year is “Peace.”

The open mic will take place at the Sandpoint Presbyterian Church on Fourth Avenue on Sept. 24 from 1-3 p.m, or until everyone’s voice is heard.

This year marks the 12th annual global event for 100,000 Poets for Change, a grassroots organization that brings com munities together to call for environmen tal, social and political change within the framework of peace, justice and sustain ability.An event that began primarily with poet organizers, 100,000 Poets for Change has grown into an interdisci plinary coalition with year round events, which include musicians, dancers, mimes, painters and photographers from around the world.

Chamber names Ting, Kelly Whitman as Business and Volunteer of the Month for Sept.

By Reader Staff

Since Ting came to Sandpoint in 2018, it has not only been a provider of fast fiber internet for the area, but also become an involved member of the community, donating to and partner ing with a number of local causes and organizations.Inhonorof the company’s phil anthropic commitments, the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce has named Ting as its Business of the Month for September.

“Ting’s culture is about giving back and being an active and engaged mem ber of every community they are in,” the chamber stated in an announcement.

Ting has memberships with the chamber, Bonner County Economic De velopment Corporation, Rotary Club of Ponderay and the Selkirk Association of Realtors. The company also helps spon sor more than 40 area events, including the Angels Over Sandpoint Lazy-A Fun Run, the Bonner County Fair and Rodeo, Bonner General Heart Ball, Lost in the ’50s, Festival at Sandpoint, Summer Music Series in Farmin Park, Pend Oreille Arts Council and Panida

events, the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, Ponderay Neighbor Day, the Lions Club andInmore.addition, Ting provides free inter net access to the Food Bank, the library and the VFW.

The chamber also named Kelly Whitman its Volunteer of the Month for September, highlighting her 27 years of service to the Festival at Sandpoint. The Festival recently honored Whitman as well, naming her 2022 Volunteer of the Year.Whitman serves as the Festival’s front gate co-chair, helping coordinate, schedule and train about 75 volunteers per night — all while managing the challenges faced by the front gate.

“Kelly and her volunteer staff handle it with grace and professionalism,” the chamber stated.

The success of the Festival relies on its staff and board, as well as a team of 500 volunteers, including supervisors and volunteer chairpersons.

Above left: Ting city manager for greater Sandpoint Kari Saccomanno accepts an award from Bob Witte.

Above right: Kelly Whitman was named Volunteer of the Month for September. Courtesy photos.

CHAFE 150, Sandpoint Rotary donates $80K to LPOSD

By Ben Olson Reader

SandpointStaff

Rotary presented Lake Pend Oreille School District with a check Sept. 21 for $80,000 to help support the Book Trust reading program. The money was made possible thanks to the annual CHAFE 150 Gran Fondo bicy cle ride, which raised the funds through its charity event that has funneled well over $1 million into education initiatives in the district over its 15-year span.

“In the early years, when Panhandle Alliance for Education sponsored this ride, the funds went to help fund the kindergarten pro gram,” said ride co-founder Brad Williams. “Then we sponsored programs for autism. Now, after the Sandpoint Rotary has taken the ride on, I’m proud we’re sup porting the Book Trust program. Through this ride you’ve helped an entire generation of Sandpoint kids. What a legacy.”

Williams lauded the army of volunteers who work year round to make the CHAFE 150 such a success.“Ifany of you out there have a passion for riding or the cause, or simply want to be with a group of people working toward a common goal, please talk to one of our ride committee members,” Williams told the crowd at the Sandpoint Rotary meeting. “We need you.”

Hope Elementary School Prin cipal Sherri Hatley shared how vital the Book Trust program is for local“Thisschoolchildren.programhelps create an opportunity for kids to build in terest-based libraries in their own home,” Hatley said. “When they go home from school, they have

books they are interested in reading. They can curl up with a good book every night, alone or with their parents.”Withthe program, which was offered to the second grade classes of all seven elementary schools in the district, students are given $7 to spend on books they can take home every month. Hatley said the pro gram reached 266 students last year, putting an estimated 5,000 more books in kids’ hands.

Kelly O’Keefe, CEO and pres ident of the National Book Trust program, said she was thrilled to share the celebration of a commu nity deeply committed to reading.

“When Book Trust first started over 20 years ago, our mission was consistent,” O’Keefe said.

“To engage every child in Book Trust, cultivating a lifelong habit of reading.”Startingwith just 171 students in three Colorado schools, the pro gram is now offered in 17 states, supporting 144,000 students across the LPOSDnation.hasfeatured the Book Trust program since the 20142015 school year, with some years offering the program to multiple grades. The COVID-19 pandem ic resulted in the program being scaled back to just one grade level in 2021-2022 — a situation that Hatley hopes will be temporary.

“Our goal is to get back to pre-COVID numbers …. to fund four grade levels, which will add over 20,000 books to our com munity annually and help over 1,000 students build their personal libraries,” Hatley said.

One LPOSD teacher gave a

video testimony about her second grade class’ experience with the program. Not only did the program get kids excited about reading, she said, but it also helped them budget money, because they only have $7 per month to spend, which some can stretch into five or six books, depending on deals they find.

