Reader september22 2016

READER September 22, 2016 /

/ Vol. 13 Issue 38

f o d n E a r e n a

Solar Roadways installation nearly complete

Litehouse announces $6.2 million expansion

List your property with us and get results that beneďŹ t you!

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

Sandpoint Property Management provides:

2 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

What is on your bucket list?

“I want to go kayaking with the orcas.”

Lisa Mroczek Self-employed Sagle

DEAR READERS,

It’s official: today is the first day of fall, my favorite time of year.

The seasons aren’t the only thing changing this season in Sandpoint. In fact, quite a few changes are looming ahead.

It was a sad morning watching the demolition of the grandstands and locker room at Memorial Field. Growing up in Sandpoint, the grandstands were just another landmark I never thought twice about until I saw them destroyed. But I’m excited to see the new stands and happy for the town to get a much needed improvement. Kudos goes out to Apex Construction, who donated their time to do the demo work on the stands.

Also, the downtown streets will switch to two-way before you know it. Mark my words, the day of the traffic changeover will be the first time in history the locals drive worse than the tourists in Sandpoint. Now, who are we going to point and laugh at when nobody can drive the wrong way anymore?

Stay classy, Sandpoint.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

“I’ve seen most of the ruins in the Southwest, but there is a big Anasazi ruin in New Mexico—Chaco Canyon—I’d still like to see.”

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Taylor Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Cameron Barnes (cover), Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, USFS-IPNF, Jan Vasek, Wildwood Grilling, Hecla Mining Co. Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Cameron Barnes, Nick Gier, Drake the Dog, Suzen Fiskin, Randy Stolz, Susan Drinkard.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com

Jim Wood Happily retired Sandpoint

Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash.

Subscription Price: $95 per year

“I was fortunate and did much of what I wanted to do with my husband before he passed away such as traveling to Greece and Rome. Now my bucket list is not about going somewhere. I want to make a difference with young people, so I have started tutoring students in reading at the library.”

Terry Arnold Retired restaurant owner Sandpoint “I would like to cruise the Greek Isles. I would like to travel in Western and Eastern Europe. I would like to master the Brandenburg Concertos on the piano and I would like to know my future grandchildren.”

Rachel Webster Therapist Bonners Ferry

“I would like to have the funding to enable me to preserve my 15 years of Idaho oral histories of tribal elders.”

Jane Fritz Director of Idaho Mythweaver Sandpoint

LIVE MUSIC

turday Friday & Sa Beer Hall N ight @ t he

SCOTIA ROAD 7-10pm DOUG7-10pm BOND Hoptoberfest

Fresh Hop Beer & Fall Specialty Beer Releases, Games and Live Music

BREWERY & BEER HALL 220 Cedar St. 209-6700 FAMILY FRIENDLY BREWPUB 312 First Ave.

255-4351

Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

We hope to provide a quality alternative by offering honest, in-depth reporting that reflects the intelligence and interests of our diverse and growing community.

The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.

Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics. Requirements: –No more than 400 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

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

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

About the Cover This week’s cover photograph was taken by Cameron Barnes on Tuesday while Apex Construction crews donated their time to demolish the grandstands and locker room at Memorial Field in anticipation of the new construction.

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 3

COMMENTARY

Trump: the “baby” Christian who won’t ask for forgiveness

By Nick Gier Reader Columnist

“It won’t be the first time that a terrible person who lived completely against Christ came to know him.”

—Pastor Michael Anthony “Donald Trump hasn’t been born again. The Religious Right has simply sold out.”

—Rachel Held Evans, Christian writer “Trump is the most immoral and ungodly man ever to run for president.”

—Florida Family Values James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, calls Donald Trump a “baby” Christian, and “appears to be tender to things of the Spirit.” According to Dobson, Trump’s faith is infantile because “he doesn’t know our language. He refers a lot to religion and not much to faith and belief in Christ.” Trump is also a baby Christian because he only recently came to a personal relationship with Christ, presumably with the aid of televangelist Paula White.

The problem with this claim is that Trump thinks that he has

Transgender Issues...

Dear Editor, Jim Healey got one thing right in his article about Adam Ferris; his death was indeed tragic.

But that’s about all he gets right. It doesn’t take a mental health professional to see that Ferris was seriously depressed, confused, and likely suffering from attachment-related issues. That he was sick of self-identifying as transgender should have elicited immediate psychotherapeutic help.

Instead, Ferris had to deal with the etiologies of his confusion on his own terms. Tragically, such therapy for dealing with unwanted gender confusion is something the LGBT community is eradicating across the country.

4 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

Donald Trump.

been a devout Christian for a very long time. Recently at a black church in Detroit Trump had this to say: “As I went through my life, my family kept me grounded to the truth and the word of God. I have a strong faith enriched by an ever-wonderful God.” In a recent CNN interview, Trump said that he has “great relationship with God.” Trump was baptized in the First Presbyterian Church in Queens, N.Y.., where his parents were members. They later attended Marble Collegiate Church, and there in 1993 the Rev. Arthur Caliandro joined Trump and Marla Ann Maples (his second wife) in holy matrimony. Their baby

That Ferris made such statements as “I’m sick of being TG [transgender] and I’m sick of being different, I just want to be normal,” were his cry for help. And coupled with his withdrawal from social connections, binge drinking, and violent outbursts, Ferris was desperate. Where were his 3,200 Facebook “friends” when these cries were hitting a brass ceiling? All Healey would have offered was a diatribe about accepting his confused sexual identification rather than seeing this as symptomatic of a much deeper longing for help and healing.

I am weary of the LGBT activists who use the lives of troubled young men like Ferris to boost their deeply flawed solutions to gender identity confusion.

Real problems require

daughter, Tiffany, was already two months old.

When candidate Trump condemned immigrants and threatened to block the entry to all Muslims, the Presbyterian Church USA sent him its liberal position paper on immigration.

The Trump campaign did not respond, so leaders of the Rutgers Presbyterian Church sought to excommunicate him. They could not proceed because Marble Collegiate had not seen him in years.

He was no longer a member, even though Trump still claims to be.

One of the essential acts of believing Christians is to ask God to forgive their sins. When asked by a CNN reporter if he had done so, he said: “I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad.”

For many years Norman Vincent Peale, the author of “The Power of Positive Thinking,” was the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, and repentance was not a central idea in his theology.

Interviewed by Gwenda Blair of Politico, Trump praises him to the hilt: “You could listen to him all day long, and when you

left the church, you were disappointed it was over. He was the greatest guy.”

It is now clear why Dobson and other evangelicals believe that Trump has to start all over again. Church historian D. G. Reid describes Peale’s religion as a “religious pragmatism that dilutes Christian theology and promotes American doctrines of self-reliance and materialistic reward.” Trump fits this ideology quite well.

Today’s “prosperity” gospel is Peale’s theology dressed up in evangelical garb, and Paula White is one of its leaders. She and 40 others of the same ilk hosted Trump at an event in Florida. There Texas Pastor Mike Murdock says that Trump “has the core values of the Scriptures where you produce. He has so much honor given to him because he has had so much.”

Many black ministers also undermine Jesus’ message in preaching that wealth is a sign of God’s grace. Mark Burns, who spoke at the GOP convention in Cleveland, maintains that “it was never Jesus’ intention for us to be broke,” and this “is what Donald Trump represents.” Recently, Burns posted an image of Hillary

genuine solutions. Sadly, Ferris struggled alone.

Response to Uninformed...

Don S. Otis Sandpoint

Don, Thanks for writing.

Personally, I am weary of people who believe that just because someone is LGBT or has gender identification issues, they are somehow needing therapy to “correct” these feelings.

Reparative or conversion therapy aimed at “praying the gay away” is outdated psuedoscience, in my opinion.

I’m extremely proud of the job that Jim Healey did with this article.

Nobody else in Sandpoint is covering LGBT issues with this much compassion. I’m proud to support LGBT equality.

-Ben Olson, publisher

Dear Editor, Our Founding Fathers recognized that everyone is born with certain ‘inalienable’ rights. They then set about, as much as humanly possible, to design a system of government with a primary function to protect those inherent rights. Unfortunately, too many people today seem to think the government somehow came first and granted us certain privileges.

Those of you who have demonized the open carry of firearms have used two of those rights, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, to promote the restriction of another equally important right, the right to keep AND bear arms. How dare you! How dare you think

in black face.

The American public is not buying Trump’s false Christianity. A recent PEW survey showed that 37 percent viewed Trump as “not at all religious.” Clinton’s percentage was 22 percent. Ben Carson led all candidates as “very or somewhat religious” at 68 percent, followed by Ted Cruz (65 percent), and Hillary Clinton (48 percent). Even secular Jew Bernie Sanders was viewed as more religious than Trump 40 percent to 30 percent.

Christian writer Rachel Held Evans declares that “Donald Trump hasn’t been born again.

The Religious Right has simply sold out.” I love this statement from evangelical Florida Family Values: “Trump is the most immoral and ungodly man ever to run for president.”

Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. Read all of his columns on the 2016 election at www.NickGier.com/Election2016.pdf. Read why Trump is not Friedrich Nietzsche’s Superman at www.NickGier.com/ TrumpNietzscheEssay.pdf.

you can pick and choose which rights are important, and for whom they apply. How dare you think you deserve the trappings of a free society while doing your best to tear down the very foundation upon which that society was built.

If you are brave enough to face reality and come from behind the lies you tell yourself and others, I challenge you to do three things: 1) Look up the definition of ‘inalienable’ in Webster’s dictionary.

2) Do a Google search for “quotes of the founding fathers about gun ownership” and actually read what they said.

3) Answer this question, which applies to all rights: Is a right truly a <letter continued on next page>

Prescribed burns begin in Spt, BF and Priest Lake Ranger Districts

By Reader Staff The Priest Lake, Sandpoint, and Bonners Ferry Ranger Districts are planning several prescribed burns late September through November. The purpose of these projects is to reduce potential wildfire impacts, prepare areas for tree planting and improve wildlife forage. Prescribed burning is part of each District’s annual natural resource management program. Burned areas will be monitored to ensure that fire remains within the unit boundaries.

Prescribed burns are planned for the following areas: Sandpoint Ranger District •Gold Crown (near Gold Hill) •South Grouse (Grouse Mountain four miles east of Sagle) •Tumble Down (Graham Point to Whiskey Rock) Bonners Ferry Ranger District •Northern Prairie (Hwy 95

<letter continued from previous page> right if you have to ask someone else(including the government) for permission to exercise it?

And Mr. Marty Stitsel, while my remaining on this planet is most assuredly up to the Creator who placed me on it in the first place, it is very safe to say that you sure don’t deserve to be called an American.

Samuel C. Hogue Sandpoint

Beating a Dead Horse UPDATE: Yup, still dead...

Dear Editor, Ben Olson saw fit to title my Sept. 8 letter to the editor “Beating a Dead Horse…” (more about that later). In my letter I quoted part of Ben Olson’s hateful May 26 rant against me.

I didn’t address a part of that rant which was: “Let me tell you this: the articles you barrage me with under your pen name are rubbish.”

