The River Journal Oct. 2008

Because there’s more to life than bad news

October 2008

A News MAGAZINE worth wading through

Inside:

• Storing Root Veggiesp.13 • Delivering Mail on Lake Pend Oreille-p.2 • Priest River Still Thrivingp.11 • Red Hat Ladies are Red Hot-p.2 • Thanks, Jean Peck, for the Memoriesp.14 • Two Views of Sarah Palin-p.10

Creative

Jack-o-Lanterns

Tristan, Jade and Tyler celebrate Autumn with a traditional October activity - carving pumpkins! Read more on page 63

Plus- Join Sandy as he adventures on the Continental Divide (21); Discover a 12-step program for creating a dream town (7); Learn how to deal with wildlife encounters (9); and share the word—Batwaves are back! (33)

SALE! $2 off the 50 lb. Bag!

Raising the Standard of Service Under my leadership, all members of the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office will focus on doing the right thing at all times - today and in the future.

We will consult and plan before we act and decide. www.Wheeler4sheriff.com

125 Tibbetts Lane Ponderay, Idaho

263-6820

www.CoopCountryStore.com

$749,000 MLS# 2084170 Beautiful 87 acres at the confluence of the Kootenai and Moyie Rivers. Breath taking views, several large plateaus for building (one is approx. 11 acres). Inc. 2 water memberships. (2 more available.) Access road to Resort is owned by this property and provides access to much of subject property. Incredible estate or development potential. Includes small house!

Ask for Beth Hall 107 N. First • Sandpoint

208.255.4550 208.610.5858

Inside this Issue

2 Red Hat Ladies.

3 More than a Rural Route.

4 Mental Health Support.

7 Creating a Dream Town.

10 Two Views of Sarah Palin.

11 Priest River Thriving.

13 Queen of Variety.

14 The Root of the Problem.

Jinx introduces you to a group of local ladies who insist on wearing purple.

Herb Huseland joins John Thaxter for mail delivery on Lake Pend Oreille Desire Aguirre explains community efforts to put together a community-based Crisis Intervention team to help those with a mental illness.

Heather McElwain shares a 12-step program for creating community.

Herb Huseland interviews Bayview fire chief Jack Krill, a Palin supporter, while Kristi Harrison shares a ‘tongue-in-check’ look at how she’d conduct a Palin interview.

Despite the closure of JD Lumber, Marylyn Cork says Priest River is on its way up.

After 30 variety shows, Desire Aguirre shows why it’s Jean Peck we should be ‘thanking for the memories.’

David Ronniger shares tips to keep root vegetables good throughout the winter.

In Every Issue:

6 Staccato Notes 9 Politically Incorrect 15 Toons 16 Humor 19 Veterans’ News 20 Small World 21 The Scenic Route 22. River/Lake News 24-29 Outdoors 31 Sports 32 Education 33 Love Notes 35 Technology

37 On the Street 38 Other Worlds 40 Faith Walk 41 The Hawk’s Nest 42 Food 44 Wellness 49 Currents 50 Politics 55 Say What?

56 Book/Movie Reviews 60 Obituaries 63 The Teen Scene 64 From the Mouth of the River

Have you ever experienced a ghost? Photos like this are not ghosts - the ‘orbs’ are merely particles of dust or moisture caught by the camera flash. But other experiences are not so easily explained. See more on page 37

THE RIVER JOURNAL A News Magazine Worth Wading Through -just going with the flow-

P.O. Box 151 Clark Fork, ID 83811 www.RiverJournal.com 208.255.6957 Fax- 208.266.1523 Calm Center of Tranquility Trish Gannon Trish@RiverJournal.com Ministry of Truth and Propaganda Jody Forest- also PROFreader Sales Brian Neitzke 208.290.2006 Brian@RiverJournal.com Dustin Gannon 208.610.5170 Dustin@RiverJournal.com Cartoonists Boots Reynolds, Scott Clawson, Matt Davidson, Jim Tibbs Regular Contributors Desire Aguirre; Jinx Beshears; Laura Bry; Scott Clawson; Sandy Compton; Marylyn Cork; Dick Cvitanich; Matt Davidson; Duke Diercks; Mont. Sen. Jim Elliott; Idaho Rep. George Eskridge; Lawrence Fury; Dustin Gannon; Shaina Gustafson; Matt Haag; Ernie Hawks; Hanna Hurt; Herb Huseland; Emily Levine; Marianne Love; Thomas McMahon; Gene Merica, Clint Nicholson; Kathy Osborne; Gary Payton; Angela Potts; Paul Rechnitzer; Boots Reynolds; Sandpoint Wellness Council; Rhoda Sanford; Lou Springer; Jim Tibbs; Mike Turnland; Tess Vogel; Michael White; Pat Williams; and Kate Wilson

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle Proudly printed at Griffin Publishing in Spokane, Wash. 509.534.3625 Contents of The River Journal are copyright 2008.

Reproduction of any material, including original artwork and advertising, is prohibited. The River Journal is published the first of each month and approximately 10,000 copies are distributed in Sanders County, Montana and Bonner, Boundary and Kootenai counties in Idaho. Call 208-2556957 or email trish@riverjournal.com with address changes. The River Journal is printed on 40 percent recycled paper with soy-based ink. We appreciate your efforts to recycle.

Cover photo by Misty Grage The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page

Area Heats Up as more hats turn red The Red Hatters have grown into a massive sisterhood across the world. Even in Clark Fork, Idaho, Red Hats are stared at when they waltz into a café for their meetings. Founded in Clark Fork by Billie Presley, they are a fellowship of 14 to 16 members and several permanent guests.

Each chapter of Red Hatters are different, some organized and some not so organized. According to Clark Fork/ Hope Queen Mum Christine Boward, their sisterhood is a fun-loving, somewhat crazy group of women, who tend to lean towards the semi-organized side.

The Red Hat society actually began by accident in California when one friend gave another friend a red hat and a copy of the poem, “Warning” by Jenny Joseph.

“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple with a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old...

Story by Jinx Beshears

Photo by David Broughton

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves...” it begins.

Now there are conventions across almost every continent, and hats ranging from extremely simple, to outrageously extravagant. Chris says that sometimes they get women from chapters in Bonners Ferry and even as far away as Canada stopping by during their lunches.

The Clark Fork/Hope chapter strives to keep things fun, yet affordable, so that no one feels they cannot be a member. Meetings are a time of gathering, supporting each other, and basically staying on top of life.

Chris and the other Red Hatters are often seen in local parades. “We love to show our colors,” Chris grins. ”We are way past being embarrassed!”

While 55 is the age you must be to become a red hat lady, there are pink ladies, for those “underage” women who still want to be involved. Chris Boward also has the power to make princesses, who at this time are Roberta Berdine and Jeannie Roach; both ladies are involved in sending cards to support the Red Hatters emotionally.

Debbie Bullis knows well how important the Red Hat support is. Debbie recently went through breast cancer and knows how the red hat relationships work. “I am blessed by the women in our chapter, their friendship, knowing we are there for each other. We are a real sisterhood,” Chris says.

There will soon be a convergence of Red Hatters in Spokane, and over 800 women will be involved. Their theme is the Roaring Twenties. Red Hatters do love an excuse to wear a costume!

If you think you’re about ready to wear a red hat, and you live in the Bonner’s Ferry area, get in touch with Jan Scott and the Bonnie Babes via email at janscott1@ verizon.net. If you’re in the Sandpoint area, Meg Frost is the lady you want to speak with regarding the Sandpoint Red Hats Rascals.

You can call her at 208-263-4916.

...and begin to wear purple.

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

More than a Rural Route Lake Pend Oreille’s Boating Mailman

by Herb Huseland

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” has been the unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service for many years.

Nowhere does that motto fit better than right here on Lake Pend Oreille. John Thaxter carries the mail by boat, one of the few such water routes left in this country. When the snow starts to fall in late autumn and then through winter to early spring, the east side of the lake is unreachable except by snowmobile or helicopter. The mail, however, is delivered year round.

In the beginning of our country, when roads were few and limited to cities, rivers and lakes became the nation’s highways. Way back, delivering the mail was a hit-or-miss proposition with travelers agreeing to carry letters for people. Starting around 1811, the post office organized steamboats to carry the mail where rowboats, packets and rafts served previously.

The years passed, growing into centuries as gravel, macadam, asphalt and pavement made inroads into most of the country, and planes, trucks and cars became the prime movers of the mail. The steamboats became fewer, finally becoming limited to a few tourist steamers. But there are still some areas in the country where roads don’t go; hardy carriers like Thaxter are not ‘stayed from their rounds’ even when those rounds travel a watery path.

Thaxter has run the mail boat for the last 14 years, delivering six days a week to places like Lakeview at the south end of the lake to Kilroy in the north. We rode along, meeting folks at the dock waiting for their mail who always came accompanied by a dog. John keeps a bag of dog treats on board which usually results in a wet nose poking through as the first visitor at all of the stops. From Lakeview, the mail boat presses on to Cedar Creek, the site of the Needham homestead, now owned by Dick and Shirley Hansen of Bayview. From there the boat stops at Whiskey Rock, Granite Creek and Kilroy.

Several water routes still exist as tour boats service the Rogue River in Oregon and the Snake in Idaho, but only as an adjunct to the fishing and

touring business. Lake Pend Oreille is the only true mail boat route left in this country. It takes hardy souls to isolate themselves for months with the winter winds howling, the snow building up and John Thaxter, mailman, the only visitor.

Some of these hardy types are people like Argle Mydland and Shirley Williams of Whiskey Rock, pictured below with the dog Sonny, greeting Thaxter as he arrives with the mail. Williams has lived there 17 years and Mydland for 7 years. Granite Creek has Earl Tacke, the only full time resident, but he’s joined by many others during the short summers of the area.

Granite was the original ranch founded by the Charles Schroeder family back in 1893. They barged 15 head of cattle over. Kilroy produced Ken Gonzer, Jack Garland, Velda McTighe and, of course, a dog.

The U.S. Mail has traveled by many means over the years. Horseback, mules, dog sleds, hot air balloons and even a camel have taken their turn as carriers of the mail. Some of the history of mail service on the lake dates back to the 1860s. Individuals that were heading up lake from Pend Oreille City (Buttonhook Bay) would carry mail and goods on the way to their destinations. From 1866 to about 1872 the steamer Mary Moody was the official mail carrier, serving the

water portion of the mail route from Fort Walla Walla in Washington to Helena and Ft. Benton, Montana.