Hatley said LPOSD is the only district in the state participating in Book Trust, and achievement test results show it working wonders. When comparing third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades around the state, students in LPOSD scored around 10% higher in each grade level than the state averages. Furthermore, the Idaho reading

From left to right: Mel Dick, Dr. Becky Meyer, Karen Quill, Sherri Hatley and Sandpoint Rotary Club President Donna Lorenz, presenting a check to LPOSD for $80,000. Photo by Ben Olson.

indicator for LPOSD was 74%, while the state aver ages“On68%.behalf of the school district, Book Trust and the students, we wanted to say thank you so very, very much,” Hatley said. “You are helping create the joy of learning and sharing it with others.”

Dirt-y Secrets

Early fall routines for healthy plants and animals

By Ranel Hanson Reader Columnist

The light has changed and the nights have cooled. It is a glorious time of transition. Summer is winding down but we still have lots of warm days to spend in the garden. Now is the time to trim, water deeply, weed and enjoy the last blossoms of summer. It is made all the more sweet because we know a change is coming. We could have frost, but probably not. Still, have frost cloth at the ready for covering plants that are tender. If a frost happens, it will likely be light and of short duration.

I stop fertilizing almost everything in September. The exception is lawns. When the weather cools and rain is in the forecast, fertil ize (organically) for a green spring lawn. The earth and our lake will thank you for not using herbicides. I say, “If it’s green, mow it.”

For the flower baskets, roses and every other blooming thing, no fertilizer until spring. New growth stimulated by fertilizer will freeze quickly. The plant needs to harden off to protect itself for waiting out the winter.

Of course, tender annuals can’t survive for long when the weather turns, as it must. Save their seeds. Then, to the compost bin they go. Hollyhock seeds are especially easy to save. Just let the seed pods dry on the plant, then store them in a dry place over the winter.

If you planted sunflowers, they are

finished blooming — but don’t throw them away quite yet. Birds love them and they need that extra sustenance to survive the winter. I cut the stalks and weave them into my fence for easy access for the birds and the squirrels.

No need to fill your feeders with seed yet, because food is plentiful in the form of seeds and berries. But, if you live in the country, be aware of bears that are fattening up for the winter. They will visit your feeder and likely destroy it as they gobble those nutritious seeds. It seems that bears can smell sunflow er seeds a mile away.

Gladiolus and dahlias will need to be lifted when their foliage dies back. They can’t survive winter in the garden, so you must store them in a garage or shed that stays above freezing. Keep them dry and cover them with sawdust or dry soil until ready to plant in spring. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, alliums, lilies and other bulbs can stay in place and sleep away the cold months. I spread a layer of mulch and a sprinkling of bone meal over the top of all bulbs. Spring will bring gorgeous color.

If you put tender houseplants out in the garden for summer, now is the time to plan to bring them inside. At the first sign of frost, put them back in their winter home. It is a good idea to spray them with insecti cidal soap first to avoid bringing freeloading pests

Hereinside.isthe recipe to make that your

self , courtesy of Meyla Johnston: 2.5 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2.5 tablespoons Doctor Bronner’s plain soap and 1 gallon of water (distilled is best). I put the solution in a spray bottle and drench the plants the day before I bring them inside.

Some ornamental trees suffered this summer. The wet, cold spring followed by the hot, dry summer, made them vulnerable to pests and diseases. As an example, I have a beautiful, mature, tricolor beech tree in my backyard. It has always been the very picture of health — until this year. I noticed it looking a little sickly (leaves wilting, browning and dropping) even after the deep watering I had been doing. Upon closer inspection, I found an aphid problem.

I don’t use poisons, so I decided to experiment with the high-pressure sprayer. It worked! Here’s what I did: I simply blasted the whole tree with the highest pressure I could muster. Since aphids cling to the un derside of leaves, standing under the tree was very effective. And, I didn’t mind getting wet on a 100-degree day.

On the other hand, my 3-year-old mag nolia is thriving and re-blooming, as if it is spring. Beautiful magenta buds cover this lit tle six-foot tree and our resident moose seems to have no appetite for it. No aphids or other pests, either, and all it needs is fish emulsion fertilizer and deep watering. Hurray for the hardy! The hibiscus are thriving, too.

Enjoy this early fall.

Taylor and Sons Chevrolet donates car to Sandpoint Football Foundation

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

It’s always fun to win a raffle, but when it’s a brand new car? Well, that’s about as good as it gets.

Taylor and Sons Chevrolet donated a 2022 Chevrolet Equinox to the nonprofit Sandpoint Football Foun dation — the second year in a row the dealership has donated a vehicle to the organization, which supports more than 200 youth participants between seventh and 12th grades. The proceeds from the raffle will go toward supplying state-of-the-art equipment, allevi ating costs of participation for players, team meals, clinics for coaches and more.

This year’s raffle raised a whopping $150,000 for the Thefoundation.winning

ticket turned out to be held by Dustin and Laura Reichart, who accepted the new Chevrolet at the drawing held Sept. 16 at War Memorial Field.

“On a large donation such as this, we wanted to benefit the largest number of student athletes,” said Brett Taylor, general manager at Taylor and Sons. “For that and because of the past participation in the

A hearty hibiscus. Courtesy photo.

football program by myself and my brothers Chad and Tucker, as well as growing up with Coach Knowles, we wanted to support this wor thy organization and benefit a big group of kids.”