One of the articles that Olson refers to as being

near Round Prairie, 18 miles north of Bonners Ferry) •Borderline Stew (20 miles north of Bonners Ferry, vicinity of Hall Mountain) •Twenty Mile (approximately five miles southeast of Bonners Ferry) •Ruby Copper (approximately four miles southeast of Eastport) •Idaho Buckhorn (northeast of Moyie Springs, on the Montana/Idaho border) •Twin Skin (16 miles northeast of Bonners Ferry in the Deer Creek area) •Kreist Lightning (six miles south of Eastport, upper Moyie River area) •Borderline Stew (20 miles north of Bonners Ferry, vicinity of Hall Mountain) •Northern Prairie (Hwy 95 near Round Prairie, 18 miles north of Bonners Ferry) •Twenty Mile (approximately five miles southeast of Bonners Ferry)

Priest Lake Ranger District •Lower Priest (7 Miles southwest of Coolin, vicinity Gleason McAbee Road) •Watson (three miles northeast of Nordman) •Lakeview (east of Hwy 57, vicinity of Nordman) •Nickelplate (west of Hwy 57, vicinity of Nordman) •Priest Lake Experimental Forest (10 miles south of Coolin) •Tower Salvage (14 miles southwest of Priest Lake)

As a member of the Montana/ Idaho Airshed Group, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests adheres to recommendations to burn for each day based on predicted smoke emissions and expected smoke dispersion.

Burns are conducted only when forecasts and burn plans comply with federal and state air

quality regulations and agency policies. Additional information on air quality and smoke management is available at http:// www.smokemu.org/.

If you plan on recreating or hunting near these project areas, make sure you understand your location relative to closure areas and burn units. The public is

urged to stay away from these areas during burning operations and for a few days afterward. Active burning usually occurs for two to three days until moisture puts out the fire, however burned areas can still be very hazardous.

If you have questions, please contact Shoshana Cooper, Public Affairs Officer, at 208-765-7211.

rubbish was titled “Busted in Augusta”. “Busted in Augusta” took place in 1965 while I was in the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga. In the story I describe how one of my black army buddies, who happened to be Herbie Hancock’s cousin, and I went to the aid of a black GI who was being mistreated by a white MP in downtown Augusta (as you can imagine, my big mouth got us both arrested).

So I ask you this Olson, why do you find my trying to help a black GI who was being mistreated by a white MP to be rubbish?! I can easily see how a black-hating racist would find my article rubbish, so why do you Olson? Your usual excuse of it being poorly written will not wash this time.

I could write something that rivals Shakespeare or Hemmingway [sic] and the Reader would not publish it as long as I use the pen name Rabbi Ayatollah Chrishna.

BTW, as for the title Olson gave my last letter, “Beating a Dead Horse…”, it was Olson who killed that horse when he put his “Holocaust denial” saddle on it and rode it over his well traveled cliff of ignorance.

Survivalist Realtor...

Falsely claiming “unhindered open immigration” (there have been a record number of border arrests recently), he ignores Trump’s plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants, harming employers trying to fill their jobs.

Despite a lack of good-paying jobs in North Idaho, some are being created in aerospace and high-technology—and the problem is trying to fill them with qualified workers. He neglects to mention that the only way we are going to fill these jobs with local people is to invest in education, starting with our school systems.

A start would be for our GOP dominated legislature to finally use some of our tax, and lottery, money to rebuild our school buildings and provide adequate maintenance.

Lee Santa Sandpoint

Vote Terry Ford...

Dear Editor, Terry Ford is an honest, hard working, capable candidate for Bonner County Sheriff. He retired from the Idaho State Patrol and looks forward to elevating the morale and professionalism of the Sheriff’s department.

Let’s avoid today’s extreme positions by electing Terry. He is a write-in candidate, so is is necessary to both write in Terry Ford’s name for sheriff and darken the bubble on your ballot.

Steve Lockwood Sandpoint

An aerial view last week, looking north, with the lower end of Road 3099 visible in the center. Photo courtesy of USFS Idaho Panhandle National Forests Facebook page.

Dear Editor, “Survivalist” Realtor Chris Walsh, in his twopage ad recently in area publications, believes that Donald Trump, “Realtor-in-chief,” would make things better for working Americans. He won’t if he treats them like the immigrants who helped build his Tower or the workers who built his casinos, refusing to pay them. Or like the renters whom he was charged with discriminating against.

The loss of jobs in our auto and steel industries began in the 1980s when automation expanded, but he paints a bleak economic picture of our economy—ignoring the solid year of middle-class income growth, the record 78 months of job growth, the 4.9 percent unemployment rate, a record low uninsured rate, and low gasoline prices—all achieved under the Obama administration.

James W. Ramsey Kootenai

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 5

NEWS

Litehouse announces $6.2 million expansion

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Litehouse’s production facility on Ella Avenue is about to get a lot bigger, and it’s bringing new jobs along with it.

Company officials announced this week that it will break ground on a $6.2 million expansion to its Ella facility, the largest of its three production centers. One of the largest employers in the region, Litehouse is partnering with Bonner County on a tax deferment plan that will help accelerate the process.

According to Bonner County commissioners, the agreement offers mutual benefit to private and public interests. “[At the county], we spend a lot of time and effort looking for ways we can promote economic stimulation,” said Commissioner Cary Kelly.

The expansion will provide the Ella location with a new cooler, shipping and receiving center, loading docks and a wastewater treatment facility. It represents a major expansion for Litehouse’s ability to produce the dressings, fruit dips and

Council members authorize BID extension Sandpoint council members authorized a three-month extension to the Business Improvement District contract Wednesday, paving the way for a re-evaluation of the program.

Following the resignation of BID manager Kim Queen, BID management now falls to the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. Remaining programs for the year like the flowers baskets and Christmas lights will be contracted out using funds freed up from the manager salary and benefits.

The changes open the door to adjust the way the BID functions.

To that end, Sandpoint City Manager Jennifer Stapleton said Boise State University graduate students will help survey BID members.

Their efforts will produce a comprehensive report of what works, what doesn’t and what needs changing within the BID. [CR] 6 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

veggie dips that have earned renown across the country. It also demonstrates a commitment to keeping the business located in North Idaho, where it was founded more than 50 years ago.

“Sandpoint is the home of Litehouse,” said company president and CEO Jim Frank.

“It’s the home of hundreds of [Litehouse] families. We love it here and we have no intention to go anywhere else.”

The expansion is made more affordable for the company by the agreement with Bonner County.

Signed Tuesday afternoon in a ceremony between company and county officials, the agreement places a five-year deferment on additional tax obligations for a portion of the building and equipment investment dollars.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support of Bonner County and its commitment to Litehouse as we continue to grow and provide more jobs for our community,” Frank said in a press release. “Our employee-owners value living and

working in this remarkable area and we are all dedicated to continued success, economic growth and future opportunity in our greater Sandpoint community.”

According to Bonner County Commissioner Glen Bailey, the deferment is backed by a common state policy to provide assistance for businesses investing new infrastructure and jobs into a community. Ultimately, the deal will help Litehouse ease into its increased tax footprint as it adds new living wage jobs.

“If you spend money for new

equipment and facilities, you should qualify for tax breaks,” Bailey said.

It’s been an eventful few years for Litehouse, which charted humble beginnings in 1963 when the Hawkins family started selling their homemade dressings at the family restaurant. The initially peripheral business venture grew over the decades into the sizable business venture it is today, with 850 employees total and more than 350 Sandpoint employees.

In January 2015, officials

From left to right: Kelly Prior, Brent Carr, Cary Kelly, Jim Frank, Todd Sudick, Dan Hoffman, Glen Bailey, Ben VanGerpen and William Wilson meet Tuesday to sign the tax deferment agreement for the facility expansion.

Photo by Cameron Barnes

announced the complete sale of the company to its employees through an employee stock ownership program, giving every worker a stake in its success.

The sale of the entire company to employees came on the heels of a 30-percent sale in 2006.

Solar Roadways installation nearly complete

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff The first ever public demonstration of Solar Roadways is only a week away.

Sandpoint city officials announced this week that the much-anticipated debut will take place Friday, Sept. 30, at Jeff Jones Town Square. The small demonstration project will allow residents to get a first-hand look at the technology while engaging and educating children.

The project will officially be unveiled at a 3 p.m. ceremony in Jeff Jones Town Square.

The event is open to the public, and Solar Roadways co-owners Scott and Julie Brusaw will be available to answer questions and meet members of the public.

Prior to the ceremony, the media will be able to learn more about Solar Roadways and the project

at a 1 p.m. press conference.

“The weather report said it should be a good day for us to be outside, and we’re supposed to have some sun,” said Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton.

The city is also offering live webcam streaming to the city’s website, sandpointidaho.gov, for those who can’t see the demonstration in person. The stream will include data about electricity generation and use.

Located near the town square fountain, the demonstration is 150 square feet in size and showcases many of the technology’s envisioned applications. The electricity generated from the panels will help power the fountain and bathrooms in the square. Heating elements in the panels are designed to keep the area free of snow and ice in the winter, while LED clusters can be programmed to light up in a variety of patterns,

messages or designs. The project is planned with interactivity and family entertainment in mind— one proposed idea at the project’s announcement was to have the LEDs display a hopscotch course.

First announced in July, the Solar Roadway project is funded primarily through an Idaho GEM grant from the Idaho Department of Commerce and a grant from the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency.

At the meeting in which Sandpoint City Council members approved the project, Stapleton told officials Solar Roadways aims to upgrade the demonstration project as they produce new and improved panel models.

Since Sandpoint is the company’s hometown, Stapleton said the Brusaws want to make sure their best technology is always on display.

“From where they are as a company in terms of development, this will be an important

project for them,” Stapleton told council members.

The project will be a proof of concept for Solar Roadways as a walking and biking surface.

The company eventually aims to expand the product for parking lots and streets, turning concrete and asphalt surfaces across the country into solar power grids.

According to Stapleton, the project’s unprecedented status slowed down the effort to get final approval from all Idaho state stakeholders. Now that the demonstration is near completion, however, officials are excited for the attention and interest in Sandpoint it will inspire.

The Solar Roadways demonstration is hotly anticipated, not just by Sandpoint residents but also the rest of the world. The company blazed into the public consciousness in 2014 when its crowdfunding campaign went viral.

NEWS

Goodbye, old friend:

Memorial Field grandstands and locker room demolished

FSPW staffer Compton wins award

An Apex Construction crew demolishes the grandstands at Memorial Field on Tuesday morning.

Sandpoint a finalist for grant funding

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff The city needs your help in securing a cool $250,000 in grant funding.

Public support could make all the difference landing Sandpoint one of four grants from Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health. One of seven finalists, Sandpoint joins Bonners Ferry,

Homedale, Caldwell, Rexburg, Plummer and Coeur d’Alene in the running for the grant funding.

If Sandpoint wins a grant, officials will launch a planning process to enhance programs that promote healthy diets and physical activity. This process will unfold through collaboration with community partners and

stakeholders.

Since community support is a factor in determining grant awards, you can help by voting at highfiveidaho.org/vote and telling your friends to do likewise. You can also view a promotional video the city created to make its case for grant funding.

Ambassadog finalists named

By Reader Staff

In a random drawing, five finalists and two alternates were chosen in the Sandpoint Ambassadog contest, which will crown a distinguished canine member to become the “spokesdog” of Sandpoint as part of a fun promotion by Visit Sandpoint and the Panhandle Animal Shelter (PAS).