From 1938 to 1939, Jack McCollough ran mail between Bayview and the present route with the early inclusion of Pine Cone, no longer in existence, and Cape Horn. Roy Ellis had the route from 1939 through 1942, and following the interruption for WWII, resumed the route in 1946 through 1950.

Danny Knolls carried the mail from 1942 to 1946, but drowned in one of the storms for which Lake Pend Oreille is famous. Max Krackenberg cruised the mail from 1950 to 1953, after which Jim MacDonald, now owner of MacDonald’s Hudson Bay Resort, took over. Jim began running the route shortly after his parents bought the resort. MacDonald ran the mail until 1965. It was then called the Star Marine Route. He delivered mail from Bayview to the Navy barge, anchored in Scenic Bay, then on to Lakeview, Cedar Creek, Cunningham’s Castle, (no longer in existence) Whiskey Rock, Granite Creek, Kilroy and Pine Cove, Cape Horn, before the road was built and back to Bayview.

A baker’s dozen years (1965 to 1978) were handled by Hugh Davis, a native of Arkansas. In 1965 he and his wife moved to Bayview, after running boats in Continued on page 62

Photo by Herb Huseland

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page

Community comes together to provide

Mental Health Support

by Desire Aguirre

The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave Idaho an “F” for its mental health services last year. Currently, Bonner County has no full-time practicing psychiatrist, no in-patient mental health beds, no Assertive Community Treatment teams, no Crisis Intervention Team, no mental health drug court, and a real lack of supportive housing for people with mental illness, both transitionally after discharge from the hospital or a corrections facility and long term.

According to NAMI, one in four adults experience a mental health disorder in any given year, and one in 17 lives with a serious mental illness. With the decrease in in-patient psychiatric beds and declines in community mental health services, people with mental illness often go without the treatment they need. When someone experiences a psychiatric crisis, police usually respond first. Jails and prisons often end up housing these individuals, and they end up in a no-win situation, cycling through the system. This results in high costs to communities, burdens the police and the courts, and is tragic for the people suffering with mental illness and their families.

NAMI Far North members decided to take a proactive stance and make positive changes for the mentally ill by advocating for a Crisis Intervention Team in Bonner County.

They held a luncheon in mid-July at the Cedar Hills Church. Over 120 community members came, including judges, police and probation officers, lawyers, mental health care providers, and NAMI, Bonner County Community Partnership and Human Rights Task Force participants.

Christine Holbert, president of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, attended the luncheon.

“We’re collaborating with NAMI,” Holbert said, “to put in the CIT program and any other programs to help the mentally ill.”

Les Newman, a member of the NAMI Far North board of directors, greeted me at the door.

“We’ve been working for about a month,” Newman said, “to put this luncheon together.

Lt. Michael Woody is going to speak about the CIT program and then show everyone a slideshow.”

Lt. Woody retired from the Akron Police Department in 2002, where he was instrumental in establishing the CIT program there. Woody has received the national Compassion in Law Enforcement Award, the Heart of Gold Award, and the Forensic Leadership Award. Woody has consulted with police, mental health, and advocacy organizations throughout the country. He is also president of the CIT International organization.

According to Woody, ten percent of all police calls deal with mental illness, and those numbers are increasing.

“These calls are not easy to handle,” Woody said, “and could end tragically.”

In fact, Woody first got involved with the CIT program after he was personally involved in a situation with a 27-year-old mentally ill woman with a 7-year-old daughter.

“It ended very badly for her,” Woody said.

“She died. I’ve had to carry that with me for many years. What bothered me the most was the daughter. She was a victim. I was a victim.

The mother was a victim.”

Woody said the Memphis model of CIT was established in 1988. The model has several key components, including community collaboration between mental health providers, law enforcement, consumer advocates and family members; a 40-hour training program for law enforcement officers; and community and family involvement in decision-making, planning and leading training sessions.

CIT equips police officers with the tools they need to interact with individuals experiencing a psychiatric crisis by providing specialized training and creating a community collaboration to help meet the needs of mentally ill individuals.

Studies show that the CIT model helps keep people with mental illness out of jail and gets them into treatment. CIT also reduces officer injuries, SWAT team emergencies, and the amount of time officers spend on the disposition of mental disturbance calls.

CIT training is free to law enforcement officers.

Unfortunately, hidden costs, like paying officers to work in the place of those sent to school, add up quickly. NAMI Far North has applied for a Community Collaboration Grant with the sponsorship of the Region 1 Mental Health Board to establish a CIT coalition, and will learn on October 1 whether they will be funded. Over 50 people attending the luncheon signed up for the Region 1 CIT Coalition. The first meeting of the Coalition was held in August. Because Region 1 includes the five northern counties, Kootenai Medical Center is making available their video-conferencing equipment so people can participate at Kootenai County Medical Center, Bonner General Hospital or Boundary Community Hospital. A steering committee is being formed to plan the implementation of the training. NAMI Far North also began teaching an 11-week course, “Family to Family”, on September 16 at Bonner General Hospital. This most helpful course is free to the public.

“I truly believe,” Woody said, “that most of your legislatures will change things when they realize CIT will decrease the dangers to officers. When people realize how unfair things have been for mentally ill individuals and their loved ones, things will change. We need to form community partnerships.”

For more information, contact: NAMI Far North, Ann Wimberley, by phone at 208-597-2047 or by email at namifarnorth@yahoo.com

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

OCTOBER

STACCATO Notes Business Expo October 9 Noon to 6pm at Panhandle State Bank.

Exhibitor booths, door prizes, free samples and more. 2-hour marketing workshop 2 to 4 pm.

Cost is $20 for Chamber members, $25 for nonmembers; expo exhibitors can receive discounted rates.

208-263-0887

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

October 10 and 11 The Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, along with Timber Stand Gallery in Sandpoint and Outskirts Gallery in Hope, host a Plein Air event celebrating the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. Timber Stand Gallery wine and cheese reception from 5 pm to 8 pm Oct. 10. showcasing Oct. 11, 1 pm to 5 pm at Outskirts Gallery 208-263-7748 WEDNESDAY

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5

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8

12

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15

19

20

21

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26

27

Tommy Sand and his Irish Band at DiLuna’s, Sandpoint

28

Sandpoint Candidates Forum 6:30 at the Panida Theater

Tommy Sand and his Irish Band

Plein Air Event

Sandpoint Library - further discussion of CRAZY. 208-597-2047

29

October 26 DiLuna’s in Sandpoint presents a folk performer of Ireland’s greatest musical traditions. Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 day of performance.

Doors open at 5:30 with the show beginning at 7 pm.

208-263-0846

THURSDAY

Wilderness Presentation

October 28 ClimateCAN (Climate Change Action Network) sponsors a presentation on wilderness at 6 pm at the East Bonner County Library. Adapting to Climate Change: The Importance of Wilderness in an Uncertain World. For more information, visit climatecan.org.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

2

3Contra Dance

9

Sandpoint 10 11 Area Seniors Dinner

Sandpoint Friends of the LIbrary, noon, speaker Tina Freidman Community Reading. CRAZY, Sandpoint Library 208-597-2047.

Business Expo 12-6 at Panhandle State Bank Sandpoint

16

23

Nutrition and Cancer Sandpoint LIbrary at 1 pm

30

Pete Earley’s lecture, reading and book signing for CRAZY at the Panida Theater

4

at Sandpoint Community Hall 7 pm. $7 each or $10 per family

Priest River Oktoberfest, noon to 9pm.

& Auction 263-6860

Tell No One, 7:30 at the Panida Theater on the 9th, 10th and 11th

17

18

“Thanks for the Memories” Panida Theater 7 pm

24

Matching Ties at DiLuna’s, Sandpoint

25

Warren Miller’s Children of Winter 3pm and 7pm at the Panida Theater

31

Fair Trade Festival Happy Halloween!

Watch out for trickor-treaters.

Don’t Miss an Issue!

Pick up your River Journal for free at one of our newsstands or get it in your mailbox for just $37 a year - just mail your check to PO Box 151, Clark Fork, ID 83811. Find a newsstand in one of these communities: Plains • Thompson Falls • Trout Creek • Noxon • Heron • Clark Fork • Hope • Ponderay • Kootenai • Sandpoint • Dover • Sagle • Cocolalla • Careywood • Athol • Bayview • Colburn • Elmira • Naples • Bonners Ferry

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | September 2008

STACCATO Notes Clark Fork Athletic Field Project

REGULAR MEETINGS

THE KINNICKINNICK CHAPTER OF THE IDAHO NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY | 208255-7928 The regular monthly meeting takes place at 9:45 am on the fourth Saturday of every month at Sandpoint’s Community Hall. Visit www.NativePlantSociety.org for information.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS | 208-2632740 Every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday at 7 pm at Sandpoint’s Gardenia Center, located at 400 Church St. NAMI FAR NORTH |208-597-2047 Meets regularly on the third Wednesday of every month in the classroom at Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint, ID. Meetings begin at 6 pm; refreshments are served.

WINERY MUSIC PEND D’OREILLE WINERY | 220 CEDAR ST IN SANDPOINT | 208-265-8545 Live music at the winery on Friday and Saturday nights.

The project by the numbers:

0 3 9 13 131 5 700 10,000 number of gophers seen since the new track was constructed.

phases to this project completed in two years: the bleachers, a commentator’s stand and a new track.

students were involved in the construction of the 3-story commentator’s stand pound weight of one set of steps

members make up the Clark Fork Booster Club cubic yards of concrete used

sources of funding for this project: donations, community fundraisers, bank matching funds, district levy, and school funds dollars raised that were matched

by Panhandle State Bank

JAZZ PIANIST DI LUNA’S | 207 CEDAR ST IN SANDPOINT | 208-263-0846 Bill Reid performs at Di Luna’s Cafe every Sunday afternoon at 2 pm FIVE MINUTES OF FAME | CAFE BODEGA IN SANDPOINT Open Mic for prose, poetry, music and improv on the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 pm. All ages welcome. 504 Oak St.

Children’s Choir The Arts Alliance of Sandpoint offers a Children’s Choir class for youth ages 6-10 beginning October 1 from 1:30 pm to 3 pm, and continuing every Wednesday through October 29. Children will learn music appreciation, as well as learn basic music skills and short performances. Visit www.