Jane Taylor draws the winning ticket as dad Brett looks on in the background. Also photographed are team moms Heather Chapman and Darcey Smith. Photo by Jason Duchow Photography.

NIMSEF aims to connect kids with snowsports

By Reader Staff

People come from all over to enjoy North Idaho’s world-class outdoor activ ities. However, a large percentage of the children growing up with Schweitzer in their “backyard” never experience what the slopes provide.

Skiing and snowboarding are simply too expensive for many North Idaho fami lies, but North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund, Inc. was founded to give local kids greater access to the mountain.

“We believe this not only provides the child with a lifelong activity, but it gives the child a sense of belonging, accom plishment and pride,” according to the nonprofit, “all of which can help children do better in school, stay off drugs and have a good work ethic by allowing them to work for a portion of their tuition and participate in Schweitzerfundraising.”haspartnered with NIM SEF to set up a tuition-reduced program that will enroll scholarship students in eight weeks of all-day lessons. All children aged 7-17 who qualify based on

economic need and live in Bonner and Boundary counties can receive a season pass, bus pass, equipment rental and the lesson program via Schweitzer and NIMSEF.Theprogram

created by Schweitzer puts the children in groups of similar age and ability, and the group stays with the same certified instructor for the entire program. The program takes place on ei ther Saturday or Sunday, but the pass and equipment rental are valid all season.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, NIMSEF is governed by a volunteer board of directors who receive zero compensation for their efforts. Expenses for the group are mini mal, allowing the majority of donations to directly benefit the children it sponsors.

“Any donations you wish to give to this worthy cause are greatly appreciated and will help North Idaho children realize the dream of being a part of something special,” the organization stated.

Donations can be sent to North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund, Inc. (NIMSEF) P.O. Box 170 Ponderay, ID 83852.

Round Lake event helps fight against invasive species

By Reader Staff

Round Lake State Park officials are asking for help in the ongoing fight against invasive snails and plants, which are crowding out native and more desirable species at the park.

Park managers are partnering with the Idaho Department of Agriculture on National Public Lands Day on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., targeting the removal of trapdoor/Asian mystery snails, curly-leaf pondweed, spotted knapweed, thistle and mullein. “Giving Back Together” is the theme for 2022, the 29th year of the event.

Volunteers should meet at the Pon derosa Shelter — located on the right at the entrance to the park, 1880 Dufort Road in Sagle — where a brief orienta tion will occur before the work begins. Participants should bring gloves, a reus able water bottle, wear rubber boots or waders if working in the lake, or bring sturdy hiking shoes for working on the trails. Attendees should be prepared for

all weather conditions.

Pizza and salad will be provided by Babs’ Pizzeria in Sandpoint and snacks and drinks will be supplied by Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market. Addition ally, 7B Hauling will provide a dump ster for the bagged plants and snails.

Volunteers will have the chance to win items at a raffle during the event, and donations of gift certificates or items for the raffle are being accepted.

See the event posting on the website of the National Environmental Educa tion Foundation, and on Round Lake’s Facebook page. For more information, email the park at rou@idpr.idaho.gov or call 208-263-3489.

Round Lake State Park. Courtesy photo.

On a roll

Thai Nigiri’s sushi lunch special is one of the best deals in town

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

A lunch under $15 is becoming rarer and rarer these days, which is why Thai Nigiri’s sushi lunch special is one of our go-to meals in Sandpoint. Offering sushi and Thai food, along with a smattering of other entrees, Thai Nigiri has become a staple on First Avenue.Itmight surprise some to know that sushi didn’t originate in Japan, but rather in Southeast Asia and China. The practice of making sushi is estimated to have started as early as 500 B.C.E. in the rice growing regions somewhere along the Mekong River. The technique of fermenting fish in rice then made its way to Japan via China sometime around the eighth century C.E.

There are actually six types of sushi: narezushi, nigirizushi, makizushi, chi rashizushi and oshizushi Narezushi is the oldest type, involving fermented fish and rice, in which the rice is discarded before eating. Nigirizushi, or hand-pressed sushi, is one of the most popular in modern times. It consists of an oblong mound of sushi rice, hand-pressed, with a topping placed over it (such as sashimi). Maikizushi is also common, consisting of a cylindrical roll of meat, veggies and rice wrapped in thin nori. Conversely, uramaki is served with the rice on the Lessoutside.common is chirashizushi, or “scattered” sushi, which is served in a bowl with vinegared rice topped with raw fish slices and garnishes. Oshizushi is pressed sushi, made by layering toppings into a wooden mold and covering them with sushi rice, then pressing the lid to create compact blocks. Finally, inarizushi is named after

the Shinto god Inari. It’s made of a pouch of deep-fried tofu filled with sushi rice.

As its name suggests, Thai Nigiri mostly serves nigirizushi, cut into bite-size pieces with wasabi and pickled ginger on the side. One can choose from 10 rolls to take advan tage of the lunch special, which offers any two rolls with a potsticker for $12.95. Each roll comes with six pieces, and additions are possible with a small additional charge.

