Reader September 28 2017

A late season surprise!

We inject trees with fertilizer and insecticide to help rejuvenate the tree and kill off the larve and beetles inside.

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(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

What do you want to accomplish before winter sets in?

“To get in as many nice walks as possible.”

Olivia Gonzales Stay-at-home mom Sandpoint

“I live off the grid, so I need to do the usual — get my firewood in and my water system together. Also, I will need to get a big sack of rice and a big sack of beans.”

Tom Woodward Carpenter Near Colburn Culver Road

“We want to get all our wood in.

We couldn’t get out when it was so smoky, but we only use two to three cords because we have good insulation and double windows; we also wear snuggies to stay warm.”

Arlene Sturgeon Retired elementary teacher Sagle

“Get back to Oregon to see my mom.”

Mark McDaniel Retired Heron, Montana

“I want to get our storage shed organized so the snow doesn’t accumulate and get the rest of our wood cut up and stacked.

We used nearly all our wood last year — nearly six cords, and we could have a winter like used to have every year — where the snow is as high as the eaves.”

Janet Bouse Cashier Ponderay

DEAR READERS,

I snapped this week’s cover photo while hiking on the Pend Oreille Divide Trail Sunday. What a surprise to see over six inches of snow. What a bigger surprise to see fresh, juicy huckleberries poking out of the snow by the trail. If we had a little cream and sugar on me, we could’ve churned up our own trailside ice cream.

On a more serious note, I’d like to address the situation going on right now involving President Trump and the professional athletes who have been peacefully protesting racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem.

First, some context: My father fought in the Korean War. One of his biggest pet peeves was when people disrespected the American flag. I have vivid memories of him stopping and walking into a business to inform the owner that they were flying the flag improperly. My dad took this very seriously.

So, I was raised with a healthy respect for the American flag.

However, I was also raised to respect what the flag stood for. I was taught to respect the fact that our flag isn’t just different colored materials sewn together - it is a symbol of the freedoms our ancestors have fought for over the years. One of these freedoms is arguably the most important: the freedom of speech.

The First Amendment has endured many assaults over the years, but the latest tirade by our president is especially concerning because of the blatant hypocrisy and irony involved. Why is it disrespectful to take a knee peacefully during our national anthem, but swastika-clad white supremacists promoting violence in Charlottesville is OK? (Remember, Trump called some of them “very good people”).

Peacefully protesting injustice is patriotic. So is standing up to someone who attempts to change the base meaning of what it means to protest. The solidarity I saw on Sunday when hundreds of athletes and owners across the NFL stood with locked arms or knelt together was heartwarming. It didn’t offend me in the least. It showed me that the freedoms we have fought for are still in place - that those who protest are not doing it out of hatred for our flag, but out of love for our country.

There is a racial divide in the U.S. right now. Nobody can say there is not. Instead of blowing the dog whistle to his narrow base by calling NFL players “sons of bitches” for exercising their First Amendment rights, perhaps our president should just shut his mouth and do his job, to unite the country, not to further divide it.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

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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: Ben Olson (cover), Gary Peterson Photography, Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Christian Rose, Eric Grace, Brenden Bobby, Al Van Vooren, Jim Mitsui, Amy Craven, Sandra Rasor, Beth Weber, Marshall Allen, Laurie Brown, Marcia Pilgeram.

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About the Cover

This week’s cover features a photograph by publisher Ben Olson, who is sometimes able to sneak away from the constant onslaught of emails to hike in the hills.

September 28, 2017 /

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OPINION

The flag, football and the destruction of American culture

By Christian Rose Reader Contributor For much of my life I never felt particularly obligated nor overly inclined to stand and salute the flag during the national anthem. I did it, of course, but mostly out of peer pressure.

Perhaps this is because I attended a religiously diverse grammar school where my Jehovah’s Witness classmates didn’t stand or recite our daily morning flag salute. My friend informed me that this was because his religion taught him that the act of pledging allegiance to anything but God was not permitted.

His explanation made perfect sense, even as a child. Looking back, I think this helped me keep all of our patriotic traditions in their proper perspective.

America is a collection of individuals. We do not worship a flag, bend the knee to a king or pledge allegiance to a dictator.

As I entered into young adulthood, and started forging my own political identity, I found the whole pre-game national anthem thing, well, tedious. After all, I was already

Letters to the Editor The Truth...

Dear Editor, A recent letter to the editor about “antisemitism” contained misleading information and several false claims.

Here is the truth.

Dictionary.com prints: “antisemitism means discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews.” It means anti-Jewish. Unfortunately anti-Jewish ideas, speech and actions have been around for centuries in many horrible forms including prejudice, bigotry, stereotypes, expulsion, prevention from land ownership, forced ghetto living and state-sponsored genocide. The word was coined in 1880 Germany by a radical, nationalist agitator for the specific purpose of promoting Jew-hatred along perceived “racial” lines.

Antisemitism is ignorant hatred and bigotry. Historical examples include the expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492, Russian pogroms (massacres) throughout the 19th century, Holocaust/ genocide in 20th-century Europe and the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

One modern version of antisemitism 4 /

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beginning to distrust American government, so why should I pledge an allegiance to something I didn’t believe deserved our respect? Of course, much of this thinking at the time was largely due to my recent liberal arts education. You know, the kind of education that blames America for pretty much everything terrible in the world.

I’ve learned over these years that it’s not America or her values that are bad. It’s the potentates running things in D.C. that deserve our contempt. Not the flag.

Certainly not our traditions.

In my single-living late-20s I had the opportunity to become friends with an older couple.

The husband had served in Vietnam — the kind of service that requires killing the enemy and seeing your brothers die daily. One night, over dinner, I motioned to some artwork on the wall that memorialized fallen vets over an American flag.

My host got a little emotional explaining what it meant to him.

What America meant to him.

What the flag represented.

In that moment I changed.

Respect of the flag and its attempts to hold all world Jews accountable and responsible for all the actions of the modern state of Israel. The truth is, many Jews and Israelis do not agree with and openly criticize actions of Israel, just as many Americans have opposed American actions including wars, slavery, and the treatment of Native Americans. Are all Americans responsible for the evils of slavery?

Likewise many Christians have opposed historical wrongs done by the Church.

Are all Catholics responsible for the Spanish Inquisition?

There are many sects of Jews just as there are many forms of Christianity.

When the Roman Empire conquered Jerusalem in 70CE, the Romans expelled all Jews from the Jewish ancestral homeland, Israel, and dispersed them throughout the Roman Empire. Some Jews then formed distinct communities in exile in Europe and became known as Ashkenazi Jews. They eventually settled in central/eastern Europe during the Medieval Ages. Nevertheless, they are descendants of the Hebrew Israelites of Biblical times (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob).

This has been proven scientifically through multiple genetic studies. To

symbolic American ideals became a respect of the soldiers that sacrificed their lives. The politics of interventionism that I was against became less important to me. I saw the soldier, all soldiers, as human beings. I vowed in that moment never to disrespect that flag again. Ever.

This is why it is so puzzling that millionaire NFL players, so blessed by American capitalism and our freedoms would choose such an important symbol to use as a political tool. Don’t tell me this is a fight against racism. Nope, that’s hyperbole. If America was as racist as the left

wants us to believe, then why would white Americans wholeheartedly embrace so many successful athletes in a sport where 70 percent of them are black?

Sure, there’s no doubt, racism is real. Bigotry is still present in our nation. This fight isn’t over. But the overwhelming majority of Americans are not racist. You’d think Obama’s two election wins would be proof enough.

This whole “taking a knee” thing is just sad. I suspect there’s a lot of reasons why liberal race-baiters are pushing this agenda. Too many reasons

suggest otherwise is offensive to all Jews as it challenges our religious history and ethnic identity. [See: “Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Khazars. Here’s The Proof.” Alexandre Beider published yesterday, forum.com].

Spreading falsehoods about Jews or antisemitism encourages the evil monster of hate and ignorance to rear its ugly head. I say, “not in America, not in Idaho, not in Sandpoint.” I hope we can stand together as an inclusive community and treat everyone with peace, compassion, truth, respect and love.

got me a General Discharge before I could even get on the bus to Camp Pendleton. At the time of enlistment, I was a Goldwater Conservative. I am more liberal now but certainly not a Yellow Dog Democrat. I voted for President Ford and President George H. W. Bush.

I’m new to the Panhandle, but you don’t have to be here long to notice that people like to display their flags. I like that just fine in the broad light of day.

I start feeling a little differently after the sun goes down and I see our proud banner hanging like a rag in the dark.

I know our president has decided to make flag respect at athletic events an issue of respect for the military.

As our president doesn’t seem to be properly concerned about the devastation in Puerto Rico, where more military personnel come from than any other American state or territory, I just have to wonder about the depth of the concern our Commander in Chief really has for the military.

The Good Lord asked us, “Why do you mind the mote in your brother’s eye when the beam is in your own?” So I think looking at ourselves first is most important. Flag etiquette at night is

Danny Strauss Sandpoint

Flag Respect...

Dear Editor, I am a dedicated flag-loving American.

In 1965, when SDS was burning flags on college campuses around the nation, I protested by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. I think that should establish my bonafides as a flag lover. Sometimes I just get teary seeing Old Glory or hearing “The Star Spangled Banner.”

My bad driving record and a lawsuit

Baltimore Ravens players kneel during the national anthem at last Sunday’s NFL game.

Photo courtesy of YouTube.

to address here. But I am telling you, this is a loser. If you are supporting this lunacy, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

It won’t work.

Americans can see through your inimical tactics. They know when they’re being played, and they won’t participate.

Unless, of course, you’re just hoping we have one less politics-free cultural institution. In that case, sadly, you’ve already won. rather simple: dusk to dawn you either strike colors or you light them. Respect is not being shown when the flag is left hanging in the dark.

Our flag is not a sign marker or road sign. If you want your mailbox or sign to stand out in patriotic red white and blue, use paint or some Fourth of July bunting which may be left in the dark. I have gone and talked to business owners who leave flags in the dark and I have yet to see anything change. One concern has red white and blue fence lights at night but the flag above is in the dark.

Perhaps in our busy lives, we just have not stopped to consider all the flags in the dark? If this letter inspires one patriot to bring one flag out of the lonely night, it will have been worth writing.

If we cannot show proper respect for our flags here at home, why should we be concerned about what someone else is doing in the presence of a properly displayed flag at some athletic event?

Sincerely yours, Michael L. Poe Sandpoint

OPINION

The Toad Highway and Troy Mine Site Counter tops Firepits • Signs Monuments Custom Designs

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By Kathleen Clayton Reader Contributor They’re green or brown and covered by warts. They have bulging eyes with horizontal slits. And heck, they don’t even hop. Even so, the western toad gets a highway of its own provided by Hecla Mining Company in the cleanup of the Troy Mine site.

When company personnel discovered this rare animal in the reclamation of the Troy mining site, they built a fenced-in corridor called the Toad Highway so the toads could safely traverse from pond to forest. The company even had their men trained on how to round up about 20 confused toads who got lost. The gloved employees ran around carefully catching the toads in the proper manner, returning them to the Toad Highway for a safe migration.