The next, and last, step in choosing the official Ambassadog to conclude the summer-long contest will occur Thursday, Sept. 29, at the PAS Yappy Hour at Eichardt’s Pub, from 4-7 p.m.

At Yappy Hour, the finalists will appear before a panel of judges, who will select the official Sandpoint Ambassadog.

Finalist nominees for the coveted Ambassadog title are (with owners): Apple, (Debby Curran) Austin, (Karen and Larry Olson) Falcon, (Lilly Mitsui)

Mago, (Eric Fulgenzi) Rosie, (Lindsey Simler).

Should any of the finalists be unable to take part in the in-person judging, two alternates were selected; they are Winston, owned by Catharine Helms; and Lola, owned by Richard Smith.

There were 57 nominees for Sandpoint Ambassadog, an idea that stemmed from a similar contest staged last year

by Scotland. People could vote on the dogs once per day and, as a fundraiser for the animal shelter, could also “buy” votes by making a donation.

FSPW Program Coordinator Sandy Compton, left, and FSPW Board Chair Doug Ferrell, right.

Photo courtesy of FSPW.

By Reader Staff It’s nice when good people receive the recognition they deserve.

Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness (FSPW) program coordinator Sandy Compton was recently honored for his work to preserve wilderness, both on the job and as a volunteer.

Compton was given a Brass Lantern Award at the recent Montana Wilderness Association (MWA) annual gathering.

MWA honors seven individuals annually with the coveted Brass Lantern, which, according to MWA, “is given to members and non-members alike, for leadership and taking action that promotes wilderness, quiet trails, and responsible management by managing agencies.”

In presenting the award, former MWA President and current FSPW Board Chair, Doug Ferrell, described Compton’s contributions to Wilderness: “Sandy’s family settled in Sanders County in the early 1900s, and he still lives on the land that his great grandparents settled. The land is located at the base of the Scotchman Peaks and several of

the peaks are name[d] after his family. Sandy has been a tireless wilderness advocate for the protection and stewardship of family wildlands. He is a powerful storyteller and has worked for the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness since it was founded over ten years ago and has supported MWA as a solid partner and member. I cannot think of a more deserving Brass Lantern recipient.”

Compton was unable to attend the MWA gathering to accept the award, as he was busy that weekend teaching school kids how to build trails, stockpiling water at an alpine cache site for a whitebark pine restoration project and helping to put on the FSPW Thompson Falls, Mont., picnic. So, Ferrell brought the award back and presented it to Compton at the picnic in Thompson Falls on Sunday, Sept. 11.

Compton is the second FSPW staff member to receive the award. Two FSPW board members have also been recipients.

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 7

Soup’s On!

Inaugural SoupTember event kicks off Friday

Bouquets: •We have a lot of great small business owners in Sandpoint.

One of the best parts of my job is interacting with them regularly. I was saddened to see that Ranel Hansen at Zany Zebra would be closing her doors this month after serving the community so long. Ranel has always been a pleasure to interact with and her boutique offered a lot of fun items for tourists and locals alike for many years. Though Ranel is retiring, it has been announced that new owners will carry on the Zany Zebra flagship. We’ll provide more details when we know more. We wish you a happy and fulfilled retirement, Ranel!

•Can you guys tell Taxi Tales and Marcia Pilgeram that they absolutely killed it last week?

Come to think of it, Marcia’s last few columns have been killer. She’s an amazing storyteller. I don’t know how to let them know, so you guys have to be the messengers.

-Submitted by Jen Heller.

•A bouquet goes out to Phil Hough and the rest of the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness crew for inviting us on a flight over the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness Area. Super fun!

Barbs: •Trolls used to live under bridges and demand payment from various quest-seekers.

What they lacked in hygeine and manners they made up for with whimsy. Now, trolls are annoying internet surfers who hide behind their keyboards and push the lamest, tritest BS to the masses, thinking it’s clever. Word of advice for you budding trolls out there: Yeah, we noticed your comment. We noticed it and thought about it for approximately three minutes before moving on with life.

Don’t be a troll. Or if you are going to be a troll, live under a bridge and demand pennies from travelers.

8 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

National Voter Registration Day coming

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Photo by Jan Vašek.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Let’s face it, summer is dwindling fast. The autumn chill in the air makes you want to cozy up with a hot bowl of soup, doesn’t it?

Participating restaurants: •Trinity at City Beach •DISH at Dover Bay •Loaf and Ladle •Baxter’s on Cedar •Chop •Spud’s Waterfront Grill •Tango Cafe •The Pie Hut •Ivano’s Ristorante •Connie’s Cafe •Winter Ridge Natural Foods •Jalepeno’s Mexican Restaurant

Sandpoint Community Resource Center (SCRC) is hosting the inaugural SoupTember fundraiser on Friday, Sept. 23, at Farmin Park in Sandpoint.

Area restaurants will be bringing their favorite soups to be judged by those in attendance. The winner will receive the Golden Ladle Trophy and be announced best in show.

The event will feature live music, a raffle and live auction. Items to be auctioned off include a two-night stay in Seattle, a Red Electra cruiser bike, a cruise for six people on Lake Pend Oreille, a fishing charter on the lake, four rounds of gold at the Idaho Club, a private wine tasting for 10 people and two season tickets for the Festival at Sandpoint.

“We wanted to do an event to let the community know who the Resource Center is and help raise some funds so we can keep helping our great community,” said volunteer Shanna Yarbrough.

In preparation for the fundraising event, SCRC held a brainstorming committee with some of their two dozen volunteers. Someone introduced the

term “SoupTember” and it stuck.

“We laugh at that, because that’s just what we’re trying to do,” said Yarbrough. “We’re to warm the community and warm each of our resource specialists, so this was kind of fitting for us.”

Sandpoint Community Resource Center is a nonprofit referral service that “bridges the gap between those in need and those who serve.” Through an extensive online database of service providers in Bonner and Boundary Counties, SCRC serves clients who access the data base or calls the office.

“We have developed some capacities to create a better informed community around services,” said Becca Orchard, volunteer in charge of operations at SCRC. “What we need are two things; volunteers to help us help those who need and also funds to maintain the system we create.”

Tickets to attend the SoupTember event are $10 each, and funds go directly to SCRC. For any questions or to inquire about volunteering, call 208920-1840.

Do you strive for your voice to be heard? Do you want to participate in democracy?

There is an easy way—register to vote.

Tuesday, Sept. 27 is National Voter Registration Day. Sponsors across the country will host nonpartisan events to register those eligible voters who haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Idaho’s voter turnout rates are traditionally among the lower half of states in the nation. In the most recent primary election, Idaho had less than 795,000 of the 1.2 million of voting age. This means three out of every ten Idahoans aren’t even registered.

Even worse, not all registered voters actually vote. In the 2016 primary election, only 23 percent of registered voters actually cast a ballot, which means only 14 percent of eligible voters turned out statewide.

The numbers for presidential and general elections often show higher turnouts. For the 2014 general election, 38 percent of eligible Idahoans cast a ballot of 56 percent that were registered.

There will be three locations in Sandpoint to register on Tuesday: Evans Brothers from 3 to 6 p.m., Eichardt’s Pub from 4 to 9 p.m. and Forrest M. Bird Charter School, 614 S. Madison Ave., from 4 to 8 p.m.

If you miss the three locations on Tuesday, you can always register at the elections office at the Bonner County Administration Building, 1500 US Highway 2. Don’t delay!

Register today! Let’s be proud of a higher voter turnout instead of embarrassed by a lower one.

YOUNG BUSINESS LEADERS:

Wildwood Grilling serves up some plankin’ good times

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Editor’s Note: In this first installation of an ongoing series highlighting young business leaders in Sandpoint, we’ll check out Wildwood Grilling.

Katie Bradish would be the first one to tell you that Wildwood Grilling’s products are about as low-tech as you can get.

“We’re selling the idea of cooking with wood in fire,” said Bradish. “That’s pretty straightforward.”

Wildwood’s products include grilling planks, wraps and smoking chips. The genius behind their business model is that all of their products start from short lengths and grades of wood not utilized by lumber stores.

“It’s a recovery product,” said Bradish, the director of sales and marketing. “Finding a use for short lengths is pretty unique.”

Since 1995, Wildwood Grilling has quietly established itself as the number one grilling plank manufacturer in the world.

They ship their products all over the world, including all across the United States, the United Kingdom, Austrailia, Thailand and Canada.

The company employs 56 people, half of which are in their 30s or younger. Bradish, 29, said the young blood around the office helps keep the company fresh and vital.

“We have a lot of energy here,” she said. “In a traditional office, there is this idea that ‘This is how we’ve always done it,’ but we don’t have any firm processes, so we can organically figure out a process that works.”

The employees are spread between a large office located in Kootenai and the mill site, located coincidentally on a historic mill site on Shingle Mill Road that has produced cedar shingles since the ‘30s.

Wildwood’s process from turning raw forest products into planks is actually pretty simple. In the chop room, the short lengths come down the conveyor belt and are sorted into like types. Employees cut the pieces to length and discard the unus-

able chunks.

“In winter, the chop room is a closed system, which means it heats itself,” said Taylor Bradish, director of operations (and Katie’s husband). “Also, all of our employees get free firewood.”

One thing I noticed immediately was the cleanliness of the room. It wasn’t like any wood cutting room I’d ever seen before. The reason for that is Wildwood’s dedication to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for ensuring products are produced consistently and controlled according to quality standards.

“We have the same certification as paper plates and cups,” said Taylor. “We’re actually the only company in the grilling plank industry to have GMP certifications. All the lubrications we use on our saws are food grade silicone.”

Near the chop room, there is a small room for building displays to feature products in grocery stores, and also a space to manufacture 1/50th of an inch cut wraps that are great for roasting vegetables.

“These wraps are especially popular with restaurants like Hard Rock Café and cruise ships,” said Taylor.

The planks are moved from the chop room to the finishing room, where edges are softened and all sides are worked to eliminate potential splinters. The planks then enter the top secret branding room where a special machine burns personalized logos into the wood. It is so secret, in fact, that Taylor requested no photographs to be taken of the machine. They have 550 brands on file for their various customers.

After the planks are branded, they are packaged in shrink wrap and stored in a clean room to await quality assurance checks and shipping.

Taylor, who formerly worked with Idaho Department of Lands, is especially proud that Wildwood purchases a lot of wood in the region.

“We buy 97 percent of our cedar from Idaho,” said Taylor.

Katie’s father, Ernie Brandt, started Wildwood Grilling in

1995 and taught her everything she needed to know about business.

Though not retired, Brandt has enjoyed handing over the reins to the next generation of plankers.

“Ernie was the best teacher I could have ever asked for,” said Katie. “I didn’t learn as much in college or school than I did with Ernie. He gave a lot of responsibility to a bunch of young punks.”

Over the past few years, Wildwood has consistently seen a growth rate of 30 percent, thanks to the explosion of the grilling industry.

“People are grilling more now,” she said.

“The idea is elemental.

You get your hands on wood and put down your phone. You walk away, you feel great.”

