Inlander 08/20/2020

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AUGUST 20-26, 2020 | FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE

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PAGE 12

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INSIDE VOL. 27, NO. 45 | COVER DESIGN: DEREK HARRISON

COMMENT 5 NEWS 8 COVER STORY 12

CULTURE 24 FOOD 28 MUSIC 30

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an we be proud Americans and yet not be proud of everything done in our name? In understanding our HISTORY, we should undoubtedly learn all of it — the good, the bad and the ugly. We should know, for instance, that Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, wrote this often-cited line in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Yet, we should not forget that Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves over the course of his life and, as president, had some serving him at the White House.

It’s uncomfortable but impossible to deny that a thread of White supremacy has run through the fabric of the United States from its earliest days to now. So, how do we wrestle with that in 2020? And more pointedly: Who should we celebrate and honor as aspirational figures? That debate is happening all across America right now, and for many, it’s not an intellectual exercise. Lots of our monuments, historians say, are less about remembering the past as they are about sending not-so-subtle messages to people of color in this country.

Find our special coverage on page 12.

— JACOB H. FRIES, Editor

FLUORIDE IN SPOKANE? PAGE 10

RUPAUL RERUNS PAGE 27

FRENCH-INSPIRED FARE PAGE 28

THINGS TO DO PAGE 32 • dining • • shopping • • culture •

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BLAISE BARSHAW: Maybe just nature. Maybe memorial trees or shrubs and a bench to sit on? Almost no one could argue that they would be bad for the city. Do most of the public really go to see a statue in reverence of the subject?

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Normally, we ask our question of the week of people we randomly encounter on the street. But with the coronavirus pandemic, we instead asked our followers on social media to share their thoughts.

JESSE SWANSON: Move the statues to museums where you can give historical context. Confederate statues to civil war battlefields. They should be with their soldiers. Seems pretty simple.

AT KENDALL YARDS

HAYLEY OLSON: It seems there are quite a few people who truly believe that removing problematic monuments would somehow prevent historians from recounting and teaching history. But this is such a fallacy.

Historians do not rely on monuments alone to teach us about the past.

ALICIA MARIE: I encourage everyone here who is resistant to the idea of removing the Mount Rushmore atrocity specifically to educate themselves on its actual history. It was designed by an arrogant buffoon and then desperately rebranded as a tourist trap… and all of this after it was created in the first place in flagrant violation of a Native treaty.

It’s not history. It’s theft and vandalism. Get rid of it.

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ALI FURMALL: I think we need to recognize that monuments aren’t telling history. They effectively turn humans into idols and rarely provide more than a paragraph of context for why some human is depicted larger than life. And the fact that so many people worship the statues blindly, without any acknowledgment of what battle, event, or purpose they represent, shows that the monuments likely actually obscure history by removing all the nuance and detail.

TANASHA L ALDERSON: History does not change by removing the monuments. We cannot pick and choose what we like from history.

History is as it is. What we can do is move forward and learn from history.

We can acknowledge what mistakes were made and recognize those who deserve it. We should leave the monuments alone and create more monuments that are inclusive of other deserving people. n

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Mourning Mia

ON. CREATIVITY IS CONTAGIOUS. PASS IT

ANDER

Navigating the space between stereotype and erasure

BY CMARIE FUHRMAN

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I

cannot erase the scene from my mind.

It was a Sunday morning and she was the doe we had watched all spring nibbling her way through our woods. She was crossing Highway 55, coming toward me as if bidden. Then, the black Jeep with out of state plates struck her.

Her body spun along the asphalt, her intestines popped out of her like some horrible jack-in-thebox. Where I drug her off the road was a streak of blood. Now, two weeks later, both the blood and her body are gone.

Until we took the bird feeder down, I greeted every morning with the doe and a mess of noisy evening grosbeak. She became familiar. I needed her there to remind me that despite the constant hum of the road — that dreaded sound of progress — and despite the business this mountain town has made from attracting tourists to beauty and wilderness, that something wild, something natural to the landscape still was. Now the aspen shiver, the Douglas fir at their tops sway, the pink spirea blooms and fades. But nothing moves with such grace and spirit through my mornings.

I bought two packages of Land o’ Lakes but-

ter on March 4th, months before the death of the doe. One with Mia, one without. I put the butter in the freezer and set the two boxes side by side on my desk. I read about the Native artist, Patrick DesJarlait, and how he remade the Land o’ Lakes maiden into an Ojibwa woman. I found quotes from Native women who said they were glad this stereotype was gone, that Mia was nothing but a sexualization of a Native woman promulgated to sell butter. Days later the hashtag #noindianonlyland became popular as others added Mia to the count of missing and murdered indigenous women. The Wall Street Journal printed an article whose headline read like an obituary: Mia Land o’ Lakes, 1928-2020.

I stare at the box without Mia. The “O” that once circled Mia’s head seems too large now hanging above the scene of trees and water. A zero. An exclamation. An emptiness. Was there

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Land o’ Lakes’ Mia has been effectively erased. another way? Something between stereotype and erasure?

Perhaps it is for the better. One less deer. One less stereotype.

Think how easily we could flow through this river of asphalt without worrying the fated collision. No more smashed headlights, no more steaming radiators. No more claims against insurance, deep suffering on the side of the road. Perhaps it will make the going easier, not having to be reminded. No more arguments about the correctness of Mia’s look. About whether a Native woman’s likeness should be used to make non-Native people wealthy.

Or perhaps it is not for the better.

The deer in this valley represent something far more than iconic wildness. Something more than highway menaces and smashed radiators. They cannot be commodified. They belong to a wildness and a history ONLINE original to this land. To this Editor Jacob H. Fries explains landscape. No different from the journalistic principles behind the way Mia belonged to the last week’s #MeToo news report. Ojibwa tribe, belonged to the Visit Inlander.com/comment. trees and lakes, a reminder of the original inhabitants, uncommodifiable, indigenous to the place represented even as she knew nothing of the product she held.

The lake, like the woods in front of this cabin, is still; a reflection of trees and sky. And when I look closely enough, at the box, through the pane separating me from these morning pine, I still see her. Mia. The doe. And somehow also, the stain of blood on the asphalt. n

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CMarie Fuhrman is the author of Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems (Floodgate 2020) and co-editor of Native Voices (Tupelo 2019). She has published poetry and nonfiction in multiple journals as well as several anthologies. She resides in the mountains of west-central Idaho.

AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 7

EDUCATION

COLLEGE DREAMS

To keep campuses open during a pandemic, local universities hope college students won’t act like college students

BY WILSON CRISCIONE

I

t’s easy for Spokane Regional Health Officer Bob Lutz to imagine the safest way for colleges to open this fall. Build a wall around the campus. Form a bubble that blocks out COVID-19.

“Once you’re on campus, you stay on campus. You don’t go off. You don’t interact with anybody out in the community,” Lutz says.

Lutz knows that’s just a fantasy. Colleges can’t exist in a bubble. Students and professors will need to come on and off campus, possibly carrying the virus with them.

But the current plan among local colleges, which relies on students limiting social interactions, may also be wishful thinking, Lutz fears.

“What population has been driving our cases, not only in Spokane but across the state and the nation? 20to 29-year-olds,” Lutz says.

While schools like Washington State University and Eastern Washington University have chosen to hold most classes online, others like Gonzaga, Whitworth and University of Idaho are expecting thousands of students this fall for in-person instruction. They’ve listened to public health guidance and have invested in more robust testing and contact-tracing resources, but in order for their plan to work, they’re putting the onus on students.

“In order for us to be successful as an institution for in-person, it’s ultimately going to be up to them, and their behavior, and their choices,” says Blaine Eckles, dean of students at University of Idaho. “My job is to work with

8 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

adults … and for adults, it comes down to having conversations about responsible decision-making and taking ownership for our actions.”

Can colleges get the message across in a way public health experts haven’t? Lutz hopes so, but he remains skeptical.

“It’s unrealistic to think you go to university just to study,” Lutz says. “You go to a university campus to experience university life. And university life means socializing. It means socializing oftentimes with alcohol.

And that’s a bad mix for COVID-19.”

I

n June, Gov. Jay Inslee released a plan to “restart higher education” that included certain social distancing protocols. The final decision on opening campuses, however, was largely left to individual institutions and their local health districts. As Eastern Washington University decided early on it would plan for an online model in the fall, for instance, Whitworth knew it wanted to open campus, if at all possible, says Whitworth President Beck Taylor.

“We really believe that the kind of in-person, relational dynamic is what’s best for education at Whitworth, and so we want to try to stick with that as much as possible,” Taylor says.

It’s an equity issue. First-generation students, along with students of color and other marginalized groups, will have a hard time succeeding without the resources

Gonzaga plans on in-person instruction this fall. and support they can get in-person, he says.

Taylor says the university has worked closely with the state Department of Health and the Spokane Regional Health District on reopening. Face masks will be required indoors, physical distancing policies will be implemented, and the university is setting aside around 80 beds for quarantining purposes. Taylor says the university has already spent more than $1 million on safety protocols and technology upgrades to provide online and in-person hybrid classes. They’ve also hired contact tracers, knowing positive cases are inevitable.

“I fully expect we will have cases,” Taylor says. “Assuming we will have cases, what we want to do is stay in front of the virus, we want to isolate active cases quickly, we want to contact those close contacts very quickly and get them out of the student population so we can mitigate the spread of the virus.”

Testing is key. Whitworth, Gonzaga and University of Idaho will implement regular “surveillance testing” in addition to regular testing of students who have symptoms. At Whitworth, the surveillance testing will test about 4 percent of the campus every week, Taylor says, and students will participate voluntarily. He adds that Whitworth will also do more targeted testing of “higherrisk groups” along with athletes. They’ve contracted with Incyte Diagnostics, which should turn around test results within 48 hours, Taylor says.

University of Idaho is testing all students returning to campus first. Last week, UI found 34 positive cases out of 2,371 tests.

The protocols in place at Gonzaga and University of Idaho classrooms — including mask mandates and physical distancing measures — are similar. But a greater challenge in preventing the spread of COVID-19 lies in the dormitories. Gonzaga waived the requirement for first- and second-year students to live on campus and anticipates around 2,000 students living in its residence halls. Typically, that number is around 3,000.

Kent Porterfield, vice provost for Student Affairs at Gonzaga, says closing dorms completely was never really an option.

“Some students by virtue of their academic program — or internships, or practicum experiences — might need to be here.

There’s lots of reasons why students might need to be here,” Porterfield says. “We ultimately felt like, with good planning, we could provide a circumstance that was reasonably safe.”

Eckles, with University of Idaho, says some residence halls are moving to single occupancy of rooms, and outside guests can’t come over. At both Whitworth and Gonzaga, students may live in the same dorm, but they would be treated like a household — free to socialize with each other and maybe others who live on their floor, but unable to visit with other students.

“I’m not convinced that students wouldn’t be exposed to greater risks, or at least the same risks, if they were living independently either at home or in apartments,” Taylor says. “As students follow that regime and limit their social interactions outside of that group, we feel like we have a strong chance of success.”

Still, a big portion of students live off campus, where there may not be the same kind of rules as on campus, and where they may be more free to socialize in large groups and bring the virus onto campus. What can colleges do about that?

“Then, it becomes a communication and culture issue,” Taylor says.

I

t’s unclear how much COVID-19 would need to spread before local colleges would switch back to remote instruction.

The Spokane Regional Health District could order Gonzaga and Whitworth to close, but Taylor says whenever he asks what benchmarks would trigger a shutdown, he’s told it depends on a variety of factors.

Eckles says President Scott Green will be looking at “a multitude of data points” and getting feedback from public health experts. To prevent a shutdown, they’ve begun informational campaigns to change student behavior, including the “Healthy Vandal Pledge” reminding students of basic precautions preventing the spread of COVID-19. And that message, they hope, extends to off-campus activities, too.

Fraternities and sororities at Idaho pose a particular risk — the University of Washington already experienced an outbreak on Greek Row last month. Eckles says the Greek chapters each submitted plans to keep students safe.

“They want to be here in person. They don’t want to jeopardize their learning experience and they want to be respectful to our community,” Eckles says.

Taylor says Whitworth is developing a messaging campaign to remind students and faculty their decision-making will impact whether Whitworth can maintain in-person learning. He’s optimistic they will “understand the gravity” of the issue, but admits it will be “very difficult.”

Gonzaga’s Porterfield says the university will likewise take an educational approach when students aren’t following the rules.

Universities have processes to address off-campus behavior, and that could apply to having a party and exposing others to COVID-19.

“It’s not appropriate for students to be having mass gatherings and parties off-campus — some would argue it’s never appropriate, but certainly not appropriate during a pandemic,” Porterfield says. “I believe our students are going to be responsible.”

He knows there will be some violators. And with COVID-19, it doesn’t take much before there’s an outbreak.