The Toad Highway was just one of the many sights witnessed by the members and friends of the Sandpoint Kiwanis Club, who were invited for a tour of the Montanore and Troy mine sites. On Sept.

16, we came by car, van and even motorcycle, meeting at the headquarters in Troy.

After a short film, we drove to the Montanore mine site. We lunched while encircled by towering mountains, then donned safety gear to ride a van the dis-

tance of 7,000 feet into the tunnel which ends up 1,700 feet beneath the mountain.

At the end of the excavated tunnel, the mine is full of water which is continually being pumped out to keep the water level even. Company officials are hoping to obtain permits to extend the mine and access the copper and silver. Most people don’t realize that windmills producing electricity require many tons of copper which is imported now.

After we exited the mine, our guides showed us their expensive, state-of-theart water filtration plant. Our guide, Doug Stiles, explained that the water is purified to a state better than the water currently pummeling down the streams. The natural stream water has few if any helpful minerals which are beneficial to trout, but the reprocessed water has traces of minerals helpful to fish. Doug told us that the company is constantly monitoring the water quality to ensure the mine has no adverse environmental impact on the streams or land.

The private van I rode in almost missed seeing the next site: the site of the old Troy Mine. Our driver got left behind while we fastened our seat belts. We took several wrong turns but finally got on the right road sailing right past the parking lot. Doug saw us and chased us to the end

Top: The Toad Highway, a section of protected land so that the Western Toad may safely traverse from the pond to the forest.

Inset: The Western Toad.

Photos by Kathleen Clayton. of the road. It’s only seven miles to the end, so he didn’t have to go far.

Once we joined the other half of our group, we boarded a school bus which groaned and creaked along a bumpy road.

The extra effort Doug took to make sure we saw the rest of the tour proved worth the trip. The Troy mine is shut down now and Hecla is expending massive funds and effort to restore the area to original state.

When we saw it, dump trucks — 320 loads a day — brought top soil to the site to spread over the area and plant trees, making the site a very busy place. Hecla even works to keep the dust level down.

The area is just in from the highway lined with residential homes bordered by mountains on the other side, making it a corridor for grizzly, bears, deer and moose traveling back and forth to Glacier Park.

Most remarkable of all: the Toad Highway. I was impressed that a big mining company actually cares about a small toad, warts and all. The company plans to keep the property in private hands and maintain it as a corridor for wildlife. The level of reclamation mine owners employ now days is far different than it used to be.

Saturday, 9/30 10:30am 322 N. 1st Ave.

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COMMUNITY

Fall Fest at Kootenai Elementary

A day of games, good food and fun to raise funds for Kootenai Elementary PTA

By Reader Staff Bouquets: •A bouquet to Jim Healey, the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, Sandpoint Indivisible, and all the people who chipped in to pay for that back cover ad that ran last week. We’ve had a great reaction so far from the community and appreciate the positive sentiments for Sandpoint.

Barbs: •When Panhandle State Bank decided to build the Sandpoint Center in the former location of Harold’s IGA, the movie theater and laundromat, the idea was to create a community center. After Panhandle was bought out by Columbia Bank, nonprofits continued to gain access to the meeting rooms free of charge, which I applaud. Now, a group from California has purchased the building, and their proposal to charge nonprofits meeting room fees goes against everything that block was demolished for. Way to reinforce the classic stereotype of Californians moving to North Idaho and making it a little less special.

•My first job was washing dishes at the Garden Restaurant, which was located next to the Sandpoint Marina. If you’re new to town, it’s that empty plot of land next to where the Sand Creek Boardwalk comes up the ramp toward the Powerhouse.

It was sad to see the old Garden building demolished. Even sadder to see an empty scar there for many years. I always hoped some cool restaurant or bar would go in there. Now, I’m seeing advertisements offering high rise condos that are planning to be built there. Ugh. What a shame. If you were to poll the entire population of Sandpoint on what our town needs right now, I bet the last item on the list would be “high rise condos that only rich people from out of town will ever be able to afford.” I’ll say it again: Ugh. Didn’t we used to have height restrictions to keep these places out of downtown?

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The playground at Kootenai Elementary School will transform into a festive carnival on Friday, Oct. 6. The annual event is a fundraiser for the Kootenai Parent-Teacher Association and promises to be fun for the entire community.

The event is known as “Fall Fest,” and centers on a number of themed booths offering prizes, as well as several bounce houses. A delicious feast was also donated by Sweet Lou’s in Ponderay. The staff at Home Depot will be on hand to offer fun building activities for children. Northside Fire will offer a meet-and-greet and the Bonner County EMS will show off their new “off-road” ambulance.

In addition, there will be fun games and activities such as a cake walk and face-painting.

Raffle prizes have also been donated by local businesses.

“This event really celebrates families,” said Kootenai Principal Kelli Knowles. “The kids look forward to it every year – and it provides a fun, safe alternative to traditional door-todoor sales-based fundraisers.”

Fall Fest is open to all families. Tickets will be available at the gate before and during the event, which will take place between 3-7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6 at the Kootenai Elementary School. Tickets for games and activities start at 25 cents each, and wristbands for endless bouncing in the bouncy house are $10 each at the door. Thanks to Potlatch Credit Union, payments can be made with either credit cards, cash or check.

Please come celebrate and help support education in our community!

For more information, call Nikki Luttmann at (208) 9461585 or Kootenai Elementary School at (208) 255-4076.

Evan (center), Annie and Sophie Brubaker enjoying Fall Fest last year. Courtesy photo.

YE OLDE READER

Prescribed burning planned

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Sandpoint local Lenny Hess of 7BTV visited Colonial Williamsburg, Va., while attending the annual HughesNet Conference and ended up in the pillory. Good thing he had ample reading material. Courtesy photo.

Fire managers on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests plan to conduct prescribed burning across multiple Ranger Districts in the coming weeks.

The planned burning will include a combination of piles, harvest residue and undergrowth. The decision to burn will be dependent on a “burn window,” based on favorable conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality, weather forecasts and available resources.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, prescribed burns mimic natural fires by reducing forest fuels, recycling nutrients and increasing habitat diversity. Each prescribed burn is designed to meet specific objectives.

Please contact Sandpoint Ranger District for more detailed information at (208) 263-5111.

OUTDOORS

Working lands for tomorrow

By Eric Grace Reader Contributor

After 50 years of carefully tending the land with her late husband, Barney, Bonner County resident Lois Blasko has established a conservation easement over her scenic 350-acre farmstead. While many know Lois as their fifth-grade teacher from years past, she also has a passion for wildlife and open space, a lifetime spent immersed in farm life, and now a legacy she has established for future generations.

The land will continue to contribute to the agriculture- and timber-based economy while also ensuring habitat for wintering elk and deer, moose, bear, turkeys, bull trout and cutthroat trout, and an array of other animals that move up and down the Pack River corridor.

“Projects like this are about preserving a way of life,” said neighboring rancher Leonard

Wood. “These lands allow us the freedom to raise our families in an outdoor environment, and to pass our farming and ranching heritage to future generations.”

Blasko conserved her farm through a grant program of the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The program is designed to help ranchers keep their land in agriculture through a voluntary agreement. Avista Corporation also helped with funding because of the large stretch of the Pack River, a river of concern for bull trout. A portion of the value of the easement was donated by Blasko. The Kaniksu Land Trust will hold the conservation easement.

The conservation agreement keeps the land in private ownership. Blasko can still farm and cut timber on the property. However, it cannot be sub-divided or used for residential, industrial or commercial uses.

“This program is a great

option for families who value prudent and ongoing agricultural and timber production while allowing them to benefit the community by protecting the natural resources we all enjoy,” said Greg Becker, district conservationist for the NRCS. The farm’s size, significant proportion of prime and important agricultural soils, and extensive frontage along the Pack River and other tributary streams helped to make it successful in this nationally competitive program.

As development creeps in due to increasing growth in the region, this property helps to retain the agricultural values and scenic views that define the region.

In Blasko’s words, “Fifty years from now, who knows what types of crops or resources we will need to sustain this community. Now this land will continue to be available.” The land will also continue to serve the abundant wildlife that make it their

Cattle graze on the Blasko easement. Photo courtesy of Kaniksu Land Trust. home, and may be available for educational purposes as well.

By entering this agreement, Blasko has joined the ranks of other conservation-minded producers in the region who have protected their lands for the future while maintaining profitable and sustainable livestock operations.

Speaking as executive

director of Kaniksu Land Trust, we are honored to work with Ms. Blasko to help protect the family farms and ranches at the heart of our region’s agricultural heritage. Local ranches like this create jobs, protect water quality, provide wildlife habitat and preserve the culture and history of our region.

FREE MEDICAL CARE Bonner Partners in Care Clinic is a FREE health care clinic providing quality health care to those in our community who are not covered by health insurance. We provide a health care safety net for those who can not afford medical care at no cost to the patient. We treat general and chronic health disorders such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Infections and other minor medical issues. We also have assistance for diagnostic testing, laboratory orders, referrals and prescriptions.

We are located in The Panhandle Health Care Building 2101 Pine Street, Sandpoint 208.255.9099 Clinic is one evening per week (either Tuesdays or Thursdays) first come first serve basis. Please visit our website for more information: www.bpicc.org Find us on Facebook September 28, 2017 /

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Boobs n’ Beer: 7B Women hosts 2nd annual Boobs ‘n Beer Fun Run and Oktoberfest event to benefit Celebrate Life and Community Cancer Services

NEWS

Coal spill clean-up under way

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

By Reader Staff 7B Women will hold its second Boobs ‘n Beer Fun Run and Oktoberfest Celebration to benefit Community Cancer Services and Celebrate Life, and it’s an event you won’t want to miss.

Co-sponsored by MickDuff’s Brewing Company, this year’s event promises to be fun for the whole family. A 5K fun run along Sand Creek Trail is followed by an Oktoberfest celebration at MickDuff’s Beer Hall complete with live music

by Harold’s IGA and food trucks from Old Tin Can and others.

The 2016 inaugural event raised over $10,000 with the proceeds divided equally between Community Cancer Services and Celebrate Life, both of which are local organizations that assist people in our community who have been diagnosed with cancer.

“There are so many people in North Idaho who have benefited from the services of these two organizations, but unfortunately the need continues to grow,” said 7B board member and co-chair of the event Alice Sloane. “It is important to 7B Women to do our part to make sure that the funds are available so Celebrate Life and Community Cancer Services can continue to assist cancer patients by enriching their lives and helping them thrive through a very difficult time.”

Heather Gibson founded Community Cancer Services in 2002, and she passed away in August 2006. Jenny Meyer founded Celebrate Life in 2004. Meyer lost her battle with cancer in June 2008.

The Boobs ‘n Beer Fun Run and Oktoberfest will take place on Sunday, Oct. 1. Various sponsorship levels are available, and people of all ages are welcome to participate in the run/walk.

Registration includes a T-shirt, which is guaranteed for those who register by Sept. 8, and a token for a free beer—or root beer—at MickDuff’s Beer Hall.

For details, please go to 7BWomen.com. Costumes welcome and encouraged for this fun event.