For Katie, the common lament that that Sandpoint doesn’t have a whole lot to offer younger workers isn’t true.

“People say they don’t think Sandpoint is a good place to work after college,” she said.

“I disagree. I feel like there are at least five other businesses in town where I’d absolutely love to work. There’s tech, aerospace, or you can start something of your own. We’re all about job satisfaction here—I like when our employees go down to the Beer Hall and wear a Wildwood hat and are proud of where they work.”

Earlier this month, Katie hired three additions to the Wildwood team, all of them in their 30s or younger.

“This is the Sandpoint dream,” she said. “To have a house and a ski pass and the ability to create jobs and look for cool people. I really like my

job. I never thought I’d be back in Sandpoint, being able to work with such a cool team and be happy and comfortable.”

Top: Salmon fillets grilled on Wildwood’s grilling planks. Courtesy photo.

Bottom: Employee Michael Wallace cuts short lengths of wood in the Chop Room at their Shingle Mill Road facility.

Photo by Ben Olson.

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 9

Coalition challenges Rock Creek mine water permit

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Earlier this month, an alliance of environmental groups challenged the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s proposed decision to issue a water permit to Hecla Mining Company, who hopes to build a copper and silver mine outside of Noxon, Mont.

The coalition, which includes Clark Fork Coalition, Rock Creek Alliance, Earthworks and the Montana Environmental Information Center, alleges that the Hecla Mining Company’s proposed Rock Creek Mine would significantly dewater streams within the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and have an adverse affect on bull trout populations.

Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, has been tapped to represent the coalition.

“What Hecla is asking for is the right to use water that is going to drain into the Rock Creek mining void,” said Katherine O’Brien, attorney for Earthjustice. “Streams will be dewatered permanently—streams that are in largely pristine federally protected wilderness area that support bull trout, which are a threatened species.”

O’Brien alleges that as Hecla excavates the mine adit, or entrance, they will create a void underground that will disrupt ground water and cold stream water will flood into the void.

But Luke Russell, Hecla’s vice president of external affairs, claims there will be no dewatering of streams: “The state determined there is ample water, and the use of the requested 500-plus gallons of water per minute would not adversely impact the area.”

“Both the east fork of the Bull River and Rock Creek are the two most important bull trout recovery streams in the lower Clark Fork watershed,” said Gestring. “A lot of investment has gone into recovering bull trout.

We see it as really detrimental to recovery efforts.”

The coalition also claims the picturesque Cliff Lake has a potential to be emptied if a mining void empties the groundwater near it, but Russell contends there will be an offset zone 1,000 feet directly below Cliff Lake to further ensure protection of the 10 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

surface lakes and water bodies.

Along with dewatering claim, the group also asserts that Hecla’s request for a water permit is premature.

“Under state law … applications for water rights with a diversion onto Forest Service lands require federal operation for water rights to obtain,” said O’Brien. “First the applicant gets the application to mine from the U.S. Forest Service, then they get water rights from the state.

[Hecla has] flipped the process here.”

Russell countered that “the state has issued a mining expiration for Rock Creek and the Forest Service is updating an Environmental Impact Statement issued in 2001. This is a supplemental impact statement.”

The coalition is also concerned that the cumulative effects of the proposed Rock Creek Mine coupled with the proposed Montanore Mine near Libby—both operating underneath the Cabinets–will be devastating for the area.

“When Congress designated the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in 1964, it was to protect not only the land, but the vast number of stunning alpine lakes and streams that can be found within its borders,” said Mary Costello of the Rock Creek Alliance. “To give our precious alpine waters to a mining company would be a travesty.”

The history of the proposed Rock Creek Mine stretches back three decades, when ASARCO, LLC first proposed building the mine in the 1980s. The proposed mine was sold to Sterling Mine Company, then to Revett Mining Company in the early 2000s.

Revett also owns and operates the Troy Mine. Hecla Mining Company acquired Revett in 2015 and has vowed to push the Rock Creek permitting forward.

“The resource has over 100 million tons of mineralized material,” said Russell. “The estimate is that there is two ounces per ton of silver and .75 percent per ton of copper.”

Hecla claims, if approvals are given, a three-year evaluation phase would explore the extent of what ore deposits are located underground. If approvals move to construction, Russell claims there would be a three-year con-

struction period and more than 30 years of mine operations.

“The assessment phase will bring about 100 direct and indirect jobs during that phase,” said Russell. “There might be 600 jobs during construction, and 300 jobs over the 30-year mining. Plus, there will be $175 million paid in taxes over the life of the mine for northwestern Montana, plus goods and services in northern Idaho and western Montana.”

The biggest threat for folks in Sandpoint is the potential that Lake Pend Oreille, located 25 miles downstream of the proposed mining site, could become polluted by mining tailings.

Hecla estimates that during full production, 400 gallons per minute would be treated and released into the Clark Fork River.

“It will be treated to meet all requirements in Montana as well as in Idaho, since the Clark Fork River does drain into Idaho,” said Russell. “That would ensure that the water quality is adequately treated to meet all requirements. With treatment technology today, the water would be substantially better that what’s in the Clark Fork today.”

Russell argues that both silver and copper are fundamental to our way of life.

“The things we use; cell phones, laptops, solar and wind energy ... wind turbines have five tons of copper,” said Russell.

“As we continue to look at alternative energy and gadgets, they depend on silver and copper.”

For O’Brien and the rest of the coalition, the promise of jobs and ore deposits are not enticing enough to risk the possible dewatering of streams and pollution of Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille.

“The project still has the same problems it did when the first mining company tried to develop,” said Gestring. “These problems haven’t gone away.”

“This long fight over the legality and wisdom of mining within the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness is coming to a head,” said O’Brien. “State law is very clear that these wilderness streams should not be degraded.

In our view, this project has run into a wall, and based on the evidence at this time, I don’t see any way around that.”

In this map, the proposed tailings facility and mill site can be seen. Map courtesy of Hecla Mining Co.

Trail #65 realignment dedication planned

By Reader Staff

Three years of work will culminate on Saturday, Sept.

24, with the dedication of the realignment of the lower portion of Scotchman Peak Trail #65 in the National Forest Foundation’s Lightning Creek Treasured Landscape.

The U.S. Forest Service and Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness invite the press and the public to a short “survey tape cutting” ceremony to be held at 4 p.m. at the Trail #65 trailhead.

This will officially open the new portion of trail that replaces the first three-quarters of a mile of the old trail, famous for being a steep “knee-buster,” as well as being prone to heavy erosion due to its steep alignment.

“The new section is a lot more user friendly,” said FSPW program coordinator Sandy Compton. “Up-bound hikers will have a chance to warm up a little before they hit steeper portions up higher and down-bound folks won’t have such a knee-jarring

end to their hike.”

The new alignment, engineered by Compton and Idaho Conservation League associate Brad Smith, features a much gentler grade than the old section, as well as good views that appear much earlier on the trail.

USFS Sandpoint District trail crews under the direction of Mary Ann Hamilton cut out the corridor early last summer, and Friends of Scotchman Peaks staff and volunteers have been steadily extending the tread since June of last year. On Oct. 6, Clark Fork High School students will decommission the “retired” trail segment.

Construction will be finished this weekend in honor of National Public Lands Day (Sept. 24), with the dedication ceremony scheduled for the end of the project on Saturday at 4 p.m.

•Repairs •Custom jewelry Where the only thing better than our sushi is the view

Locally owned and operated for over 30 years

110 S. First Ave. (208) 263-6713 www.sunshinegoldmine.com

41 Lakeshore Drive (across the Long Bridge)

208.265.2001 ShogaSushi.com

Enjoy our Asian fusion cuisine while taking in the beautiful waterfront and spectacular sunset views

HOLD THIS DATE & Time Saturday, 9/24 10:30am T 322 N. FIRST AVE. SP

Fall Refresh at Azalea FEATURING AN ABUNDANCE OF PLAIDS, FLANNELS, DENIM, BOOTS AND SWEATERS.

Elect Ken Meyers STATE SENATE District 7

In 2007, the United States experienced the Great Recession. Idaho’s economic recovery has been led by a Republican controlled Legislature. For Idahoans this has not worked well. Other states are economically recovering much faster and have made significantly more progress. If we are to get better faster we need a change in Boise.

I wish to live in an Idaho where our government is: more effective; (Idaho should not need a Constitutional Defense fund to defend unconstitutional laws passed by the Republican legislature); is responsive to the majority of its citizens who recognize the economic benefits of increasing the minimum wage and closing the Medicaid gap; funds education so our children, whether they live in an urban or rural setting, are properly educated for success; supports a strong economy that has a thriving middle class; has a natural resource policy that provides recreational and economic opportunities while protecting this legacy for future generations; is serious about mental health care; and believes that global warming is real and that man is a significant contributor.

If you share this vision for a better Idaho vote for Ken Meyers.

Paid for by the Vote Ken Meyers Campaign, Treasurer Ron Beitelspacher September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 11

event t h u r s d a y

22

f r i d a y

s a t u r d a y

23 24

s u n d a y m o n d a y t u e s d a y w e d n e s d a y t h u r s d a y

Sandpoint Branch 1407 Cedar St. Clark Fork Branch 601 Main St. Bookmobile

Information & Inspiration 12 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

www.ebonnerlibrary.org

25 26

Live Music w/ Whetherman 9pm @ 219 Lounge A traveling folk singer-songriter with earnest and poetic lyrics, percussive guitar, rolling harmonica and timeless melodic vocals. Free show under the heated tent

Wine and Cheese Invitational 4-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery A fun after work gathering hosted by the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation. 265-8545 to RSVP for the event Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

George Winston in concert 8pm @ Panida Theater Inspired by the seasons and topographies, Winston’s concerts feature a variety of styles including melodic folk piano, New Orleans R&B piano, and stride piano. Tickets $25.50 - 255-7801

Rock Cre 5:30-8pm All are in vided by tion with vacation portantly

Live M 8pm @ Countr forms d Idaho Interna @ Bon Sept. 2 Live Music w/ Scoti 5:30-8:30pm @ Mick Indie folk and countr Live Music w/ The P 5:30-8:30pm @ Pend Indie folk and countr

SoupTember Fall Fest 5-7pm @ Farmin Park The inaugural SoupTember Fall Fest, with proceeds benefiting Sandpoint Community Resource Center. There will be a live auction, raffle items, beer, wine and soup! $10 for soup tasting, rolls and dessert

Celebrate National Ballroom Dance Week 7-10pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall Learn 3 Ballroom Dances in one night! Fox Trot, Rumba, and Swing will be taught by a professional instructor. Also included will be general dancing, mixers, refreshments and door prizes. Also, there will be a drawing to win free dance lessons! Singles, Couples, and all levels of Dancers are welcome. $9 for adults and $5 for teens. 699-0421 Research Topics in Na Live Music w/ The Incredible Fall Refresh Event at Azalea 9:45-11:30am @ Spt. C Jim Ekins—Area Exte Flying Dookie Brothers 10:30am-5:30pm @ Azalea 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Enjoy treats and drinks while ter, University of Idah Hard hitting classic and shopping the “new” (used) Fall of a variety of recent alt-rock from the past collection. Featuring plaids, native plants, includin Live Music w/ Truck Mills flannels, sweaters, boots, and wetland to improve w open to the public. 208 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority denim. 322 N. 1st Ave Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

27 28

Food For Our Children fundraiser 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Featuring Fremont Brewing Co. beer on tap and live music by Marty Perron and Doug Bond.