“It’s going to be a major challenge, because it only takes one mistake early that can really result in a serious outbreak,” Porterfield says. “And so, of course, we’re concerned about it.”

Maybe university administrators can impart the importance of leadership and responsibility and the importance of social distancing on students. Maybe there’s a world where enough students take it to heart, and colleges can stay open. That’s what Lutz, the health officer, is rooting for.

“But I think you’re going to have 10 percent, 15 percent or whatever that are going to say, ‘You know what? I feel OK about this. I really want to go out and party,’” Lutz says. “And they will.

And we know that’s what happens. And we know what happens when they do, if they’ve got COVID-19.” n

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Suddenly, Fluoride Is the pandemic the perfect time to fluoridate Spokane’s water?

BY DANIEL WALTERS

L

ast year, when Councilman Breean Beggs was running for Spokane City Council president, he touted a philosophy of consensus: He wasn’t trying to impose his policy perspective on the city, he said. He was seeking common ground. Even on some of the issues he was most passionate about, he told the Inlander, if he couldn’t find support from around 60 percent of the voting public, he suggested, he wouldn’t pursue it.

The example he cited? Fluoridation.

“All the data I have about children and poverty and their teeth rotting out, and how it lowers their life span by 10 to 20 years — poor children, people of color, disabled children — I know that fluoride in the water would do more for that than anything, and cheaply,” Beggs said.

But he just didn’t believe there was enough public support. On three separate occasions — in 1969, 1984 and narrowly in 2000 — voters rejected adding tooth-strengthening fluoride to Spokane’s drinking water. And so as agonizing as it was to see “kids with their teeth capped at age 10, going ‘oh my gosh’ in pain from toothaches,” he hadn’t pursued water fluoridation.

A lot has changed since October.

“A few weeks ago, the whole public health community came to us and said ‘We’ve got to do this,” Beggs says.

At the end of this month, the Spokane City Council — skipping the ballot measure process — may vote to triple the amount of fluoride in Spokane’s water supply.

FLUORIDE AND THE FEVER

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Start with this: Spokane has terrible teeth.

“Our children, overall, have worse oral health than across the state,” says Torney Smith, former administrator of the Spokane Regional Health District. “Twenty percent of third graders have experienced ‘rapid decay,’ which means cavities in seven or more teeth. Now, that leads to poor educational outcomes. You don’t study or participate well in class when you have a toothache.”

The consequences cascade as people age: It’s harder to get a job with bad teeth, he says. Lowincome households are less likely to have good oral health, perpetuating a cycle of poverty. And tooth decay hits minority communities harder.

“We have more people who are Black and Brown, and Native Americans, have worse oral health outcomes than the White population in our community,” Smith says. “Significantly.”

About five years ago, Beggs says, Smile Spokane, a local organization promoting oral health, came to him about fluoridating Spokane’s water.

Come back, he told them, once they’d corralled

the dental, medical and nonprofit communities behind a strong proposal. Today, they have.

The WSU Spokane medical school supports the effort. So does MultiCare, the hospital system that runs Deaconess and Valley Hospitals. It’s got the support of both former City Council President Ben Stuckart — who’s been lobbying for the issue behind the scenes — and former Mayor David Condon. The Empire Health Foundation has chipped in $200,000 to the $3 million already pledged by donors to help defray the $4 million capital cost to fluoridate Spokane’s water system.

By January, Smile Spokane was planning on potentially putting a measure on the ballot.

Then the coronavirus struck. Public health officials had their hands full persuading people to wear masks, socially distance, stay home despite the economic and psychological cost.

Instead of abandoning their goals, Smile Spokane changed tactics, ditching the ballot and asking the city council to pass an ordinance to immediately make fluoridation city policy.

More fluoride might be on tap in Spokane.

In the middle of a pandemic, why is the coalition choosing now to sell the public on a controversial public health measure? It’s not despite the pandemic, they say. It’s because of the pandemic.

Statistically, the virus tends to have more impact on low-income people and minorities, just like oral health.

“Dentists closed down for five or six weeks, and now are reopening. The last folks they want to take in are the Medicaid patients — they want to take full-paying patients,” Smith says. “So we create more disparity.”

In the mind of fluoride advocates like Beggs, the coronavirus not only spotlighted this inequity — it justified direct council action.

“It’s a little bit like with COVID: We’re not going to put this up to a public vote when it’s a health issue,” Beggs says. “It’s going to be driven by science.”

DODGING THE BALLOT

Another reason Beggs feels bolder about pursuing fluoridation now: There really might be a slim majority in favor of fluoridation this time.

According to Desautel Hege, a marketing firm hired by Smile Spokane, a local poll in May asked voters whether they would support a city measure to fluoridate Spokane’s water to “reduce dental disease and promote oral health.” Around 53 percent said they would approve a measure, while only 34 percent opposed it.

But the full survey question came sweetened with arguments in favor of fluoridation — noting, for example, that “independent research proves community water systems with fluoridation safely reduces cavities and promotes oral health for both children and adults” without noting any of the anti-fluoridation rhetoric that might drag down support.

“I think in the past, the population didn’t really fully understand what fluoridation was all about,” says Jim Sledge, a local dentist. “Some of the anti-fluoride folks were doing a very good job instilling doubt and fear.”

Anti-fluoride campaigns draw in both conspiracy-minded John Birchers on the far right and the anti-toxic-chemical crusaders on the far left. Famously left-wing Portland remains the largest city in the United States that doesn’t fluoridate.

Even when there was nothing on the ballot, local anti-fluoride activists kept up their message: A billboard on Sprague Avenue in Spokane was proclaiming that “Fluoridation is Public Health Quackery!” in 2010 and in 2014.

Sure enough, as news about the latest Spokane effort trickled out, an international anti-fluoride group called the Fluoride Action Network uploaded a post to Facebook accusing the fluoride activists of lying to council members and the council of being “poised to work on behalf of the dental, chemical, and insurance lobbies.”

They directed supporters to “Safe Water Spokane,” a local Facebook page that rallies the public to “HELP KEEP SPOKANE WATER FREE OF FLUORIDATION CHEMICALS.” A ballot measure is never a sure thing. That’s one reason dentists like Sledge are comfortable leaving it to the council.

“The council can take a look at it at great depth and look at the science, and make those decisions a lot more clearly than having an average person wade through the misinformation that’s out there,” Sledge says.

UNCERTAINTIES

The City Council isn’t necessarily a sure thing, either. Beggs says he believes four or five council members support the fluoridation proposal. It takes five to pass an emergency ordinance the mayor — who opposed fluoridation in last year’s campaign and is still assessing the newest proposal — wouldn’t be able to veto.

And so you have council members like Lori Kinnear, who’s supportive of fluoridation in general, saying she struggles “mightily” with bypassing voters.

“There’s a part of me that says that this absolutely should go on the ballot,” Kinnear says. “I’m not comfortable imposing my will on the population with something like this.”

For her to support it, Kinnear says she wants to make sure it doesn’t result in any increased utility rates, and that there’s a spot people can go if they don’t want fluoridated water and fill up water jugs for free.

To Michael Cathcart — the council’s most conservative member — that option isn’t good enough. He argues it’s unfair to force anyone who wants unfluoridated water to fill it up themselves.

There would have to be a more efficient way to deliver water for him to support it. He’s skeptical about the cost and frustrated with the process. In the era of videochat council meetings, he says “there really is very little public participation these days.”

“I’m like, why aren’t we inviting all of these experts around the world to come and talk about this?” Cathcart says. “Let’s have all sides. Let’s have these discussions and debate.”

While the vast scientific consensus supports fluoridation, there are legitimate studies out there that cause him concern.

One recent Canadian study, for example, suggested there was a correlation — though not necessarily a direct causation — between fluoride levels in mothers and lower IQ rates in their boys.

Still, the study itself has been questioned and criticized by other scientists. And even Angeles Martinez-Mier, one of the study’s authors, put out a statement that she was “happy to go on the record to say” that she continued to “support water fluoridation,” and even if she were pregnant, she’d still drink fluoridated water.

Fluoride proponents can counter with a wave of direct evidence, like what happened when Canadian city Calgary ditched fluoridation in 2011: Tooth decay soared almost immediately, with cavities more than doubling.

So while Cathcart laments the “serious rush to cram it through as quickly as possible,” Beggs says there’s a cost to waiting any longer.

“My own sense of it is, well, we have an opportunity to change a lot of people’s lives,” he says. “Should we wait? In my opinion, it’s worth taking a vote.” n

AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 11

12 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

Spokane Tribal Council Chairwoman Carol Evans at a Fort George Wright Drive intersection. The Spokane Tribe of Indians is working with the city to change the name of the road. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

RIGHTING

HISTORY’S

WRONGS

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ol. George Wright rained genocidal terror on local Native peoples, yet the ruthless man is still the namesake of Spokane’s Fort George Wright Drive some 160 years later.

For those familiar with history, the name Wright invokes the merciless hanging of 17 chiefs and warriors along present-day Hangman Creek, the destruction of the tribe’s vital food caches and the slaughter of hundreds upon hundreds of their horses along the Spokane River banks, turning the crystal-clear waters a deep, bloody red. After being called to the region in 1858 on a punitive mission to quell Native tribes defending their homeland from encroaching White settlers, Wright’s cruelty left a horrific trail of bloodshed and suffering in his wake.

Now that serious conversations have reemerged across the U.S. as to how the nation can rectify and acknowledge a foundation built on racism and White supremacist beliefs, many are wondering whether local leaders in the Inland Northwest will finally make the push to address some of the region’s most painful tributes, to Wright and others.

Spokane Tribal Council Chairwoman Carol Evans and her people hope so.

“The Spokanes are the original peoples of this land.

We have been here since time immemorial,” Evans says.

“So being the original peoples of the land and knowing what Col. Wright did — his goal was to exterminate us, to get totally rid of us, because we were, in his mind, causing problems for him or we were not in agreement to give up everything we had. … It’s not very honorable to recognize someone like him.”

Spokane City Councilwoman Karen Stratton says the council has lately doubled down on a push to rename Fort George Wright Drive. It’s a topic that has been on the city planning commission’s agenda for the last three to four years, she says, but has “always been at the bottom of the list due to other more pressing issues like construction.”

Stratton’s currently working with other council members and stakeholders including the Spokane Tribe and Spokane Falls Community College, located on Fort George Wright Drive, to expedite the name change to the top of the list. Besides the national outcry over racist and historically inaccurate legacies to the past that still exist today, renaming the street is also a personal issue for Stratton.

“I think it’s important that we show future generations that there is redemption and forgiveness and survival and strength, that there is a community here will-

Leaders in the Inland Northwest urge for the removal of racist landmarks and legacies, and for the historical record to be corrected

BY CHEY SCOTT

ing to discuss these issues and move forward and honor our tribe,” Stratton says. “I say that on a personal level because my mother was born and raised in Ford on the Spokane Indian Reservation; she was one of 12 children born and raised there. She is a tribal member and is 93 years old now.”

Stratton says the city’s goal is to work with Spokane tribal members to come up with a new name that appropriately recognizes and honors their culture and history.

“We’d get input from people who have been involved in the past, from our tribal elders and cultural leaders, on potential names that would be good for that specific area,” tribal chairwoman Evans says.

The physical namesake of the drive, Fort George Wright, was constructed in 1896, and operated as a U.S. Army outpost named after the brutal colonel until 1957.

Historic buildings from the original fort still stand today; much of its original footprint is now home to the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, a branch of the Japanese Mukogawa Women’s University.

Local groups, including members of the Next door to the east is the Spokane Spokane Tribe, Unitarian Universalist Church Falls Community College campus, of Spokane and Spokane Arm in Arm, are leaders of which Stratton says are hosting a public rally to call for the immediate fully supportive of changing the renaming of Fort George Wright Drive due to street name on its address. the atrocities Col. Wright committed against So is the minister of Unitarian Native peoples of the region in 1858. The rally Universalist Church Spokane, lobegins in the parking lot of Unitarian Universalcated on Fort George Wright Drive ist Church, and will continue with a peaceful, near its western terminus at the socially distanced walk down the street. Sat, intersection of Government Way. Aug. 22 from 3-6 pm. Begins at 4340 W. Fort Reverend Todd Eklof has wanted to George Wright Drive. More details on Facebook see the street renamed since moving (bit.ly/2XXA8tv). to the area in 2011.

“I think it’s really necessary given Spokane’s history,” Eklof says. “The name George Wright is the equivalent of a Confederate flag. It’s a symbol that adds insult to centuries of injury to the First Peoples of this land. It’s a name associated with grave injustices, human cruelty, bloodshed and really a level of sadism that is almost unheard of with his brutal slaughter of hundreds of horses just to cause suffering of First Peoples here.”