ArtsAlliance.info for class details and fees. 208-265-4303

Photo by Pat Young

Fall Festival of Fair Trade

Lost Horse Press and the Northwest Fair Trade Network host a Fall Festival of Fair Trade, happening Friday, October 31, from 10 am until 6 pm, and Saturday, November 1, from 9 am until 3 pm at Sandpoint Community Hall. The festival is a market for fair trade goods from around the world - fair trade is a growing movement that promotes alternative approaches to conventional international trade. The Fall Festival of Fair Trade will feature fairly traded goods - sweaters, textiles, clothing, baskets, tea and coffee, jewelry, leather goods, books, pottery, handmade paper, toys, musical instruments and a diversity of exotic gifts - from Mexico, Africa, Guatemala, Chile, Ghana, Thailand, Burma, Nepal, Tibet and Laos, as well as a selection of handmade goods by local artists and craftspeople.

Admission is free. 208-255-4410 or e-mail losthorsepress@mindspring. com for more information.

The Town of Our Dreams

Local Group creates Sandpoint Transition Initiative, geared toward using less energy while creating a community like that of our grandparents In just about any phonebook in any town, one can find a positive-change 12-step program for just about any issue. But did you know that such a program exists for communities wishing to break free from the dependency on fossil fuels, which is powering our global economy? “Transition Towns� is part of that evergrowing worldwide movement, helping communities to become more sustainable, resilient, and vibrant. The Sandpoint Transition Initiative is the second in a growing number of towns in the United States that are now initiating this process. STI is currently working within the community, taking steps toward using less energy, lowering the effects of climate change, and promoting a thriving economy, a healthy environment, and social equity. Now entering Step 4, STI is preparing for an event on November 14 to introduce these concepts to the community.

In the first three steps, STI participants formed a steering group and began raising awareness about this initiative through local film showings and community discussions and started networking with other groups in Sandpoint that share similar goals.

In the program its members have dubbed a “social experiment,� Step 4 involves an “unleashing� event that not only sheds more light on the concept of sustainability but also encourages and invites all community members to participate in designing and implementing those things that will make Sandpoint a vibrant and resilient town.

You may be thinking that Sandpoint has changed enough in the last decade, but some of the changes that STI proposes actually revisit old ways that rural dwellers have always embraced while looking to the future to create a viable and healthy community. The Initiative hopes to tap into wisdom of both elders and youth to create a town that will easily adjust to changes in fossil fuel availability, affordable food, energy resources, and transportation issues. This process is viewed as a re-imagining of how a “dream Sandpoint� might be if

by Heather McElwain

members created a community in which all our basic needs were met and desires fulfilled. All are encouraged to participate to determine what a vibrant, sustainable community would look like to them. Would it mean having access to local goods and produce? Would it mean ensuring clean water, air, and food? And what does sustainability mean? It has been defined as a lifestyle that provides for and supports itself. Therefore, a sustainable community ultimately upholds the local economy, natural environment, and evenhandedness among its members.

So, how does the community build this dream together and form a sense of community like that of which our grandparents speak? How do we guarantee that future generations have meaningful work and activities in a place that feels safe and continues to inspire?

How do members of this community J?C8;H <H7C;I

collectively dream up the way we want to live? Those are the questions, and your answers are important for designing, planning, and implementing that dream.

Sandpoint has long been known for its ingenious and creative people. Time and again, community members have proved resourceful in creating solutions to problems that seemed impenetrable. Learn more on November 14 about how you can â&#x20AC;&#x153;unleashâ&#x20AC;? your creativity.

The event, entitled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Imagine Tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Today,â&#x20AC;? will give all a chance to begin in the steps toward a collective brainstorming for solutions toward that dream. Picture a campfire gathering: an initial spark ignites and fuels a blaze of ideas and possibilities.

Dream it up. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re limited only by our imaginations.

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The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page

211 Cedar St. Sandpoint, Idaho (208)263-3167 800-338-9849

cmbrewster.com • cmb@netw.com

Major waterfront property near Sandpoint!

Gorgeous 32± acres has approx. 1,160 feet of frontage on the Pend Oreille River. Land is mostly level and forested, with many big trees. County road frontage, currently zoned suburban. Beautiful building sites in the big trees beside the river with sandy beaches and gentle slope to the water. Great opportunity!

Panoramic views from lovely waterfront home on 2.7 acres, 3 miles from Sandpoint.

Spacious home has 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, vaulted ceilings, gourmet kitchen, great room, sauna in master bedroom, 3-car attached garage. Dock for summer boating and swimming. Great owner terms!

$2,195,000 Tom Renk MLS#2081369

$950,000 Pat Parks MLS #2081872

Custom log home on 35± acres of remote mountain forest land. 1,800± sq. ft. house has open floor plan, vaulted ceilings, granite counters. Separate 2-bay shop has room/studio above. New state-of-the-art solar system with automatic backup generator. Beautiful big waterfalls cascade down year-round trout stream. Borders state land.

$449,500 Tom Renk #2083819

Spectacular 180° views of Clark Fork River, Lake Pend Oreille, and mountains from this quality log home on 20 acres. Cozy 2,000+ sq. ft. home has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. State-of-theart solar power system for comfortable off-grid living. Good well, sunny garden, landscaped yard, garage/shop, outbuildings.

$545,000 Tom Renk MLS#2081916

Two homes with easy access, nestled at the end of the road! Separate private settings on 16± acres. Bright cheery custom 3BD, 2BA frame home with deck, garage, carport, greenhouse, garden and orchard. Very clean 2BD, 2BA manufactured 2nd home with large deck, currently brings in $700/mo! Property has timber, potential 3rd home site with view.

Contemporary 3-story frame house has fantastic mountain and river views from decks and large windows. 3BD, 2BA home has living areas on two floors, large country kitchen with tile counters, custom cedar interior, 2-car garage/shop, orchard, garden, and 2 seasonal creeks. Wooded 6.9± acres adjoins public lands with miles of trails for hiking/biking.

Great North Idaho retreat! Cute little frame house with big deck and landscaped yard is set in 9.5 acres of beautiful forest with a rushing year-round stream. There’s also another charming little cabin for guests. Alternative power system runs all lights and appliances.

Take a look - you’ll want to stay!

Cute and comfortable modular home with great floor plan and bright, cheery interior. House has fireplace, vaulted ceilings, lots of kitchen cabinets, and nice deck with hot tub. Lovely views of Lake Pend Oreille from house and deck. Private setting with nice trees. Less than 10 minutes to Sandpoint and less than 1 mile to public waterfront access at Springy Point.

$399,000 Tom Renk MLS#2080064 $379,000 Tom Renk MLS# 2082438

Large, hard-to-find acreage above Bayview with wonderful views over Scenic Bay, Lake Pend Oreille, and the surrounding mountains!

37 acre piece includes a beautiful forest with large trees and several potential building sites. Both power and phone are on adjacent properties. Easy access, less than ten minutes to the lake at Bayview.

$375,000 Tom Renk MLS#2081129 $279,500 Tom Renk MLS#2075065

Secondary waterfront lot has community access with dock on Pend Oreille River!

Private, peaceful 1.5 acres has small mobile home with cute interior. It’s hidden in beautiful gardens and landscaping, surrounded by a wide variety of trees, meadow, and mountain views. This is a great vacation retreat!

$185,000 Tom Renk MLS#2080659

40 acres with spectacular Pend Oreille River views! Remote mountain getaway has varied forested terrain with small cabin and travel trailer, developed spring, septic and drain field.

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Two mistakes Too many

There’s nothing worse than printing corrections, and thankfully it’s something the River Journal hasn’t had to do often. But in our first two issues as a magazine, there was one mistake, and one really stupid thing.

The stupid thing first. There’s a lot of folks who live up one of our area’s country roads who were mad at me after our last issue of the River Journal went to print, and I can’t say as I blame ‘em. In our ‘man on the street’ feature, we mentioned that some people like to check out deserted houses to see what they’re like.

Well, I shouldn’t have included that.

You know and I know that the people who read the River Journal are the smartest, nicest and best-looking people to inhabit the planet, and not a one of ‘em would dream of violating someone’s private property rights. But someone might read something in these pages, mention it to someone else who mentions it to someone else and before you know it, that information has gone to someone who’s not as smart, nice, goodlooking or respectful.

For those people, let me mention a few points to remember: 1. Most of this area is rural - really rural.

And just because a house is for sale and looks to be deserted, that doesn’t mean it actually is deserted. If you want to look at a property for sale, call the Realtor’s number that’s listed on the for sale sign - don’t just make yourself at home.

2. Private property is just that - private. Most deserted property is owned by someone, and you can be prosecuted if caught trespassing.

3. Those caught trespassing also risk getting a load of buckshot in their behinds.

To the residents of the area mentioned as a possible location of deserted homes—my deep apologies. It was highly stupid of me not to recognize before we went to print that a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ comment might be taken seriously by people, causing concern for those who live in the area. My apologies as well to the lady who actually made the comment that I included. All of you deserve better from me.

I promise you, I do learn from my mistakes, and this is one I won’t repeat.

And now the mistake. In our story on Clark Fork’s Bob Hays, we quoted a man who talked about Bob driving him up into the hills after he ran out of gas. While it’s something Bob would do—I have dozens of similar stories where Bob has come to my rescue over the years—the man was mistaken. That wasn’t Bob—it was Big Dave. Dave didn’t want us to make this correction, but fair is fair. And it goes to show that we have more than one hero in this little town.

Trish Gannon, Publisher

Politically Incorrect

By Trish Gannon It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that took myself, my daughters, my grandson and my soon-to-be son-inlaw up to Glacier National Park for a day’s drive along the Going to the Sun Road. A good decision as far as spur-ofthe-moment goes, we enjoyed our trip despite the grayness of the day, the snow on Logan Pass, and our lack of planning in bringing along anything like suitable gear for a day so cold and damp. We played on rock piles and along waterfalls, took numerous photos of bighorn sheep, visited with Jim at Glacier Photo, and tried to explain to Tyler why there were no glacier remnants close enough for him to touch.

Bighorn sheep were the only wildlife we spotted that day, and those weren’t even in the park—we cavorted with them on a gravel road not far from Thompson Falls. Late that night, (actually, early the next morning) after leaving Amy and me in Clark Fork, Misty and Brian spotted a cougar on Hwy. 200 near the Lower Pack. But Glacier itself revealed none of its storied wildlife to our eyes.

Of course, it didn’t need to, as we can see all the wildlife we want in the hills surrounding our home, which reminds me of my ‘rules for encountering wildlife in the woods.’

My rules are limited to just three particular animals—bear (either black or grizzly), cougars, and moose. These are the ones that worry me, the ones I’d prefer to see only from a distance—say, through binoculars a mile away. But anyone who spends some time in our woods chances coming upon either one of the three, and should be prepared for how to respond if that occurs.

Bear in mind, the animals have no interest in seeing you. If you make noise as you hike, you’re likely not to need to utilize any of these rules.