There will be raffle prizes and a special raffle drawing to win a Surly Pacer bicycle compliments of Greasy Fingers Bikes N Repair

Karaoke Night at the Niner 10pm @ 219 Lounge Join Pat for a night of crooning your favorite tunes at the 219

Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry Throwback Thursdays at the 219 7-11pm @ 219 Lounge Featuring live music with Brian Jacobs and friends

Dove 9am Enjoy ily - i

Game Night at the Niner 9pm @ 219 Lounge

Classic Karaoke 7-10pm @ Ol’ Red’s Pub Grab a cold bottle of beer and sing your heart out, you deserve it

29

f

Toddler Da 10am @ Sa Bring your

Geezer Forum 2:30-4pm @ Tango This forum’s topic Community Health From a Regular Me featuring Kaniksu H

Crafternoon: Autumn Lights 2pm @ Sandpoint Library Make a handmade lantern that you can take home to use. Free family fun!

Sandp 3-5:30p Come f duce, s

Yappy Hour and Ambassadog Finalists 4-7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Bring your dog and enjoy a Panhandle Animal ter benefit with live music, beverages and fun this is the event when Sandpoint’s Ambassado be chosen from five finalists, so don’t miss it

ful

September 22 - 29, 2016

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

Rock Creek Alliance Annual Party 5:30-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall All are invited to enjoy light appetizers, live music provided by Ben and Cadie of Harold’s IGA, a silent auction with several great items including a Mexico condo vacation and a signed Bev Doolittle print, and most importantly an update on the status of the Rock Creek Mine

Reader recommended

Throwback Thursdays at the 219 7-11pm @ 219 Lounge

6th Annual Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta 8:30am @ Priest River (Sept. 23-24) Transcending Realism Artists Reception 5:30-7pm @ Columbia Bank Atrium Live Music w/ Devon Wade Teen Writers Club All are welcome to attend this journey 8pm @ Ol’ Red’s Pub 3pm @ Sandpoint Library through the movements of art history, h Country singer Devon Wade per- Teens who write, unite! starting with realism and traditional art, - forms down at Ol’ Red’s Pub DJ music w/ DJ Wally Fresh then blasting into a kaleidoscope of disIdaho Draft Horse and Mule e 9pm @ 219 Lounge tinctive artistic styles. Refreshments and ! International The return of DJ Wally Fresh wine provided. 263-6139 @ Bonner Co. Fairgrounds Sept. 23-25 Sandpoint Farmers’ Market • 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park c w/ Scotia Road Come for the local produce, stay for the live music by Mobius Riff m @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Computer Class: Basic Microsoft Word Canine Companions nd country group from CD’A for Independence 8:15am @ Sandpoint Library w/ The Powers 2pm @ Sandpoint Library All are welcome to learn the basics of Micm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Learn about how to train dogs rosoft Word, including toolbars, document nd country group from CD’A formatting and highlighting. Pre-registra- to assist the handicapped International Night tion required—263-6930 pics in Native Plants 6pm @ Columbia Bank m @ Spt. Community Hall Puppy Power Hour SHS Model UN fundraiser Area Extension Educator in Wa- 12-1pm @ Pend Oreille Pet Lodge y of Idaho—will present results All are welcome to learn the basics of Mic- with dinner, silent auction of recent research project using rosoft Word, including toolbars, document and talks about the program. , including the use of a floating formatting and highlighting. Pre-registra- Tickets 263-3034 mprove water quality. Free and tion required—263-6930 ublic. 208.597.5469 Live Music w/ Doug Bond 7-10pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Dover Bay 5K-9 Doug Bond is always a pleasure to listen to 9am @ Dover Bay Resort

More than a store, a Super store!

Are you ready for flu season?

Flu shots available now!

-We bill most insurance companies -No appointment needed -Quick, painless, no waiting -7 days a week -Ask us about other vaccinations

Enjoy a 5k run/walk in Dover Bay for the entire family - including your furry best friend. 208-946-0226

oddler Dance Party 0am @ Sandpoint Library ring your kiddos and dance, dance, dance!

orum @ Tango Cafe m’s topic is “How is a ty Health Clinic Differ egular Medical Clinic?”

Kaniksu Health Services

3D Printing Workshop for Adults 5pm @ Sandpoint Library This beginner class explores the potential of 3D printing and designing a 3D printable object.

Pre-registration required—263-6930

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Come for the locally grown produce, stay for the live music

le Animal Sheles and fun. Plus mbassadog will ’t miss it

Identification and Control of North Idaho Weeds 6-8pm @ Ponderay Events Center This class will help you identify the weeds in your environment and provide various ways to control and/or eradicate them, both with chemicals and with other methods

Business After Hours: Chili Tasting 5-6:30pm @ Summit Insurance Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce presents a Business After Hours event featuring a fun chili tasting, sponsored by Summit Insurance. All are invited to attend

Sept. 30 - Oct. 2 Manhattan Short Film Festival @ Panida Theater Oct. 1 Hope Oktoberfest @ Hope Memorial Community Center

Oct. 1 Jack Nisbet “The Longest Journey” @ Oden Community Hall

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 13

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

READER 14 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

A shining example:

Tom Callister’s volunteer work with the Kaleidoscope Art Program is making an impact

By Cameron Barnes Reader Staff When it comes time for retirement, vacations and margaritas are foremost on most peoples’ minds. Not Tom Callister. The art teacher is putting his expertise and skills to fantastic use, opening the minds of our youth to moments of creative genius and new skills.

The art programs I participated in at Fairfield Warde High School in Fairfield, Conn., were pivotal in my choosing photography as a career path. Unfortunately, these are also the programs hardest hit by budget cuts. All the more validation, then, for the Kaleidoscope Program, which was started in 1989 by CAL (Community Assistance League).

According to ArtsInSandpoint. org, the Kaleidoscope Art Program is, “an all-volunteer effort made possible by the Community Assistance League and the Pend Oreille Arts Council. We bring the joy and enrichment of art to third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders throughout Bonner County. Kids who may not have art on a regular basis otherwise.”

Polly Mire, who curates the art collection at Bonner General Hospital, was the first to convince Tom Callister to join the Kaleidoscope program. It’s doubtful Mire could have predicted how far Callister would take it.

“I would have loved to have him as a volunteer art teacher when I was in elementary school!” said former Kaleidoscope coordinator Lynda Patalano. “Whenever he came to our Kaleidoscope training classes he would always share what lessons he had added on for the kids. I also learned from him on what I could teach my class. Tom is a man of many talents.”

The initial commitment for volunteers is only one day per month for six months. Callister took his volunteering a step further by helping out with two days a week of math lessons alongside his Kaleidoscope art lessons. He then asked Washington Elementary teacher Jenny Smith if he could help cover the entire art curriculum for her third-grade class, an effort he’s taken into his third year with the Kaleidoscope program.

“He came up with the entire art curriculum teaching the art principles and art elements every Friday,” said Smith. “[He] then

rate illustrations of good art that in museums as examples of what we’re talking about.

Ultimately you want them to grow up to be good people, and some are going to succeed in ways that others aren’t. I want to do things that speak to their strengths … and ultimately to give them a sense of themselves.

SPR: What would you say to sell people on volunteering for Kaleidoscope?

Tom Callister, right, looks on as Owen Hughes, left, Paul Kent, behind, Kai Longanecker, right, glue strips of tissue in various designs in Jenny Smith’s third grade Washington Elementary School class on Friday. Photo by Cameron Barnes. would incorporate technology into the lessons because that was actually his focus as a professor in his research.”

I sat down with Callister and Smith to talk more about the program.

SPR: Can you give me a bit of background on yourself?

TC: I grew up in Southern California … it was a recession at the time in the ‘70s, and I thought teaching would be kind of interesting. I graduated from USC in humanities, but went back to get my teaching credentials. I spent four years teaching sixth grade in Salt Lake City, then went back and got my Masters degree at the University of Utah, followed by Ph.D. in Educational Studies. After I got my Ph.D., I moved to New Hampshire and taught at Dartmouth for six years … but I’m a West Coast person, so I took a job opening at Whitman in Walla Walla and ended up staying there for 17 years. The last six of those years, I was administration, so I wasn’t teaching anymore as the associate dean of faculty. We moved up here as soon as I retired and have been here five years now.

SPR: What are some of the current classes you’re teaching, and how are they going?

TC: What I’ve been trying to do is incorporate the seven prin-

ciples and seven elements of art.

The past two weeks we’ve been doing lines. The next two will be on shapes, then form and so forth.

SPR: Have there been some lessons that came out more successfully than others or were more challenging?

TC: We’ve been surprised.

Some of the ones we didn’t think would work have worked out really well. Based on the lessons from previous years, I’ve been able to modify them a bit. I take notes after each lesson on what worked or didn’t—didn’t have enough of this or that. So assuming that Jenny makes me work next year again, I’ll have it down better.

JS: Well at this point I’m just dependent.

TC: The Christmas one was good. We made ornaments out of Fimo, which we wrapped up and then were given to their parents as gifts.

SPR: I’m sorry, what is Fimo?

TC: One of my favorites, and this one’s really hard to describe— we took foam board, and then I cut it into a thousand different little shapes. Then they would glue them together to create a 3D shape. I then tied this in with bas-relief.

SPR: Can you tell me a bit about your volunteering outside of the Kaleidoscope program to teach math?

TC: The math is really fun and hard. The math they do seems so much more advanced then when I was a kid or even when I taught.

So I think it really helps to have two adults in the room.

SPR: What is one thing above all that you try to teach your students regardless of subject?

TC: I always try to incorporate literature or a book. Today I used this book [“Mirette on the High Wire” by Emily Arnold McCully] which includes a lot of lines in the illustrations.

SPR: And now they know your name when you walk in, right?

JS: I do love that the kids are getting the vocabulary of the art and being able to recognize it. Vertical, horizontal … These are words that we use in a lot of different contexts throughout our lives.

JS: I’m pretty sure it’s like … ka-ching!

TC: I really want them to learn something. I also try to incorpo-

TC: It’s also called Sculpey …

Before last year I had never been in a Michaels.

TC: Part of the fun of doing this is being creative … I’m not an artist, and I don’t know very much about art, so anyone can volunteer for this … but I am learning a lot about art. I don’t know why a lot more don’t do this; there are a lot of retired people around here, which seems to me like there are people with time. It’s only eight lessons a year, and the workshops show you exactly what to do with very detailed lesson plans. I also think there’s still a stigma about males doing things in elementary schools. You just don’t see males in elementary schools. There are no men teaching at this school. In fact, last year one of the kids said to me, “You’re the only man in the school except for the guy that works in the cafeteria.” I think it’s a fairly positive thing that they see a male … so it would be great if there were more men doing this.

If you would like to volunteer for the Kaleidoscope program there will be training sessions the weekend of Oct. 15 at Sandpoint High School with art teacher Heather Guthrie. According to the Pend Oreille Arts Council website, “At these workshops you’ll be able to try out each lesson yourself, before you teach it. You’ll also receive a detailed lesson packet, which thoroughly explains each lesson, as well as a teacher’s guide. Art materials are available at each school. Lesson scheduling is determined between you and your classroom teacher.”