Unitarian Universalist is co-hosting an upcoming (and socially distanced) rally on Saturday, Aug. 22, demanding the street’s renaming. Titled “No Honor in Genocide,” the event is planned to feature local First Nation speakers followed by a community walk down the street guided by riders on horseback. ...continued on next page

NO HONOR IN GENOCIDE RALLY

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“The real point of the event is precisely to raise public awareness around Spokane’s continued, almost nonchalant honoring of a man who had such a horrible legacy in our community,” Eklof adds.

Margo Hill, a professor of urban planning at Eastern Washington University and a Spokane Tribe member, is also involved in organizing the rally.

“We are happy as a people to have some recognition of how the tribes feel about the name,” Hill says. “People can say, ‘That is ancient history,’ or ‘My family didn’t own slaves,’ and ‘My family didn’t fight Indians,’ but we still have to live with those atrocities. We were just protecting our homes, and George Wright is famous for saying ‘I will exterminate your nations.’”

To Hill, Wright’s crimes against her people mark the beginning of decades of injustices, trauma and suffering that continued for far too long.

She recalls a story of when her grandmother, who married a non-Native man, was moving into the family’s new home in the city in the 1960s. Neighbors who saw Hill’s grandmother being helped move in by her brown-skinned brothers caused a stir, and the sale of her grandparents’ home was canceled. Hill also remembers feeling like an outcast as a child whenever her family came into town — “we were stared at in restaurants,” she says — walking on the same land her people occupied for generations before White settlers pushed them off to the reservation.

“When we see the name Fort George Wright, it reminds us of those atrocities and that we are not welcome,” Hill says.

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ol. Wright’s bloodstained legacy of hate may be the most scathing example of a poor historical tribute allowed to live on, but it’s not the only remnant of oppression towards minorities and Indigenous peoples that still remains in the Inland Northwest.

Right in the heart of downtown Spokane, in a small triangular plaza between Riverside and Monroe, just outside the main entrance to the Spokane Club, is a looming homage to one past Spokane resident, John R. Monaghan.

The son of one of Spokane’s early mining magnates met his untimely fate in 1899 while dispatched to the Pacific Island nation of Samoa. At the time, Germany, Britain and the U.S. each sought political and economic control of the Samoa island chain, and thus became involved in the Second Samoan Civil War. The bronze statue of Monaghan was erected years later, donated by his wealthy family to the city of Spokane in 1906.

Aside from serving as an honorary tribute to an unwelcome colonizer of the Samoan people, the monument features a bronze panel inaccurately depicting the moment of Monaghan’s death with a portrayal of the Samoan defenders in a “savage” racial stereotype.

Local residents of Samoan heritage want the hurtful Monaghan tribute removed, and the complete truth shared as to why American troops were really sent to the island nation.

“This statue is not only a reminder of the atrocities committed against our people and our ancestors, but of all Indigenous people,” says Kiana McKenna, a SamoanAmerican who holds positions with the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Spokane and the YWCA’s Spokane Racial and Social Justice Committee.

“This statue sits on the Indigenous homelands of the Spokane Tribe and is also a stark reminder of the land stolen and the colonization that occurred here,” McKenna adds.

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Spokane Arts executive director Melissa Huggins says she and the Spokane Arts Commission are currently consulting with members of the region’s Samoan community to determine how to address the Monaghan monument’s oppressive legacy. She hopes the mayor and the City Council can help lead a productive conversation with all who have concerns about the statue’s future.

“The arts commission feels strongly that the city should remove the statue, but more importantly, they want to follow the lead of the Samoan/Pacific Islander community’s preference about what should be done with it,” Huggins says. “Based on the conversations so far, our belief is that changing the plaque is not enough, because the statue itself represents a soldier who was sent to their country explicitly to colonize it, and that colonization was accomplished through violence against the Samoan people.”

Not everyone agrees, however, that the Monaghan statue should be taken down.

Local Vietnam veteran Wes Anderson is staunchly against its removal.

Anderson is a member of Spokane’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 51, which was named after Ensign Monaghan when the post was founded in 1915.

“To tear down the statue — no — John R. Monaghan has a statue in downtown Spokane. NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND it’s part of our culture and Spokane’s history,” Anderson says. “My feeling is just leave it alone, it’s part of this city and this country’s the bay, located near the present-day Gozzer Ranch golf history.” course and housing development.

“Neachen is an anglicized version of the Salish word nlike, say, the Deep South and many other states that means autumn hunt, and it reflects the history of the across the nation, the greater Pacific Northwest has tribe because for millennia tribes from all over Northern few public monuments tied to the Confederacy.

Idaho and Eastern Washington came to the bay to hunt,” According to a database maintained by the Southern Faulkner says. “Currently it’s the only geographical name Poverty Law Center tracking nearly 1,700 monuments, on the lake that is tribal, and I’m really proud of that.” schools, parks, roads and other landmarks named after Those who oppose the changing of insensitive place Confederate sympathizers, only three remain intact in names and the removal of racist monuments often Central/Southern Idaho and two in Western Washington. claim such actions are “erasing history.” But critiques While the question of whether slavery would be like what’s happening now are nothing new, says local allowed in the pre-statehood Western territories eventuhistorian and Eastern Washington University professor ally led to the American Civil War, the broader focus Larry Cebula. of White settlers who arrived to claim the raw land was “We reconsider our history all the time, and that’s forcing its original inhabitants, Native tribes, out of the good,” Cebula says. “That means we’re thinking about it way. Many geographical landmarks thus reflected racist and engaging our history and not taking it for granted. attitudes toward the tribes.

The American Revolution begins with tearing down Until about a dozen years ago in Coeur d’Alene, for a statue of King George, and nothing could be more example, most people referred to Neachen Bay by the American and wholesome than to reconsider our history highly derogatory name “Squaw Bay.” This name was with every generation.” n widely known and used up until 2007, when local activist and longtime Coeur d’Alene resident Marlo Faulkner, working with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, successfully lobbied for a revision of eight geographical names incorporating “squaw” across North Idaho.

Chey Scott has been a staff writer at the “Squaw is a corruption of an Iroquois word that Inlander since 2012. Besides serving as editor was used when soldiers raped or used Native women as of the paper’s food and events sections, she prostitutes,” Faulkner says. enjoys covering local history, arts and culture, She says that the bay got its original name due to and has written recent features on the actions of White soldiers posted at Fort Sherman who Hanford Nuclear Site’s legacy and the 40th regularly took advantage of Native women camped in anniversary of Mount St. Helens’ eruption.

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S C I L E R T S I C A R

THE COUNTY LINE

Franklin Pierce and William Rufus De Vane King were the original namesakes for Pierce and King counties in Washington state.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

It’s not just statues. Slaveholders and Southern sympathizers can be found all over Washington’s state map

BY KNUTE BERGER / CROSSCUT

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onfederate statues are being pulled down, one after another, spurred by Black Lives Matter protests across the country. The likenesses of other historic figures with problematic histories have been toppled, vandalized or removed, too, including those of the conquistador Juan de Onate in New Mexico, Francis Scott Key in San Francisco, George Washington in Portland, and Theodore Roosevelt, flanked by figures of subjected peoples in New York. In Seattle, a Confederate memorial in a historic cemetery on Capitol Hill has been vandalized.

There are other tributes closer to home that might be worth reconsidering, if not toppling. Few think about the men behind the names of some of Washington’s 39 counties. When you do, a disturbing pattern emerges. At least eight are named for slave owners, White supremacists, people who sought to extend slavery in the United States or who tried to ban Black people from the Pacific Northwest altogether.

Until 2005, that list was one name longer. King County was originally named for an Alabama slave owner, William Rufus De Vane King, who happened to be

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Franklin Pierce’s Democratic running mate in their victory in 1852. Pierce County was named after the president and neighboring King County was given his vice president’s moniker. Fortunately, a bipartisan effort to change the designation of King County to honor Martin Luther King was made, though not without a struggle. It took nearly two decades to make the change official after it was adopted.

King County no longer honors a virtually unknown slave plantation owner but rather a Black icon of civil rights. Even so, the name change was uncomplicated by the fact that the name of the county didn’t have to change, only who it was honoring.

There probably is no such fix for Pierce County. Its namesake president, Franklin Pierce, was called a “doughface,” a term used in the 1850s and ’60s for Northern Democrats who were Southern sympathizers. Though he was from New Hampshire and was not a slave owner, or even in favor of slavery, he did oppose abolition because he believed it was the wrong way to end the institution and would violate the constitutional rights of Southern

states, a fairly mainstream view in his era.

Pierce also acted in ways that advanced the slave owners’ cause. He signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened the possibility of slavery’s expansion into the Western territories. Pierce promoted U.S. expansion abroad, too, including the annexation of Cuba. Opponents of slavery saw this as an attempt to acquire new slave territories for Southern interests.

The major proponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, for whom Douglas County in Eastern Washington is named. He was loyal to the Union, but also opposed abolition and wanted to allow states and territories to decide on slavery on their own. The Democratic Party split into factions in 1860, with Douglas running for president against Republican Abraham Lincoln. The Southern branch of the party backed John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky whose running mate, Joseph Lane, was a senator from Oregon. A county in Oregon is named for Southern sympathizer Lane. Breckinridge became a Confederate general. ...continued on page 18

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The Douglas, Lincoln and Breckinridge tickets supported the existence of slavery. And Douglas, though he denied it, was a slave master through his wife. She inherited a family plantation with 100 slaves in Mississippi. Douglas denied “owning” slaves, though he managed the plantation personally from a distance, and took from it profits that boosted his political ambitions. Douglas died shortly after the 1860 election, but he represented a large slice of the Democratic Party that was pro-Union at any cost, including tolerating slavery. When it came time to name the Washington Territory in the 1850s, Douglas proposed an amendment that would have named it “Washingtonia.” The two vowels were rejected by Congress in favor of the less euphonious name we have.

Isaac Stevens, namesake of Stevens County in northeastern Washington, was the first territorial governor of Washington, appointed by Pierce. He also was elected to represent Washington in Congress. He is known for “negotiating,” often through violence and threat, tribal treaties throughout the Washington Territory. Brutal treatment of the Indians led to conflicts in the mid-1850s in the Northwest, which led to terrible retaliations. He often criticized the U.S. Army for not cracking down on Native peoples hard enough. Stevens also declared martial law, illegally, to harass settlers who were too friendly with Native peoples.

Stevens managed the pro-Southern, pro-slavery presidential campaign of Breckinridge and Lane, a ticket that believed slavery was a constitutional right and threatened secession if it was tampered with. One of Stevens’ helpers in that campaign? Jefferson Davis. Some Republicans in Washington Territory worried that if that ticket won, it

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would open up the possibility of slavery here. Stevens, however, remained loyal to the Union after secession, served as a Union general and died leading his troops at the Battle of Chantilly in 1862. Probably more than any other man of his era, Stevens shaped the foundations of what is now Washington State.

Another Civil War Union general is acknowledged in Grant County. Ulysses S. Grant was in Washington early in his career, stationed for a time at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. While Grant is known for his wartime service in defeating the Confederacy, and for his presidency during Reconstruction, in which he fiercely put down the Ku Klux Klan with force, it is little known that he owned a slave and oversaw many more. He married Julia Dent, whose family owned a Missouri slave plantation called “White Haven.” Grant himself lived on the plantation for some years, supervising slave labor. He also owned a slave named William Jones, purchased from his father-in-law. He later freed the man. Grant had grown up in an anti-slavery household. His wife continued to have slaves throughout the war until 1865, well after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Thurston County at the southern end of Puget Sound is named for the Oregon Territory’s first delegate to Congress, Samuel Thurston, who played a key role in the shaping of Washington and Oregon in the early years. He

William Clark didn’t free his slave York after his Northwest trip.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

“Clark himself was a slave owner — he owned at least 18 slaves — who brought a Black slave, York, on the land expedition to the Pacific Coast.”

argued in Congress on behalf of Oregon settlers who did not want slavery there, but also opposed having any Black settlers, saying that if they came, they would intermarry with Indigenous peoples and create trouble.

“The object is to keep clear of this most troublesome class of population,” he argued. Oregonians voted to exclude Black people, and a provision to that end entered the state’s constitution when Oregon was admitted to the Union.

Thurston was also key in passing the federal Donation Land Act, which allowed White settlers — and Whites only — to homestead in the Oregon Country, which then included what is now Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming. Some have argued that it was more effective than other legal Oregon exclusions in creating a “White” Northwest. Only 30 African Americans lived in the vast Washington Territory by 1860. As one author has put it, “The Donation Land Act was an emphatic endorsement of the color line in Oregon, and the law essentially functioned as an affirmative action program for Anglo-American settlers.”

Jefferson County on the Olympic Peninsula is named for Thomas Jefferson who was a slave owner, author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. He believed in westward expansion and was sponsor of the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804-06, which sought to help extend and establish American claims in the West through exploration. Jefferson is said to have fathered up to six children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Historians are still grappling with the fact that in modern terms, Jefferson was a rapist.