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More than 3,500 tons of coal are being removed from Cabinet Gorge Reservoir after an August train derailment in Northwest Montana.

The Associated Press reports that 31 cars derailed in the incident, each carrying a 122-ton load of coal which spilled along 200 feet of riverbank near Noxon, Mont. While the derailment occurred last month, cleanup only started last week, beginning with scrap and coal removal.

“A large percentage of the coal has been loaded on railcars and removed from the site,” Jim Lewis, information officer for Montana Rail Link, told the Missoulian. “The clean-up process has gone well and will wrap up shortly.”

Following the derailment, it took two days to clear the tracks and open them for train traffic once again. Kristi Ponozzo, public policy director for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, told the Associated

Press that fewer than 10 tons of coal reached river water.

According to Lewis, coal is not classified as a hazardous substance under Federal Railroad Administration regulations.

To date, Lewis said no cause for the derailment has yet been identified.

Schweitzer roundabout to begin paving in November

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Writer

Sandpoint Public Works Director Ryan Luttman said Wednesday that paving on the Schweitzer Cut-Off roundabout and bridge is scheduled to begin in mid-November. Luttman said this is the most recent scheduling information he’s heard from the project’s contractor.

Schweitzer Cut-Off Road was closed in June when the project began. The detour route, effective around the clock until the project is completed, includes West Bronx, North Boyer, Woodland Drive, Great Northern and Baldy Mountain roads.

Part of the roundabout project process, after it’s completion, will be to add an art component. Sandpoint

Arts Commission Chair Carol Deaner said the commission is looking for artists to share their concepts in the coming months before the deadline on Dec. 31.

A selection panel will then review the proposed artist concepts, accept public opinions and then choose a winning artist in late spring. Installation of the art — a joint effort between the artist and a landscaper — is tentatively scheduled for June 2019.

Deaner said she’s not going to create a personal vision for the roundabout art until she sees the artists’ proposed concepts.

“It’s a gateway to the city, and to Schweitzer,” she said. “Hopefully it’ll be very attractive, and hopefully we’ll get us something that will blend itself into the environment.”

However, conservation groups like Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper object to that assessment. LPOW director Shannon Williamson said studies indicate coal and coal dust have a detrimental impact on the environment and public health. They cite the incident as reason to be

An aerial photo of the coal train derailment outside of Noxon, Mont. taken on Aug. 12. Photo by Cameron Barnes / Lighthawk. concerned about the possibility of a coal or oil train derailment into Lake Pend Oreille or its connected waterways.

Man killed in law enforcement confrontation

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

A Bonner County man was fatally shot by Bonner County Sheriff’s Office deputies this week after the officers tried to serve him a felony arrest warrant.

According to a sheriff’s office press release, Craig Johnson, 50, died on his way to the hospital after an altercation with county deputies.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, Johnson was fired upon by the officers after confronting them with a firearm and showing hostile behavior. The incident took place near Coolin at the southern shore of Priest

Lake.

Following the shooting, the deputies conducted emergency medical treatment and called for an ambulance, which carried Johnson toward air transportation to a hospital. However, he died en route to the air ambulance.

The North Idaho Critical Incident Task Force is heading up investigation into the shooting under the lead of Idaho State Police.

NEWS

First responders to hold hazmat containment drills on lake

By Reader Staff State and local emergency response teams, in coordination with BNSF Railway and other organizations, will host on-water emergency response drills at various locations in and around Sandpoint and Clark Fork on Friday and Saturday.

The training sessions will consist of a classroom review on Friday morning and on-water exercises on Lake Pend Oreille and the Clark Fork River on Friday and Saturday. Participating agencies include the Bonner County Office of Emergency Management, local and regional fire departments, BNSF and Montana Rail Link railways, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and BNSF contractor Whitewater Rescue Inc. Exercises will include oil spill containment techniques, boom equipment deployment, and oil recovery and storage tactics. Drills will take place at priority locations as identified in the Bonner County Geographic Response Plan, a comprehensive

document drafted in coordination between BNSF and Bonner County to dictate site-specific emergency response in the event of any regional hazmat release regardless of source.

“It’s always important to train on how to respond in these types of situations,” said Bonner County Emergency Management Director Bob Howard. “In the event of an emergency, we need to know how to respond, where to stage, what to do, and how to use the equipment that has been

Emergency crews deploy boom floats to simulate catching an oil spill.

Photo by Ben Olson. provided to us from the railroads and the agencies.”

Training sessions will take place near the Dover Marina, the Clark Fork Bridge, near the Highway 95 Long Bridge, and at the city of Sandpoint’s water intake.

These locations will all provide scenarios for first responders to deploy boom equipment to protect these areas from potential floating contaminants.

Sam Owen fire chief Wathen retires

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Bob Wathen has been the first and only fire chief for the Sam Owen Fire District since it was founded in 2002. Under Wathen’s leadership, the district has grown from a fledgling fire department with six firefighters to a full-service fire and rescue operation serving an area of 200 square miles.

Wathen recently announced he would be retiring, and the community responded by hosting an open house reception at Sam Owen Fire District to celebrate his service. The open house takes place on Sunday, Oct. 1 from 1-3 p.m. at Fire Station #1 at the junction of Highway 200 and Peninsula Road. Everyone is invited to stop by for cake and ice cream to thank Wathen for his 15

years of service.

“When we founded the Sam Owen Fire District, we had nothing except six firefighters,” said Wathen. “We had a small budget and two used fire engines that we had gotten at a really good price. To improve our fire rating, which has always been a goal of the district, we had to build a station and get all the equipment required by the state of Idaho.”

Wathen’s wife of 49 years Teri said the hardest challenge

was having a husband on call 24 hours a day: “It was a challenge at first, but you learn to roll with it,” she said.

While Wathen is retiring as fire chief, he will still serve the community as fire commissioner.

“It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of training,” said Wathen.

“But as soon as you get into it and respond to your first fire, it grabs you or you don’t stay. It gets in your blood.”

Festival Early Bird season passes go on sale Oct. 1

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Yearning for a little live music in your life? Have no fear: Early Bird Season Passes go on sale at 9 a.m. Thursday morning, Oct. 1 for the Festival at Sandpoint’s 36th annual summer concert series.

The discounted passes will be $199 (plus sales tax and city parks fee) for all eight nights of music at Memorial Field next summer, Aug. 2 - 12. Passes are available at this significantly reduced price (approximately a 50-percent discount) through Nov. 30.

The Early Bird price goes up to $259 on Dec.1 until the full line-up is announced on April 27 or until all 700 are sold out. After the season announcement, any remaining passes will be sold at $299. Season passes to the popular summer music festival typically sell out well before the announcement of the line-up is made each year.

“Early Bird Season passes offer a huge discount, they are transfer-

George Thorogood plays at the Festival at Sandpoint 2017. Photo by Ben Olson.

able and they make wonderful gifts for family, friends, employees and clients,” said Executive Director Dyno Wahl. “This season promises to be the biggest yet so get your Early Birds at the best price while they last!”

To order Early Bird season passes, or to make a tax deductible contribution, online visit the Festival’s website at www.

FestivalatSandpoint.com or call (208) 265-4554.

SANDPOINT LIBRARY TRANSFORMATION UPDATE: Things are framing up nicely

Framing has begun on the Sandpoint Library project. Crews are simultaneously working on the Cedar Street sidewalks, curbing and parking lot. Asphalt will be poured on Monday and the Cedar Street lot entrance will be open again early next week. Get project updates at www.ebonnerlibrary.org and follow the story on social media with #YourLibraryTransformation. Photo by Marcy Timblin.

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Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

The Corrupted Blood Incident

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist What if I told you that, in 2005, a massive plague swept across the land, infecting tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people and leaving several major cities in a wake of ruin.

Even our pets weren’t spared from this horrible disease, and in fact were the very cause of the sickness that took so many lives?

What could this be? Ebola?

The Bubonic Plague? SARS? Zika?

No, this was Corrupted Blood!

In 2005, “World of Warcraft,” (WoW) one of my personal-favorite time sinks, released a new raid with a shiny new boss that had a penchant for casting a spell called Corrupted Blood on players. If infected avatars got too close to other avatars, they would infect them and both would inevitably die from the disease without healing intervention.

Some players, intentionally or unintentionally, discovered that Corrupted Blood could transfer onto their characters’ pets that traveled with them, and that the disease would jump from their pets to them and anyone else nearby.

These players traveled from deeply rural areas to highly populated cities, which sparked a massive pandemic that left the cities of Azeroth buried in an ocean of the dead.

Once-sprawling capitals were reduced to literal ghost towns, as survivors began to take refuge or flee the cities to avoid being infected by Corrupted Blood. The in-game economy ground to a halt, since people were too afraid to circulate items in the auction houses, which were only located 10 /

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in the major cities. Non-Player Characters (NPCs) would become infected by the disease, but it wouldn’t harm them. They became carriers.

Game masters attempted to create quarantine zones, but they failed. The infected spilled in and the cycle of death and depravity continued.

Eventually, game masters found a “vaccine” (they figured out how the coding was exploited, and sealed the exploit) and life returned to normal. Corrupted Blood was cured!

The incident caught the attention of some very unexpected people years later. People that had much better things to do than playing an online game for hours on end.

Some of the world’s top epidemiologists had heard about the incident and contacted Blizzard Entertainment, the company that developed “World of Warcraft” to see if they could look at their logs of the incident.

The epidemiologists were using the incredible amount of data to perfect algorithms that could help predict human behavior during an event like Corrupted Blood, but in the real world. How would people react if a massive, spontaneous global pandemic were to strike humanity and sweep the planet in weeks, days, hours? What sort of death tolls would we be expecting? How would a pandemic affect economies at a global level?

They found that one of the greatest dangers was when a disease could jump from a domesticated pet to a human. The disease may not affect the pet in the same way, turning it into a carrier. Your dog is lovable, and if you don’t know it’s sick, it can become a nexus for disease

that can spread the sickness to everyone that interacts with it.

This was how Corrupted Blood transferred, from pets to players.

This is remarkably close to what happened in the SARS and Avian Flu outbreaks in the 2000s.

Even counterterrorism organizations found uses for the data collected by the Corrupted Blood incident.

This research was surprising because it was completely accidental and totally unintended, and it occurred in a simulated environment that didn’t put any actual human lives in danger, but was shocking enough that people would react in ways to preserve their character as though they, themselves, were in danger.

WoW wasn’t the only game that offered some insights and ramifications on the real-world.

Here are a few more: “EVE Online” is an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) set in space. It balances an economy with virtual and real-world currency together. In 2014, a massive battle took place that carried the price tag of at least $300,000, when many highend ships were destroyed.

Trade ships carrying as much as $20,000 in real life dollars have been destroyed and never recovered on more than one occasion.

The University of Buffalo set up an 11-week experiment with the MMO “ArcheAge,” a game famous for having nearly limitless options from building empires to sea trading to assassinations and dancing. The experiment was simple. Players were allowed to join, but they were made aware that at the end of the experiment, the servers would shut down and all of their

progress would be lost forever.

They created a virtual “End Times” scenario.