Rule number one: Bear (both griz and black) are the dogs of the forest world so, if you encounter one, you’re a dog, too and the lowest dog on the totem pole, let me add. So act like it. Don’t actually roll onto your back and pee on yourself (unless, of course, you simply can’t help it), but be submissive. Don’t look the bear (dog) directly in the eyes—lower your head, gaze off to the side, shrink into your body and slowly, slowly, back away.

Don’t run, or the bear is likely to give

Email: Trish@RiverJournal.com chase and they can run much faster than you can. The message you’re sending to the bear is—“Hey, I’m nobody and I’m certainly not a threat to you so please, please, please don’t beat me up.” It’s the same message you would want to send to an aggressive dog should you encounter one.

Rule number two: Cougar, naturally enough, are the cats of the forest world and you treat an encounter with a cougar just as if you were a cat encountering another unknown feline. While you might not actually arch your back and hiss, the goal is to make yourself look big. The message you’re sending here is “Hey! Look at me! I’m huge and way too big for you to want to mess with.” Yelling, jumping up and down, waving your arms... these are all recommendations for how to react to a cougar encounter. If you have small children with you at the time, you’re told to put them up on your shoulders, making both of you bigger in the process. Again, don’t run, unless you want the cat to give chase and catch you.

Following this analogy process, for rule number three: Moose are the ‘crazy gunmen’ of the wilderness world. If a guy walked into McDonald’s with an AK47 and began to indiscriminately fire, your best bet is to hide, just as quickly as you can and, once out of sight, to keep yourself that way. This is excellent advice for dealing with moose, as, if you make ‘em mad, they can be a crazy piece of work that would just as soon kick the crap out of you as walk the other way. Be like a snake and slink out of sight.

Do I practice what I preach? Well, not really.

In the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ category, my sole up-close-and-personal encounter with a bear (not counting ones on my porch) happened to be with a mama and her cub while hiking into Iceberg Lake in Glacier Park. My friends and I had paused to catch our breath at a spot where the trail formed the upper leg of a horseshoe bend. In the curve of the bend was the spectacular Ptarmigan Falls, where we could see a number of people gathered to check out the view.

Between lay dense, overgrown, brushy light forest and a tiny wisp of trail.

On the trail again, around the first curve, and Taneesha almost tripped over the bear cub sitting in the middle of the

trail. Back to the open spot we went to think the situation out. “Make noise,” I said. “Let’s make lots of noise. Mama and her baby will move off.”

We proceeded back down the trail in a noisy fashion and I noticed a tree swaying in a non-existent breeze. “(Bad word deleted)!” I said. “Mama’s in that tree. Whatever you do, don’t run,” I added, right before Diana and Taneesha trampled me on the way back to the open spot in the trail. I’m not sure what I did because all I remember is laying on my back, and then being back at the open spot myself. I probably (don’t ever do this) ran as well.

Years ago, when I first led a hiking and backpacking project for 4-H, I asked people of experience what was expected of me in leading this project given the wildlife in our woods. I was thinking in terms of the little hikers’ safety, and whether I should carry pepper spray, or something more powerful. A certain person looked at me with a grim face and said, “Well, you only have to be able to outrun one of them.” That was a joke, by the way, but I remembered that advice in my bear situation.

Using some creative pantomime, we managed to communicate to the hikers at the middle of the ‘U’ there was a bear on the trail between us and on they came. At that point we continued hiking, blissful in the knowledge that mama would have to eat her way through a dozen or so hikers before turning her attention to us.

My encounter with a cougar also occurred while hiking with Taneesha— are you getting the impression that she attracts wild animals? She does. On this hike, we were trekking down the North Fork of the Bull River in Montana.

Animals don’t want to see you on their trails and will go out of their way to avoid you if they can hear or smell you coming. In Continued on page 62

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page

S

arah Palin

Our kinda gal or a descent into darkness?

Generally, we at the River Journal stay away from the kinds of politics that would lend us the appearance of endorsing candidates. There’s a number of reasons for that, one being, why should anyone really care what we think about a political candidate? And an even bigger reason is that it’s a big, eclectic group of writers who come up with the words you read on these pages (almost 38 regular writers at this point in time) and one thing we can agree upon is that we don’t all agree on politics. Then Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was named as the running mate for Republican John McCain’s bid for the presidency and suddenly, politics went Hollywood. I can’t remember this much public interest in politics since Bill struggled to define is.

Herb Huseland (of Bayviews blog fame), in just his third story for this publication, scored a coup—an interview with a local who has actual experience with Palin’s politics and who is, by the way, a Palin fan. You’ll find that story (the ‘light’ side of Palin) below left.

In the interest of keeping our publication politically neutral, below right you will find the ‘dark side’ of Palin—a completely made up and hilariously funny (for those who are NOT Palin fans) “Interview with Sarah Palin” written by a newcomer to these pages—Kristi Harrison.

Both Herb and Kristi, by the way, came to us via Dave Oliveria’s (and the SpokesmanReview’s) Huckleberries Online (www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo). One of the country’s most successful examples of how newspapers can best utilize the Internet, HBO (like the River Journal) has attracted some mighty fine writers, and we’re more than happy to entice them into our pages.

So in one of Dave’s terms—here’s a “Hat Tip” to Dave and HBO for the support he has given the River Journal—both wittingly and unwittingly. -Trish Gannon

The Light Side

Palin Should be Your Pick

by Herb Huseland

Gold, they say, is where you find it. I struck gold when I discovered that Bayview fire chief Jack Krill, one time Wasilla, Alaska fire chief, was very close to the family of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former mayor of Wasilla and currently the Republican nominee for vice president of the United States.

During Krill’s junior high school days, he and his family lived next door to Chuck and Sally Heath, parents of Sarah. The Heaths still live in that house. Asked his take on the ascendency of Palin as John McCain’s running mate, Krill shared some insights. One point he made was that while the core city of Wasilla currently has less than 8,000 citizens, Greater Wasilla, encompassing the entire fire district of 150 square miles, boasts a population of 36,000. It is served in many areas by the city of Wasilla, since most of the area is rural.

One of the key acts Krill witnessed during his tenure as fire chief was Palin’s rooting out of several state legislators who had allegedly taken bribes the year before from several oil companies. This occurred the year after Palin was elected Governor. These bribes were allegedly for the purpose of the then-enacted sweetheart law regarding taxation or royalties on oil and natural gas production. One such legislator was from Jack Krill’s own district in Wasilla. State Representative Vic Kohring is currently serving time in prison for these acts. Krill indicated this is an ongoing investigation, possibly involving more legislators. Most, if not all of these perpetrators, were also Republicans.

Continued on page 28

The Dark Side

An Interview with Sarah Palin

by Kristi Harrison (Editorial Disclaimer: the following interview is completely made up and false... but it’s funny, and illustrates some of the reasons why non-Palin fans feel the way they do. Please do not send this interview anywhere as purportedly being the ‘real thing.’)

ME: Oh my gosh, Sarah Palin, I am so psyched that you agreed to do this interview!

SARAH: I felt it was important, Kristi, to tell the American people of my intrepid and reforming leadership ways. I don’t blink, Kristi. I don’t blink. See… watch ME: Oh wow…you really DON’T blink. Your eyes must get super dry. But let’s talk about some issues. Issue one: What’s your favorite recipe for banana bread?

SARAH PALIN: Pardon?

ME: Banana bread. I need some tips. Mine’s a little sweet.

SARAH PALIN: I’m here to talk about the campaign…

ME: I don’t know, Sarah Palin. I watched that interview with Charles Gibson. It was…errr…I don’t think you’re ready for a hardline interview with me. You need more time. Let’s do some girly chit-chat. Can I get you some tea?

SARAH PALIN: I DON’T BLINK, KRISTI. LET’S DO THIS INTERVIEW. ME: Check this out, I’m going to not blink for a whole minute: ME: Whew…I don’t know how you do it, Gov’ner. Alright. You want tough questions? Let’s DO THIS! Tough question one: Your make-up, what’s up with it?

Continued on page 30

Page 10 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

“Resilient” Priest River Bouncing Back from Sawmill Closure

The sale and closure of the JD Lumber Company sawmill in Priest River was the biggest news story to come out of west Bonner County this past August. A headline in an outof-town newspaper portrayed the county’s second largest city as a “Lumber town in limbo” and painted a “bleak” picture of its future. One resident was even quoted as predicting that “half this town will move.”

But is the situation really all that dismal?

Not to Jim Martin, Priest River’s young and progressive mayor, and not, as far as one can judge at the present time, to the majority of the town’s residents. Yes, the loss of those approximately 200 jobs will hurt, no one’s disputing that. The night shift didn’t even get the two months’ continued employment that was promised when the sale and closure were announced, having been laid off not more than three weeks later. The reason given was market conditions.

Martin continues to feel the aforementioned newspaper story was both overly negative and unduly discouraging to the affected employees, and responded via his town’s newspaper, the Times.

“I have lived in Priest River for all of my nearly 40 years,” he said, “... long enough to see mills close due to the poor lumber market, buyouts, and others due to fire. In every case, someone from outside of the area would come to town and claim that the town was finished, going to dry up, become a ghost town. And in each case, the town survived with its resilient attitude, hard work and determination.”

Martin repeated those words in a recent interview, adding that the city is looking at economic initiatives that it can undertake to address the downturn in the employment picture. He is involving himself personally in the effort to attract new business and industry, instead of relying entirely on the efforts of the Priest River Development Corporation, he said. Since 1980, PRDC has been the recruiter bringing new and diversified businesses to the community. The industrial park west of town that the organization spent years developing is currently almost filled to capacity.

Since the JD closure announcement, a scout for a business capable of employing 50 to 75 people has visited Priest River, Martin revealed, and plans a return visit with a view toward a possible move of his business to town. In addition, a representative of a smaller business was expected at the end of the second week in September, as this story was being written. That company could absorb another 25 to 30 employees, according to Martin, while even smaller business owners needing no more than four

by Marylyn Cork

or five employees have expressed an interest. “They don’t have the labor force but like the area; we’ve got the people,” Martin added.

The city has also been talking to the regional director of the Department of Commerce exploring grant possibilities. The current site where Stimson Lumber Company loads box cars at the railroad does not make for an efficient operation, Martin said, so the city is working with the railroad to correct the situation and help the mill continue to operate. In addition to the jobs lost at JD, Stimson has been operating for months without a night shift, which further adds to the unemployment problem.

Martin is also optimistic that the retraining being offered through the Department of Commerce and Labor will help a number of the employees, even though the program does not cover living expenses for families while the breadwinner is being Continued on page 37

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The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 11

Do the Math!