Connected to Jefferson was William Clark of Lewis

& Clark fame. Clark himself was a slave owner — he owned at least 18 slaves — who brought a Black slave, York, on the land expedition to the Pacific Coast. York was Clark’s “manservant” but was an invaluable member of the so-called “Corps of Discovery,” among other things smoothing the way with Indigenous peoples they met along the way. Despite York’s heroic contributions, Clark did not free him upon their return, which York asked as a reward for his services. He also did not allow York to go to Louisville to live with his wife.

Clark wrote of York’s efforts to be free: “If any attempt is made by York to run off, or refuse to proform [sic] his duty as a Slave, I wish him Sent to New Orleands [sic] and sold, or hired out to Some Sevare [sic] Master until he thinks better of Such Conduct.” Clark himself beat York for being “insolent and sulky” over his lot.

Clark eventually freed York, but his mistreatment has been called “… one of the saddest of the biographies of expedition members. Like so many other African Americans throughout history, he was held back not for lack of talents or ability, but merely because of the color of his skin.”

Clark’s companion, Meriwether Lewis, lends his name to Lewis County, adjacent to Thurston. Lewis was also a slave owner. He inherited a large Virginia plantation as a boy and ran the place when he reached 18. He had 24 slaves. He left the plantation to join a militia, then the Army, and had no personal slaves, though he did agree to let Clark bring one on their journey. He did not like the plantation life and has been referred to as a “loner,” though later he hired a free Black man to be his servant, though he did not always pay him.

Beyond the counties, there are some larger names to consider.

Washington state is named for a slave owner who is also known as the Father of Our Country, George Washington. An alternative name considered for the state was Columbia, controversial today as Christopher Columbus kicked off a brutal European exploitation in the Americas driven by greed and fueled by slavery. A Columbus statue was removed from Seattle’s waterfront in 2012, and one was toppled recently in Minnesota and another beheaded in Boston. We also have a region-defining river of that name, and a diverse Seattle neighborhood, Columbia City, not to mention a county, Columbia, on the dry side of the state.

Names on geographic features can take a long time to change, but there are successful recent examples of renaming ones disparaging to Black and Indigenous people, such as the Jim Crow names in southwest Washington, or Squaw names that appear throughout the Northwest.

The process can be long and complex, requiring local support, an argument for change, extensive research and approval at the state and national levels.

Changing county names is somewhat simpler: It requires only approval of the state Legislature if the county wants to make the change, though such a vote is bound to be politically controversial. It’s up to the folks who live in and those who represent those counties to demand change, defend the status quo or ignore a problematic legacy that colors our state’s map. n Crosscut is a service of Cascade Public Media, a nonprofit, public media organization.

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remove the “Robert E.” from the school’s name, which is now simply Lee Elementary. A 2017 Inlander article pointed out that there was resistance to the change in East Wenatchee, a separate community across the Columbia River from Wenatchee because “during the Dust Bowl era, farmers, many of them Southern migrants, flocked to the region.” When it was built in the 1950s, the school was named for the Confederate general in an act of historical bothsidesism. It served, in the eyes of some, as a historical counterpoint to a nearby elementary school named after former President Ulysses S. Grant.

Today, there is renewed interest in removing the Lee name entirely.

In Richland, there’s also newfound energy to change the name of Robert E. Lee Boulevard, which first became a subject of local debate in 2017, after Charlottesville.

Defenders of the name argued that Lee had served in the military engineers, and the street was named in his honor at a time when the Army Corps of Engineers had done much to reshape Richland in the 1940s. This echoed a similar justification for Jefferson Davis Highway; Davis, defenders asserted, led the War Department at a time when military roads in territories like Washington were being built. Despite a remote involvement in military infrastructure, Lee and Davis had little or no connection to the Northwest, unlike Grant, Gen. George B. McClellan or Gen. Philip Sheridan, who served in the region before the Civil War. A new online petition started in June, demanding that Robert E. Lee Boulevard be changed.

“Racism has no place in our community and it is time to take a stand,” it says. The city of Richland has agreed to consider a name change.

CONFEDERATE LEGACIES IN PUGET SOUND

SIGNS OF THE CONFEDERACY

George Edward Pickett, a major general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, is the namesake of Mount Pickett on Orcas Island. NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Local commemorations disprove the myth that the Pacific Northwest was untouched by the Civil War

BY KNUTE BERGER / CROSSCUT

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n the wake of historic Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd, there is renewed interest in rolling back Confederate monuments and commemorations around the country, including in Washington state.

This is not the first time these issues have been raised here. Calls to remove Confederate monuments and memorial sites proliferated after Dylann Roof’s murderous rampage in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, and again following the white supremacist torchlight demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

An even earlier debate over commemorating the Civil War era foreshadowed these controversies. In 2002, a Democratic legislator in Snohomish County — upset by a long stretch of Highway 99 honoring Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president — attempted to remove the designation. Those efforts drew national attention and fury

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from the right. Markers honoring Davis, placed at either end of the highway in the 1930s by the Daughters of the Confederacy, were eventually removed (one to private land along Interstate 5). It turned out the designation was never officially made, despite the markers. The Davis commemoration was part of a larger national project to honor Davis and the Confederacy with similar roadway designations, mostly in the Deep South and the Far West.

IN HONOR OF CIVIL WAR GEN. ROBERT E. LEE

After the events in Charleston and Charlottesville, more local controversies surfaced. In the Tri-Cities, concerned citizens questioned a boulevard in Richland named for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Same with Robert E. Lee Elementary School in East Wenatchee in Central Washington.

In the school’s case, officials decided in 2018 to

Washington’s map features other places with names connected to the Confederacy. Maury Island, attached to Vashon Island near Seattle, was named after a member of the U.S. Exploring Expedition led by Charles Wilkes, which mapped and named many features in Puget Sound in 1841. Wilkes named a number of places for his crew, including the expedition’s astronomer Lt. William Lewis Maury.

When the Civil War came along, Maury resigned his officer’s commission in the U.S. Navy and joined the Confederate States Navy. His duties included the command of the CSS Georgia, a commerce raider that captured or destroyed civilian Union vessels in order to disrupt the North’s economy. His family members also played key roles in the Confederacy. His cousin, a famous oceanographer named Matthew Fontaine Maury, served in the Confederate Navy, too. He was responsible for obtaining the vessel Georgia in Britain, which William took on his raids.

Another state feature named for a prominent Confederate is Mount Pickett on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. It’s named for George Pickett, a former officer in the U.S. Army who became a Confederate general, most noted for “Pickett’s Charge,” a famed and futile advance during the Battle of Gettysburg. That event has been called the “high watermark of the Confederacy” and has been romanticized as an example of sacrifice for the South’s “Lost Cause.” Others have argued it was an extraordinarily reckless waste of human life in a terrible cause.

In addition to the Gettysburg disaster, Pickett was responsible for a lesser known case of butchery: the execution, by hanging, of more than 20 prisoners of war in North Carolina in 1864. The soldiers were North Carolinians who had joined the Union Army. Some had deserted from Confederate ranks and, after capture, were court-martialed for treason. Roughly half the men, however, weren’t Confederate Army deserters, yet Pickett’s command still executed them, including at least

one prisoner whose crime was being a Black Union soldier. After the war, Pickett was investigated by the government and found to have committed war crimes. He fled the U.S. for Canada and was later spared prosecution through the intervention of President Grant, a former West Point classmate.

During his Army tour in the Northwest, Pickett famously led troops that occupied San Juan Island during the Pig War dispute with Great Britain over possession of the islands in 1859, just years before the outbreak of the Civil War. (A bridge in Bellingham was named for Pickett, but the City Council voted to strip the designation in 2019.)

Mount Pickett lies just southeast of Mount Constitution and was previously named Doe Bay Mountain. A 1925 article about its renaming in the Seattle Times says it was named “for famous Confederate General George E. Pickett, who led a historic charge at Gettysburg,” and refers to his service in the boundary dispute.

The 1920s were a period when many Confederate statues and monuments were erected.

DIXIE DESIGNATIONS IN WASHINGTON STATE

Dixie, population 200, is near Walla Walla in southeastern Washington. According to William Denison Lyman’s 1918 history of early Walla Walla County, which once included modern Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, a key group of settlers came to the area by wagon train in 1859. The party included the three Kershaw brothers, William, John and James.

They were musicians — fiddlers — and brought with them a new song, “Dixie,” which they played together frequently, earning them the name the “Dixie Boys.” The name was given to their settlement.

Many settlers from states that allowed slavery, including Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, moved to the area at that time. “[D]emocratic views preponderated,” historian Lyman wrote of people who were “bitterly opposed to ‘abolitionists’ and ‘Black Republicans.’ When the war broke out there was a considerable element that carried so far by their hatred of abolitionists that they even became rank ‘Secesh,’” meaning pro-Southern secessionists. The term “Black Republicans” referred to whites who favored movement toward racial equality. As the war went on, Lyman wrote, pro-Union sentiments seemed to gain favor.

The song “Dixie” is said to have been composed by a White, blackface minstrel performer named Daniel Decatur Emmett, who first performed it in New York in 1859. It became a huge hit. But the song’s origins have long been contested. Recent scholarship has made a case that Emmett learned the song from a performing Black family in Ohio known as the Snowden Family Band. Emmett knew the family, lived nearby and performed with them. A pair of historians have advanced the theory that the original song was likely composed by a Black woman, Ellen Cooper Snowden, whose sons taught it to Emmett.

Emmett himself was said to be appalled that Dixie had become a symbol of the Confederacy. During the Civil War he supported the North and provided musical arrangements for the Union Army. The song was popular in the North and South.

President Abraham Lincoln loved the tune. The song has been called a “… popular minstrel hit, proud anthem of the South, [and a] hated symbol of racism …” by a historian who has studied the song’s origins.

There is a myth that the Pacific Northwest was untouched by the Civil War. It is true no battles were fought here, but the politics of the war and the years preceding it played an outsized role in shaping the region. There were supporters of both the North and South in positions of power and influence in the Northwest generally, including Washington. Attitudes before the war distinctly leaned to the South and in favor of racial exclusion in the region. Those fault lines are embedded in our landscape, often attached to the land decades, or in some cases nearly a century, after the conflict itself. Today, the stories behind those names can help us more clearly understand ourselves, our history and our collective values. n

Choose your own... BLOOMSDAY pick your route, pick your running partner, pick your day - September 18-20 pick your finish line And then...

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AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 21

dining • shopping • culture Businesses are working hard to serve customers and stay safe: Support them and you support our region’s recovery.

directly, just to check in and see what they needed as assistance,” says Lance Beck, the chamber’s president and CEO. “As they identified current questions that they had, we connected them with one of the experts on our team or one of our expert partners. Honestly, if there’s one thing I’m most proud of, it’s that direct outreach — in the chaos of that moment, it was one of the things we could do that was unexpected by our local business community and a way for us to solve one of their problems.”

TIFFANY CABLE

Staying Nimble Over the past few months, restaurants have had to adapt their business models to the changing situation on the ground. And in many cases, those adaptations have had to be both quick and continuous.

“We didn’t really have an active website prior to March,” says Tiffany Cable, owner of the popular Spokane Valley bakery the Blissful Whisk. “Within two weeks, we were able to launch a website where people could preorder things.”

Though normally surrounded by a seven-person staff, Cable was forced to work solo at that point. She alternated production and sales days. Mondays were pastry-box days.

Cookies were on Wednesdays. Cinnamon rolls were on Saturdays.

“I went from selling maybe 10 six-packs of cinnamon rolls per week to doing like 76 packs. It really helped me to stay

alive… the local community really came out for me.”

Soon she started preparing and freezing chicken pot pies that customers could take home and bake themselves.

“People will get those for their family for dinner for the week, and the next week they reorder. I changed the way I did things to accommodate people who were cooking more at home,” she says. Cable has since been able to rehire nearly all of her employees at least on a part-time basis.

But as the Blissful Whisk and other local businesses have quickly shifted to new models, organizations like the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce have doubled down on their longtime roles. At the start, the chamber aimed to channel the emerging public health guidelines and economic relief opportunities into a single information stream.

“We actually called our membership five total times

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22 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

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Along with guiding businesses through the various grant application processes, the chamber has secured $1.2 million from the city of Spokane Valley’s CARES Act funding. That will help “get real cash into businesses’ hands for assistance.”

For restaurants, however, Beck acknowledges that “being eligible to be open doesn’t mean it’s profitable to be open.”

Closing and reopening takes a psychological as well as an economic toll. Laying off staff, even if only temporarily, has knock-on destabilizing effects. The ongoing adjustments aren’t always guaranteed to work.

But with a little community solidarity, Beck believes it’s possible to stabilize.

“How do we get through it?” he asks. “People continue to find ways to patronize the businesses, and we’re able to keep businesses afloat through actual, in-person sales or the various support programs. The first step is being kind to those we work with and are surrounded with. We’re all in it together.” ◆ Made-from-scratch pastries, cookies, cakes and even puppy treats are all available via curbside pickup at the Blissful Whisk, 1612 N. Barker Rd. #101. You can even order online at blissfulwhisk.com; hours are limited in the month of August, so check in ahead.