For more information please contact the Pend Oreille Arts Council at 208-263-6139 or by email at poactivities@gmail.com You can also contact Kaleidoscope directly by emailing Debbie Love at kaleidoscope.art.bonnercounty@gmail.com

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 15

The Straight Poop:

By Drake the Dog Reader Pet Columnist

The quest for dog-friendly businesses in North Idaho

Where am I taking my humans today?

Hmm, let me chew on this one. The Mister and Missus are reminiscing about the birth of their daughter, 31 years ago today. As they tell me this beautiful story I am reflecting on the birth of a new column and writer from a different bark. As I round the corner of First Avenue, I bolt up the stairs to cele-bark the first birthday of “The Straight Poop” with my “birth parents” Ben Olson and Cameron Rasmusson.

The Reader is the BEST dog-friendly office. I always bark about the treats and have to remind myself—wait for it, shaka-paw, just one, or my K9 physique will be going to the dogs. These guys love it when I visit. They have given me the opportunity to write from a unique voice—that of a dog!

When I first adopted the Mister and Missus a year ago at a PAS Yappy Hour, I recall how many businesses in our town did not offer a shaka-paw welcome to us. Ben gave me the gift of sniffing out dog-friendly business and writing about my experiences in my very own column, “The Straight Poop.” To date, there are over 37 dog friendly businesses that proudly display Reader Paw stickers.

Columns like this show a quirky side of Sandpoint, and talented volunteer writers are able to find a home in the Reader. This is the gift that keeps on giving, as folks stop us on the street, asking the Missus, “Is this the real Drake?” (Hey…do I look like I just came from the taxidermist?).

When the Mister and Missus proudly answer, “Yes, my fellow Sandpointians,” visitors tell us their “tails” of how they made memories and lasting relationships with a dog-friendly business.

How much is that dog sticker in the window? On the other paw, this group of canine-friendly businesses are always taking a bow-wow and extending a warm welcome to all who enter their shop. This is customer loyalty 16 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

and shopping local at it’s best!

During the past year, I’ve learned how the Reader team tweaks the kaleidoscope of news in our neck of the woods to “make the sausage.” Columns like The Straight Poop, Single in Sandpoint, Taxi Tales, Pet Photos, The Sandpoint Eater, Then & Now and (wo)Man on the Street offer opportunities to showcase talented volunteer columnists of different voices—even a dog.

Reader groupies hover like pupa-razzi outside Safeway, Yokes, and other noted locations every Thursday morning for Ben and Cameron to personally deliver the hot-off-the-press copy of this week’s paper.

On occasion, the Missus has offered to load up the Red Sled, with me riding shotgun, to help with the delivery routes. However this duo has a passion and love for the work that they do, which includes the Thursday early morning routes. Like proud parents, ensuring a good delivery is just as much a part of the process as writing, layout and printing.

The Reader was started in 2004 by Zach Hagadone, John Reuter and Chris DeCleur. It took a dog day afternoon snooze for two years. Folks began to realize that their favorite paper was missing at coffee shops, restaurants and public buildings.

Drake, left, proofreads his latest column with publisher Ben Olson, center, and editor Cameron Rasmusson, right.

It’s rare to start a newspaper, especially an alt-weekly one. Currently there are two in Idaho: the Boise Weekly and the Sandpoint Reader. With a love of our town, and the good fortune to catapult off its previous success, Ben and Cameron, putting their best paw forward, created a new love for the paper, providing special focus on arts, culture, history, musicians, current events, yummy dishes and dog-friendly businesses! Their first issue was 16 pages. Since then, the paper has expanded to between 24 and 28, as reader support and adver-

tising have taken off.

The Reader team is raising the woof on this publication!

Ben and Cameron’s return on their investment is “the people.”

Journalism is a “dog-eat-dog” world, however the pawsup they are shown, fuel their passion and love for the job that they do.

I was like a dog with two tails to learn that publisher Ben Olson has many surrogate dogs. Cameron Rasmusson’s brother has little Manny, an 11-pound bruiser Yorkie, who loves to vocally participate in happy birthday

songs. After many “auditions” Ben has chosen not to include Manny in his band—yet.

Get out there peeps, join the pack and put your nose in the Reader! Visit this dog friendly office, find the hidden treats, bring your talent, your specs, your fur baby, and paws-a-bit with Ben, Cameron and the crew.

Reader Rules: Clean paws, good manners, correct grammar, smiles, hugs and tail waggin’ welcomed!

100 thousand poets for change

By Reader Staff

Poets, musicians and artists; start your pen-gines.

A creative call to action, 100 Thousand Poets for Change is an annual event in which poets, musicians, and artists around the world come together to seek environmental, social and political change.

On Sept. 24, concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs, parades and demonstrations will take place in more than 120 countries around the world.

Event founders Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion have stated that peace and sustainability “... are major concerns worldwide and the guiding principles for this global event.”

All participants are hoping—through their actions and events—to seize and redirect the political and social dialogue of the day and turn the narrative of civilization towards peace and sustainability. We are living in a world where it isn’t just one issue that needs to be addressed. A common ground is built through this global compilation of local stories, which is how we create a true narrative for discourse to inform the future.

What kind of change are we talking about? The first order of change is for poets, writers, musicians, artists—anybody—to actually get together to create and perform, educate and demonstrate, simultaneously, with other communities around

the world. This will change how we see our local community and the global community. We have all become incredibly alienated in recent years. We hardly know our neighbors down the street, let alone our creative allies who live and share our concerns in other countries. We need to feel this kind of global solidarity.

Lost Horse Press and the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force are teaming up for the fourth year in a row to present a poetry and music open mic for local writers/musicians/ artists/students to express their ideas for positive change in our community, in ourselves, in our country and in the world.

Poets, artists, and musicians around the world are planning

individual events to take place simultaneously on Sept. 24 in conjunction with 100 Thousand Poets for Change.

Join Sandpoint poets and musicians as they connect with artists all over the globe to express their aspirations for a better world. The Sandpoint event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 1-4 p.m. at Evans Brothers Café. We invite the community to join us, as readers, performers or listeners!

If you’d like to be considered for a spot as a featured reader or musician, you may sign up the day of the event for the open mic. We look forward to hearing your thoughts for supportive and constructive change.

STAGE & SCREEN Short Film Festival

By Cameron Barnes Reader Staff As Sandpoint residents, we should all be proud to know that our very own Panida Theater was chosen among roughly 250 venues across six continents (127 in the United States) to showcase the Manhattan Short International Film Festival. It was the first of its kind to simultaneously play its finalist entries worldwide, when it began in 1998.

This year, 844 short film were received from 52 countries, of which only 10 finalists will grace the screen at the Panida Theater.

This showcase is also unique in the allowing each ticket holder to help determine the winners. Once you’ve seen the showing at the Panida, you will have the opportunity to cast your vote for the short film you thought outshined the others. Compare that to most major film festivals, which only seem to be concerned if famous actors review or vote in winners.

Manhattan Short’s bronze medal winner for 2015, “Bear Story,” went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. The silver medal winner, “Shok,” received an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.

I had a conversation with festival director Nicholas Mason about how this festival all began.

SPR: Considering Manhattan Short’s first year began as a projection onto a van, could you have ever imagined it becoming such an international spectacle?

NM: No, of course not, and it was never a plan either. After 2001 when they say the world changed, so did short films.

What I notice with a lot of the filmmakers that made short films is that they are very relevant to what’s happening in the world at that time... This also means that the films date very quickly because they started to reflect how people were feeling in the world.

So I really started thinking that I needed to share this with a wider audience ... and once digital came out, you could put it onto a DVD rather than making these large Beta tapes, so it was affordable to ship.

SPR: Can you speak on the impact of the voting system where anyone with a ticket can cast their vote?

NM: When I first started, I was in Union Square park. All of the restaurants would try to get famous people and actors to judge their films in hopes that a famous judge would help the festival overall. And it didn’t. The second you give the judging to the audience, it becomes a better event.

Why it became big was that audiences were able to come in and have fun and judge something ... so it was really transformed by the cinema-going public.

SPR: This may be a dumb question ... but can you tell me why the event is named Manhattan Short if the event is so global?

NM: Well it started here, and I even dropped the word film festival. Things that become big in my view always are one or two words. People seem to know Manhattan Short now and it seems to be sticking. Funny enough, if it was called Denver Short it wouldn’t be outside Colorado—no offense to Colorado. It’s a funny word, Manhattan, in that it’s a very global word. This actually was a lucky accident for the event to begin in Manhattan.

SPR: Can you go into how and why the Panida Theater was chosen to be added to the list? What is the process of adding new venues elsewhere?

NM: It’s kind of become—what’s that saying?—seven degrees of separation. It’s knowing them, building them and finding the person who runs them in the right community. Patricia, she’s a real film-driven person. I noticed that as it branched out across this country, if you took out the cinemas like the Panida for example, those areas become culturally void ... in many areas across the country. So it was quite interesting to watch with this event, the joining of all of those cultural Meccas, collectively together the power they had as one. Other cinemas similar to the Panida across the country are now looking at what they’re doing and saying, we should do that.

With digital now, they can all play whatever and get a forum going for an audience. So I end up getting calls from every cinema similar to the Panida across the world, but

I’d love to ring in at least another 20 venues from across the USA. I’m really finding that if you have the United States and Russia as your foundation, that no one is going to say no to what your presenting. Every film has got to find its right festival, every festival has got to find its right films and both of them together have got to find their right audience and then magic happens, and that’s what’s happened here.

The Panida will be showing the ten short films together in four separate time slots.

Sept. 30 at 5:30, Oct. 1 at 3:30 and 7:30, and Oct. 2nd at 3:30.

For more information please visit ManhattanShort.com.

Friday, sept. 23 @ 8pm

George winston in concert

George Winston’s concerts feature a variety of styles including melodic folk piano, New Orleans R&B piano, and stride piano

Saturday, Sept. 24

National arthouse theater day

events planned all day, starting at 1 pm the showing of “Caffeinated,” “A Balanced Life,” “I Brought Cake” (with the Director), “I’ll Take Oliver” (with the Director), “A Broadway musical,” and a Japanese Animated Film. $5 for all events a special showing of “A Town Called Panic” at 3:30pm & 7:30pm

Thursday, sept. 29 @ 7pm

SARODE & TABLA

AN EVENING OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC Pandit Partho Sarothy is known around the world for his exploration of harmony and tranquility

Sept. 30 @ 5:30pm | Oct. 1 @ 3:30pm & 7:30pm Oct. 2 @ 3:30pm

MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival

The World’s First Global Film Festival! • You, the audience, picks the winner!

coming soon: “silver skies” - NY Film Critic series September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 17

Photos of the Week: Sept. 15-21

Top right, moving clockwise: Apex Construction’s crew (who donated their work) demolishes the Memorial Field Grandstands on Tuesday.

Dan Mimmack of Creations pillaged the Sandpoint Library on Monday at the International Talk Like A Pirate Day event to promote the Library’s free online foriegn language program, Mango Languages. Photo courtesy of Sandpoint Library.