Their studies found that people acted more peacefully with the knowledge of their impending doom, and that players were more eager to help each other succeed in what little time they had left.

We’ve also used video games to teach lessons and learn about people in the process. Everyone remembers the old “Oregon Trail” game from school, in which you inevitably died no matter what, but in the past couple of years, developers have donated copies of “Sid Meier’s Civilization V” to middle

schools and high schools around the world to use as a teaching and evaluation tool.

How will your class react when given the tools and opportunity to flourish as a civilization? Will you create armies to crush everyone and bully the weak, or promote trade and foster friendships?

Many teachers have observed it has given young students a sense of consequence to their actions, something that doesn’t often form fully in the human brain until your mid-20s.

Now who said video games never taught us anything?

Random Corner es?

Don’t know much about diseas

We can help!

•Heart disease kills more people per year than cancer, war, terrorism, hunger, suicide, diabetes, respiratory diseases and mental disorders combined.

•When syphilis first surfaced, the English called it the “French disease,” the French called it the “Spanish disease,” Germans called it the “French evil,” Russians called it “Polish disease,” Poles called it “Turkish disease,” Turks called it “Christian disease” and Japan called it “Chinese pox.”

•During China’s Ming Dynasty, powdered smallpox scabs were blown up the noses of the healthy. The patients would then develop a mild case of the disease and from then on would be immune to it. Although the technique had a 0.5- to 2-percent mortality rate, it was better than the disease’s 20- to 30-percent mortality rate.

•While many woodland creatures harbor ticks and spread Lyme disease, opossums kill 96.5 percent of ticks that land on them and that a single opossum may be “hoovering up and killing” 4,000 ticks every week and thereby protecting us from Lyme disease.

•NFL players are three to four times more likely to contract Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) than an average American.

•Moon dust cuts through kevlar-like material and is harmful to humans, causing a disease called moon hay fever.

•After needing 13 liters of blood for a surgery at the age of 13, a man named James Harrison pledged to donate blood once he turned 18. It was discovered that his blood contained a rare antigen which cured Rhesus disease. He has donated blood a record 1,000 times and saved 2,000,000 lives.

OPINION

Wilderness and Wildlife Management

By Al Van Vooren Reader Staff In the exchange of letters and public debate about the proposed Scotchman’s Peak Wilderness it has been asserted that the ability to “manage wildlife” would be lost with wilderness designation. As a retired Idaho Department of Fish and Game Regional Supervisor for a region that contained a large portion of the Frank Church Wilderness I’d like to offer some context and perspective to “wildlife management” so readers can draw their own conclusions on how wilderness designation might impact wildlife management.

Idaho code declares all wildlife in Idaho to be property of the state, to be “preserved, protected, perpetuated and managed.” The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was established as the agency charged with that responsibility. At its most basic, the status of a wildlife population is the product of reproduction versus mortality, and managing wildlife is all about balancing those.

IDFG was given the authority to regulate hunter harvest and methods of take, which focuses primarily on the mortality side of the equation. The reproduction and survival side of the wildlife equation is influenced largely by the condition of the habitat and weather.

Fish and Game biologists monitor big game herd status and recommend seasons and tag numbers to the Fish and Game Commission that will assure adequate females remain in the herd and meet hunt quality objectives. Status of big game herds both in and outside wilderness are assessed

A goat on Scotchman Peak this summer. Photo by Leslie Kiebert. from Mandatory Hunter Report information from those who hunted in or outside wilderness. In southern Idaho, with less forest cover, that information is supplemented with aerial observations conducted both in and outside the wilderness.

On occasion biologists have the need to physically get their hands on live animals for research purposes or to transplant individual animals. In remote areas that generally requires landing a helicopter, not ordinarily allowed in wilderness.

Habituated mountain goats have injured at least one person in the proposed Scotchman Peak Wilderness area (a hiker was killed by a habituated mountain goat in Washington State some years ago) and the need could arise to capture and relocate problem goats.

In the new Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness Area, where Fish and Game has a history of frequent helicopter capture operations of Bighorn

sheep to monitor a disease in the herd as well as transport sheep, language was built into the authorizing legislation that makes provisions for Fish and Game to continue those activities. For other wilderness areas, there is an established process for coordination between the state wildlife managers and the federal wilderness managers (generally the Forest Service) to evaluate the specific wildlife management needs and allow helicopter landings in wilderness.

In my assessment, Fish and Game’s ability to manage wildlife would not be significantly impacted by wilderness designation for the Scotchman’s Peak area. But I suspect most references to the impact of wilderness designation on wildlife management have been references to the restriction on timber harvest. Early succession vegetation (e.g. “brush”) and openings that result from timber harvest (and

fire) can indeed be beneficial to big game by increasing the amount of forage.

The Idaho Department of Lands has a narrow mandate only to generate revenue from state lands. The Forest Service does incorporate wildlife considerations and IDFG recommendations in developing parameters for timber sales, and may compromise potential revenue to do so. But other than small demonstration projects, timber sales are not conducted with wildlife management as the primary objective.

And unfortunately the wildlife benefits of timber harvest are often more than offset by the creation of new roads and increased motorized access.

Decades of research has shown that the number of elk per square mile is inversely related to the miles of open roads per square mile. Research at the Forest Service’s Starkey Experimental Forest near La Grande, Ore., revealed that satellite-col-

lared elk dispersed as much as 2,000 yards when motorized vehicles, both full sized vehicles and ATVs alike, came in proximity. An important part of wildlife management is IDFG and the Forest Service working together to designate and enforce road closures following timber sales.

Because of the impact of ATV traffic on big game and the big game hunting experience the Fish and Game Commission, with support from the majority of hunters, has put in place a regulation that makes it unlawful to hunt from an ATV in 30 of Idaho’s 98 Big Game Units.

Much energy has gone into challenging individual opinions about wilderness designation. It can’t be challenged that not everyone wants the same type of hunting experience. Fish and Game has a feature on its web page called the “Hunt Planner.” It prompts the user to make choices on what type of hunting they are interested in and then suggests hunting areas, seasons and tag types. At one point it asks “What type of hunting experience are you looking for?” Choices are farm/ranch, managed forest, primitive backcountry or wilderness. For someone who indicates that they are interested in hunting in the Idaho Panhandle and then selects “wilderness” — it comes back “No hunts found.”

I leave it to the reader to conclude whether or not the ability to manage wildlife in the Scotchman’s Peak area would be lost with wilderness designation.

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More than a storthe, a Super store!u r s d a early.y

Start your holiday shopping We have the perfect gifts from

Melissa & Doug.

f r i d a y

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Yappy Hour Dollar Beers!

4-7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Bring your four-footed friends Good until the keg’s dry to this event hosted by the Panhandle Animal Shelter. Live music, food, drinks and barkin’ good times. Free admission Devon Wade CD Release Party 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Devon Wade debuts his self-titled album on a special night of fun. $5 gets you in the door. CDs and swag available. This is part of the weekend-long Oktoberfest celebration at MickDuff’s

Live Music w/ John Hastings and Friends 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

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

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Fit and Fall Proof Class 11am-127pm @ Cedar Hills Ch This free fitness class for senio the Panhandle Health District older adults to improve flexi balance and strength. 612-987-

Live Music w/ The Riff Hangers 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery A fun, high-energy group of pickers

Live Music w/ Right Front Burner 9pm @ 219 Lounge Sandpoint’s awesome funk, disco, rock and groove band

The Doors Experience and The Premier Tribute to Credence Clearwater Reviva 7pm @ Panida Theater Get your leather pants on, it’s time for t bands! $20/ticket, $30 for VIP seating 100,000 Poets For Change 4th Annual Hoptoberfest 1-4pm @ Evans Brothers Coffee 11am @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Lost Horse Press and the Bonner C A celebration of harvest and annual crops of barley Human Rights Task Force team up f and hops. Live music from Kevin Dorin (2-5pm), fifth year to present a poetry and music and The Other White Meat (6:30-9:30pm), plus mic for local writers, musicians, artis games, special brews and more. 21+ only, FREE! students to express their ideas for po Live Music w/ Chris Lynch change.

208-255-4410 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante Retirement party for Sam Owen Fire Chief Bob Wathen Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee 1pm @ Samowen Fire Station #1 (East Hope) Game Night at the Niner Come celebrate Bob Wathen’s 15 years as Fire Chief 9pm @ 219 Lounge Sandpoint Oktoberfest and Boobs MickDuff’s has teamed up with the Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills Sandpoint family-friendly Oktoberfe 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub There will be live music by Harold’s Live Music w/ Monarch Mountain Band 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Live Music w/ Browne Salmon Truck 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Great trio playing standards and favorites

Night Out Karaoke 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Join DJ Pat for a night of crooning your favorite tunes Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3pm-5:30pm @ Farmin Park The afternoon market on Wednesdays for all your produce needs!

Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry

KPND Monday Night Football Party • 5:30pm @ KPND and Bob Witte host a Monday Night Football prizes, restaurant giveaways, and more!

Open Mic 5-8pm @ SKåL Taproom Musicians and comedians welcome! Open mic is held every Wednesday

Magic Wednesday 6-8pm @ Jalapeño’s Restaurant Magician Star Alexander amazes dinner table and in the bar with teractive magical entertainment f

KPND Thursday Night Football Party 5:30pm @ 219 Lounge KPND and Bob Witte host a Thursday Night Football party with prizes, restaurant giveaways, and more! Bob will give away concert tickets, football tickets, KPND new music samplers, beer mugs, gift certificates and more!

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September 28 - October 5, 2017

lass r Hills Church for seniors sponsored by h District is designed for rove flexibility, mobility, 612-987-3802

ngers ery pickers

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

Reader recommended

Reception: ArtsGrowLearning 5:30-7pm @ Columbia Bank Building A touring presentation hosted by POAC, showcasing student visual art, dance, creative writing/storytelling and media arts created through Idaho’s ArtsPowered Schools program

Fall Reveal Party at Azalea 10:30am @ Azalea Handpicked Style Mimosas, treats, and a store full of fall fashion. Come down to Azalea Handpicked Style at 322 N 1st Ave. to celebrate the coming of fall!

Burner

, disco,

Fundraiser for Bryn Ballenger 4-8pm @ Greasy Fingers Bikes n’ Repair Enjoy a Silent auction, beer and snacks to benefit our friend Bryn for her 5th eye surgery this year. If you want help, but are unable to attend, there is a Go Fund Me Page - https://www.gofundme.com/ BrynBallengerEyeSurgery-Recovery

Trail Work Day on Morris and Regal Creek Trails 9am-4pm @ East Fork Creek trailhead Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness hosts a trail work day on Morris Creek Trail #132 on Lightning Creek Road. BBQ provided. To sign up: 208-290-1281.

Crosstoberfest (Sept. 30 - Oct. 1) 9am - 2:45pm @ U of I extension campus The event for Cyclocross, one of the coolest bike races around. Racers ride over dirt, gravel, time for tribute sand, water, hills and dales - much like a runeating ning steeplechase race. Super fun and great for spectators! Food, drinks and fun! 208-262-6997 e Head of the Pend Oreille Rowing Regatta Bonner County 8:30am-5pm @ The Mud Hole (Priest River) eam up for the Idaho’s only rowing Regatta located in Priest and music open River.