FRESH THIS WEEK

Watch for new businesses featured each week

CARUSO’S SANDWICHES & ARTISAN PIZZA

PIZZA • SPOKANE VALLEY Caruso’s line of brick-fired pizzas and gourmet sandwiches has always been ideal for takeout and delivery. Under the current guidelines, they’re taking staff temperatures before shifts and sanitizing all touch points in the restaurant regularly.

If you’re having trouble deciding between sandwiches like the Caruso’s club (turkey, ham, bacon, Swiss) or pizzas like the Ragin’ Cajun (Cajun ranch sauce, mozzarella, chicken, bacon), try the signature pizza, which has red sauce, mozzarella, provolone, roasted mushrooms and Italian sausage, but then shakes things up by adding roasted garlic and tangy feta. Also check out their North Division location near Gonzaga. 2314 N. Argonne Rd. 474-0254. ilovecarusos.com

CRAFT AND GATHER CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN • SPOKANE VALLEY This popular hangout has a spacious patio that offers views of the Spokane Valley’s natural surroundings. They’ve even set up more shading screens to keep their outdoor tables cool while you tuck into a summery berry salad or a ribeye with sides of bacon Brussels sprouts and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. And if the patio’s full, you can bring your own chairs to set up on the large lawn, sip craft beer or cocktails and snack on porky fries (topped with pulled pork and pickled jalapeños) or artisan deviled eggs. The staff is masked up and is following stringent sterilization procedures. 4403 S. Dishman Mica Rd. 290-5141. craftandgather.com

Wash your Hands be safe for all of us. #KindnessNotCOVID

DAVE’S BAR & GRILL

AMERICAN • SPOKANE VALLEY Along with adhering to mask mandates, the staff at Dave’s is bleaching tables and menus between uses. And while this much-loved neighborhood bar and grill might have joined other restaurants in scaling back to half-capacity, it continues to dish up weekly dine-in specials like steak dinners, homemade meatloaf, prime rib and buy-one-get-one bacon cheeseburgers. Of course, takeout is always an option, too, and the renowned beer-battered halibut and chips is available for pickup on Fish Fridays. Please call outside of peak times to place your order. 12124 E. Sprague Ave. 926-9640. davesbarandgrill.com

TT’S OLD IRON BREWERY

BARBECUE • SPOKANE VALLEY Placing a to-go order from TT’s website is about as easy as it gets. There are high-res images of all their menu items — from smoked meats like a half-chicken or rack of ribs to sides like mac ‘n’ cheese and cornbread. They even take the guesswork out of their assortment of meat plates and platters, which come with a variety of sides and dipping sauces, as well as their selection of craft beers (available in both crowlers and growlers). Keep in mind that if you order and specify pickup ASAP, they’ll expect you within 30 minutes. 4110 S. Bowdish Rd. 919-4798. ttsbrewerybbq.com

HAY J’S BISTRO HAY J’S BISTRO

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN • LIBERTY LAKE Seafood is a specialty of Hay J’s and, fortunately, the restaurant’s to-go menu still gives it pride of place. Start off with a portion of halibut cakes or steamed clams in white wine and garlic butter, then move on to a shrimp Cobb salad or a bowl of delicious seafood chowder. For your entrée, keep the coastal vibe going with a shellfish pappardelle (atop flat noodles with a sauce of Italian sausage and garlic cream).

Or carpe diem with the freshly caught “surf of the day.” The sunny patio space is open to dine-in service as well. 21706 E. Mission Ave. 926-2310. hayjsbistro.com

JUST CHILLIN’ EATS & SWEETS

ICE CREAM • LIBERTY LAKE To say that Just Chillin’ does ice cream is an understatement.

Beyond a changing lineup of hard-pack flavors like Huckleberry Heaven, salted caramel, butter pecan and old-fashioned vanilla, they also have ice cream cookie sandwiches and soft-serve — not to mention dairy-free options like gelato, Dole whips and almond-milk frozen treats. Plus there are mouthwatering cheesecakes, banana breads and cupcakes.

While dine-in space is limited, you can still arrange to have your sweet tooth satisfied in any number of ways, like calling ahead for pickup, ordering in-store to go or and even having your favorite confections delivered via Postmates. 1322 N. Liberty Lake Rd. 413-1615. justchillineatsandsweets.com

POST STREET ALE HOUSE PUB FOOD • DOWNTOWN SPOKANE Want to order some of the Post Street Ale House’s awardwinning fried pickles? How about some succulent handbreaded halibut and chips? All you have to do is point your smartphone’s camera at their QR code menu and the full list of items will pop up. Of course, you can also go analog and order from their single-use disposable menus. And those are just two of the ways this restaurant is making dining safer for its guests. On top of other pub fare like Guinness-braised short ribs, there are nearly 30 local craft beers to choose from. 1 N. Post St. 789-6900. hotellusso.com

ABOUT Back to business • These weekly pages are part of a local marketing effort in support of the hospitality

sector brought to you by leading institutions and businesses to help promote the Spokane County economy, supported in part by Cares Act funding. With the goal of balancing commerce and public safety, you can follow along here in the Inlander, and via the links below, as local restaurants, shops and more share their stories and invite your support.

TWO SEVEN PUBLIC HOUSE PUB FOOD • SOUTH HILL A South Hill staple for over a decade, Two Seven boasts one of the best patios in the area. Its upscale pub food menu — now available via touchless QR codes — includes a steak-and-spaghetti dish, a Southwestern taco salad as well as Cuban-style pulled pork. Takeout customers can get $10 growler fills or full cocktail kits. Above and beyond following the current public health guidelines, the restaurant is taking employees’ temperatures at the start and end of their shifts.

Insider tip: Sign up online to get Two Seven’s weekly specials via email. 2727 S. Mount Vernon St. 473-9766. wedonthaveone.com

Questions? Contact us at backtobusiness@inlander.com

VIRTUAL BLOOMSDAY

For the first time in its 44-year history, Bloomsday participants will be able to run or walk all on their own to earn that precious t-shirt. Since the group run is not possible this year, Bloomsday conceived of the next best thing. Anytime between Sept. 18-20, and anywhere in the world, registered participants can do their own 12k, report the results on the Bloomsday website and get an official finisher t-shirt in the mail! If you’re already registered, you are good to go. If not, you must sign up by Aug. 26. Registration is just $25; as a bonus, you’ll get a $10 off a $20 purchase at any Albertsons or Safeway with your registration. Sign up at bloomsdayrun.org.

more to come • Through the end of the year, watch

the Inlander for special Back To Business guides, along with special sections, sharing more recovery stories and community business features.

Safe business practice resources KindnessNotCovid.org • Financial resources for businesses InlandBizStrong.org

AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 23

The Coeur d’Alene Casino is quieter than normal, but recovering nicely from its temporary closure.

COEUR D’ALENE CASINO PHOTO

THE ROAD BACK

THE GAMES GO ON Area casinos adapt to the coronavirus to keep their tribal services alive

BY DAN NAILEN

W

hen the Coeur d’Alene Casino closed its doors in March about a week before Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued his original stay-home order for the state, it had particular significance for casino CEO Laura Stensgar.

While she was relatively new to that particular role — she became CEO in October 2019 — Stensgar has been with the casino in Worley, Idaho, since day one. In fact, she was part of a tribal committee that explored whether the Coeur d’Alene Tribe even wanted to get into gaming back in 1991. She’s served several roles at the casino in the years since and is intimately aware of how the tribe relies on the casino to provide jobs to its members, and all manner of social services as well.

When tribal leaders saw COVID-19 cases on the rise

24 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

and decided to close down for the safety of the casino’s employees and customers, it landed on the exact weekend they should have been celebrating the 27th birthday of the casino’s grand opening.

“It was kind of surreal,” Stensgar says of that day when the machines and bustle of the casino went quiet. “I walked down onto the casino floor and looked towards the empty parking lot. It was just such a heavy burden on my shoulders, a great concern because I truly understand what that revenue means to the tribe and to the community. So, immediately I knew we had to work towards reopening.”

Balancing the needs of the community with the harsh realities of the pandemic as it swept across the country is something all of the region’s tribal casinos had to contend

THE ROAD BACK

with. The casinos not only offer employment The Inlander is checking in opportunities for tribal on local businesses and how members; their revenues they’re evolving in a world with are relied on by tribal coronavirus. Follow along at governments.

Inlander.com/recovery.

“The casino is an essential business for the Kalispel Tribe,” Nick Pierre, general manager of Northern Quest Resort & Casino, told the Inlander as that casino prepared to reopen in early May. “It provides all the funding for our government — our police, our fire, medical, dental, social services. It provides all the funding for that. Without it, we can’t operate.” ...continued on page 26

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CULTURE | THE ROAD BACK “THE GAMES GO ON,” CONTINUED...

T

he work of reopening at Coeur d’Alene Casino started with the creation of a tribal task force to monitor the evolution of the pandemic and explore what the casino needed to do to create a space where customers and employees could safely interact. Based on the advice of officials from the tribe’s own Marimn Health & Wellness Center, along with federal guidelines and check-ins with their local health district, the casino came up with a combination of safety precautions including social-distancing measures, limitations on the number of gamers allowed in the building at any given time, mask requirements for all and temperature checks for everyone entering the building.

The Coeur d’Alene Casino had a “soft reopening” April 27, becoming what Stensgar believes is the first casino in the country to welcome guests after the nation went on COVID-19 lockdown. The response was overwhelming from the start, with lines of people outside waiting to get in, and the casino had to make adjustments along the way for both employees and customers. So far, what they’ve done to stave off the virus has worked, she says.

“Our protocols have been in place since day one,” Stensgar says. “And they have safeguarded us from any type of outbreak. … And I don’t see us dropping the masks for quite some time.”

Stensgar puts the financial losses suffered by the casino during its month-plus closure as “millions and millions of dollars,” but says they’ve made up those losses since reopening. While casual gamblers haven’t really returned yet, Stensgar says the “true gamers” have done enough business to buoy the place for now.

+

The Spokane Tribal Casino added several safety measures.

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26 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

The Spokane Tribal Casino in Airway Heights hasn’t recovered its losses yet, says General Manager Javier De La Rosa, but he’s happy with the way customers have embraced the safety precautions the casino put in place in order to reopen in mid-May after spending two months closed.

Besides adding temperature-taking kiosks at all the entrances, hand-sanitizing stations throughout the space and requiring masks of all employees and guests, the casino upgraded its cleaning chemicals and added plexiglass barriers between its machines while also pulling roughly 20 percent of its machines from the floor to provide for social distancing.

De La Rosa puts the costs of the safety measures in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” and that doesn’t even take into account the fact that the tribe kept all the casino’s employees on payroll throughout its closure. It’s a necessary investment to maintain the health of the customers and employees, and of the casino as an economic engine for the tribe.

In a highly competitive industry, the pandemic added serious financial stress to casinos that De La Rosa’s never seen before.

“I’ve been in the industry for 27 years,” says De La Rosa, who spent most of his career in Las Vegas before heading north two years ago. “I’ve been through 9/11, I’ve been through the financial market [crash]. This is by far more damaging to the industry.

9/11 was scary in the sense that the unknown was the scary thing.

This is the same, because anybody can be the carrier of a virus that’s invisible.” n

CULTURE | DIGEST

PLEASANT ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH Writer/director Kris Rey’s I Used To Go Here, produced by the Lonely Island crew, could have been a great film, lifted by its lead performance courtesy of Gillian Jacobs as a scuffling 35-year-old novelist who returns to her small college town at the behest of her favorite professor (Jemaine Clement).

Instead, the movie (available on demand on various services) is merely a pleasant trifle, with some fun in seeing Jacobs’ character relive her college days with students living in her old house, but few hard laughs or poignant truths delivered. Considering the talent involved, it’s a disappointment. (DAN NAILEN)

Shantay, You Stay… Indoors

I

BY NATHAN WEINBENDER

’m sure I’m not the only person who, as quarantine first went into effect, was determined to clear out my streaming queues and cross titles off my to-watch list. And I know I’m not the only person who has, instead, tried to keep my sanity by escaping into shows I’ve already watched.

A couple months ago, my wife and I started watching old episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the long-running, cultishly adored reality competition show pitting drag queens against one another in acting, design and choreography challenges. We blew through most of the available seasons on Hulu and Amazon, something like 130 episodes, most of which we’d already seen. Turns out, it’s perfect pandemic programming.

THE BUZZ BIN

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST Some noteworthy new music hits online and in stores Aug. 21. To wit: BRIGHT EYES, Down the Weeds Where the World Once Was. Their first album in nearly a decade, and a show Spokane lost to the pandemic.

FRUIT BATS, Siamese Dream. Yup, it’s a complete-album cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ work.