Q: What’s 11 years divided by 25 plays and improvs Multiplied by the Heron Players?

A: obviously, A million laughs! (and they’re at it again) Page 12 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Thanks for the Memories and thanks to Jean Peck

By Desire Aguirre

“Thanks for the Memories: A Tribute to Bob Hope and All U.S. Troops,” will come live to the Panida Theater in glorious downtown Sandpoint on Saturday, October 18 at 7:30 pm.

Tickets cost $5 for students, $10 for seniors and $15 for adults. The show, produced by Jean Peck (Peck Productions), is a benefit for Bonner County veterans.

Jean came to Sandpoint 21 years ago. She said she always loved theater and become involved with the rescue of the Panida. Jean said the President of the board told her she was in charge of putting a variety show together.

“So of course,” Jean said, “I did it.”

In her first production she played the part of Mae West.

“I was a nervous wreck,” Jean said, laughing. “We went 3 or 4 hours. I didn’t know a thing. But people came and they enjoyed it.”

Since that time, Jean has produced over 30 variety shows at the Panida Theater, all for non-profit organizations. In fact, she has come up with quite a collection of hits over the years. Tributes to the Phantom of the Opera and Mary Poppins received standing ovations.

Jean has already done plenty to help the veterans. She has produced several shows for them in the past, and volunteered at the Stand Down last month.

“I want to help the vets,” Jean said.

“They’re having a terrible time. It makes me want to cry. I helped out at the Stand Down and I saw some of the tragedies. One guy only had one arm and another one couldn’t walk.”

Jean said that David Nigren will be the stage manager for this fall’s production.

“David has always been my stage manager. He was stage manager at the first show. Neither of us knew a thing,” Jean said, smiling. “He goes all over the country now, and manages the Festival at Sandpoint. But I stay right here.”

Richard Brown, formerly an anchor for Channel 4 news, will return to Sandpoint as emcee. Jean said she has done extensive research on Bob Hope, and Richard will tell some of Bob Hope’s favorite jokes.

“Richard is wonderful,” said Jean. “I adore him. He came up from Spokane for one of our shows. Afterward, he came and asked me if he could be in the next one. He was a foreign correspondent and a teacher and he loves to laugh. He does a great job.”

The show will feature local talent including Karla Dye, Margie Myers, and Ken Rokiki on electric guitar, Bob Huick, Lee Jackson and Marsinah Runge. Ken will perform “I’ve Got Rhythm,” by Cole Porter and Gershwin, and Lee will sing “Buttons and Bows,” and “Tie a Yellow Ribbon.”

Marsinah, Jean’s daughter, has performed in several variety shows.

Over the years, she has become an incredible singer/comedian. Jean said that Marsinah always surprises her with her acts. According to Jean, Marsinah said the secret is picking a serious song and making it funny.

In fact, in one production, Marsinah turned “Stand By Your Man” into a comedy act in which she ended up shooting the cheating husband.

“Jean,” said Pamela Crawford, the chairperson for Bonner County Community Partnership, “is a really cool gal. She does so much with her shows.”

Jean Peck variety shows often sell out. Show your support for our troops and purchase your tickets early in Sandpoint at the Senior Citizen’s Center, Nieman’s Floral, or F.C. Weskil’s, or buy them at the Panida October 17, the evening of the performance.

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The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 13

Preserving Winter’s Bounty How this year’s root vegetables can take you through to spring

by David Ronniger Harvesting of most root vegetables should take place after the second or third frost in early fall, when they are at their peak. Frost changes the starches to a more simple sugar for easy digestion, superior flavor and longer storage through the cold winter months; some exceptions are shallots, multiplier onions and garlic which happen in mid-July to August 10 or so, with globe onions shortly thereafter.

Potatoes are ready when they are the size you prefer or the frost nips them, otherwise one must mow or whack the tops off to stop growth and then let them set in the ground for about three weeks for the skin to set firm to store for the long winter months. Carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas and the like, cabbages, kohlrabi and leeks need a little frost, too, and when harvesting a portion of the root is left on—for leeks it’s the whole root. Leeks, we find, store just fine in a bucket or in slightly moist sand.

Apples and pears should be stored in the front of the root cellar as they can tolerate some frost and they both expel a natural ethylene gas that sweetens potatoes and encourages them and some other vegetables out of dormancy… so a separation space is best in the cellar.

Temperatures from 35 to 40 degrees are best and a simple fan can bring down the temperature in the cool nights or you can let it happen naturally in our

particular climate. Humidity is important and 80 percent to 90 percent is best.

Flood your cellar with water and an earthen floor is best.

Although potatoes loose moisture through respiration, low humidity is the main cause of shriveling and softening in storage.

Partially heated garages, sheds, closets, porches or back rooms are also excellent sites for short term storage so one does not have to dig open an earth pit-type storage cellar in the cold of winter. Keep these areas as cool as you can, protect them from freezing, insulate in some way from your heated living space, and you can probably keep your root vegetables a good while.

We store cabbage in open bins ‘til mid April, carrots and beets are harvested and stored in dirt or in feed sacks with a gunny sack on the outside and they hold near perfect ‘til mid March—then you must open them up for air as they know it is spring. Potatoes store well this way too, or in open boxes, but humidity must be high and all root cellars need to be kept dark.

Jerusalem artichokes can be harvested in the fall yet over-wintering in the garden along with some parsnips can be much tastier, and makes for a great change after eating carrots, beets and cabbage through the winter months. Both of these can tolerate freezing in the ground.

Prevention happens to be one of the best practices of a healthy and happy life… as we all need to eat more locally grown foods as much as possible, sip on herbal teas and seek out a balanced diet filled with nutrients that build a healthy immune system and, of course, drink at least 8 to 10 ounces of water three to four times a day. And by following these tips, you’ll be eating your veggies all winter long.

Keep it simple, and have a great fall and winter David Ronniger owns Ronniger’s Potato Farm in Moyie springs. He has grown vegetables organically for 31 years.

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Page 14 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dsenoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

humor

The owners of this piece of property located in Bonner County appear to have been inspired in their choice of a Real Estate office to sell their land.

Water view, anyone? This photo was sent to us by Sandy Compton.

Have you captured the funny side of life in a photograph? Send it in! Email your photos (highest possible quality please) to trish@riverjournal.com.

Matt Davidson

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 15

Home Horticulture Classes October 1—Creating Compost For the Garden—Presented by Mike Bauer, University of Idaho Extension Educator. Learn how to make compost bins, what materials to use, and how to create your own compost as you recycle kitchen and garden scraps.

October 15—All About Bulbs, Corms and Rhizomes—Presented

by Valle Novak, Master Gardener Emeritus. Learn how and when to divide, plant, grow and care for the bulbs and their plants.

October 22—Ask the Panel – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gardening and More—Presented by Mike Bauer, Jennifer Costich-Thompson, Valle Novak, Laurie Brown, Loie DeLa Vergne, and Diane Green. Bring your questions and problems to be answered by this select group of experts from our community.

November 5—Bird Sanctuaries—– Create Your Own Bird Sanctuary in Your Garden—Presented by Valle Novak, Master Gardener Emeritus.

Learn how and what to plant to encourage our many local birds to spend time in your yard.

November 12—Holiday Arrangements for Your Home— Presented by Nicole French from Petal Talk. Learn how to create your own arrangements for the holidays November 19—Gifts From Your Garden—Presented by Sue Traver, University of Idaho Extension Educator. Learn how to use produce from your garden or market to create one of a kind gifts for your friends and family for the holiday season. Make tantalizing goodies that will have you being known as the “Best Gifter” year after year.

A $10 registration fee per class is required. Fees cover the cost of publications, materials, and the support of non-profit activities of the University of Idaho/Bonner County Master Gardeners.

Class space is available on a first registered and paid basis.

All programs will be held on Wednesday’s from 6 PM – 8 PM at the Bonner County Extension Office 4205 N. Boyer Sandpoint, Idaho 208-263-8511

Presented & Coordinated by University of Idaho/Bonner County Master Gardeners

Jinxed There is no other way to put it—I am scared. I feel that I have lived on the edge of death for so long; breast cancer and chemo takes over your entire life, and being ‘cancer free’ after all that is joyous. But now I have found a lump in my right breast. The breasts I have just had reconstructed.

I thought that things were looking towards the sky, and now I feel like the bottom has fallen out from under me. My heart is beating too fast, and my thoughts are erratic. Do I have NO control over my world anymore?

There are those who tell me that millions of women go through this all the time and I know this to be true. That doesn’t make it any easier for me to deal with. From the time you feel that lump under your fingers, you wait and wonder about what’s going on.

What are the chances of getting breast cancer again? They vary depending on a wide variety of factors. But recurrence usually happens within three to five years of treatment. I am no longer comforted by being cancer free. I am terrified of doing it all again, and wondering if I have the courage and endurance to do it all again. I feel trapped within a realm of fear that I have no control over.

Those who know me, know I have a great need to be in control of my life; it would seem that this is not to be the part I control. I know it’s normal to feel this way—at least, that’s what all the literature I read says. Literature also says that I have to fight the fear of recurrence. I don’t know if I have it in me anymore.

If I develop cancer in the opposite breast of where I had it before, it’s not really a recur rence, it could be a completely new and different kind of

by Jinx Beshears

cancer. Do all women who have had cancer go through the same torment that I am feeling right now? My friend Stacey Calvert says that she went through it for several years after her mastectomy, so maybe I am partially normal.

Maybe what I’m feeling with my fingers is scar tissue. Maybe it’s a calcified cyst or even something totally different. Maybe it’s nothing, but I can’t think in lines of maybe. I can’t wrap my brain around anything but the fear of the possibility of cancer.

My grandmother has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer also. My sister Starr had her thyroid removed last year because of cancer. Studies show that there MIGHT be a relation between breast cancer and thyroid cancer. Might be? We can shoot people into space and we can’t figure that out if there is a link between cancers for sure yet? Three aunts, myself, my sister, my grandmother—all six of us diagnosed with cancer. This is within the last two years. Scared? Hell yeah, I am scared.

I got a great letter from my insurance today about being cancelled, which is not really their fault, but still doesn’t make my stress level any less at this moment. I feel like a bomb has gone off in my life.

I know there are women out there who share my fears, who have walked or are walking the same path I am travelling down right now. I guess I want you to know that it’s okay to be scared, it’s okay to shake so hard at the idea of going through chemo again, of losing the hair you’ve just grown back again, of wishing that you were finished—even, sometimes, if being finished with cancer just means being dead.