Attendance is free, BBQ lunch from the ans, artists and Klondyke available at 12:30 p.m. HOPRegatas for positive ta.org or call 208-255-8862.

Cedar St. Bridge Public Market Sandpoint Farmers’ Market b Wathen 10am-2pm @ Cedar St. Bridge 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park Come enjoy indoor shopping on the bridge Fresh produce, garden starts, live music Chief spanning Sand Creek with Ben and Cadie d Boobs ‘n’ Beer Garden • 12 - 4pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall with the 7B Women’s Boobs ‘n’ Beer 5K Fun Run for their beer garden and Oktoberfest, raising funds for Celebrate Life and Community Cancer Services.

Harold’s IGA, food trucks, face painting and kid zones, and more! Free to attend Diabetes Education & Support Group Meeting :30pm @ 219 Lounge 10-11am @ BGH Health Services Building t Football party with Featured speaker is Angie Mackin will answer questions Oct. 12 about health insurance. Free and open to the public

e Premier er Revival

Live Music w/ Folkinception 9pm @ 219 Lounge Folkinception was voted Best Original Band in the 2017 Inlander Readers Poll.

The music is a mix of rustic Americana and melodic pop-folk Computer Basics Class 8:15am @ Sandpoint Library A beginner’s class on computer basics.

Space is limited and preregistration is required. 208-263-6930. Held every Monday and Thursday

Kaniksu Land Trust Fundraiser: “Brews for Views” 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority A fundraiser for the Pine Street Woods Community Forest Project Live music, raffle prizes, complimentary appetizers and a chance to win Schweitzer Mountain ski pass.

Also the premiere of the “Pine Street Sasquatch Movie” Straw Bale Gardening and Greenhouse Building 6-8pm @ Ponderay Events Center Bonner County Gardeners Association hosts a Fall Home Horticulture workshop with Janene Grende and Brenda Hill. Class fee is $10; to learn more and register, visit BCGardeners.org or call 208-265-2070

estaurant er amazes guests at the bar with up-close, intainment for all ages!

all parob will D new ore!

Looking for a new way to workout?

Embody Studio for the Healing Arts is offering a week of FREE classes!

October 2nd - 7th Pick up a schedule at the studio 823 Main St. or go online:

embodysandpoint.com or wildcoremovement.com

Each class is unique yet they all contain: •A cardio fitness component •Movements that increase flexibility •World Music •Exercises that strengthen your core •Education on developing body awareness

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong in concert @ The Hive Oct. 13 The Dustbowl Revival @ The Panida Theater Oct. 14 Harvest Fest @ Farmin Park

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LITERATURE

100 Thousand Poets for Change hosts open mic

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Lost Horse Press and the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force are teaming up for the fifth year to present a 100 Thousand Poets for Change Poetry and Music Open Mic Night. Writers, musicians, artists and students are invited to share and express their ideas for positive change in the community, ourselves, our country and our world.

The Open Mic Night will take place Saturday, Sept.

30, from 1-4 p.m. at Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters, 524 Church St., in Sandpoint. Register to present a poem or song on the day of the event.

This event is just one of hundreds of individual events planned around the world as part of the annual 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a demonstration/celebration of poetry, art and music to promote social, environmental and political change. The nonprofit organization first started organizing annual events around the world in March 2011.

For more information, contact Christine Holbert with Lost Horse Press at losthorsepress@ mindspring.com or (208) 2554410.

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Writing in pursuit of justice

A Sandpoint man self-published a book that takes the reader on a journey

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Writer Chip Crandle is restless.

He’s 60, and he’s been living life on the safe track in the isolated woods of North Idaho.

That is, until he is inspired to save three little girls from their horribly abusive parents.

Can murder be justified?

What does it mean to “do something,” rather than to just watch the world pass us by? Is Crandle a vigilante we can all get behind?

Crandle is the main character in Sandpoint man Tim Martin’s recently self-published novel titled “On Death and Flying,” in which the main character makes an emotional journey of two parts — the first in the name of justice, the second in the name of self-discovery.

Perhaps the book’s theme is best described on the novel’s back cover: “‘On Death and Flying’ shines a light on the fears, doubts and discoveries we all experience as our parents pass, children leave, careers end and life moves on in unpredictable and often unjust ways toward the inevitable unknown.”

Essentially, Martin said “On Death and Flying” is what happens once you have 60 years of life under your belt and an endless string of stories you’re dying to tell. Martin moved to Sandpoint over a decade ago from the midwest, where he worked in advertising, communications and human resources for most of his life. While he’s always worked in writing, this is his first published novel.

“I’ve been a writer forever.

I would sit at stoplights and think of openers for stories, but never write them down,” Martin said, adding he doesn’t think he could have written

Top: Tim Martin, author of “On Death and Flying.”

Right: The front cover of Martin’s self-published novel.

Courtesy photos. something the scope of “On Death and Flying” — over 300 pages in the regular print edition — until just recently. “I’m stringing together 60 years of life. Everybody’s got a cool series of events.”

Martin said the self-publishing process was fairly straightforward. He said it look about two years start to finish, with his partner as his editor. With the help of CreateSpace and a designer he found online, Martin said his book was “dolled up” and ready to distribute in a fairly short amount of time.

With a main character in his 60s, written by an author in his 60s, it begs the question: How similar are Crandle and Martin? How many of their life experiences match up? I mean really, is Martin trying to tell us he murdered some child abusers?

“You know the saying: ‘You write about what you know,’” Martin said, but went on to squash my hopes that he was actually a vigilante opening up for the first time through a “fictional” book: “It’s a book — it’s not real. This is just a dramatic example of ‘I want to

do what’s right.’”

That inclination — “I want to do what’s right” — is exactly what Martin hopes readers walk away with when they close the book for the last time.

“A lot of people don’t live the lives they want to, but they don’t always do it on purpose,” Martin said. “Something magic about life is when people do what they want to do.”

And that’s exactly what Chip Crandle does — what he wants. After enacting justice on the North Idaho child abusers, Crandle makes his way across the Great Plains, meeting a number of interesting (and important) characters along the way. With a plot twist that

Martin said leaves readers perplexed even weeks after having set the novel down, “On Death and Flying” explores redemption in a way people of all ages will find compelling.

“This book is interesting because it starts in a dark place, and it’s hard to explain why it’s fun,” Martin said. “But it is — it’s fun.”

“On Death and Flying” is available as an eBook online, as well as in print at Vanderford’s in Sandpoint and the Well Read Moose in Coeur d’Alene.

the total experience

LITERATURE

by Amy Craven

This open Window

Vol. 2 No. 17

poetry and prose by local writers edited by Jim mitsui

THIS WEEK’S PROMPT: One of the exercises that I sometimes use in class is what I call a 10-line writing exercise. Below is a list of partial images/ideas; your task is to add to and complete a line or sentence that makes sense.

When you get to the next line you need to figure out a way to sustain your idea, what you started writing about. It should make sense and sound like a continuation of your original idea. However, don’t be afraid of what Dick Hugo used to call “making the jumps.” In other words go ahead and make a leap of association to something else that faintly connects to what you were talking about. I keep saying that creative writing is a process, that you shouldn’t always know exactly what you’re going to say next, it’s like a voyage of discovery. I encourage the strategy of “stream-of-consciousness” during the course of your poem or prose piece. Let your intuition and imagination roam freely; find out what your subconscious is wanting you to say.

Work your way down the page, and when you near the end it’s a good thing not to know ahead of time how you are going to end. That would be like building a house from the roof down to the foundation. Let your ending “happen” on the page while you’re writing. You will know when you’ve come up with your ending. Keep in mind that you’re not back in your high school English class and that you need to have a conclusion that reaffirms your initial thesis or idea. Let’s try it. Come up with a title for your piece after you’re done — not before you begin this exercise.

Title: 1. Staring at a map of 2. I know that 3. and I also know 4. Tomorrow 5. the clink of a flipped coin 6. reminds me 7. on 1st Avenue next to 8. I think about 9. and the recipe for 10. because the singing

In a sagebrush field with Mina, the seven month old Goldy on her leash, we set up our chairs, our crackers and cheese, our drinks Rob and Bill sip Porter with water for Mina and me We sit with the Grand Tetons as a backdrop and turn away from their crags to face the sunny eastern sky The sun hangs as ever, pedestrian and pale, just being Sun, until the moon insists on showing herself Remember Me? she says, folding her silvery voice around the fire, insisting that her Being is key, darkening the land while calling Venus and Mars out from behind the curtain that separates our day from night And then presenting a gift that stuns the human senses — A coronation in the sky -Amy Craven. September 2017 Amy is a retired voice teacher who has lived in Sandpoint since 1999. She’s married to a Sandpoint native. She enjoys setting the table, music and antiquing.

bring to a boil, simmer and reduce

by Sandra Rasor

I can make you boil in a flash just touch my burning temples, I’ll cool you down just as quickly when the fire in my hair is doused by the ice in my veins.

8 times per night blanket off blanket on twisted sheets used to mean hot sex.

a better name

by Beth Weber Lynn turns sixty this August day.

She kayaks with me, the outline of Round Lake. Pond Lily pads flash her back to summers of her youth, canoeing Pattison Lake, near Lacey, paddling across broad heart-shaped leaves, just to hear the swishing song they whisper against a shiny hull.

Pond Lilies sit shy with inhibitions, demure wallflowers, crowded along the perimeter.

Some label them Cows. Yellow Cow Lilies. Klamath Indians named them Wocus. The lessreticent lily specimens reach up a green arm, with a gift, clutched in a bright yellow fist that never fully opens but to a careful cup shape.

And we must approach it to see inside, the dimpled disc it offers us, a golden host fringed in a ruffle of denim red.

And peering in, Lynn comments “We never called them Cow Lily or Wocus, but I can’t remember what.” And her mind sneaks back in time. “I had a parakeet. What was his name?

He was the exact same color as that flower. Even his green belly feathers matched the bottom edge of the petals where they connect to the stem. His beak was red as the denim fringe.

Spatter Doc! That’s it.

I named him that after this flower. That’s what we always called it. Spatterdock.

-Beth Weber. August 18, 2016 Beth lives in Cocolalla, and keeps herself busy teaching the violin, kayaking, painting their fixer-upper, and writing huge quantities of poems.

Don’t touch me gawd dammit, my thighs are covered in sweat and my eyes are prickly with heat!

THIS is the end result of babies raised, embraced and released?

Family and friends loved, desperately, gathered in, pushed away, drawn close again.

All the dear ones laughed with, laughed at, cried over, shrugged over, the surface calm and hidden fear all wrapped up in this impending neutrality.

-Sandra Rasor

-Jim Mitsui

Sandra Rasor is a native of the Sandpoint area. Her poetry has been published in Northern Journeys, The Trestle Creek Review and The Ides of Sandpoint.

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HEALTH

The myth of drug expiration dates Hospitals and pharmacies are required to toss expired drugs, no matter how expensive or vital.

Meanwhile the FDA has long known that many remain safe and potent for years longer.