THE KILLERS, Imploding the Mirage. Why yes, I did do a double take when I saw Lindsey Buckingham listed as a guest. (DAN NAILEN)

I first saw Drag Race a decade ago at a party. I barely understood what was going on, but as with any show of its ilk — watch four episodes of Project Runway and you convince yourself you could edit Vogue — I eventually got into the groove of Drag Race. It was campy and kitschy, a reality competition show that almost played like a parody of reality competition shows.

Since that first exposure, Drag Race has become a cottage industry. RuPaul has won Emmys and hosted Saturday Night Live and his show now has its own annual fan convention and Vegas revue. Being a Drag Race fan in quarantine has been particularly rewarding, too: The show has so many spin-offs and international versions that there’s been new Drag Race content on TV literally every week since February.

So what makes the show appealing to someone like me, a fashionably hopeless straight dude with little to no interest in other reality shows? I think it’s the big personalities, and the camaraderie and tension that develops when they’re all thrown into the lion’s den together.

Drag Race is also a remarkably empathetic show: Even its so-called villains, contestants who are particularly cutthroat or brutally honest, get screen time to fill us in on their backgrounds. You hear stories of tremendous adversity — queens whose parents don’t know about their profession, who have been ostracized by family because they do drag, who have struggled to come out as transgender or HIV-positive — which mainstream TV tends to ignore.

For the most part, though, it’s goofy, gaudy fun that nonetheless schools you on the artistry and ingenuity that good drag requires. And at a time like now, it’s just what I needed: You can turn off your brain just enough, and still feel like you’re watching something kinda smart. n

SPEAKING IN TONGUES Since 2014, Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott have hosted an extremely intermittent podcast delving into their favorite bands, including U2 (U Talkin’ U2 2 Me?) and R.E.M. (R U Talkin’ R.E.M. Re: Me?). The Scotts have a new season-of-sorts, which began as a look at the Red Hot Chili Peppers but has, one episode in, switched to Talking Heads. So now we’ve got U Talkin’ Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head?, a predictably silly deep dive into the work of the artrock legends that should please anyone who loves supremely goofy comedy and surprisingly adept musical analysis. (NATHAN WEINBENDER)

A SENSE OF DUTY The world is in dire need of more games set in feudal Japan. Luckily, Ghost of Tsushima scratches my omnipresent itch of wanting to become a samurai. This open-world game from Sucker Punch Productions has you trying to fend off the historical Mongol invasion. One thing that ultimately sticks out is that there are no waypoints. You explore the world how you wish, traveling through an uncannily beautiful landscape to do as you will. There’s nothing holding you back from abandoning the current mission and running off on your own to explore to your heart’s content.

Available on PS4. (JEREMEY RANDRUP)

THE CANDLEBROS “Out, out, brief candle!” Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth.

“Reform, stalwart candle! — twice-birth’d, but nobler still!” Shakespeare did not write, because Macbeth was not about the Melting Remnant faction of Monster Train.

But if the bard ever played the Slay the Spire-style deckbuilder computer game, he would have revised a soliloquy or two. Your goal: Protect the Monster Train from angelic attackers until it restarts the fires of hell. Your candle-like Melting Remnant troops seem to have a big weakness — they extinguish themselves after a few turns. But play your cards right and you can resurrect them from their waxy grave, more powerful than ever. (DANIEL WALTERS)

AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 27

OPENING

French Connection

Chicken piquant at Magnolia American Brasserie offers “simple, classic French country cooking.” YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

Magnolia American Brasserie brings casual, French-inspired eats to Spokane

BY CHEY SCOTT

T

he latest addition to the now-thriving west end of downtown Spokane is a bright and chic restaurant serving French-inspired fare inside the newly opened Hotel Indigo.

Magnolia American Brasserie is now the fourth local restaurant to open with chef Steve Jensen at the helm.

Most recently Jensen oversaw the openings of Craft and Gather in Spokane Valley and Osprey Restaurant and Bar downtown, in addition to working at several other kitchens in the area before that.

At Magnolia, Jensen’s talents are showcased in a concise collection of casual dishes, each with his signature focus on making upscale dining approachable and familiar.

“I’ve really loved cooking food from all over the world, France included on that list,” Jensen says. “Really what I wanted to focus on was keeping it approachable. A lot of people find [French] too fancy for everyday meals,

28 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

so I wanted that classic French feel and flair and technique without it being intimidating for the average diner.”

Take the mussel and frite ($16) from the starters side of the menu, for example, featuring steamed mussels with a fennel wine broth and side of French fries with scratchmade tarragon aioli.

“In any cafe in France you’ll see that, just a savory and delicious dish, and you dip your fries or bread in the juice,” he notes.

One of the more unique entrees Jensen says he chose for Magnolia’s menu is the chicken piquant ($22), which the chef admits sounds fancy, but is actually “really simple classic French country cooking.”

The resulting dish is a roasted whole chicken breast with a red wine vinegar glaze atop sliced potatoes, onions and green beans roasted in butter and garlic.

Another of Jensen’s takes on a traditional meat and potatoes dish is the richly flavored roasted pork loin chop

($22) with crispy roasted Brussels sprouts, potatoes and a grape and tarragon jus.

For now, Magnolia is only offering daily dinner service from 4-10 pm. Jensen says the goal is to add breakfast once the restaurant and connected hotel — both located inside a historic building last home to the Otis Hotel — have been able to gauge demand for service, and considering that business is much slower than normal amid a global pandemic.

“It’s so uncertain now, we’re trying to be as flexible and quick to adapt as we can be,” Jensen says. “The first two weeks have been good — there have been a couple slow days — but mostly it’s been as good as I can expect for the situation the world is in right now.”

Dining in is an option, and guests at the hotel can order food from Magnolia during dinner hours via room service. The restaurant’s location on the corner of West First Avenue and Madison Street doesn’t offer enough

space for outdoor seating, but the dining room inside is spacious, allowing parties to be seated with plenty of room between tables.

Magnolia’s home in Hotel Indigo is situated kitty-corner to the Fox Theater and just blocks from other downtown entertainment venues, making it a convenient stop before or after live performances when those events return.

The decor brings a contemporary aesthetic to the historic space, with a pair of ornate chandeliers in the main dining room, a dark, marbled stone bar top and rich wood finishes. Large street-facing windows allow ample daylight to pour into the neutral-hued space. Three large wall murals by acclaimed Spokane artist Daniel Lopez, all featuring sepia-toned, 1920s-inspired scenes of people socializing, were underway during Mangolia’s first few weeks open.

In the restaurant’s bar, led by bar manager Adam Vizzo, the focus is regional wine, beer and cider, along with a few imported French wines to complement the food choices. A concise list of craft cocktails highlight familiar classics, from an old fashioned ($10) to a French 75 ($9).

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In addition to happy hour specials offered daily from 4-6 pm, Magnolia has a set lineup of weekly food specials from Jensen and team. Sunday offers a whole roasted chicken that serves two for $28, while Monday’s highlight is wild mushroom risotto ($20), a dish Jensen has tweaked from some of his past menus. Thursday, there’s a spicy Creole garlic shrimp ($25) and Friday is a classic bouillabaisse ($22), or seafood stew.

Tuesday features Jensen’s personal favorite, however; a braised pork shank ($34).

“It’s seared and braised in herbs, onions, apple juice and wine and cooked really long at a low temperature, ending up fork-tender and fall-off-the-bone,” he describes. “It’s glazed with housemade demi-glace and served with one of my favorite parts of the dish, the rosemary gigante beans, which are a giant lima bean. I braise those with roasted tomatoes, peppers, herbs and garlic. It’s a really long, slow cooking process so it all stays whole and doesn’t break down into mush, and it’s completely packed with flavor.” n cheys@inlander.com Magnolia American Brasserie • 110 S. Madison St. • Open daily 4-10 pm • hotelindigo.com/spokanewa • 862-6410

Our journalism makes a difference, and so can you.

Learn more at Inlander.com/Insider AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 29

THE ROAD BACK

QUIET NIGHTS Five months into the pandemic, taprooms operate on limited hours while bars and nightclubs wait to reopen

BY NATHAN WEINBENDER

M

arch seems like an eternity ago, but it’s when bars, taprooms, nightclubs and music venues first started shutting their doors as COVID-19 became a regular presence in our daily lives. Five months later, and most of those businesses are still closed, and with no concrete reopening plans on the horizon. The businesses that have opened their doors again, meanwhile, have had to limit their capacities, put up extra precautions and rely primarily on to-go service.

The downtown nightlife spot Berserk has had the stools up on the bar since the end of March. Because Berserk operates under a nightclub license, the place won’t be able to legally reopen and allow customers until the city moves into Phase 4 of reopening.

Beth McRae, one of Berserk’s four owners, knows that could be months from now. She says she misses the daily operations of the bar, but preventing patrons from congregating in the middle of a pandemic is the right thing to do. Basically, they have to stay closed if they ever want to reopen again.

“I think we’re all OK with that scenario,” McRae

30 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

FROM LEFT: Berserk owners Josh Davis, James Hunt, Beth McRae and Lon McRae, photographed in 2018. says. “When people go out and drink, they lose their inhibitions. We’re all guilty of it. And that’s probably not the best thing for stopping the spread of a virus. We want to do what we can do to help people stay safe, but not perpetuate the problem.”

In the past, Berserk has regularly hosted live shows, DJ nights, fundraisers and pinball tournaments. None of those events are happening now, obviously, but the space hasn’t been totally empty since March: Near the beginning of the pandemic, Berserk’s refrigerators were used to store meals for Volunteers of America and it was later used as a safe space for protestors that had been tear gassed at May’s Black Lives Matter protests.

The Sprague beer hub Community Pint, meanwhile, is one of several local tap houses that’s still slinging suds, albeit with safety measures in place. Right now, the shop is only open for a few hours a day, and all of their sales are to-go — you can grab a couple bottles from their fridge, or get a growler filled. They’ve also added plexiglass barriers between the register and the customers, and masks are required.

“And we’re bleaching everything, all the time,” Community Pint owner TJ Wallin says.

The business operates under a tavern license, and Wallin says he briefly considered adding an appetizer menu so he could then apply for a restaurant license, which would allow Community Pint to be open for inhouse service again. Wallin also says he thought about opening the patio for customers, but it only seats a handful of people anyway. So neither of those scenarios is likely to happen any time soon, and the grab-and-go model seems to be working for now, even if the margins aren’t spectacular.

“But we’re very grateful for the support we’re getting, and that we’ve been able to stay open,” Wallin says.

“We’re not in danger of going anywhere. Our fixed costs

ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

are lower than a lot of businesses out there.”

At Community Pint, most of Wallin’s customer base is made up of regulars, who normally stop by for a beer on their way home from work, or who come in weekly to stock up their beer fridges. Some of those customers have stopped coming by the shop, Wallin says, but others are still familiar faces.

“At least I get a few seconds with them,” Wallin says.

“It’s not the business I wanted to have — I wanted people to be sitting down together. But we’ve created new behavior in our economy because of dire needs.”

Similarly, Berserk’s clientele was primarily made up of folks who hung out there multiple times a week, and many of them were bartenders and cooks themselves. It’s been difficult, McRae says, seeing so many of her regular customers struggle to find work right now, and it’s even more difficult that she can’t see them because of social distancing.

“The more we socialize in an irresponsible manner, the longer until our bar can open,” she says. “We’re choosing to take the path of still hunkering down, still doing the best we can, but I do realize there are people out there that are such extroverts, not having social interaction is very difficult for them.”

Many of those regular customers have become good friends in the two years since Berserk opened, and McRae gets choked up as she talks about them. Not being able to hang out with them is easily the hardest part of being closed, she says.

“Knowing that a lot of them are struggling right now being quarantined, or having anxiety and depression, and knowing you can’t just go hug them — it’s pretty emotional,” she says. “There are some genuinely wonderful people in the downtown bar community, and knowing they’re suffering, and not being able to be there for them — that blows.” n

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AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 31

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Advice Goddess CATTY LITTER

AMY ALKON

FILM INDY MOVIES

If ever there was a film made for ideal drive-in viewing, it’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Steven Spielberg’s beloved swashbuckler is a throwback to the B-movies and action serials of the 1940s and ’50s, a time when drive-in theaters began dotting the landscape of every major American city, and it no doubt played on countless drive-in screens when it was first released in 1981. Now you can relive both eras with a screening of the first Indiana Jones adventure at a pop-up drive-in theater in Spokane Valley’s Mission Park this Friday evening, when you can pull your car up to the screen and prepare to be dazzled. The event is free, but online preregistration is required if you’d like to be admitted.