So was there anything to be scared of? I still don’t know. Once I arrived at the doctor’s office, he not only examined that lump, but found another one near it. I’m going to have to return for both lumps to be analyzed before I will find out if my cancer has returned.

As women, from the first time we ever feel a lump, we have to fight our way through the fear. That is always easier to say than it is to do. And we wait. Always wait.

(But you can hum along anyways)

by Scott Clawson Once upon a time in the land of milk and honey money was easy and things were bright and sunny.

But they lost their grip on their can-do trip and the results were anything but funny.

This is just a rerun, one of the oldest plays around, for it seems like every damn Titanic is determined to run its self aground.

Don’t ignore what’s gone on before, to be sure it’ll happen again ‘cause you can’t see where yer goin’ if you don’t care where we’ve been.

There’s an election ahead with some important decisions.

We could use honesty and compassion better’n constant derisions.

It doesn’t matter if yer functionally illiterate or literally dysfunctional, a ‘type A’ go-getter or one who’s extremely dysfunctional.

As far as I can tell, the only difference ‘tween the two major parties is who gets the gravy and control of the armies.

Deception and rhetoric are the tools of the trade and whoever wins in November is bound to have it made.

You have to be connected to ever get elected, so everybody’s fingers are in every other’s pies while constantly assertin’ that “It’s all a pack of lies!”

“It’s been taken out of context, spun in someone else’s favor for if you say it backwards, it has a completely different flavor!”

If you twiddle the meaning of ‘is’ enough, then explaining yerself ain’t all that tough, ‘cause sexual relations with a lovely young intern could be secular revelations in a lively run mid-term.

Or something like that anyways. It probably won’t change until the end of days.

It’s been this way forever and yonder, I even suspect it’s a natural wonder.

Just a piece of our gearing, to wit, predetermined; from Alexander the Great to Pee Wee Herman.

Ergo, ego, altered or not, is the driving force of this condition we’ve got.

Where many ‘improvements,’ freely sought, are often the result of an ignominous snot.

That’s pretty much our system, for better or worse.

If it weren’t for this ol’ crap, ‘bout what would we converse?

The weather? I don’t think so, it’s not near enough perverse to lead our jaded noses through our shrinking universe.

Politics provides such an elegant example of all the ways people can openly trample their own set of convenants, taboos and beliefs with every opportunity to drop their own briefs.

Ego is the gasoline of these invented minds. The cattle prod for ideas that would otherwise find that they’re just goin’ nowhere ‘cept to rattle around behind some complacent behavior and never be found.

If we could all run around on hot air and lies instead of oil from assholes with which we have ties, I’d venture to say we’d have it quite easy and not have to brownnose despots that’re sleazy.

America has so many boardrooms with brain trusts and think tanks, a workin’ things out for fat heads with banks.

So I can’t help but think it’s by some orchestration that energy problems plague our busy nation.

Big profits they’re showin’ even when the economy ain’t growin’, irregardless of which way the wind might be blowin.’

They know how we got here and plan where we’re goin’ and successfully hide things they don’t want us knowin.’

Double standards abound and are quire often found to be exercised by the most righteous among us, who, through dogma and rhetoric, would like us to act and think like a pathetic old nation of fungus.

I remember a movement a little ways back in the past but the climate has changed and I pray it won’t last.

We used to rally to the cause of PEACE and LOVE but I fear, as before, when push comes to shove, ‘tis the eagle who eats the dove.

Get involved, ask tough questions, get answers and VOTE WELL AND COMPLETELY. Good luck!

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 17

This Ain’t No Musical

Colleen Ankersmit is

MAD ABOUT QUILTING and wants you to be, too!

Are you one of those people who can’t help being drawn by colorful hues, lured by luxurious texture, intoxicating prints?

Or do you have to stop and fondle things that beg to be touched because they appear to be something other than “just fabric?” Do you collect fabric, but never use it? Buy quilting magazines and pour over the pages? Spend hours at quilt shows in awe of the beautiful patterns and fabric combinations, wishing you could do that? These are all symptoms of a serious Fiber Freak. But fear not!

There is a cure—or rather, at least a treatment.

Quilt! Whether you haven’t sewn since middle-school home-ec class, or are an accomplished seamstress, quilting is a brand new age-old creative avenue for Fiber Freaks everywhere.

I bet you are one of those people who say, “Oh, I’m not ready for that yet.” Like quilting is something you don’t consider until you are “old.” Harrumph!

Or—you don’t have time. Excuse me?

Have a peak at my little day-timer and try that again. Oh—and I really love this one—I work too much and can’t make it to a class one evening a week! How about I don’t have the room—again, excuse me? I live in a very small space!

Or, I’m waiting for the kids to be older, waiting for my career to settle down, for my parent’s health to improve, my house to be finished, my puppy to be trained.

I have heard some hum-dinger excuses for not allowing yourself to crack open that hidden passion, to embrace the struggling Fiber Freak inside yourself and just do it! As my Mom always used to tell me, “You can’t learn any younger!”

Taking a class for any hobby is always a little intimidating at first. Especially if it is something you have always really enjoyed from the outside, because you have already convinced yourself you “can’t.” Well, let’s just put that aside for a minute, K? Of course you can! And you will either love it and be hooked, or hate me with your renewed passion for convincing you that this will be fun!

LOL! I do have one former student (that I know of) who has not truly appreciated my tutelage and says she would rather “eat a bug” than quilt. But one out of how many students over five or six years

isn’t too bad. And I don’t think she really counts as she was coerced into the class by her “friend.” But I digress…

There are so many different things to learn about quilting, that you can’t possibly learn it all in a lifetime - never mind a class—but a class is your best first choice. There are classes for beginners all through advanced and super-experienced quilting. There are project classes—which is usually a oneday fun and fast class that is designed so you actually leave THAT DAY with a finished item! (Those are pretty popular with us instant gratification kind of girls!)

There are technique classes—so if you have already taken a beginner class, or have been quilting for years, there may be a certain technique you would like to learn—like Paper Piecing or Appliqué.

Something to keep in mind is that all teachers are different, and there isn’t a mandated text book on what to teach.

As a result, you will learn different things from different teachers, and all of it is useful information. So don’t think that because you took a beginner’s class a few years ago that you don’t need or won’t benefit from another one now.

(Personally, I think my class “Introduction to Quilting” is pretty thorough, and includes the book I wrote to go with it so you have all the notes and “how-to’s” for future reference.)

Another super side-benefit about taking a quilting class is that you get to meet new friends, who are all pretty much at the same level you are. So right from the beginning, you have others who know what you are going through and will make the same mistakes you will make—or make them first so you might avoid that one! In the end, you may have a new buddy to get together with to quilt.

(I lovingly refer to this process as a “stitchand-bitch” and it’s almost as therapeutic as the quilting, if less productive… I recommend serving it with wine!)

Almost all quilt shops and fabric stores offer quilting classes. And they are all very excited about spreading the habit —I mean hobby! If you are thinking that you might like to learn to quilt, some day, maybe, check out my website (www.packriverquilts.com) for upcoming classes I will be teaching. Take a look and let me know your excuse!

Brian Orr

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Page 18 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

by Jody Forest

Comrade Citizens! In a big surprise at the Elk’s Club last month, a team composed of members of V.V.A. Chapter #890 took first place in the first Patriotic Charity Golf Challenge. The event chairman, Paul Roberson, is expected to present a check for the proceeds to the V.V.A. at their October meeting (October 14 at 6 pm, second Tuesday of every month) at VFW Hall in Sandpoint. The gala event drew 18 4-man teams and plans are afoot to make this an annual shindig. For the record, the Watson Raiders won low gross (whatever that is) and the V.V.A. team won low net. Congratulations to all of the helpers and organizers, and to the winning Vietnam Vets team of Will “Veejay” Ditman, Terrence “the shark” Smith, Jim “Golden Bear” Willis, and Mike “Tiger” Harmelin.

In other veterans’ news, a new series of weekly PTSD classes for Gulf War veterans and their spouses has just started. Facilitated by the Spokane VA’s Mike Stevenson, for more information you can call Don Carr, the Bonner County Services Officer at 208-255-5291.

I mentioned last month I’d like to tell you about “where the money goes” at some of the local veterans’ organizations and this time I’d like to start with the Disabled American Veterans Chapter #15.

Its Commander is Ross Jackman (phone: 265-2738) and they hold meetings the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 pm at VFW Hall in Sandpoint, corner of Pine and Division. Their books are always available for inspection.

This year the DAV Chapter’s main income was $926 from the annual forgetme-not drive held on Memorial Day at the Wal-Mart parking lot; $336 from member’s dues (there are 120 members throughout B o n n e r County); and $400 from aluminum c a n s

donated by the public. (You can help by donating your aluminum at Pacific Iron and Metal on Triangle Drive in

On a personal note, our great DAV volunteers put in a couple of hundred hours monthly driving veterans to and Event chairman Paul Roberson of the Elk’s Club (far left) presents a first place award to the winning members of the VVA Chapter #890 “Thundering Wallbangers” at the first Elks Patriotic Scramble Charity Golf event. They strode as collosi admidst jeers, taunts and an unforgiving course strewn with the wsted hulks of their challengers. Oh, when will their glory fade? Hurrah!

Hurrah! Photo courtesy Linda Patlock

Ponderay.) The Chapter was also the recipient of nearly $2,000 in corporate and other grants from Wal-Mart, the Community Assistance League, and the Selkirk Association of Realtors. Famous “smart guy” Ben Stein also sent in a $500 check out of the blue.

Almost $1,200 of that was given away during the year as outright cash gifts and grants to needy veterans and their families. For instance, two $100 gifts were given to local cancer patients, $50 on supplies for Iraqi troops, $200 to get an ill vet and his wife to the Seattle VA Hospital for treatment, $250 towards a veteran’s funeral expenses, and $50 for an ill Iraqi soldier. The DAV Chapter also spent nearly $400 to send a member to the Idaho state DAV convention in Boise to represent them and they also gave small grants to the local V.V.A. to help put on this July’s first ever Stand Down in Bonner County. Some $240 went towards the DAV’s rent at VFW Hall and $200 was spent on their annual Christmas Dinner.

A further $500 was put into the DAV Van Fund (to replace the current van as it ages). If you’d like to help with the Van Fund simply stop by Sandpoint’s Wells Fargo Bank and tell them you’d like to donate to the “DAV Van Fund.”

Time and space forbids my further detailing the DAV’s finances but if you have any questions they’d be happy to answer them. Simply come to any meeting—they’re open to the public—and once again, it’s the third Wednesday of every month at VFW Hall.

from their Spokane VA hospital appointments and do not get paid.