By Marshall Allen For ProPublica Used by permission The box of prescription drugs had been forgotten in a back closet of a retail pharmacy for so long that some of the pills predated the 1969 moon landing. Most were 30 to 40 years past their expiration dates — possibly toxic, probably worthless.

But to Lee Cantrell, who helps run the California Poison Control System, the cache was an opportunity to answer an enduring question about the actual shelf life of drugs: Could these drugs from the bell-bottom era still be potent?

Cantrell called Roy Gerona, a University of California, San Francisco, researcher who specializes in analyzing chemicals. Gerona had grown up in the Philippines and had seen people recover from sickness by taking expired drugs with no apparent ill effects.

“This was very cool,” Gerona says. “Who gets the chance of analyzing drugs that have been in storage for more than 30 years?”

The age of the drugs might have been bizarre, but the question the researchers wanted to answer wasn’t. Pharmacies across the country — in major medical centers and in neighborhood strip malls — routinely toss out tons of scarce and potentially valuable prescription drugs when they hit their expiration dates.

Gerona and Cantrell, a pharmacist and toxicologist, knew that the term “expiration date” was a misnomer. The dates on drug labels are simply the point up to which the Food and Drug Administration and pharmaceutical companies guarantee their effectiveness, typically at two or three years. But the dates don’t necessarily mean they’re ineffective immediately after they “expire” — just that there’s no incentive for drugmakers to study whether they could still be usable.

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the world. One answer, broadly, is waste — some of it buried in practices that the medical establishment and the rest of us take for granted. We’ve documented how hospitals often discard pricey new supplies, how nursing homes trash valuable medications after patients pass away or move out, and how drug companies create expensive combinations of cheap drugs. Experts estimate such squandering eats up about $765 billion a year — as much as a quarter of all the country’s health care spending.

What if the system is destroying drugs that are technically “expired” but could still be safely used?

In his lab, Gerona ran tests on the decades-old drugs, including some now defunct brands such as the diet pills Obocell (once pitched to doctors with a portly figurine called “Mr. Obocell”) and Bamadex.

Overall, the bottles contained 14 different compounds, including antihistamines, pain relievers and stimulants. All the drugs tested were in their original sealed containers.

The findings surprised both researchers: A dozen of the 14 compounds were still as potent as they were when they were manufactured, some at almost 100 percent of their labeled concentrations.

“Lo and behold,” Cantrell

says, “The active ingredients are pretty darn stable.”

Cantrell and Gerona knew their findings had big implications.

Perhaps no area of health care has provoked as much anger in recent years as prescription drugs. The news media is rife with stories of medications priced out of reach or of shortages of crucial drugs, sometimes because producing them is no longer profitable.

Tossing such drugs when they expire is doubly hard. One pharmacist at Newton-Wellesley Hospital outside Boston says the 240-bed facility is able to return some expired drugs for credit, but had to destroy about $200,000 worth last year. A commentary in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings cited similar losses at the nearby Tufts Medical Center. Play that out at hospitals across the country and the tab is significant: about $800 million per year.

And that doesn’t include the costs of expired drugs at long-term care pharmacies, retail pharmacies and in consumer medicine cabinets.

After Cantrell and Gerona published their findings in Archives of Internal Medicine in 2012, some readers accused them of being irresponsible and advising patients that it was OK to take exex pired drugs. Cantrell says they weren’t recommending the use of expired medimedi cation, just reviewing the arbitrary way the dates are set.

“Refining our prepre scription drug dating process could save billions,” he says.

But after a brief burst of attention, the response

to their study faded. That raises an even bigger question: If some drugs remain effective well beyond the date on their labels, why hasn’t there been a push to extend their expiration dates?

It turns out that the FDA, the agency that helps set the dates, has long known the shelf life of some drugs can be extended, sometimes by years.

In fact, the federal government has saved a fortune by doing this. * * * For decades, the federal government has stockpiled massive stashes of medication, antidotes and vaccines in secure locations throughout the country. The drugs are worth tens of billions of dollars and would provide a first line of defense in case of a large-scale emergency.

Maintaining these stockpiles is expensive. The drugs have to be kept secure and at the proper humidity and temperature so they don’t degrade. Luckily, the country has rarely needed to tap into many of the drugs, but this means they often reach their expiration dates. Though the government requires pharmacies to throw away expired drugs, it doesn’t always follow these instructions itself.

Instead, for more than 30 years, it has pulled some medicines and tested their quality.

The idea that drugs expire on specified dates goes back at least a half-century, when the FDA began requiring manufacturers to add this information to the label.

The time limits allow the agency to ensure medications work safely and effectively for patients. To determine a new drug’s shelf life, its maker zaps it with intense heat and soaks it with moisture to see how it degrades under stress. It also checks how it breaks down over time. The drug company then proposes an expiration date to the FDA, which reviews the data to ensure it supports the date and approves it. Despite the difference in drugs’ makeup, most “expire” after two or three years.

Once a drug is launched,

the makers run tests to ensure it continues to be effective up to its labeled expiration date. Since they are not required to check beyond it, most don’t, largely because regulations make it expensive and time-consuming for manufacturers to extend expiration dates, says Yan Wu, an analytical chemist who is part of a focus group at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists that looks at the long-term stability of drugs.

Most companies, she says, would rather sell new drugs and develop additional products.

Pharmacists and researchers say there is no economic “win” for drug companies to investigate further. They ring up more sales when medications are tossed as “expired” by hospitals, retail pharmacies and consumers despite retaining their safety and effectiveness.

Industry officials say patient safety is their highest priority. Olivia Shopshear, director of science and regulatory advocacy for the drug industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, says expiration dates are chosen “based on the period of time when any given lot will maintain its identity, potency and purity, which translates into safety for the patient.”

That being said, it’s an open secret among medical professionals that many drugs maintain their ability to combat ailments well after their labels say they don’t.

One pharmacist says he sometimes takes home expired over-the-counter medicine from his pharmacy so he and his family can use it.

The federal agencies that stockpile drugs — including the military, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Veterans Affairs — have long realized the savings in revisiting expiration dates.

In 1986, the Air Force, hoping to save on replacement costs, asked the FDA if certain drugs’ expiration dates could be extended. In response, the FDA and Defense Department created the Shelf Life Extension Program.

< see EXPIRED, page 17 >

< EXPIRED, con’t from page 16 > Each year, drugs from the stockpiles are selected based on their value and pending expiration and analyzed in batches to determine whether their end dates could be safely extended. For several decades, the program has found that the actual shelf life of many drugs is well beyond the original expiration dates.

A 2006 study of 122 drugs tested by the program showed that two-thirds of the expired medications were stable every time a lot was tested. Each of them had their expiration dates extended, on average, by more than four years, according to research published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Some that failed to hold their potency include the common asthma inhalant albuterol, the topical rash spray diphenhydramine, and a local anesthetic made from lidocaine and epinephrine, the study said. But neither Cantrell nor Dr. Cathleen Clancy, associate medical director of National Capital Poison Center, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the George Washington University Medical Center, had heard of anyone being harmed by any expired drugs. Cantrell says there has been no recorded instance of such harm in medical literature.

Marc Young, a pharmacist who helped run the extension program from 2006 to 2009, says it has had a “ridiculous” return on investment. Each year the federal government saved $600 million to $800 million because it did not have to replace expired medication, he says.

An official with the Department of Defense, which maintains about $13.6 billion worth of drugs in its stockpile, says that in 2016 it cost $3.1 million to run the extension program, but it saved the department from replacing $2.1 billion in expired drugs. To put the magnitude of that return on investment into everyday terms: It’s like spending a dollar to save $677.

“We didn’t have any idea that some of the products would be so damn stable — so robustly stable beyond the shelf life,” says Ajaz Hussain, one of the scientists who formerly helped oversee the extension program.

Hussain is now president of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education, an organization of 17 universities that’s working to reduce the cost of pharmaceutical development. He says the high price of drugs and shortages make it time to reexamine drug expiration dates in the commercial market.

“It’s a shame to throw away good drugs,” Hussain says.

* * * Some medical providers have pushed for a changed approach to drug expiration dates — with no success. In 2000, the American Medical Association, foretelling the current prescription drug crisis, adopted a resolution urging action. The shelf life of many drugs, it wrote, seems to be “considerably longer” than their expiration dates, leading

to “unnecessary waste, higher pharmaceutical costs, and possibly reduced access to necessary drugs for some patients.”

Citing the federal government’s extension program, the AMA sent letters to the FDA, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, which sets standards for drugs, and PhRMA asking for a re-examination of expiration dates.

No one remembers the details — just that the effort fell flat.

“Nothing happened, but we tried,” says rheumatologist Roy Altman, now 80, who helped write the AMA report. “I’m glad the subject is being brought up again. I think there’s considerable waste.”

At Newton-Wellesley Hospital, outside Boston, pharmacist David Berkowitz yearns for something to change.

On a recent weekday, Berkowitz sorted through bins and boxes of medication in a back hallway of the hospital’s pharmacy, peering at expiration dates. As the pharmacy’s assistant director, he carefully manages how the facility orders and dispenses drugs to patients. Running a pharmacy is like working in a restaurant because everything is perishable, he says, “but without the free food.”

Federal and state laws prohibit pharmacists from dispensing expired drugs and The Joint Commission, which accredits thousands of health care organizations, requires facilities to remove expired medication from their supply. So at Newton-Wellesley, outdated drugs are shunted to shelves in the back of the pharmacy and marked with a sign that says: “Do Not Dispense.” The piles grow for weeks until they are hauled away by a third-party company that has them destroyed. And then the bins fill again.

“I question the expiration dates on most of these drugs,” Berkowitz says.

One of the plastic boxes is piled with EpiPens — devices that automatically inject epinephrine to treat severe allergic reactions. They run almost $300 each. These are from emergency kits that are rarely used, which means they often expire. Berkowitz counts them, tossing each one with a clatter into a separate container, “… that’s 45, 46, 47 …” He finishes at 50. That’s almost $15,000 in wasted EpiPens alone.

In May, Cantrell and Gerona published a study that examined 40 EpiPens and EpiPen Jrs., a smaller version, that had been expired for between one and 50 months. The devices had been donated by consumers,

which meant they could have been stored in blink, “expired” drugs that were in the trash conditions that would cause them to break heap were put back into the pharmacy supply. down, like a car’s glove box or a steamy Berkowitz says he appreciated Pfizbathroom. The EpiPens also contain liquid er’s action, but feels it should be standard medicine, which tends to be less stable than to make sure drugs that are still effective solid medications. aren’t thrown away.

Testing showed 24 of the 40 expired “The question is: Should the FDA be devices contained at least 90 percent of doing more stability testing?” Berkowitz their stated amount of epinephrine, enough says. “Could they come up with a safe and to be considered as potent as when they systematic way to cut down on the drugs were made. All of them contained at least being wasted in hospitals?”

80 percent of their labeled concentration of Four scientists who worked on the FDA medication. The takeaway? Even EpiPens extension program told ProPublica somestored in less than ideal conditions may last thing like that could work for drugs stored longer than their labels say they do, and if in hospital pharmacies, where conditions there’s no other option, an expired EpiPen are carefully controlled. may be better than nothing, Cantrell says.