Reader Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone and I ordered a selection of rolls to sample the different flavors on offer. Here are some of our notes from the rolls we ordered:

California roll

This is the “entry level” roll for many who haven’t discovered their love of sushi. Rolled with the rice outside, this form is largely responsible for spreading sushi throughout the Western world. At Thai Ni giri, the California roll is light and refresh ing, with the mild tastes of crab, cucum bers and avocado pairing nicely around a simple nori and rice wrap. The fishiness is very light, but enough to remind you that you’re eating fish.

Spicy tuna roll

Very similar to the California roll, and one of the most ordered sushi rolls in history, the spicy tuna roll contains tuna and cucumbers, with just a touch of spice. I hate to use the word “basic” when describ ing this roll, because it is quite delicious, but there’s very little complexity. The tuna flavor is subdued and easy, and there really isn’t much spice to speak of.

Shrimp tempura

For those who enjoy a breaded crunch around their shrimp, this one is delightful.

Rolled with rice on the outside, the tem pura breaded shrimp is joined with crab, cucumbers, yum yum and eel sauce. This is the most “comfort food” type of sushi I can imagine, with the tempura crunch providing a salty, hot counterpoint to the cold rice and other ingredients.

Tempura California

Now we enter the territory of deepfried sushi rolls, which has taken off in recent years in the West. Containing crab, yum yum and eel sauce, the entire roll is lightly breaded and deep fried to provide a wonderful crunch with every bite. The eel sauce gives it a sweet and salty flavor, which is complimented by the creaminess of the yum yum sauce. Deep fried rolls also come hot, which is a nice change from other rolls, which arrive at cooler temperatures. There is very little fish smell or flavor in the tempura California, making it a great one for the kiddos.

Spicy tuna tempura

Another deep-fried roll, the spicy tuna tempura is the spicy tuna roll with yum yum and eel sauce, lightly breaded and deepfried. The flavor combinations are great with this one, but again, I’d hesitate to call it “spicy.” I would like to see a bit more crunch on the breading, without overpower ing the internal flavors.

Spicy baked yellowtail

Hagadone’s tasting notes are as fol lows: “Creamy texture from the yellowtail topping and just slightly warm. Pleasant spiciness that unfolds from within, rather than hits or kicks from the start. Just a hint of sweetness. Like comfort sushi. One of the most umami of the rolls I’ve had. Tem

pura can sometimes taste like fishy pastry with too much dough, this is much more subtle and does actually feel baked, rather than breaded.”

Spicy salmon

More of Hagadone’s tasting notes: “Bright and clean-tasting. The dollop of sriracha on top is a direct, immediate spike of spice right on the tongue. Kind of over whelms the rest of the roll, which doesn’t have much going on inside to contend with the sriracha. Actually, I kind of preferred it when I scraped off some of the hot sauce.”

Whether taking advantage of the lunch special, ordering one of the dozens of other sushi choices or tapping into its Thai offer ings, Thai Nigiri is also a great choice for a simple take-out dinner or sit-down date night.

Thai Nigiri just announced it was bring ing back sushi on Mondays and Tuesdays, which means both Thai food and sushi will be available six days a week. The updated hours are Monday-Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.2:30 p.m. for lunch, 4-8 p.m. for dinner; and Thursday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for lunch, 4-9 p.m. for dinner. Call 208-265-2587 to order take out, or dine in at 209 N. First Ave. Menus are available on Thai Nigiri’s Facebook page.

Above left: The spicy baked yellowtail roll (top) and spicy salmon roll (bottom).

Above right: The spicy tuna tempura roll (top) and tempura California roll (bottom).

Photos by Ben Olson.

Take a trip to ‘Garlic Heaven’

Snow Valley Garlic to host two-day tasting event in Priest River

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader

FromStaffspaghetti

sauce to hummus, garlic has a way of taking culinary creations to the next level. Even better? Knowing that garlic came straight from North Idaho soil.

Snow Valley Garlic in Priest River is making local, garlicky goodness possible and inviting the public to see the magic for themselves during the A Taste of Garlic event, happening Saturday, Sept. 24 and Sunday, Sept. 25 at 1007 Snow Valley Road. The farm — dubbed Garlic Heaven by owner Nina Messner — will be open to visitors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days. There is no cost to attend.

Messner said there will be six varieties of locally grown garlic to sample, while the farm — the largest of its kind in Idaho — actually grows 28 varieties.

“Each garlic variety tastes different,” she said, “like apples.”

Apart from the actual garlic tasting, A Taste of Garlic will also feature live music, wine, beer, and local food and handmade

goods for purchase. Because the farm is re mote, only cash or checks will be accepted.

To learn more about Snow Valley Garlic, visit snowvalleygarlic.com. Those with questions about A Taste of Garlic can contact Messner at 208-254-1006 or 208448-1945.

Photo courtesy Snow Valley Garlic.

Sept. 22-29, 2022

THURSDAY, september 22

Live Stand Up Comedy w/ Alex Falcone

7pm @ The Pearl Theater (Bonners Ferry)

As seen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Presented by Mattox Farm Prod.

Thursday Trivia Night

5pm @ Paddler’s Alehouse

Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra to present selections from Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in December concert

Live Music w/ John Daffron 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

#No2ndBridge Talk 6-8pm @ Gardenia Center WildIdahoRisingTide.org

BGH Scrub Sale • 8am-4pm @ BGH classroom

Scrubs, stethescopes, hats, shoes and more. Pay with payroll deduction, cash and checks

FriDAY, september 23

Live Stand Up Comedy w/ Alex Falcone

7pm @ The Heartwood Center

As seen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Presented by Mattox Farm Prod.