The Commander and Adjutant, Ross J and Russ F, likewise put in scores of hours unpaid to pick up tons of food for the Stand Down. Steve Charchan, besides putting in long hours as our Treasurer, also spends scores of hours co-ordinating not only the recent yard and rummage sale but other events as well. And no one gets a penny! ‘til next time, smoke ‘em if ya’ got ‘em and All Homage to Xena!

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Jody Forest lives behind the gates of his palatial estate “Casa de Bozo” in Dover. Reach him at dgree666@sandpoint.net.

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 19

Where the Dollars Go - DAV

It’s a Small World for

Get Absentee Ballots Now

On a flight to New York City a few years back I sat next to Vinny, from the Bronx. He was an accountant for a major accounting firm and had been in Denver meeting with clients. I was on my way to visit friends in New York. Vinny was talkative and had a laugh that was very distinct. He laughed very loudly and without restraint at any comment, look or joke that he deemed funny. I think over the three-hour late night flight that his laugh kept half the plane awake. When we landed and got off the plane I said good-bye to Vinny from the Bronx with a chuckle to myself and a moment of appreciation for him as he seemed to fully embrace life with good humor.

During my week visit I was able to attend a hockey game at Madison Square Garden. My friend Jon was given tickets to his company’s corporate seats. The game was a sell out with thousands of people filling the stands. During the first period of play I heard that laugh—the unmistakable Vinny from the Bronx laugh. I turned around and sure enough, there was Vinny, just a couple rows up from me, enjoying the humor of the hockey game with his coworkers. I had to go say hi to Vinny noting what a small world it was to run into him again.

Katrina Wright, co-owner, Falls Motel, Thompson Falls, Montana

Absentee balloting for the November 4 General Election is now available at the Bonner County Clerk’s Office. Except for the holiday of October 13, the office is open Monday through Friday from 9 am until 5 pm.

The office is also prepared to handle the needs of wheelchairbound voters as well as those who are hearing or sight impaired.

County Clerk Marie Scott related that she is “especially pleased to have the ballot marking device available for absentee voting.

Through the Help American Vote Act program I was able to obtain a ballot marking device for each one of our precincts. These were obtained at no cost to Bonner County. While they are machines, it should be noted that they do not store votes. They are simply giant pencils that assist folks in marking their ballots on their own and without outside assistance.

The touch screen has both audio and braille capabilities as well as the ability to magnify the ballot for those of us who have entered the tri-focal period of our lives.

Those with macular degeneration could also be assisted by using the reverse high density resolution of the ballot marking device.”

Application for an absentee ballot is available on the Clerk’s webpage by accessing: www.co.bonner.id.us.

You may also obtain one in person at the Clerk’s Office which is located in the main courthouse building at 215 South First Avenue in Sandpoint.

The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot be mailed to you is 5 pm on October 29. After that deadline, a voter must personally appear at the County Clerk’s Office to request an absentee ballot and the voter is required to vote that ballot before leaving the Clerk’s Office.

The voter has until 8 pm on Election Day to return his/her absentee ballot to the County Clerk’s Office. Absentee ballots CAN NOT be delivered to the precinct. Absentee ballots returned to the precinct will not be counted.

“We are encouraging people to vote early to reduce the lines on Election Day at the polls,” said Scott.

For those who are not yet registered to vote, it is not too late.

The deadline for registering for this election is October 10. Voter registration cards are also available on the Clerk’s website. Registering at the polls on Election Day is also permitted in Idaho.

Katrina Wright

Legislators Give Money to Schools No, they don’t actually walk to Boise from Bonner County, but given their success with the

Regence BlueShield of Idaho “Move It” competition, it seems like they must. For the second year North Idaho legislators Senator Shawn Keough and Representatives George Eskridge and Eric Anderson took first place honors in the competition, which is designed to help raise awareness about healthy living and the critical role it plays in combating obesity and related health problems, by logging over 1.6 million steps (estimated at 843 miles) during the 2008 Legislative Session. The legislators were awarded $3,000 from Regence BlueShield, which they gave in $500 increments to high schools in Sandpoint, Clark Fork, Bonners Ferry and Priest River, along with checks for $333 each to the alternative high schools in Priest River, Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint.

Eskridge spoke frankly with students at Clark Fork Jr/Sr High School about his own health struggles as the group, along with Regence BlueShield of Idaho represenatives, presented their check to the school in early September. Eskridge underwent heart bypass surgery in 2007 and has since changed both his diet and his exercise habits. “I feel better now than I had felt in a long time,” he said, and encouraged students to keep up an active lifestyle beyond high school.

Photo by Mo Becker

Page 20 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

The Scenic Route

By Sandy Compton Email: MRComptonJr@hotmail.com | www.SandyCompton.com My butt’s on a sleeping pad inside my tent and my heels (one of which sports an extraordinarily large blister) are out in the sage. My one-burner stove—a dinosaur which weighs nearly a pound, including fuel—is sitting between my legs outside the tent.

The wind is whipping overhead hard enough to occasionally lift the flame off the burner. I have a small concern that I might light the tent on fire, but part of me thinks, perversely, “If that happens, and I survive the fire, I won’t have to haul it tomorrow.”

I’m waiting for a few ounces of water to boil—boiling point is 197° F at 8,500 feet under standard barometric pressure—so I can dump in pasta, spice mix and albacore from a foil pouch and be that much closer to Supper, and thereby, nearer to sleep.

Ten miles beyond and several thousand feet below where my partners in this craziness are hunkered ten feet away next to their stove—14 ounces, including fuel and the integrated pot—are a few, scattered lights and the beacon of the airstrip at Dell, Montana.

These are the second evidence of the electrical grid we’ve seen in a week. The other was a high-tension line crossing Medicine Lodge Pass we passed day before yesterday. Or was that today?

No. It wasn’t today. I don’t think.

The trail is melting together behind us, and not from the heat generated by our passage. We are hardly smoking along. It’s more like chugging—up one steep hill and then another—punctuated by the line from The Little Engine That Could: “I think I can, I think I can.” This has sometimes been paraphrased as “I hope I can, I hope I can.” Heat has been generated, indeed, but much of it has passed out through my epidermis as steam.

In raw, ugly truth, I’ve been slowing the other two down. Just call me “Anchor.” But it was pointed out sometime in the past few days by one “somewhat crazy” are closely related of those two at the other stove that they terms. One cannot be the former without had a seven-week head start on me. being the latter. Phil said something “They” are Phil Hough and Deb about “compulsive.” Yes, these people Hunsicker, with whom I have hiked are compelled—by something—to do other hikes, but none like this. They what they do for, uh, recreation. have physical and mental advantages Recreation is an oft-misunderstood of nearly two months on the trail before word. Our culture has come to equate it I joined them at Bannock Pass six—or with fun, but recreation is not inherently seven—days ago. They started hiking about play or joy or having fun, though in Glacier Park on July 3, following the all these things can be recreational.

Continental Divide Trail, aka the CDT. Recreation is about being created anew, They were on schedule when we hooked re-created if you will. This hike might up and they’ll be on schedule when we be recreational, but sometimes—okay, part in a day or so. Given that—Lord often—in the past few days, I was not willing and the creeks don’t rise, some having fun. of which already did in Glacier—they If I am being recreated—and I think will be on a Greyhound headed home I am—it is by being torn down to my from Rawlins, Wyoming, the 29th of foundation daily. When I collide with September. my sleeping bag each night, there isn’t Phil and Deb, currently sharing pasta much left of me. The miracles of sleep with a lovely tomato cheese sauce out and metabolism consistently rebuild me, of their single pan, are “through-hikers” thank you, God—but only to be torn who go for extended walks, often months down again. I feel like a cross between long, carrying pared-down versions of Sisyphus and the Phoenix stuck going their lives in packs that weigh a lot less up the down escalator. than mine. They travel light and hike So, yes, I am undergoing recreation, fast and don’t pay a lot of attention to which has to be a good thing. I just the weather. Deb and Phil have been don’t know how the project is going to rained on and snowed on, dodged turn out quite yet. lightning storms and, for the past few One thing I’ve concluded with days, dealt with exposure to a relentless relative certainty on this journey is a sun. Not that it’s extraordinarily hot, single sentence I wrote in my journal on but the UV factor at these elevations— our second night. It’s running through almost entirely above 7,500 feet—is my head as I sit here, ambivalent about higher than “down below.” whether the tent burns down and waiting Oxygen molecules are a bit farther for the chicken-of-the-sea-noodle soup apart up here, also. Pant, pant, pant. to get done: I’m not a through-hiker.

After a few days (read “an eternity”) Even though I may be somewhat with them on the CDT, I have come to crazy.

Continued on page 58 the conclusion that “through-hiker” and The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 21

Page 22 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Dam Failure

Avista is Proactive and Prepared for threats to the Lower Clark Fork

by Kate Wilson Though autumn in our region is a time of brilliant colors, the harvest of root vegetables, and the anticipation of an exciting ski season, this fall is also the time that local agencies and groups get together to prepare for the occurrence of a particular emergency. In the unlikely event of a dam failure on the Lower Clark Fork River, how would downstream communities be affected? How prepared could they be? Where would people go for information?

Every two or three years, Avista, a Washington-based utility company that holds license to two dams on the lower Clark Fork River at Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge, hosts comprehensive, face-to-face emergency exercises for everyone involved to ensure that each entity understands their responsibilities and can act quickly.

“We have an excellent safety program—our dams are inspected by company, state, and federal personnel on a regular schedule,” says Dave Ayres, Emergency Action Plan Coordinator for Avista.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conducted the most recent annual inspection o f Cabinet Gorge Dam i n May and

Noxon Rapids Dam in August. “Both dams were deemed structurally sound, wellmaintained, and in satisfactory operating condition with no significant problems or discrepancies,” Ayres explains.

In June, Avista hosted a “Tabletop Emergency Action Plan Exercise” as well as a more in-depth Functional EAP Exercise, which was held in early September. The EAP, which is a step-by-step plan that involves many different entities, from dam operators to emergency responders and schools downstream, ensures that everyone who can respond to an emergency of this nature will be able to respond swiftly and appropriately. The EAPs for both Cabinet Gorge and Noxon Rapids dams were formally developed in the early 1980s and are updated, improved, and tested annually.

At the Tabletop EAP Exercise in June at the Heron Community Center, all of the pertinent entities participated in a sit-down dam breach scenario, utilizing a PowerPoint presentation.

Tabletop exercises aim to improve the EAPs, response procedures, and agency coordination; they help participants become familiar with emergency roles, resources, and procedures of other agencies as well as preparing them for a more in-depth Functional Exercise. There are no time constraints.