Greg Burel, director of the CDC’s stockAt Newton-Wellesley, Berkowitz keeps pile, says he worries that if drugmakers a spreadsheet of every outdated drug he were forced to extend their expiration dates throws away. The pharmacy sends what it could backfire, making it unprofitable to it can back for credit, but it doesn’t come produce certain drugs and thereby reducing close to replacing what the hospital paid. access or increasing prices.

Then there’s the added angst of tossing The 2015 commentary in Mayo Clindrugs that are in short supply. Berkowitz ic Proceedings, called “Extending Shelf picks up a box of sodium bicarbonate, Life Just Makes Sense,” also suggested which is crucial for heart surgery and to that drugmakers could be required to set a treat certain overdoses. It’s being rationed preliminary expiration date and then update because there’s so little available. He holds it after long-term testing. An independent up a purple box of atropine, which gives organization could also do testing similar to patients a boost when they have low heart that done by the FDA extension program, or rates. It’s also in short supply. In the federal data from the extension program could be government’s stockpile, the expiration dates applied to properly stored medications. of both drugs have been extended, but they ProPublica asked the FDA whether it have to be thrown away by Berkowitz and could expand its extension program, or other hospital pharmacists. something like it, to hospital pharmacies, The 2006 FDA study of the extension where drugs are stored in stable conditions program also said it pushed back the expirasimilar to the national stockpile. tion date on lots of mannitol, a diuretic, for an “The Agency does not have a position average of five years. Berkowitz has to toss on the concept you have proposed,” an his out. Expired naloxone? The drug reverses official wrote back in an email. narcotic overdoses in an emergency and is Whatever the solution, the drug industry currently in wide use in the opioid epidemic. will need to be spurred in order to change, The FDA extended its use-by date for the says Hussain, the former FDA scientist. “The stockpiled drugs, but Berkowitz has to trash it. FDA will have to take the lead for a solution On rare occasions, a pharmaceutical to emerge,” he says. “We are throwing away company will extend the expiration dates products that are certainly stable, and we of its own products because of shortages. need to do something about it.”

That’s what happened in June, when the FDA posted The vision of extended expiration dates panelized, from Pfizer for batches of its injectable atropine, realized. dextrose, epinephrine and sodium bicarbonate. The agency notice included the lot numbers of the batches being extended and added six months to a year to their expiration dates.

The news sent Berkowitz running to his expired drugs to see if any could be put back into his supply. His team rescued four boxes of the syringes from destruction, including 75 atropine, 15 dextrose, 164 epinephrine www.mehomes.net Dan McMahon, Gen. Contractor and 22 sodium bicarbonate.

(208)264-6700 dan@mebldg.com Total value: $7,500. In a September 28, 2017 /

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OUTDOORS

Pend Oreille Pedalers improves trails Gardening with Laurie: in lower Schweitzer Basin Plants for winter birds

By Laurie Brown Reader Columnist

POP volunteers help build a bridge on the Lower Basin cross-country trail. Courtesy photo.

By Reader Staff

Mountain bikers planning to ride the Lower Basin downhill trail from the Schweitzer round-about down to the valley in early October might encounter some workers along the trails.

Beginning on Oct. 2, a crew from the Montana Conservation Corps will be rerouting sections of the downhill trail to prevent erosion and make the trail more sustainable, according to Mike Murray, president of the Pend Oreille Pedalers.

The Pend Oreille Pedalers, a local bike club, hired the MCC crew because of concerns that sections of the trail are eroding and may not hold up over time.

The club is interested in expanding the trail system in the city’s watershed, but that can only happen if new and existing trails are built in a way that prevents erosion, Murray said.

Erosion can result in sedimentation of streams and degrade water quality, which is unacceptable in the city’s Sand Creek watershed, the drinking water source for Sandpoint and the surrounding communities.

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The club also hired a trail design expert to lay out the new sections of trail, which the MCC crew will construct during the two weeks they are here.

Schweitzer Mountain Resort is assisting with the project by donating lodging for the work crew.

The Montana Conservation Corps is a non-profit organization that employs AmeriCorps volunteers to carry out conservation projects around the Intermountain West. Another MCC crew was in Sandpoint earlier this year repairing trails at Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

The lower basin trail work is being funded through a grant from the LOR Foundation, and is consistent with the club’s commitment to preserve and improve bicycling in Sandpoint and the northern Panhandle.

For more information about the Pend Oreille Pedalers, visit the bike club’s website: Pendoreillepedalers.org.

While most plants should be cut back in autumn, there are some seed heads that can be left standing. They will not only add structure to the winter garden, but they will give wild birds something to eat.

Birds not only are a delight to watch in the garden — especially in grim winter — but many will eat pests, including those that overwinter in bark or in the ground.

Both annuals and perennials can provide seeds for wintering birds. Some of the annuals include cosmos, marigolds, bachelor’s buttons, asters, coreopsis, zinnias and, of course, sunflowers. Best perennials for birds include the tall types of sedum like ‘Autumn Joy,” liatris, coreopsis, asters, native goldenrod and coneflowers (both rudbeckias and echinaceas). Ornamental grasses provide lots of seed as well as looking good in the barren season. And even though it’s undesirable in the garden, if you have tansy that’s gone to seed, you’ll see lots of winter birds in it!

While this advice contradicts the dictum of cleaning up the garden in fall, most of these plants hold their seed heads up in the air, which allows you to cut or tear the dead foliage at the bases of the plants away, leaving only the bare stems. This dead foliage is where mold spores will breed and insect pests will over winter.

The stems are quick and easy to cut down in spring.

Finches, sparrows and chickadees will visit these seed sources consistently throughout winter. Stellar’s jays and woodpeckers are less frequent visitors

Echinacea and rudbeckia seed heads.

but lovely when they do show up. The goldenrod is especially attractive to woodpeckers, as it is the host for gall fly larvae, which woodpeckers find delectable. It may seem odd to grow nasty bugs for birds to eat, but to me, the woodpeckers are such interesting birds that it’s worth harboring the insects for a while.

Highbush cranberry, elderberry, Virginia creeper, dogwood, spruce trees (pine nuts in the cones), crab apples, mountain ash and staghorn sumac all provide berries or nuts, which are high energy foods.

While these foods get cleaned out pretty early in winter, they do serve to give migrating birds the energy to keep going.

Don’t forget to provide a water source for the birds in winter if you want them to stick around. People say that the birds can eat snow, which they can, but it chills their little bodies when they have to do that.

Water gives them a little edge on survival.

They also benefit from shelter — evergreens work best for this. Spruce, junipers, boxwood, mugo pines and cedars are all good shelter.

The best part about feeding the birds this way? It’s free!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Lift gladiolas, dahlias, cannas and other tender perennials when the leaves turn yellow. Allow them to dry before storing.

STAGE & SCREEN

Manhattan Short Film Festival (208) 265-5700 www.IdahoVet.com

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff If brevity is the soul of wit, then prepare for some sharp, incisive filmmaking when the Manhattan Short Film Festival rolls into town this weekend.

Short films too often get short shrift when it comes to reaching an audience.

Since they don’t fit into the conventional distribution model designed for feature-length films, they can have a tough time finding an audience. That’s why short film festivals are so important.

They provide a venue for some of the year’s best work, irrespective of length, from talented filmmakers.

The Manhattan Short Film Festival takes place between Sept. 28 and Oct. 8., during which more than 100,000 audience members across six continents will vote on the best film included in the year’s collection. Sandpoint movie lovers won’t be left out in the cold.

There are several opportunities to see the Manhattan Short Film Festival at

Awkward first date

“Hope Dies Last,” a film about a Nazi prisoner working as a barber, is one of the many films featured at the Manhattan Film Festival. Courtesy photo.

the Panida Theater starting tonight — Thursday, Sept. 28 — at 7:30 p.m.

Additional screenings are scheduled for Friday, Sept. 29, at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 1, at 3:30 p.m.

The film festival features an acclaimed line-up of short movies this year ranging in genre from historical dramas to crime thrillers. “Do No Harm” sees a Chinese doctor question her Hippocratic oath after her hospital is stormed by gangsters. A Nazi prisoner grapples with daily life-anddeath dangers while giving haircuts in “Hope Dies Last.” And in “Perfect Day,” David’s expectations for a major business deal and a promising date go quickly awry. Hailing from more than a half-dozen countries, the 10 films in the 2017 film festival explore a variety of tonal and narrative spaces.

Attendees will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite entries. Just keep in mind that some films are adultthemed and not appropriate for children.

sept. 28 @ 7:30pm | Sept. 29 @ 5:30 & 8:30pm Oct. 1 @ 3:30pm

manhattan short film festival saturday, sept. 30 @ 7pm

The doors experience and premier tribute to creedence clearwater revival tuesday, oct. 10 @ 6:30pm

Sandpoint Waldorf School presents “Screenagers” a free documentary for teens and parents about internet addiction

wednesday, oct. 11 @ 7pm

“Outdoor idaho: almost canada”

a documentary highlighting the terrain and activities in the panhandle

friday, oct. 13 @ 7pm

poac hosts the dustbowl revival and shakewell americana soul vibes and funky soul - a must see night of live music! saturday, oct. 14 @ 7pm

Radical reels

the best high adrenaline films from the banff mountain film festival

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater

After the Harvest

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Food Columnist There was no time to linger over my last sip of summer sangria before it was time to gather the last of my garden’s bounty. I don’t know about you, but I was ready to say goodbye to that unforgiving heat and the drought-like days. But gosh, summer ended so abruptly and with a giant exclamation point!

Threat of frost sent us out in force to glean the last of our gardens, and now we’re busy canning, drying and freezing the fruits of summer’s labor.

Besides preserving my harvest, I’ve been thinking about the Christmas baking (really!) that needs time to age (with liberal baths of alcohol), like plum pudding and the ever-traditional fruitcake. Friend or foe of the fruitcake, everyone has an opinion (and no one’s shy about sharing theirs). Personally, I think this cake gets a bad rap.

Something that’s been served up at every royal wedding for centuries can’t be that bad. The oldest recipe dates to Roman times and included pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins, which were all mixed into barley mash. Honey, spices and preserved fruits were added during the middle ages, and love it or loathe it, we’ve been baking it ever since.

I first became aware of the fruitcake during my Catholic school education. For reasons that are still unclear to me, some of the most prized fruitcakes were (and still are) baked by brothers in ancient monaster20 /

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ies and nuns who baked theirs in silence, cloistered in convents.

Each holiday season our own order of nuns, The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, would rally the students, then with promises of great prizes for the top salespeople, we’d hit the streets, order forms in hand. The grand prizes always eluded me, but I still have a large collection of holy cards, perpetual proof of my devoted endeavors.

Every country has its own version and legend of provenance. There’s Italian Panettone, the German Stollen, in France they nibble on Gâteau aux fruits, and our sensible Canadian neighbors simply call theirs the Christmas Cake. The recipes are all similar, many handed down for generations, though modern offspring don’t seem nearly as

enthused with this timeless treat.