The Importance of Being Earnest play 7pm @ The Panida Theater

The Oscar Wilde classic, presented by Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theater. $25

Live Music w/ Molly Starlite Band 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

MCS Guitar Raffle Drawing

Buy tix @ Sdpt. Music Conservatory

Tap Takeover & Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin

5-9pm @ The Back Door

Featuring Pelican Brewery. Tap Takeover from 5-7pm, Music from 7-9pm

Karaoke

8pm-cl @ Tervan

Live Music w/ Okay, Honey 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Southside Elementary Fall Festival

3-7pm @ Southside Elementary

A community gathering place for fam ilies at the south end of LPOSD. Kid activities, food trucks and more!

Conservatory Concert Series

7pm @ Little Carnegie Hall (MCS)

20th Century French Bijoux for flute and piano. Intimate cabaret-style seating event with curated selection of French wines

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market

9am-1pm @ Farmin Park

Fresh produce, artisan goods, live music by Matt Lome

SATURDAY, september 24

The Importance of Being Earnest play 7pm @ The Panida Theater

The Oscar Wilde classic, presented by Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theater. $25

Live Music w/ Mike and Sadie 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

A Taste of Garlic event (Sept. 24-25) 11am-4pm @ Snow Valley Garlic snowvalleygarlic.com for more info

Live Music w/ Sam Carston & Brian Jacobs 7-9pm @ The Back Door

Sandpoint Chess Club

100,000 Poets for Change open mic 1-3pm @ First Prebyterian Church A nationwide event promoting peace

Live Music w/ Truck Mills & Carl Rey 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Direct Action Training 2-5pm @ Gardenia Center WildIdahoRisingTide.org

Karaoke

8pm-cl @ Tervan

SunDAY, september 25

9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am

Seventh Panhandle Paddle 10am-12pm @ City Beach & Dog Beach WildIdahoRisingTide.org

Remembering Dann Hall

2-4pm @ Sandpoint City Beach pavilion Bring a potluck, stories to share and may be a chair to remember our own Dann Hall

Magic with StarAlexander 5-8pm @ Jalapeño’s

Karaoke

8pm-cl @ Tervan

monDAY, september 26

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s A discussion about “Anger”

Group Run @ Outdoor Experience 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome, beer after

wednesDAY, september 28

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market

Benny on the Deck • 6-8pm @ Connie’s

By Reader Staff

Fall may be in the air, but the Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra is gearing up for its annual Christmas concert. This year the entire concert will consist of selections from Handel’s “Messiah,” and now is the chance for community mem bers to join the group.

This year marks nearly 30 years since the Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra began offering free concerts to the public.

Both orchestra and chorale releases will take place at the Mormon church on North Boyer Avenue (across from the fairgrounds). The first rehearsal for the orchestra is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 25 from 2-4 p.m., where the music and schedule of rehearsals will be provided and reviewed. Anyone with string orches tral experience is encouraged to attend. Every effort will be made to accommo date all orchestral instruments.

The first chorale rehearsal will be

on Monday, Oct. 3 and every Monday evening thereafter, except Halloween from 6-8 p.m., until the concerts. Al though there are a limited number of choral scores to be loaned out to singers, organizers ask that participants purchase their own scores if possible — available online and identified as the Kalmus vocal score No. 6211.

Thirty years ago, before the name was even adopted, Mark and Caren Reiner formed a group of musicians to perform selections from Handel’s “Messiah.” This group formed the nucleus of what became POCO. It is a dedicated group of musi cians from North Idaho who donate their time and talent to perform quality classical music twice a year.

Although the “Messiah” has been given many times since then, a policy was made to present it only once every five years in order to allow other excellent Christmas music to be heard. The time has arrived to present selections from it again.

3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park

Featuring guest Kerry Leigh Open Mic w/ Frytz

6pm @ Tervan

Live Piano w/ Paul Young 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

THURSDAY, september 29

Thursday Trivia Night 5pm @ Paddler’s Alehouse

Wilde-ly entertaining

By Ben Olson Reader

FollowingStaff on the success of their inaugural success with Young Frankenstein, Keely Gray and her Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theatre are swinging for the fenc es with the next offering, Oscar Wilde’s iconic comedy about mistaken identity, The Importance of Being Earnest. The play will show two consecutive weekends, with showtimes at 7 p.m. on Friday-Saturday, Sept. 23-24 and again Friday-Saturday, Sept. 30Oct. 1 at the Panida Theater.

First performed in 1895, Wilde’s play is just as madcap today as it was 127 years ago. When two women are in love with the same mythical suitor named Earnest, two men both attempt to woo them, posing as Earnest and bluffing their way into the ladies’ hearts. Or so they think.

For Gray, the choice to produce The Importance of Being Earnest was a “I’veno-brainer.lovedthis play for a real ly long time,” Gray told the Read er. “After Young Frankenstein, I just wanted to do something that’s pureThoughfun.” written 200 years later, Gray compared Wilde’s writing to Shakespeare’s, saying it was a bit more“It’s“accessible.”funnyhow this play relates to nowadays,” she said. “We are who we put out to the world, and, in Victorian England, everything was about status. All the finagles the characters endthemselvesgetintoupbeing the truth — you realize they’re all telling the truth the entire time, even though they think they’re lying their asses off.”