— NATHAN WEINBENDER Drive-In Movie Night: Raiders of the Lost Ark • Fri, Aug. 21 at 8:30 pm • Free • Valley Mission Park • 11123 E. Mission • spokanevalley.org/driveinmovies • 720-5200

FOOD FEAST IN THE FIELD

FESTIVAL THE CON GOES ON

Food Trucks & Fruit Festival • Sat, Aug. 22 and Sun, Aug. 23 from 10 am-4 pm • Free admission • Beck’s Harvest House • 9919 E. Greenbluff Rd., Colbert • bit.ly/FoodTrucksFruitFestival

Coeur d’Con 2020 • Fri, Aug. 21 to Sat, Aug. 23 from 10 am-4 pm • All ages • Free; details at facebook.com/ coeurdcon

Head up into the hills of Green Bluff for prime peach picking season and this weekend’s second annual Food Truck and Fruit Festival, still on with social-distancing guidelines enforced. As you sip drinks while enjoying the perfect view of Mount Spokane from the Harvest House’s “drink deck,” you’ll have plenty of time to decide which of the many regional food trucks to order lunch from; the list includes Mixed Plate, Skewers, Farmer’s Daughter, One Night Stand BBQ and Kona Ice (check the event page for who’s there on which day). Besides fun, peaches are the theme of the weekend, with several peach-based items on the menu from participating trucks and host venue Beck’s, including peach pie, peach mimosas and more.

— CHEY SCOTT

32 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

Like everything else, Coeur d’Con 2020 has become a fully virtual event due to COVID-19. Fans of geek culture can still “attend” the comic convention hosted by the Coeur d’Alene Public Library by participating in online games and submitting entries for fan art and costume contests. Instead of a single day, the convention is being reworked to happen over three days, and vendors are still selling items during the online event. Regardless of the change, Coeur d’Con is still free to all who wish to celebrate books, movies, games and more while connecting with others. Details on tabletop game sessions can also be found at the event’s Facebook page, including how to log in to a Discord chatroom that players can use to jump in and play together.

— JEREMEY RANDRUP

I’m a woman who just turned 30, and so is my best friend, who just got out of a three-year relationship.

She’s now on the rebound hard — hitting on her coworkers, going on multiple dates every week, hooking up with different guys all the time, etc. I can’t decide whether to admire her confidence or be concerned that she needs constant attention and validation from men.

Do you think this is healthy behavior? Should I tell her that she needs to stop acting out and work on healing from her relationship in healthy ways? —Worried Friend

Nothing like women celebrating other women: “Yay, you, getting in regular workouts doing the walk of shame!”

I get that you mean to help. Uh, help your friend, that is. However, it appears we women evolved to help ourselves by “helping” other women, or as I like to call it, “benevolent meangirling.” This plays out, for example, in telling a hot friend in a fabulous little dress, “I have to be honest, that makes you look a bit trampy,” and engaging in other acts of humanitarian frankness to help keep her from giving men whiplash and jamming up her evenings with lots of dates.

These acts of female frenemyship are often subconsciously motivated, which is why we can tell ourselves we just want the best for our friends while in fact serving our own evolutionary best interests. Hidden treachery is actually a primary feature of “female intrasexual competition” (women competing with women).

Women are mistakenly seen as the sweeter, kinder sex. You hear people sigh, “If only we had women in charge,” as if this would lead to world peace, universal basic income, and cats that paw-dial 911 when their owner dies instead of eating their face. But this view of women as the better half of humanity is psychologically naive.

Women aren’t less aggressive; they’re justdifferently aggressive.

Aggression gets a bad name because it gives rise to uncomfortable emotions such as fear and, sometimes, to unexpected workplace activities, such as murder-suicide. However, aggression is actually a vital evolved motivation for getting our needs met so we can survive, mate, and leave surviving children to pass on our genes.

Research on sex differences in male and female aggression by psychologists Anne Campbell, Joyce Benenson, and others suggests that while male aggression is direct, manifesting in, say, yelled threats, a punch in the nose, or a barstool upside the head, female aggression tends to be indirect and thus hidden.

Though there are women who get physically violent with each other, Benenson explains that this happens rarely, and usually just in certain contexts (like impoverished neighborhoods). Generally, women fight other women with poisonous veiled aggression such as mean gossip, ostracism, shaming, and sneaky sabotage dressed up as concern for other women’s welfare. Campbell contends that covert female aggression likely evolved out of women’s need to avoid physical confrontation, which could kill them or damage their reproductive parts, leaving them unable to fulfill their role as an infant’s primary caregiver.

Depressing as all this twisted sisterhood stuff surely seems, an inclination to behave a certain way isn’t a mandate. So, if you’d prefer to be the sort of woman who acts in her friend’s best interests, you can be. However, the reality is we often think we know what’s best for somebody else, especially when we believe they’re harming themselves. In fact, a person sometimes needs to go a bit wrong to get right again.

When (and if) what they’re doing ultimately proves unsatisfying, they’ll stop.

Telling them to stop can actually be counterproductive, even if you feel sure you have their best interests at heart. Research by psychologist Jack Brehm finds that telling people what they should do seems to make them rebel and do exactly the opposite, like by continuing to do whatever they’d been doing, but louder and harder.

A more effective technique — one that’s proved successful in addiction treatment — is “motivational interviewing.” It starts with asking a person what they value deeply and ultimately want (romantically, in this case). After they reflect on that and answer, ask them how whatever they’re currently doing, whatever behavior they’re engaging in, aligns with their values and goals.

This technique might not get you immediate answers (or any answers), but you might inspire your friend to reflect on behavior she might be engaging in somewhat automatically. And how nice if you’re doing this through some insight of your own — for example, on sisterhood ideals like, “There’s a special place in hell for women who do not create space for other women,” and how this can play out in reality: “I want to get your shoes in the shot, doll. Just take two more steps back” (right into that open manhole). n

©2020, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. • Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405 or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

gmail.com SEAN, WHERE ARE YOU?? Sean, you beautiful genius. Where the heck have you been? If you see this, Rachel is looking for you.

CHEERS CHEERS TO THE SPOKANE YMCA Thank you, Spokane YMCA, for reopening with a highly organized process for your members to continue exercising/swimming. Your attention to the health and safety of your members during this virus is phenomenal.

I SAW YOU MASK NAZI I was there on Tuesday, August 12th about 11am, in a store in Coeur d’Alene when you decided to freak out on a Vietnam veteran with COPD about not wearing a mask. That was a totally unacceptable approach, considering the way my husband was approached by people after he came home from being forced to fight the world’s most unpopular war. I tried to rationalize your episode by being mindful how people, when dealing with their fears and insecurities tend to behave like you did... but then again, maybe you’re just an asshole. Rachel & Henry Shaffer BOGDAN :) My love, you make a difference in my life. Thank you for seeing the best in me. You offer something beautiful, one of a kind that can not be replaced. XOXO - Teresa JOJO August 15... The words “...how’d we go from that to this? How’d we let a good thing slip?” keep going through my mind.

It all still feels wrong to me. Yet still, I hope that you are well and that you are happy.

I miss you.

WHALE ON LOWER STEVENS LAKE TRAIL To the family hiking down Lower Stevens Lake Trail Saturday, August 15 while we were hiking up: We found this treasure after you asked us if we happened to see a Blue Humpback Whale on the path. We have it and would like to make sure a reunion between whale and boy happens soon! Please email supermansmommy@

BLOOMSDAY IS PERENNIAL Cheers to the directors of Bloomsday to make the practical call to make this year’s race virtual, rather than the typical in-person event with tens of thousands of people alongside each other. Initially, you made an effort to keep the traditional form of the race by postponing until September, and unlike many planned event coordinators that insist on pretending there is no pandemic, you eventually made the tough call to pull the plug and make it a virtual race. I’ve run Bloomsday for the past 11 years, and I missed it this May, and will miss the experience in 2020, but I will do my 7.46 miles.... just not on the course, like I fear many selfish runners will do on the weekend in September. Please Bloomies, run the virtual race, but stay off the course. You’re not the only one that has that in mind.

THANK YOU FOR SLOWING DOWN ON UPRIVER Over two million people use the Centennial trail each year. That is a lot of folks which need to feel they can not worry about cars and motorcycles driving way too fast. And by the way if the Spokane Police want to get their quota this would be a great street to hand out speeding ticket DIRECTIONS TO THE BRIDGE You asked me how to get to the bridge from Browne’s and I’m a fool. Go to that street directly behind you, take a left and go until you hit Maple, turn left. Thanks for the compliment, it’s been years.

JEERS TOLERANCE To the liberals who consider the Inlander their Bible. Maybe take a breath and consider the public gets to have

differing opinions, and just because they are not the same as yours, does not make them wrong or you right. You preach tolerance, but only if they think like you.

20 MPH ON HIGH DRIVE AND CEDAR Jeers to the city council who thought it wise to reduce the speed limit on a main arterial High Drive and Cedar to 20 mph

“

run this fine city! Well Covid-19 has put a HUGE crimp into the City budget with loss of revenue — business taxes — sales taxes — convention business is non existent. So WHO (take a guess) is going to have to be “Milked” to make up the difference?

You guessed it YOU and I! Mine went up 45% (yes in ONE year) while my business revenue has gone down 95%. One month

August 12th about 11am, in a store in Coeur d’Alene when you decided to freak out on a Vietnam veteran with COPD about not wearing a mask.

That was a totally unacceptable approach...

permanently. If you disagree with their decision email the Spokane City Council at citycouncil2@spokanecity.org and Mayor at mayor@spokanecity.org. Exercise your voice and let them know!

JEERS TO THE SPOKANE CASTE SYSTEM It is ironic that inside of the Spokane City Hall building just right outside of the City Council Chambers, there is a big metal art sculpture statue of the Hindu/Hindi Indian elephant deity Ganesh/Ganesha. To be fair, India’s caste system that is based in Hinduism, is racist in nature, and this involves the worship of Ganesh/Ganesha.

The Dravidians of India who are of a darker skin tone are placed at the bottom of the caste system, and they are considered to be reincarnated in this way because they were supposedly “bad people” in their past lives, while the Aryans, the light skinned Indians, are placed at the top of the caste system because their light skin is supposedly a reward for being a “good person” in their past life. Obviously India’s caste system is the downfall of India, where the “untouchables” are treated with utter contempt and hatred, kind of like the way Spokane’s homeless population is treated, they are subjugated, marginalized, disenfranchised, and ostracized by Spokane’s government and judgmental, prejudice, discriminatory and SYSTEMATICALLY RACIST and GREEDY Spokanites who have implemented unjust and inhumane laws like the “no sit no lie”

SOUND OFF

1. Visit Inlander.com/isawyou by 3 pm Monday. 2. Pick a category (I Saw You, You Saw Me, Cheers or Jeers). 3.

Provide basic info: your name and email (so we know you’re real). 4. To connect via I Saw You, provide a non-identifying email to be included with your submission — like “petals327@yahoo.com,” not “j.smith@comcast.net.”

Health

ordinance, and have strategically and purposefully placed sharp rocks in places in the city where homeless people are unwanted, this is utterly cruel and inhumane. When the government of Spokane says they care about us and that it is “no lie”, just know it is a lie, and most of them don’t really care about the homeless or poor people of Spokane. The Spokane City Council should

Family

seriously consider removing this Ganesh/ Ganesha obstacle and symbol of racism and greed from being set up in City Hall, and how about replacing it with something that is a symbol of the real founders of this city and the country of America, the Native Americans, the people who were here first before the “white man” came and murdered and massacred most of them off in the name of racism and greed. It’s time for people to face up to the elephant in the room, and remove it. No pun intended.

If you all haven’t noticed, the majority of U.S. Republican elephants are ruining this country with immorality an injustice.

NO! YOU SACRIFICE! Any of you receive your new property assessments in the mail?

Remember when our courageous Lady Mayor and the Ever Diligent City Council pass a law stating that landlords — you know those evil people that want money from people to live somewhere — has to NOT demand rent from renters? So ALL these landlords who’s bills kept coming in anyway could Not be paid for the product (apartments) that they offered the public.

Well! Do you think the City stopped charging property taxes? After all that’s a form of rent to the public! Hell NO! You and I (Not renters) still have to cough up THEIR (the City’s money) you don’t think they are going to sacrifice anything! They have costs — salary checks (which haven’t stopped just because yours’ and mine have) and other associated payments that it takes to

”

I didn’t make enough to cover my business insurance let alone food and gas to get around. So Ms. Mayor “WHAT are YOU Sacrificing”? Certainly NOT your paycheck or benefits! So as a Landlord — YOU SUCK! KILLED MY DAUGHTERS DOG!! To the person who hit my daughters dog on Hwy. 2 in Airway Heights... there is NO WAY YOU DIDN’T HEAR THE 7 PEOPLE YELLING FOR HER... YOU JUST HIT HER AND LET HER!!!

SHE WAS MY DAUGHTER’S LIFE, AND WE HAD TO FIND HER BLEEDING AND DEAD ON THE SIDEWALK!! SHAME ON YOU FOR NOT TRYING TO FIND HER OWNER! You had to of heard us YELLING from our cars Monster!! Monster!!! How can I ever mend my daughters heart. Tell me how? Your heartless kind make me sick!!! I AM SO SORRY MEREACCA!!!