Sandpoint High School’s varsity football team plays their homecoming game last week. The game was the last event to use the grandstands at Memorial Field.

Davey “BioBeats” Mullen, right, beat boxes with Ben Olson and Cadie Archer of Harold’s IGA at their show at the 219 Lounge Friday night.

A view looking down at the crowd from the gangplank leading to the old press box at Memorial Field at the homecoming game last week.

All photos by Cameron Barnes, unless otherwise noted.

18 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

Opening hearts and minds

By Suzen Fiskin Reader Columnist As Bill Clinton said in a 2014 speech, “We’re less racist. We’re less sexist. We’re less homophobic than we used to be. We only have one remaining bigotry—we don’t want to be around anybody who disagrees with us.”

Ain’t that the truth? We’ve become so polarized from one another that many of us won’t share our opinions for fear that we could jeopardize our relationships by just talking about politics, the environment or just about anything we believe in strongly.

This is fracked up. Instead of discussing issues, we issue labels that alienate us. By focusing on divisive ideologies rather than the specifics of the concerns affecting us all, we rob ourselves of finding the smartest, most robust and effective solutions to our mounting shared challenges.

I see a world on the precipice of massive changes—a shift in consciousness from Me to We. In order to find ways to thrive in this new era, we’ve got to talk to one another! We need to share ideas freely without our identities getting in the way so that we can morph our relationships with ourselves, one another and the earth in ways that serve the greater good.

In the land in which corporations are people and wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer players, we’ve been the object of some serious strategies to keep us divided.

Just six corporations run 90 percent of the media in the United States. Even though these companies were originally given the airways to serve the public good, these corporations have one agenda: profits.

In America, people use the media as their primary source of information, and if that in-

United We Stand

formation is biased, c’est la vie!

Keeping us alienated is one helluva way to keep us mired in the status quo, and that’s just what old school corporate America wants. An awakened collective consensus of We the People poses an enormous threat to same ol’, same ol’ business as usual.

So what can each of us do to shift these tides? We can learn how to communicate with people who have ideas and beliefs that differ from our own. This story will give you a unique way to create common ground where it might have been dubious before.

I was hired as an independent consultant/trainer for a nigh-unto-impossible gig. The huge consulting firm of Booz, Allen, Hamilton brought me in to create a communications workshop to create a bridge for half a dozen very different groups involved in a chemical de-militarization program.

There were Parks and Recreation employees; state and federal government workers; Army generals; consultants; and company representatives of several contractors involved in the program.

Surprise, surprise—these people had problems communicating with one another, and I had four hours to get them all on the same page!

These different groups had virtually nothing in common beyond this government program. I was sweating grenades when the generals refused to do any of the exercises I’d designed. They glared at me, hands folded, sitting stiffly upright in their seats in their

starched uniforms and spit polished shoes.

Finally, I hit on something from my arsenal of NeuroLinguistic Programming tools that worked. The key to getting agreement with folks who have little to agree on is to zoom out the lens of the interaction far enough that all parties agree on a common goal.

We had a ways to go and settled on “Saving the World” as the collective agenda. After that, we created communications strategies for their shared projects. When the dialog got heated, I just reminded them that we were all there to “Save the World,” and they got back on track.

In this season of divisive politics, I’ve started conversations I would have avoided in the past. I’ll ask someone of another persuasion why they support their candidate, and keep asking questions until I can raise our interaction to a place where we get to a shared intention, just like I did at that workshop. I’ve also done my best to stop labeling people and to focus on what we have in common and what I can learn.

Isn’t it time we get beyond where, as George W. put it, “We don’t talk to our enemies?” By opening the doors of communication to include all of us, we increase our odds of thriving together exponentially.

Who could argue with that?

Suzen Fiskin is a happiness coach, multi-media marketing wiz, and inspirational speaker.

She’s also the author of the book, “Playboy Mansion Memoirs.” If you have any questions or comments, here’s how to find her – (208)572-0009 or suzenfiskin@yahoo.com.

‘Star Trek’ turns 50

By Randy Stolz Reader Contributor

Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Uhuru, Scotty, Bones, Chekov, and all the hot young yeomen of both sexes who died horribly in Kirk’s arms before the end of the first act all appeared for the first time on NBC television 50 years ago on Sept. 8. Together with “M*A*S*H,” “Star Trek” dominated my post-Children’s Television Workshop viewing habits, and the quality of the writing in those original three years set a seminal benchmark that remains unsurpassed.

Please don’t misunderstand: In an era of computer generated effects, the original series seems quaint or cheesy, and it requires a level of suspension of disbelief contemporary viewers are unused to. But the scripts of some of those early Hugo award winning shows are just amazingly timeless and creative.

According to Richard Arnold, personal assistant to series creator Gene Roddenberry from the ‘70s until Roddenberry’s death in 1991, “Gene’s litmus test for a great ‘Star Trek’ story was, ‘Can you tell it today? Can you tell it 100 years ago? Can you tell it in the future?’ Does it require science fiction hardware to make it work? Because if it does, it’s not a good ‘Star Trek’ story. It has to be about people. It has to be about the human condition ... It’s one of the few places you can go to get those positive visions of the future,” Arnold said.

A veteran of WWII’s Pacific theater and a former LA cop, franchise creator Gene Roddenberry was strongly committed to a social vision “framed in negotiation, mutual understanding and compromise,” according to Michael Newton of The Guardian. Very little real evil is evidenced in Star Trek: “more usually there’s merely petulance or misunderstanding, hurt or fear. It’s a matter of survival, not evil; it’s rare to find someone who wishes to conquer the galaxy ... The receding frontier (of space) was always central to an idea originally pitched by

Roddenberry as ‘Wagon Train’ in space,” Newton adds.

“Star Trek” depends upon the balance between Kirk and Spock, a union of diverse opposites. The charisma of Shatner’s Kirk is that of an all-American hero, a college sports star dispensing justice for the universe.

Nimoy’s Spock faces him with urbane, reflective stillness, a strangely comforting presence.

DeForest Kelley is a decade older than Shatner and Nimoy, and his role usually was to provide an irascibly choleric, spluttering figure of conscience, bluntly defining the captain’s moral dilemmas.

Bryan Fuller, executive producer of the new “Star Trek: Discovery” series that will premier early next year, emphasized Roddenberry’s original humanist, inclusive vision for “Star Trek” at the San Diego ComicCon last July. “I think what the new series has to do is remind the audience about the message of ‘Star Trek’ ... to continue to be progressive, push boundaries and continue telling stories in the legacy that Gene Roddenberry promised, which is giving us hope for a future,” Fuller said.

Brent Spiner, who played Data on “Next Generation,” said at San Diego, “I think ‘Star Trek’ in general has been about individual rights and about respecting everyone no matter who or what they are. And we’re living in a world right now where that sort of respect is being challenged, not just all over the world, but in our own country too, and it’s disturbing. And I think a lot of our politicians and a lot of our fellow citizens could take a page from ‘Star Trek’ at this point and have a bit more respect.”

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 19

Pine Cone Memories

By Tim Henney Reader Contributor

I revere pine cones. Our Selle Valley property has almost as many pine cones as ant hills have ants. I prefer dead tree limbs to charcoal when grilling salmon, and a pine cone is a tree limb’s kissin’ cousin. But I don’t burn pine cones. I don’t even step on them if I can help it. Before mowing the lawn I chuck fallen cones into adjacent tall grass so I won’t shred them.

Pine cones remind me of Southern California’s San Bernardino mountains when I was a lad. When “going to the mountains” from the beach town in which I was reared was the most exciting thing that could possibly happen. Wild and rugged Mt. San Gorgonio was 11,500 feet high. But magical Lake Arrowhead and its environs were a mere mile high and as forested with cone-bearing conifers as North Idaho is today. Bigcone Douglas firs, Jeffrey pines, white firs, sugar pines, incense cedars, Coulter pines with cones the size of footballs. Their crisp fragrance was what I imagined heaven must smell like, if heaven smelled.

When I was a small boy, Lake Arrowhead was like our lake is today. Pristine, perfect, but much smaller. And Arrowhead Village, on the shore, was like something from a fairy tale. Camelot in the mountains. It had a rustic miniature golf course beneath giant pine trees, a guy renting canoes and rowboats from the beach, and an outdoor bowling alley where the pins were set manually. There was a small theater, a grocery store and an Orange Julius stand, among other essentials. Camp O-ongo, a boys and girls summer camp, was a few miles up Route 18, Rim O’ The World Highway. O-ongo also had zillions of sweet-smelling pine trees and cones, like Arrowhead Village and the conifer forests surrounding it.

Since those halcyon years— mid 1930s to mid-1950s, before Southern California itself became an ant hill—the lake, the village, the pine-scented forests, and even Camp O-ongo, have been devastated. At least to those of us who knew them when. Too many people and cars. Too many forest fires.Too many bark beetles.

Too many greedy developers.

Garish hotels and condos now 20 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

The author’s father, Burdette Henney, a “yell king” and originater of USC’s Trojan War Horse tradition.

occupy the unpopulated sandy coves where my buddies and I camped and swam over the years.

The former Camp O-ongo, for instance, for more than 50 years a piney Shangri-La for those so fortunate to have been molded by its spirit, today looks like an asphalt parking lot. A trillion years removed from boisterous after-dinner songs in the timbered lodge: “Oh you can’t get to heaven on a slide trombone, ‘cause the Lord don’t like, Tommy Dorsey’s tone.”

While pine cones remind me of those pristine mountains, of that storybook mountain village, of campfires and Deep Creek hikes at Camp O-ongo, they bring even more dear memories of my dad. Of summer weekends and vacations sitting on his lap helping steer a Packard with white sidewalls from wherever he was then living—Glendale, Hollywood Hills, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley—to the mountains. Negotiating Route 18, a twisting, narrow, switchback from San Bernardino up the mountain to Arrowhead. A 1930s 30-mile climb more like the road to our own Schweitzer Mountain than to the bumper-to-bumper California freeway it is now.

Warning my dad whenever the headlights picked up a black and yellow curve sign en route up the mountain: “Here comes a curve, Daddy!” And his assurance to me that the success of our journey was because of my 5-, 6-, 7-yearold navigational skills.

Halcyon years when a kid could leisurely cruise the blue lake in a wooden Gar Wood speedboat with his dad and dip a paper cup over the side for cold, pure drinking water. Today if you stopped to try that on Lake

Arrowhead you’d be run over.

Or arrested for blocking traffic.

And the water sure wouldn’t be drinkable. When a kid could sit on the pine-shaded porch of a rustic family cabin in a mountain canyon, a cabin long since replaced with a mega-mansion by more hip, striving “new” Californians. Could sit on the pine-shaded porch with his dad and, wide-eyed, watch him call birds right up to the railing by whistling their whistles. Then, with help from his dad and a frigid rope, haul up a bucket of icy water from a deep backyard well after a game of horseshoes in the dirt under a canopy of cone-laden conifers. And the air. The sweet, crisp mountain air almost gave the little kid goosebumps—even on a warm summer day.