Holly Beaman will play Gwen dolen, after playing Igor in Young Frankenstein

“She’s very happy she gets to be pretty and feminine this time,” GrayCourtneynoted. Roberts plays Cecily Cardew, making the transition from working backstage to acting.

Longtime performer Michael Bigley plays Jack Worthing, a role especially suited to him.

Michael has acted in and directed a multitude of shows in Sandpoint, mostly Shakespeare, and he also teaches English at [Forrest M. Bird] Charter School,” Gray said. “He wasn’t gunning for Jack in the audition, but he read it once and blew it away.”

Marsha Meury will play one of Wilde’s funniest characters, Lady Bracknell, who has long, drawnout monologues and, “thinks she’s so smart, but she contradicts herself over and over again,” Gray said. “The Dame Judi Dench played her in the movie, so that should give you an indication of thisMeredithcharacter.”Field plays Miss Prism, Cecily’s governess and Steve Hammond plays Dr. Canon Chasuble, two characters who end up falling in love and have a fun dynamicFirst-timetogether.performer McCal

lum Morgan takes on the role of Lane the Butler and Erich Shrack plays Merriman, the other butler.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Friday-Saturday, Sept. 23-24; Friday-Saturday, Sept. 30-Oct. 1; 7 p.m., $20; Panida Theater, 300 N.First Ave., panida.org. More info at lporep.org.

The play reunites Gray with several actors who performed in Young Frankenstein, including Corey Repass playing Algernon Moncreiff.“Wehad Corey grow a mustache for this part. The name ‘Algernon’ means ‘man with mustache,’ so Corey really had no choice in the matter,” Gray said.

For backstage crew, Renee Bentley took on the task of cos tume designer, puttingamazingtogetherVictorian outfits that really up the stage pro duction.“The work she’s done is amazing,” Gray said. “We’re really lucky to have her.”

Engineer Lee Savage is the set designer, who used his skills in CAD software to develop a set that is intuitive and easy to transition between scenes. Tim Bangle took on lights and sound design, adding a dramatic underscore to the play which enhances the mood of the scenes remarkably. Props designer Myriah Bell worked closely with Savage to add realism to their pe

riod set designs and Sarah Morgan held the crew and cast together in her role as stage manager.

Gray lives and breathes theater — in which she obtained a degree — and said that working with such talented people is what motivates her to keep bringing quality pro ductions to the Panida’s main stage.

“One of the things that is driving me is seeing the future of theater and art in Sandpoint,” Gray said. “That’s what keeps my heart beating right now. There is so much talent and resources here.

… I’ve always said my dream was to do what I love and be happy, and if I can keep doing theater and help the arts thrive in Sandpoint, I’mGrayhappy.”said The Importance of Being Earnest is a play everyone can enjoy, especially those who may not attend live theater very often.

“When theater was created during the time of the Greeks, it was created as a form of catharsis, this deep emotional understanding of your circumstance and how you rec oncile with the world,” Gray said.

The cast of The Importance of Being Ear nest, playing at the Panida Theater Sept. 23-24, Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Courtesy photo.

“Theater was created to give people a safe place to feel. To this day, I feel that is still true,” she added. “Yes, movies are amazing, but there is something very differ ent about experiencing an emo tional event in a group of people. … Theater is a great example of that. You’re told a story on stage and you’re allowed permission to feel something.”

National stand-up comic Alex Falcone to perform shows in Bonners and Sandpoint

By Reader PortlandStaffiskind

of far away from Sandpoint, so we can be excused for maybe not recog nizing comedian Alex Falcone as Portland’s Funniest Person, which he was named in 2018. Los Angeles is even farther away, which is where Falcone relocated to inThat2019.said, practically everyone has access to Portlandia — on which Falcone appeared in several episodes as one of co-star Fred Armisen’s “nerdy friends” — and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, on which he made his late-night debut in July 2020 with what was apparently a ground breaking set comprised of saying nice things about his “objectively great” wife.

If none of that rings a bell, local audiences will have two chances to get to know Falcone in person when he per forms Thursday, Sept. 22 at the Pearl Theater (7160 Ash St., in Bon ners Ferry) and Friday, Sept. 23 at the CenterHeartwood(615 Oak St., in Sandpoint).

Both shows start at 7 p.m. and tickets cost $15 in advance or $20 at the door. That’s a pretty good deal to see a performer who, by his own descrip tion, is “currently the only comedian and writer living in Los Angeles” and has a Salt & Straw ice cream flavor named after him — “just one of the many things he has in common with The Rock.”

Falcone’s routine, while objec tively great, is not so suitable for kids.For more info on Falcone, visit alexfalcone.ninja. Get advance tickets for the Bonners show at alexfalconeatthepearl.bpt.me and the Sandpoint show at coneattheheartwood.bpt.me.alexfal

LPO Repertory Theatre to perform The Importance of Being Earnest at the Panida

Alex Falcone. Courtesy photo.