THIS WEEK'S ANSWERS R A M P S

A R A B S

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P R I C E C U T S

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B O W A E N E S T R O H S B R O B U I L O F T F U L S A F T B R T H P D E R F O R B A H I D O

O P I O I D S P E R L M A N

R L D N E A D E S K A L N B R I A C R A P A W E R I S M I A F I T I H T A

R A D D R Y E T A L

S U P E R G L U E

P R I N C E T O N

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E X I S T

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NOTE: I Saw You/Cheers & Jeers is for adults 18 or older. The Inlander reserves the right to edit or reject any posting at any time at its sole discretion and assumes no responsibility for the content.

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On Stands Now AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 33

Recreational cannabis is on the ballot this fall in Montana, South Dakota and Arizona.

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

NATION

A Maturing Market Updates on the cannabis market from Montana, Maine and beyond

BY WILL MAUPIN

F

rom Montana to Maine and all the way down into the depths of the federal bureaucracy, Americans’ ability to access and understand cannabis has taken a few steps forward in recent days.

Let’s take a look at where and how.

nabis. A series of challenges — a recount, a veto and most recently, a pandemic — have stalled the opening of the state’s retail marketplace. Now though, Mainers have a date to look forward to. Stores can open on Oct. 9.

MAINE SET TO OPEN ITS MARKET

It’s officially official in the Big Sky State; the voters will decide the future of recreational cannabis in Montana this November.

New Approach Montana, the group behind a pair of initiatives that would legalize and regulate cannabis in the state, needed to collect about 75,000 signatures to land on the ballot. In June, the group submitted more than 130,000. On Aug. 13, Montana’s secretary of state certified that the group had in fact reached the required number.

Montana joins Arizona and South Dakota as states

“Today’s announcement is a major milestone in honoring the will of Maine voters,” Erik Gundersen, director of Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy, said in an Aug. 14 statement.

The milestone honoring that will of those voters is that Maine’s legal cannabis market will be opening for business, albeit nearly four years after those very voters expressed that very will.

On Nov. 8, 2016, Maine’s voters passed, narrowly, an amendment to legalize and regulate recreational can-

34 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

ON THE BALLOT IN MONTANA

with recreational cannabis on their 2020 ballots.

FEDS RAMP UP STUDY OF CBD

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration released results of a testing campaign it conducted on a selection of publicly available products containing CBD. The administration found that the labeling on products containing CBD isn’t exactly trustworthy.

Along with the results, the FDA stated its desire to learn more about these products and what they contain.

It appears those weren’t just empty words.

On Aug. 14, Marijuana Moment reported that the FDA was looking to hire a contractor to analyze between 1,000-3,000 products containing CBD — far more than the 147 tested in the FDA’s previous study. According to the FDA’s release, work on this larger study could begin as early as Sept. 10 of this year. n

BE AWARE: Marijuana is legal for adults 21 and older under Washington State law (e.g., RCW 69.50, RCW 69.51A, HB0001 Initiative 502 and Senate Bill 5052). State law does not preempt federal law; possessing, using, distributing and selling marijuana remains illegal under federal law. In Washington state, consuming marijuana in public, driving while under the influence of marijuana and transporting marijuana across state lines are all illegal. Marijuana has intoxicating effects; there may be health risks associated with its consumption, and it may be habit-forming. It can also impair concentration, coordination and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. Keep out of reach of children. For more information, consult the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board at www.liq.wa.gov.

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33. Squid’s ink holder 34. 4G ____ 35. Like sleep, ideally 38. OutKast and Mobb Deep 41. “Portlandia” airer 42. Drain 44. Former Israeli minister Moshe 45. Create a seven-letter word in Scrabble with the rack EEWRBYR 50. Google ____ 51. Spectrum producer 52. Threading target 55. Kind of block 57. ____ Fáil (Irish coronation stone) 58. Struck (out) 59. Number one game?

60. Create a seven-letter word in Scrabble with the rack IGNTTFI 63. Danson with the stars?

64. Religion developed in 19thcentury Iran 65. “____ mañana!”

66. 1960s campus org.

67. “____ want to talk about it” 68. Change

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ACROSS 1. “One-man army” of the silver screen 6. Sci-fi author’s creation 11. Winter follower: Abbr.

14. “Over the Rainbow” composer Harold 15. Sleep clinic subject 16. Suffix with fail 17. Create a seven-letter word in Scrabble with the rack DSERIST 19. Spot on a domino 20. Lunchbox staples, initially 21. “Just as I thought!”

22. Oscar-nominated frontwoman of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs 24. Pre-1991 atlas initials 25. London ____ 27. Meth lab raiders 28. Create a seven-letter word in Scrabble with the rack IERGBSD 30. Prosecutor’s burden

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1. Skate park features 2. Kaffiyeh wearers 3. Time’s 1963 Man of the Year, informally 4. Honey bunch?

5. Carry-____ (some luggage) 6. “Marilyn Diptych” artist 7. 21st-century health menace 8. Boxing seg.

9. Potato ____ soup 10. Aquafina rival 11. What never lets go?

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12. Where Einstein taught 13. Take back 18. Famous Amos 23. “Righteous!”

25. Muscular

26. Letter-shaped beam 28. Droid 29. Color TV pioneer 30. Lures for bargain hunters 31. Stopped oneself

THIS W ANSWE EEK’S I SAW RS ON YOUS

Showbiz honors 36. Flash drive port 37. Acronym for an outdoor fantasy game 39. Chicken ____ 40. Help with the dishes 43. Rhea of “Cheers” 46. Co. with a bouquet in its logo 47. It began in 1908 with 34 agts.

48. Game that uses Nintendo’s Balance Board 49. “Ozark” actor Morales 52. Be 53. “Fiddler on the Roof” buttinsky

54. Artist Degas 56. Springsteen’s “Thunder ____” 58. List-ending abbr.

61. Letter after pi 62. “____ Carter V” (Lil Wayne album of 2018)

AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 37

COEUR D ’ ALENE

cda4.fun for more events, things to do & places to stay.

Aug - Dec 2020 Limited number of tickets per day for safe social distancing measures.

Catch some big air at Silver Mountain Ryan Zimmer Photo

Plan your day of fun now!

LIST OF EVENTS AUG 21-23: Scavenger Hunt SEPT 4-7:

Trivia-Trek

SEPT 18-20: Oktoberfest OCT 2-4:

Harvest Fest

OCT 23-25: Scavenger Hunt OCT 31:

Apple Palooza at Fall Fest

NOV 6-8:

Shop Hop

NOV 20-22: Gobble Wobble DEC 4-6:

Santa Visits Elf on the Shelf

DEC 11-13: Elf on the Shelf DEC 18-20: Elf on the Shelf

Cocoa Tasting

For more details go to cdadowntown.com/micro-event-series 38 INLANDER AUGUST 20, 2020

Head to the Hills

New to mountain biking or an expert rider, north Idaho is the place to get on track

M

ountain biking is the perfect sport for North Idaho’s Erickson family of four. Jen Erickson and her husband Todd have been mountain biking for over 20 years, says Jen, whose oldest daughter competes professionally and was slated to travel to Europe for World Cup Racing this year. Although they’ve traveled around the country and to Canada for the sport — they all compete in the NW Cup Series — the Erickson’s don’t have to go far for their favorite trails.

“This year attendance in the bike park [at Silver] has been up and I have really enjoyed seeing so many beginner riders and families get into the sport.”

BEACON HILL in Spokane and CANFIELD MOUNTAIN in Coeur d’Alene offer some great trail riding, which we take advantage of in the spring, fall, and winter,” says Erickson. In the summer, however, SILVER MOUNTAIN is their go-to.

“It offers challenging terrain which is a perfect training ground for racing,” Erickson says. “The variety of trails keep riding there interesting and the trail crew is constantly improving the mountain.”

Make a day of it at Silver, planning to fuel up in the village at NOAH’S CANTEEN or WILDCAT PIZZA. Every Friday in August Silver Mountain offers its Ride and Dine special, which includes a gondola lift ticket, a bike ticket, dinner and live music for just $51.95 per adult. Bring your gear or rent on-site for a day-trip or overnighter with their popular stay-and-play packages at MORNING STAR LODGE and keep the good times rolling with access to Silver Rapids Indoor Waterpark.

Erickson, who is an artist and local art teacher, sees mountain biking as an ideal sport for any age and any level.

Additional mountainside riding opportunities in North Idaho includes SCHWEITZER MOUNTAIN, which has 40

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Silver Mountain was voted by mtbparks. com readers as the top Northwest bike park since 2014 and it’s easy to see why.

It’s a quick 20-minute gondola ride to the top for access to 39 single-track trails of varying difficulty levels, including the expert and heart-thumping Hammer trail.

trails accessible from the village, where you’ll also find plenty of dining and relaxation options like POWDER HOUND PIZZA and CHIMNEY ROCK GRILL.

1 9 TH a n n u a L

Schweitzer is also your jumping-off point for nearby SANDPOINT RECREATION DISTRICT trails, which are designated multiuse and also accessible via shuttle (selkirkrecreationdistrict.com).

LOOKOUT PASS has a modest, yet ever-evolving range of mountain bike trails via their SkyTrac Quad lift for a single ride or all-day use. Look for huckleberries while you’re up on the mountain, which is open to bicyclists Friday-Sunday.

In Coeur d’Alene, the CANFIELD MOUNTAIN TRAIL SYSTEM offers a network of around a dozen trails ranging from mild to more extreme grades, such as the Jump and Penn trails.

And if you’re less inclined to elevation and gravel tracks, check out the NORTH IDAHO CENTENNIAL TRAIL system, which offers 23 miles of mostly flat, paved roads all along the river, lake and scenic landscape of the panhandle (northidahocentennialtrailfoundationinc.wildapricot.org/ trail-map).

C O E U R

D ’A L E N E

Upcoming Events Yoga Cruise AUGUST 20 & 27

Add a little more zen to your life with a morning cruise on Lake Coeur d’Alene. The 90-minute scenic cruise features a 50-minute yoga class, brought to you by CDA Power Yoga. $26.50; Thursdays, 9 am; visit cdacruises.com for tickets.

Coeur d’Alene Marathon AUGUST 21-23

The Coeur d’Alene Marathon is on! America’s largest race since March will take place and feature four different distances (marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K) over three days. Race organizers have been working with public health officials to develop COVID-19 mitigation strategies.

Triple Play at Circling Raven

SEPT. 5 TH & 6 TH

LABOR DAY WEEKEND REGISTER OnLInE TODaY

AUGUST 22-25

Play three rounds of golf in three days at the renowned Circling Raven Golf Course. The first round is $89, the second round $59 and the third round $49.

For more events, things to do & places to stay, go to cda4.fun

Just North of Coeur d’Alene in Beautiful North Idaho

R E S E R V E YO U R T I C K E T S O N L I N E

COEUR D’ALENE

AUGUST 20, 2020 INLANDER 39

Play where the big winners play.

Win a Brand New Car!

Win up to $300 in Prizes!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 | 7 PM $50,000 GIVEAWAY | TOYOTA PRIUS LE AWD, EPC & CASH TH

WEDNESDAYS IN AUGUST 3 PM – 5 PM & 7 PM – 9 PM

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 TH | 7 PM $65,000 GIVEAWAY | TOYOTA TACOMA SR5 V6 4X4, EPC & CASH

Just be actively playing your favorite gaming machines with your Coeur Rewards card for a chance to win.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 TH | 7 PM $85,000 GIVEAWAY | TOYOTA SUPRA 3.0 PREMIUM, EPC & CASH To participate, play with your Coeur Rewards card and earn 750 points for each entry.

Stay in Your Lane Car Game

Win a Mystery Prize!

WIN A RAV4!

In August, the first person to Blackout in 48 numbers or less will win a 2020 Toyota RAV4!

TUESDAYS IN AUGUST 8 AM – 10 PM

Promotion begins August 1ST and runs through the date and time vehicle is won or until special RAV4 Game on September 27 TH, 2020; whichever comes first. See the bingo venue for full promotion rules. Vehicle pictured is representative of 2020 Toyota RAV4 models and is not the actual vehicle. See cdacasino.com/bingo for the complete schedule of bingo sessions.

Each Tuesday, be one of the first 1,000 Coeur Rewards members to earn 100 points and you’ll receive one game play.

See the Coeur Rewards booth or cdacasino.com for promotion rules.

W E LC O M E H O M E .

HOTEL

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CASINO

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DINING

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SPA

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CHAMPIONSHIP

GOLF

3 7 9 1 4 S O U T H N U K WA LQ W • W O R L E Y, I D A H O 8 3 8 76 • 1 8 0 0 - 5 2 3 - 2 4 6 4 • C D A C A S I N O . C O M