Television and computers weren’t even a gleam in the eyes of Bell Laboratories’ scientists yet, but the cabin, along with an attached outhouse, had another primitive accessory: a radio. Jack Benney. Bob Hope. Amos ‘n’ Andy. Lum ‘n’ Abner. Soap operas. Joe Louis fight broadcasts.

Kate Smith. The Lone Ranger.

The Bell Telephone Hour—which morphed into television and which the little kid would one day be involved with producing, in NYC. Who knew?

The Los Angles Coliseum has little to do with mountain pine cones except that football season is here and my dad and I spent as much time together in that massive saucer as at Lake Arrowhead. Near downtown L.A. and adjacent to the University of Southern California campus, the coliseum was hallowed ground to me.

My dad had been a USC “yell king” in the late 1920s when a

yell leader at a big football college was as celebrated as today’s rock stars. He became locally famous for originating “The Trojan War Horse” on brightly colored “cards” in the student cheering section (“card stunts” evaporated in the 1950s). For his yell leading, and for later years of involvement in SC alumni activity, he was asked to announce halftime entertainment at USC home football games at the coliseum.

From the mid-’30s to the mid’40s I spent autumn Saturdays with him in the public address booth on the big bowl’s 50-yard line. Once, as he was describing a visiting Stanford marching band performance, a purveyor of popcorn, colas and candy bars passed near the booth. I yelled, “Daddy, can I have a Baby Ruth?” Before he could slap his hand over the microphone my request boomed out over the loudspeaker system.

He was amused, not angry.

The only time I recall his ever chastising me was at the 1939 USC/UCLA football game (my mom, in Long Beach, where I lived, took care of discipline with the back of a hair brush. Butt spanking was legal, even recommended, in those days). At the ‘39 bruin-trojan battle I rooted for the wrong team, UCLA, for two reasons. First, I liked their uniforms. The Bruins looked flashier. It was bad enough to cheer for upstart UCLA, a public university where people studied to be teachers. The in-crowd attended private USC and pursued studies aimed at making them titans of commerce. Worse, I cheered for Jackie Robinson, a young Bruin speedster from Pasadena who ran circles around the Trojans. My dad didn’t know any blacks personally, and didn’t

want to. He wasn’t crazy about Jews, Hispanics, Asians or Catholics, either (because of him, for years I thought Notre Dame, a major SC opponent, played dirty football because it was Catholic).

Jackie Robinson, future sports legend and all-American hero, led a gang that used razors on boys like me, my father said. His downtown L.A. buddies, many of them former SC football players, felt the same about people who weren’t White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. L.A.’s male business leadership in the 1930s and ‘40s was not known for enlightened views on humanity. Some say it hasn’t changed. But my dad dearly loved me and I loved him.

When he suffered a sudden, lethal heart attack at 46 from too many years of too many gin martinis at the downtown Jonathon Club, and too many thick, marbled steaks slathered in butter, I was 16. That was 68 years ago. I’m almost over the shock. My dad was trout fishing with his third wife, Nora Lane, who had acted in western movies opposite William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd and other preClint Eastwood, pre-John Wayne actor cowboys. He was fishing in Bishop, Calif. between Big Pine and Deep Springs. Bishop is known for an ancient bristle cone pine forest. How fitting for him to die there, if he had to die when he did.

I have often wondered if maybe my dad had me partly on his mind when he and Nora hiked in over fallen bristle cones and pine needles to a sparkling Bishop trout stream. I mean, fair is fair. I think of him when I hike with our dogs through our backyard piney woods.

My dad is there, in the pine cones on the path.

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Susan Drinkard

Troubadour ‘Whetherman’ to play at 219

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff Inspiration came in an unexpected form to Americana musician Nicholas Williams when choosing a stage name.

As he considered various options, he re-encountered a cherished book from his childhood: “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster.

Early in the adventure novel, protagonist Milo encounters a character called Whether Man. Something about Whether Man’s parting words to Milo, “Whether or not you find your way, you’re bound to find some way,” stuck with the budding musician. As he continued to hone his musical ability, he did so under the stage name Whetherman.

Several years and seven albums later, it’s clear it was a pivotal moment in a career that has taken Williams around the world.

Whetherman draws on American influences of blues, bluegrass and more to craft a brand of warm, infectious folk music. Endlessly adaptive, it’s a style equally at home in an intimate listening room or a smoky barroom. A tradition of music itself deeply rooted in the past, Williams said it has a similar effect on listeners, unearthing long-buried memories or emotions.

“I think I’m going for this reflective, nostalgic kind of thing,” he said. “A lot people tell me they feel transported to this place in their mind that’s

comfortable.”

Williams writes a steady output of new material, finding inspiration in the natural world when he’s not traveling.

His library of songs has filled out seven albums with plenty of material to spare, and he’s working on an eighth record for release in summer 2017.

“I spend a lot of time in the woods and nature between shows,” he said. “The Nicholas Williams, AKA “Whetherman,” will be playing the 219 Lounge on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 9 p.m. Courtesy photo. titles for each album are naipate settling down for a time ture-based for that reason. It’s dom reminded Williams why he does what he does. in Ashland, Ore., to shake off not a direct influence, but it “When I go over there, it’s the dust, but knowing the life creates the peace of mind that kind of reveals the essence of of a musician, it’s unlikely to lays the foundation for those why I do this,” he said. “It’s keep Williams stuck in one songs.” almost an out-of-body expespot for long.

Despite performing rience where everything is in The road takes Williams uniquely American music, to Sandpoint this week, the Whetherman has found a wel- the right place.”

Williams’ life has lately second time he’s performed coming audience in Europe, been defined by travel.

He in town. Be sure to drop by which he has toured three and his wife have more or for his 9 p.m. set at the 219 times to date. The experience less lived on the road, driving Lounge tonight: Thursday, revealed a musical culture as from tour stop to tour stop in Sept. 21. vibrant as it is venerable, and their Sprinter van.

They anticstops in France, Germany, Spain and the United King-

Shook Twins announce holiday show

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Sandpoint’s own Shook Twins have announced the date for their annual “Giving Thanks” show this holiday season.

The renowned duo will be playing the Panida Theater on Saturday, Nov. 26. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and the show will start at 7:30 p.m.

The Panida Theater and the Sandpoint Reader are co-presenting the show, which has sold out the last two years.

Tickets can be purchased for $15 in advance at Eichardt’s Pub, Pedro’s and online at www.Panida.org. Tickets still remaining will also be available for $20 on the day of the show.

Look for a full length interview and article promoting this event in an upcoming issue of the Reader. For now, get those tickets while you can!

Crossword Solution

READ

“Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Kline is historical fiction that brings to light a bit of American history (1854-1929) that had unpredictable outcomes for children sent from slums of the East Coast for adoption by families in the Midwest. It is a compelling read.

North Idaho Reads is bringing the film of the documentary by the same title to the Columbia Bank auditorium at 9 a.m., Oct. 1. Train historian Aric Spence will talk about trains in Sandpoint at 10:30 a.m.

LISTEN

Ben and Cadie of the band Harold’s IGA will play tonight, Thursday, Sept. 22 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at MickDuff’s Beer Hall during the annual Rock Creek Alliance party, open to the public. The band is a local favorite and a favorite of mine.

You will also have the opportunity to learn about the latest news on the fight to save our lake.

Bring a lake heart rock and get a free beer.

WATCH

Although the book is much better, as is usually the case, “The Light Between Oceans,” playing at the Bonner Mall Cinemas, has merit.

It is the story of a World War I veteran sober from war violence who takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on a desolate island off the shore of Australia. He marries a young Isabel, who wants a family more than anything. A baby in a small boat washes ashore, and then comes the drama.

Show times are 12:30 p.m., 3:25 p.m., and 6:20 p.m.

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 21

w o N & Then compiled by

rnes

Cameron Ba

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

Historical information provided and verified by Bonner County Museum staff and volunteers. The Museum is located at 611 S. Ella — (208) 263-2344.

Looking east from First Avenue, just south of Pine Street.

c. 1950

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

CROSSWORD ACROSS

The same view today. The building is now referred to as “The Inn at Sand Creek” and was the former location of La Rosa Club.

2016

overweening

Woorf tdhe Week

/OH-ver-WEE-ning/

[adjective] 1. presumptuously conceited, overconfident, or proud.

“Unwilling to retract his statement out of overweening pride, Carl soon found the class thought of him as a douche-bag.”

Corrections: I misspelled Joanne Cottrell’s name in last week’s Reader. Sorry about that, Joanne. -BO • Also, Jennifer Passaro’s poems published in August and September were titled incorrectly. The correct titles are “Love” and “Center.”

22 /

R

/ September 22, 2016

1. Choose by voting 6. Algonquian Indian 10. Pay attention to 14. Happen again 15. Choose 16. Sea eagle 17. Beyond belief 19. Stow, as cargo 20. Record player 21. Offer 22. Bit of gossip 23. Sag 25. Forests 26. Hurried 30. Oust 32. The largest flatfish 35. A dais 39. Found at the end of a pencil 40. Under the influence of narcotics 41. Roman silver coins 43. Answer 44. Frolic 46. Not difficult 47. Overly sentimental 50. Nun’s attire 53. Chocolate cookie 54. Religious sister 55. Bilingual 60. A collaborative website 61. Emissions 63. Black, in poetry 64. Superhero accessory 65. Exclamation expressive

Solution on page 21 of regret 66. Weight loss plan 67. Leg joint 68. What we are called

DOWN 1. Anagram of “Sire” 2. Gave temporarily 3. Behold, in old Rome 4. A purring sound 5. Cornered 6. Consumer Price Index 7. Award 8. Overshadow 9. Barely managed 10. Green chalcedony 11. Muse of love poetry

12. Ceased 13. Considers 18. To make a fool of (archaic) 24. Not in 25. Electrical power units 26. Outbuilding 27. Trim 28. Distinctive flair 29. Let down 31. Being 33. Small and pulpy edible fruit 34. Murres 36. Dwarf buffalo 37. Lairs

38. Countercurrent 42. Cold-blooded 43. Confederate soldier 45. Appetizer 47. Scattered, as seed 48. Small African antelope 49. A black tea 51. Actress Lupino 52. Moon of Saturn 54. Make out (slang) 56. Arizona river 57. Rich soil 58. A single time 59. Sounds of disapproval 62. Born as

If a kid ever asks you how Santa Claus can live forever, I think a good answer is that he drinks blood.

Wildernesstsate E Lake ,5 49,000 $2

•7.58 ac. w/lodge home + guest house on Bull Lake, MT

•Only ONE HOUR EAST of Sandpoint, ID •Year around access via low-use Montana Hwy 56 •3 sides of property touch 96,000 acres of U.S. Congress

Designated Wilderness incl. wildlife mgmt. system

•Sports Afield Trophy Properties/Broker: WAYNE HEATON (406) 210-1100

did you know you can

You make the drive...

Jon will make the deal!

subscribe to the

READER ???

Home of the $19.95 Oil Change* *up to 7 quarts of oil, not including synthetics

3 MINUTES SOUTH OF SANDPOINT IN SAGLE ON HWY 95

it’s not hard at all

(That’s what she said)

Jon - (208) 610-9580 (866) 783-0047 / (208) 263-4212 www.PIERCEAUTOCENTER.com

September 22, 2016 /

R

/ 23