Conservatory Concert Series coming to Little Carnegie Concert Hall

By Reader Staff

With the launch of the Conser vatory Concert Series, the newly redesigned Little Carnegie Con cert Hall at the Music Conservato ry of Sandpoint is poised to share music with the community for years to come. Consisting of eight performances each year, the series showcases the highest caliber in classical performance by MCS faculty and guest artists.

The inaugural Conservatory Concert Series event, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23, will be “20th Century French Bijoux for Flute and Piano,” with Gosia Dauksza and Matthew Goodrich on flute and piano, respectively.

“In this program, these power house musicians take on some of the most virtuosic and distinctive music composed for these two instruments together,” according to concert organizers.

As Dauksza said, the audi ence will enjoy “a impressionismtheharmoniescascades,featuringattractiveofmusicalsatisfyingbouquetinnovativeandworksdazzlinglusciousandessenceofand

ConcertConservatorySeries

‘20th Century French Bijoux for Flute and Piano,’ with Gosia Dauksza and Matthew Goodrich; Friday, Sept. 23; 7-9 p.m.; $30 adults, $15 students. Music Con servatory of Sandpoint-Little Car negie Concert Hall, 110 Main St., 208-265-4444. Get tickets at the MCS office or sandpointcon servatory.org/events.

café music — all served up with trademark French gentility.”“AnEvening in the Gardens

of Spain” continues the series on Friday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m., pre senting Matthew Goodrich, who, following his university doctoral research, has performed French and Spanish piano repertoire over the past thesic”ageSpain’shighlightingodyguestjoinedGoodrichUnitedthroughoutdecadetheStates.willbebyspecialpianistMelPuller.Theprogram,“goldenofpianomuattheturnof20thcentury,

promises “a few surprises along

the way” while displaying tech nical wizardry, vivid colors and rhythms, and traditional dances.

Both concerts feature intimate, cabaret-style seating, with a curat ed selection of French and Spanish wines available for purchase. Seat ing is limited to 70 attendees, and advance tickets are recommended. Tickets are available online orsandpointconservatory.org/eventsatmaybereservedduringbusi

ness hours at the MCS office.

The new Little Carnegie Concert Hall, accommodating up to 90 concertgoers, is acoustically optimized to showcase musical talent from around the region, nation and world.

Little Carnegie is located on

the ground floor at 110 Main St., in downtown Sandpoint, within a historical building that houses 18 teaching studios and rehearsal rooms, which support private mu sic study as well as a wide variety of groups including youth choirs, orchestra, contemporary ensem bles, and handbell and percussion troupes.“The resonant, intimate per formance space inspires future generations of musicians while engaging the public with fabulous performances,” MCS stated.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

When it comes to live blues in Sandpoint, it doesn’t get any better than Truck Mills and Carl Rey. As the longtime host of Eichardt’s Monday Night Blues Jam, Mills has built a following for his intri cate guitar playing, smooth voice and gentle style. You’ll never meet a more humble man who plays such a fantastic guitar.

Paired with Rey, who fronted the band Carl Rey and the Blues Gators (with which Mills also

played), this duo is dynamite. Rey’s strong vocals and power ful harmonica sound pairs nicely with everything Mills does — it all works because these two have been making excellent music together for decades.

— Ben 6:30-9:30Olsonp.m.,

FREE. Mick Duff’s Beer Hall, 220 Cedar St., 208-209-6700, mickduffs.com. Listen at truckmills.com.

If the sound created by Band of Comerados could be bottled, it’d probably be in a big ol’ mason jar with a hand-written label simply stating: “Northwest Bluegrass.”ThisPortland, Ore.-based quartet embodies the amalgama tion of West Coast progressive bluegrass, jamgrass, tub-thump ing Americana and late-20th-cen tury folk-rock. We promise you haven’t heard this level of finger-picking; this much fiery

fiddle; or this kind of rock-steady, hoedown-worthy bass work in one place at one time maybe ever.

When the Comerados come to the 219 Lounge on Saturday, Sept. 24, be prepared for a goodtime jam of big-grass propor tions.

— Zach Hagadone

9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208-263-5673, 219.bar. Listen at bandofcomerados.com.

his

tory” has a nasty ring to it, so we’re going to call Circe, by Madeline Miller, university-trainedmythology.”“reimaginedMillerisaclassicist, which

she brings to bear through vivid, lyrical prose in her riveting novel based on the titular witch-goddess of the Greek Heroic Age. Circe gets a bad, or at best ambivalent, rap in Homer’s iconic Odyssey, but Miller flips the script and discovers a deep ly sympathetic (and bewitching) character in her muse.

LISTENWATCH

The Star Wars-Industrial Com plex is at it again, this time with the Sept. 21 premiere of Disney+ streaming series Andor — a pre quel to the 2016 feature film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which it self was a prequel to the first install ment of the original trilogy, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. For those playing along at home, An dor is a spinoff prequel of a spinoff prequel of the first film in the Star Wars universe, which ended up be ing the fourth of nine films in the “Skywalker Saga,” so it was both a prequel and a sequel. Will Andor be good? Some early reviews say it’s the best spinoff yet and, with Star thing.somesayingreallythat’sWars,“Revisionist

Hurray for the Riff Raff is one of those bands that’s been around for a long time — its first album drop ping in 2007 — but which many of its fans consider undervalued. Or maybe that’s just this fan, who thinks the band’s 2022 release Life on Earth is among the most vibrant, inventive and evocative albums by any artists of any genre currently producing work. They call it “na ture punk,” and really needs to be heard to be described, but it may just be called naturally great.