In my collection of antique and vintage cookbooks, the older the cookbook the more fruitcake recipes, with versions of soft, white, dark and wedding fruitcakes. By the ‘70s, fruitcake recipes began to wane, and in many of my contemporary books, it barely receives a nod.

For many years, my family had a fruitcake that made an annual appearance in the Christmas gift exchange. Sadly, my clan didn’t take it seriously enough, and with total disregard to tradition, that old cake disappeared. A family in Michigan took better care of theirs, and the great-grandson of the baker presented a slice of their 125-year-old heirloom to Jay Leno, who bravely sampled a bite on his talk show.

For others, with disdain for this legendary baked confection, you might consider the Great Fruitcake Toss of Manitou Springs, Colo. Each year, during the first week of January, the mockers gather to see who can hurl theirs the furthest for the grand prize (not to mention great admiration from like-minded peers).

Now, for those of you who were afraid this column would end with a fruitcake recipe, you’ve been spared (for now).

Recipes require pictures of finished product and I’m still gathering ingredients to whip up my colossal batch. You can plan ahead too: Miller’s Country Store has a great array of candied fruits and other ingredients to get your fruitcakes in the oven.

Besides, before I can even

begin to think about Christmas baking, I’ve got to deal with the plethora of apples I’ve been given. Apples are the new zucchini–it seems everyone enjoyed a bumper crop and can’t give them away fast enough.

Besides applesauce and fritters, I’ve been baking pies, tarts and galettes, which are all quite similar, depending on the pan (pie pan, tart pan, or even free-form on parchment paper and cookie sheet for a rustic tart). My favorite, when I have time to fuss with the apples, is a beautiful tart, with thin sliced apples in a pretty design. You don’t have to fuss with apples for this week’s tart, it’s fairly easy and a great finish to any dinner.

But do remember, there will be a fruitcake (recipe) in your future.

Apple Tart Recipe This rich and buttery crust works best in a fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Or use a small shallow cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper.

INGREDIENTS: Crust •2 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour 3•/4 tsp salt •1 1⁄2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces •6 tbs (or more) ice water Filling •4 Granny Smith apples •1⁄2 cup sugar, plus 2 tbs •1⁄2 stick cold unsalted butter, small diced •1⁄2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam •2 tablespoons Calvados (apple brandy) or dark rum •1 egg, cracked into bowl (you’ll brush the pastry shell with egg white, then mix remainder of egg with 1 tbs sugar and 1 tbs water to brush over tart just before baking).

DIRECTIONS: Crust Blend flour and salt in processor.

Add butter and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry.

Don’t over process! Gather into ball; divide into 2 pieces.

Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill 2 hours. (Can be made a day ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly before rolling out.)

Filling Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Roll the dough slightly larger than the pan you are using, pat into place in pan, trim edges (or flute/crimp) and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.

Peel and core the apples and cut them in half. Slice the apples crosswise into thin slices.

Brush the shell with egg white, sprinkle lightly with 1 tbs sugar, then arrange the apples slices in the pan and continue making rows until the pastry is covered with apple slices (pat the apples down, they’ll be crowded, but they shrink during baking) Sprinkle with the 1⁄2 cup of sugar and dot with the butter. Brush the apples and crust with the egg wash.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples are brown. When the tart’s done, heat the apricot jelly together with the Calvados or rum and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn’t stick to the pan (or paper). Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Cameron Rasmusson

The ‘good time’ band

READ

The Devon Wade Band makes Beer Hall debut this weekend for first album release

After being impressed several years ago by Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Yuval Harari’s first book, the breakout best-seller “Sapiens,” I was excited to read his follow-up, 2016’s “Homo Deus.” While “Sapiens” explores human history to explain why homo sapiens became the dominant species on the planet, “Homo Deus” examines the modern technologies that could turn humankind into a new species entirely. In turns encouraging and terrifying, “Homo Deus” is a vision of the future you won’t soon forget.

LISTEN

The Devon Wade Band plays live at The Knitting Factory in Spokane when they opened for Kip Moore. Photo by Gary Peterson Photography.

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Writer Country music as a genre can be polarizing — most people either love it or hate it.

Sandpoint country artist Devon Wade knows this, so when people tell him he and his band play a kind of country everyone can love, he doesn’t take it for granted.

“Probably the biggest compliment we get when we play is people say, ‘Well, I don’t really like country music, but I like it when you guys play it.’ That’s a big thing to me,” Wade said.

“We put our own flair and taste on it.”

The Devon Wade Band, which Wade said has been in its current form for about two years, will celebrate the release of their first album this Friday at MickDuff’s Beer Hall from 6:30-9:30 p.m. The album, which is self-titled, has been a long time in the making, Wade

said. Other members of the band include Patrick McDonald on drums, Thomas Kitchen on bass and David Calhoun and Dean Roberts, both on lead guitar.

While their favorite compliment is that they help non-country-lovers get into the genre, Wade acknowledges that the band stays true to some of the well-established tropes of country music.

“Our songs are feel good.

They’re about shooting guns and being a redneck,” Wade said with a laugh, noting the band’s music also delves into more emotional territory sometimes. “It’s always been about, ‘What would we want to dance to? What would we want to drink and party to?’ We want to be the good time band. We want to have fun.”

Wade said the Devon Wade Band album is a pretty complete taste of their style, from party songs to some soft acous-

tic sounds. Wade said songs like “Beer Me” and “Show Me The Cash” tend to be fan favorites when they play them live.

Wade said that even though the band is just a local act, people in the community make them “feel like a big deal.”

And some would argue they are a big deal, based on recent events. After opening for country singer Kip Moore — known for hits like “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck” and “Hey Pretty Girl” — at the Spokane Knitting Factory in August, they were invited to open for Moore again in Seattle. Both shows were sold out.

“Playing in Seattle was probably one of the best experiences ever — just walking out and seeing 3,000 people out there in the crowd. The bass player looked at me and he was kind of nervous. I looked at him like, ‘Just roll with it,’” Wade said with a laugh.

Albums will be available

for purchase at the Beer Hall Friday night, as well as some other Devon Wade Band merchandise. Cover charge is $5 and the first 50 tickets sold will be entered into a grand-prize drawing announced during the show.

Catch the show as part of MickDuff’s Beer Hall’s Oktoberfest activities on Friday, Sept. 29 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Crossword Solution

We’re closing in on October, which means it’s just about time to get into the Halloween spirit.

A great place to start is “Lore,” a podcast hosted by Aaron Mahnke.

Each episode explores a specific folklore tradition, chillingly detailing the creatures and sinister stories that inhabit the human subconscious. “Lore” is a scary but entertaining walk on the dark side of humanity.

WATCH

Even if you’re used to premium cable TV, you might be a little shocked by the graphic nature of “The Deuce,” which premiered earlier this month on HBO. A drama centered on prostitution and the burgeoning pornography industry of 1970s New York, “The Deuce’s” exceptional cast delivers extraordinary performances, and the show’s attention to detail is impeccable despite the seedy subject matter. Expect nothing less from showrunner David Simon, the creator of “The Wire.”

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Living Life:

Helping children in troubled times

By Dianne Smith Reader Columnist

As grownups, we, too, have been traumatized by the recent events in the world, and with the recent school shooting in Spokane it hit really close to home. We don’t necessarily have answers for all our children’s questions because we don’t really have them for ourselves. It’s difficult to explain to children what is happening, but it is important that we find ways to help them feel safe. It is not easy to convince a child who can’t sleep that “bad men” can’t enter her room to steal her away. Nor is it simple to explain to young people about what is happening in our world and why people are so angry that they commit unspeakable acts such as school shootings, random terrorists’ attacks or more recently the assault on law enforcement. Even in relatively safe North Idaho children still hear about other places and what is happening and it scares them.

No matter how old your kids are, threatening or upsetting news can affect them emotionally. Many can feel worried and frightened as they struggle to make sense of what is happening. These anxious, worried feelings can last long after the news event is over. So what can you do as a parent to help your kids deal with all this information?

The goal for parents is to help children and to give them permission to talk about the potential dangers, and to believe that, for the most part, they can feel relatively safe. Children deserve to be able to feel trust in our country and the adults. They should be able to have confidence that the adults in their world can keep them safe.

The challenge is how to do this in a way that is appropriate for their age.

1. Consider your own reactions. Your children will look to the way you handle the news to determine their own approach. If you stay calm and rational, they will, too.

2. Young children should be protected from news on the television and radio and from adult conversations. They listen even when you think they are not.

3. Children often don’t understand what they hear, and they are already afraid of things they don’t understand like the dark and

the boogey man. They need to be reassured that the adults know what they are doing because they are intuitive and read our emotions. Older children may watch it without adults knowing and may hear about it from their friends. They may need more information and have questions that need to be answered honestly.

4. Reassure your child that events like these are extremely rare. You might say, “This is a really sad time for everyone in our country. Fortunately, events like this are very rare.”

5. Stress that you are there to take care of your child. Remember to say, “I love you, I’m here to take care of you.”

6. Talk with your child about your own feelings. Admit that you are saddened by what has happened, and show that you care.

But don’t burden your child with your fears and worries. Your child will look to you as a model for coping with this trauma.

7. Give age-appropriate honest information. Teens will need more information than preschoolers as they are more likely to hear their peers talking at school or see things on the internet.

8. While it is important to be honest about terrorist events, it is equally important to do so in context while communicating with your child in age-appropriate terms.

By listening and talking, you can dispel rumors and share what children are hearing in school as well as in the media.

During times of trouble, when emotions run high, adults need to help understand and express their feelings and feel safe. In order to support children in better understanding their world, adults may have to make sense of their feelings that are frightening, confusing, and overwhelming. By providing a safe and supportive environment and pointing out all that is good in life, a calm and ready-tolisten adult can help to alleviate the fear, dismay or confusion they may feel. Although adults cannot shelter and protect children from all adversity, they are able to help children feel safer and secure in today’s world.

Dianne Smith, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist who has over 40 years experience working with both children and adults. She can be reached at dianne_ smith_mft@yahoo.com.

Higher beings from outer space may not want to tell us the secrets of life, because we’re not ready. But maybe they’ll change their tune after a little torture.

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-tator-

Hi! I am Tator. I am a big and lovable fellow who gets along with my own kind (cats not so much). I’m easy-going and just the best listener you’ve ever met. Do you have anything you’d like to share with a confidant? Yes? Well then, come see me. I’d be happy to listen, and I don’t have loose lips. I’m a sweet senior. For more about Tator, please go to www.pasidaho.org and click on the “Adopt” tab.

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2018 Season Line Up

, _ T E R C E ---,-oP S I

Early Bird Season Passes go on sale online at www.festivalatsandpoint.com on Sunday, October 1st for the Festival at Sandpoint's ¡ 36th annual summer concert series, August 2 - 12, 2018 at Memorial Field.

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Only 199 (plus sales tax & city parks fee)

for all 8 nights of music next summer. Passes are only available at this significantly reduced price (approximately 60% discount) through November 30th.

.....e, Festival At Sandpoint

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Don sale October 1st!

Price goes up to $259 on December 1st The 2018 line-up is under lock and key ...

Grab your treasure now!