Truck Mills & Carl Rey, MickDuff’s Beer Hall, Sept. 24 Band of Comerados, 219 Lounge, Sept. 24

The Conservatory Concert Series per formance Friday, Sept. 23 will feature Matthew Goodrich, left, and Gosia Dauksza, right. Courtesy photo.

BACK OF THE BOOK

One error to rule them all

What I learned by misspelling J.R.R. Tolkien’s name

From Kootenai County Republican, 1899

SEEN TOWNHEARDANDABOUT

The Haynes palace studio car is in the city today.

Mrs. Abbie Ellert is visiting friends in Spokane this week.

J.C. Lane and family have moved into their new residence.

A new sidewalk is being built in front of the Wishard hotel.

King Hotu, the best 5-cent cigar in town, is now at the Post office store.C.L.

Heitman is having a sub stantial barn erected on his proper ty in

Travelingtown.

auditor George Weir of the Northern Pacific was in the city Thursday.OwenLavin,

N.P. section fore man, spent several days visiting friends at Cheney, Wash. this week.

Prof. F.A. McCall, principal of the Post Falls schools, was trans acting business in the city Saturday.

William Hays has lumber on the round for a new residence on the north side of Railroad avenue.

County commissioners held a special session the first of the week, all three members were present.Mrs.

D.L. Masterson of Spokane was visiting her grand-daughter, Mrs. O. Hill, several days this week.

By Zach Hagadone Reader

WhenStaffIscrewed

up and spelled “Tolkien” wrong exactly seven times (including in the headline) of a TV review in the Sept. 8 paper, my first impulse was to dig a 6-foot3-inch-long grave and crawl into it. Remem bering that I had kids to get to school the next morning and a wife who might miss me — at least at first — I reckoned live burial wasn’t an immediately viable option.

Instead, I posted my mea culpa to Face book:“I

have mad many stupid errors in my 20+ years as an editor and reporter. Probably more than should be allowed for me to claim those vocations in good faith. One time, I declared Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth dead before she actually died (but only by three years). The big one was when I transmitted the wrong lottery numbers to every paper, radio station and TV news program in the state, back when I was a 22-year-old AP staffer in Boise. … Somehow, this error feels worse than all the others.”

Social media, and the wider internet for that matter, rarely lives up to its initial uto pian ideal of fostering human oneness. This time, somehow, it kind of did. Rather than being made fun of for my stupid mistake, others shared their own public embarrass ments, which made me feel less alone in my shame — particularly when it came from fellow writers and editors, whose identities I willOneprotect.prominent local writer recalled being assigned to take a photo of Sarah Pal in’s childhood home in Sandpoint, which she did. However, she took a picture of the wrong house and, after the photo was pub

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lished, the resident started receiving Palin fans on her lawn. No one was pleased.

Another friend who works in market ing told me that the first ad she designed featured the phrase, “all you can eat crap,” rather than “all you can eat crab.”

Speaking of crap, Reader Publisher Ben Olson once received a very polite note from Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo’s spokesperson asking if he wouldn’t mind fixing the error in a recent edition in which we referred to their boss as “Mike Crap.”

A well-known columnist disclosed that in verbal testimony before a state legislative body, she concluded her passionate remarks with the malapropism: “Ladies and gentle men, these are the card hold facts.”

Finally, yet another very well known regional writer confessed to me that early in their long career, they also “killed off” a prominent political figure before their time — in that instance, no less than Lady Bird Johnson.Thiswas an unexpected social experi ment, which it turns out has been studied elsewhere.Anarticle in Forbes from 2021 focused on the trait of “intellectual humility,” which it defined in part as “a willingness to express uncertainty and the propensity to admit mistakes.” It turns out this quality is critical to “receptivity and acceptance of new learning and diverse points of view.”

Studies at the University of Buffalo, Ohio State University, Baylor University and Duke University cited by Forbes all came to similar conclusions: while we are often taught that single-minded belief in oneself is the recipe for success, intellectual humil ity — and especially the ability to own up to mistakes — fosters a host of even more positive outcomes both in work and life.

Leaders who fess up to their failings

Sudoku Solution

inspire more loyalty, communication and creativity among their teams. Individuals who do the same are generally regarded as more trustworthy and respectable.

I can’t help but think there’s a bigger lesson in this. We all do stupid things — on a given day, perhaps more stupid things than not. Refusing to admit them, that is, intransigence, may be the biggest failing of all and one that I suspect animates much of the divisiveness bedeviling our body politic.

That’s another thing the studies keyed into: people who cultivate intellectual hu mility are generally less judgy and willing to change their minds when presented with alternative viewpoints and new evidence — provided those views and evidence are based in fact, which the intellectually hum ble are also better at assessing.

To err might be human, but admitting it is divine. And instructive. You can be damn sure I’m never misspelling Tolkien again.

Crossword Solution

Consider the daffodil. And while you’re doing that, I’ll be over here, looking through your stuff.

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