“The Tabletop Exercise is basically a stress-free situation—we go through a scenario that follows the flood wave down to Lake Pend Oreille to practice how everyone will react,” says Ayres.

At the Functional Exercise in September, the same agencies and entities attended to act out the EAP through a more-involved series of real-life simulated emergency situations. The Functional Exercise is an action-packed, higher stress version of the Tabletop Exercise that encourages first responders to act out simulated dam failure situations. It allows each person involved to discover how they would react to emergency events, and is an opportunity to learn how players can more effectively work together

to respond in the face of a crisis, whether it be Mother Nature’s doing or one of our own.

“The Functional Exercise is timed and when the simulated flood wave is moving towards downstream residents, recreation areas, bridges, and roadways, there is a lot more pressure on each of the individual participants, particularly dispatch personnel,” explains Ayres.

In addition to these two exercises that are conducted every couple of years, all dam operators undergo an annual training EAP session. An annual EAP drill is also conducted for each facility. The annual drills are less involved than the Tabletop and Functional exercises; they measure the state of readiness of key personnel and ensure that the contact information on the notification flowcharts for each dam are current. These annual drills are often conducted “off hours”— weekends, holidays, or after the work day has ended All agencies listed on the emergency notification flowcharts (including Sanders and Bonner County dispatch and sheriffs’ offices, Idaho State Patrol, Montana Highway Patrol, National Weather Service, Montana Rail Link, and downstream schools and resorts) were contacted by Avista System Operators and Hydro Safety personnel for the annual exercise. These exercises were held in late August.

Depending on the situation, and whether it is a potential dam breach emergency or an imminent failure, dam operators at Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge initiate one of two plant-specific flowcharts. Most of the notification flowchart calls are made by operators at Avista’s System Operations Center and Generation Control Center in Spokane, both of which are manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In the event of an emergency, the dam operators at Cabinet Gorge and/or Noxon Rapids contact the System Operators and GCC operators because the dam operators will be busy controlling spillgates, checking security cameras, activating sirens, and securing the plant. This process enables the agencies on the flowcharts to be contacted in an efficient and timely manner. Also note that both Cabinet Gorge and Noxon Rapids Dam are physically manned by operations personnel at all times.

Cabinet Gorge Dam was built in 1952 in response to the energy shortages in the Northwest. This unique concrete arch dam was constructed in just 21 months;

Kate Wilson is a project journalist for Avista’s Clark Fork Project. Reach her at hunterolivemint@gmail.com

the reservoir is 20 miles long and stores up to 105,000 acre feet of water. In the event of a dam failure at Cabinet Gorge, just eleven miles from the confluence with Lake Pend Oreille, peak flood elevations would occur in just 3.5 hours. The water would reach Lake Pend Oreille in 35 minutes but would only increase the lake by a maximum of one foot. Most of the town of Clark Fork would not be flooded—the bridge would be blocked off, and some of the lower elevations flooded, but most of the town would be fine.

“We still have a lot of people that believe the town [of Clark Fork] would be completely inundated,” says Clark Fork Mayor Tom Shields. “That is simply not true.”

Because all communities downstream of Cabinet Gorge are in Bonner County, Idaho, the first responder in the event of an emergency there would be the Bonner County Sheriff aided by the Idaho State Police. The Bonner County Dispatch would page the Clark Fork Valley Fire Department to sound the evacuation siren, located at City Hall.

Bonner County Commissioner Lewis Rich attended both exercises and commented on the difficulty that such an emergency situation would pose to county resources. “We would just have to make the best of a bad situation and continue on,” he said. “These exercises help us to prepare for the worst.”

Noxon Rapids was constructed in 1959; it possesses the greatest generating capacity of any of Avista’s eight hydroelectric facilities. It is located 2.5 miles upstream of the town of Noxon; the reservoir is 38 miles long and stores up to 400,000 acre feet of water. In the event of a dam failure at Noxon Rapids, the flood wave would reach Cabinet Gorge Dam in one hour. A complete failure of the dam could increase Lake Pend Oreille by a maximum of two feet. The town of Noxon would be 10 to 15 feet underwater, but the town of Heron would not be flooded, so the townspeople could seek refuge there.

Noxon school principal Kelly Moore reports that they can have all the kids evacuated from the school and on high ground within 4.5 minutes of the siren being activated—the school practices this regularly and has two teachers who are also EMTs. Cabinet Gorge Dam would not be expected to breach, as its spillway capacity is greater than peak flood inflows.

Photo of Cabinet Gorge Dam by George Perks

In the case of a Noxon Rapids Dam failure situation, Sanders County Sheriff’s Office would direct all evacuation, mitigation, and rescue activities. The Sheriff would receive assistance from the Sanders County Emergency Management, the Noxon and Heron Volunteer Fire Departments, the Noxon Ambulance Association, the Cabinet Ranger District, and Sanders County Search and Rescue.

“I watch TV a lot and there is always a big wave. [These exercises] give us a better idea—we don’t have to get all excited because we should have time to respond in most situations,” says Sanders County 911 Dispatch Mark Denke. “We have to get our local people notified and these exercises help to do that.”

Both towns of Noxon and Clark Fork have emergency sirens with public address systems that were donated by Avista. The sirens can also be activated for other emergencies besides a dam failure, such as forest fires, a train derailment, or a hazardous materials spill. Though the town of Heron would be safe from the flood

waters and a refuge for many evacuees, the Heron Bridge to access the town might be a different story. The Cabinet Gorge fish hatchery is immediately downstream of the dam, so in the case of a failure they know to “get out of Dodge if the siren went off,” says Ayres.

All of the towns have delineated places where displaced citizens can go—in most cases higher ground structures such as community centers and schools, though each situation may be different. Avista’s customer service call center is usually supplied with current information during storms and other emergencies: (800) 227-9187.

In the event of a failure at Hungry Horse dam, a large structure on the south fork of the Flathead River, a major tributary to the Clark Fork River, things would be more serious. Hungry Horse has three times the storage capacity of Lake Pend Oreille; it would impact all downstream dams, including Kerr, Thompson Falls, Continued on page 48

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 23

Page 24 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Land Management

by Michael White

Well, here it is fall and there is much to be done regarding the management of land and estates. There is firewood to get in, road work, including erosion control and rock to be put down in those bad spots before spring break-up leaves us with ruts and giant mud holes, and then there is some seeding to be done yet, too. And, of course, the clean-up and organization of all the stuff which has been pulled out, stacked, piled, accumulated, etc. that needs to be put under cover before being covered for the winter by the inevitable snow. Yes, this is the stuff of fall estate and land management.

I like to manage my forest for firewood, as well as, timber, wildlife, water and esthetics too, so when I go out to cut the down and dead trees on my property for firewood, I think it is a good idea to pick out some trees which need to go anyway and girdle them for next year’s firewood.

I pick a tree in a clump of trees which are too close together, or maybe one which is leaning into a road (and will eventually come down in a storm and block the road) and/or I find the trees which have beetles in them or root rot or blister rust or even ones which may block a view I want to open up and I will girdle them.

Girdling is when you cut a strip of bark away on the base of a tree (cut about six inches wide and a little bit into the wood, all the way around), so that the tree will die and dry while standing up. Next year when I come out to get firewood, those trees I girdled last year will be standing dead and dry, ready to cut for firewood.

Then I will select a some more while out getting the firewood that year, for the next year, and so on. In this manner I have a steady supply of

firewood and also I am working to improve the health, functionality and esthetics of my forest.

Every spring my roads develop some ruts and some mud holes, and parts may even threaten to slough off here and there.

A properly graded road, crowned, outsloped or in-sloped in the proper places, with rolling dips installed in the proper places too, is the best way to ensure that your road lasts. If your roads were not built properly in the first place and you can not get them redone, then there are some things you can do each fall to help keep your road in better condition during spring break-up. Each fall I try determining where the problems will pop up this next spring; that means I must notice the previous spring where the water is running down the road and/or sitting on the road, causing the ruts and mud holes.

First, make sure there are ditches on each side of your road and that they are not clogged or have places which are too shallow and need to be dug out.

Put water bars or cross ditches (kelly humps to some folk) across the road at appropriate intervals, to take the water off of the road and into the ditch. When you dig a cross ditch to drain water off the road be sure to angle the shallow ditch slightly downhill and pile the excavated dirt on the downhill side. In the low spots you will need to put in some rock and if you can come up with some road fabric to put down first it will do wonders. Then put down some bigger rock (pit run) and top that off with quarter minus rock if possible. If having rock hauled in is not an option, see about filling a pickup truck with some rock from abandoned gravel pits (with owner’s permission) and use that to put in the low spots.

There are some spots in a road where a simple water bar or cross ditch will not be enough and a culvert is needed. I have been able to come up with old junk culverts many times which have cost little or nothing and worked very well, but if a culvert is not an option, then you can make an old fashioned water crossing by digging a good sized ditch and lining both sides with some treated 4”x4” timbers and staking them in with re-bar.

Make the gap narrow enough that a tire can roll over it without being obstructed and the ditch deep enough to carry a good amount of water across the road.

Also, each fall I like to identify areas along the sides of my roads, or even on lesser used roads which have bare soil. There are also places all around my property which may have been over grazed, dug up by the dogs or for some reason have bare soil. In those places I put down a seed mix in the fall, so that the seeds will start to sprout as soon as the snow melts and get an early start. I recommend a seed mix which will both stabilize soil and makes for good wildlife forage too. The Country Co-Op Store in Ponderay has an excellent mix called the Forest Service Mix which is composed of the 20 percent orchard grass, 15 percent each of annual rye, timothy and mountain brome, 10 percent each of Idaho fescue, white Dutch clover and alsike clover, and five percent red clover.

Yes, fall is the time to plan for winter, spring and even next fall’s firewood season. Go out there and get your wood in, girdle some trees for next year, fix up those roads and put down some seed mix. Then get all the junk picked up and stored for winter and for gosh sakes, clean and organize “the resource yard.”

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by Matt Haag

Archery season is right around the corner as I type this. In fact, by the time this prints we’ll be a couple of days into it. If you haven’t been out shooting and tuning up your skills and equipment, now is the time. If you are new to flinging arrows or it’s been a while, there are some great folks in the community who will give you a hand. Join the Sandpoint Archers, and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow shooters, while learning a few things. Or talk to Tom and Calvin at Sandpoint Outfitters and Pete at the Arrow Works in Clark Fork.

There’s no doubt hotter temperatures will follow us well into the archery season.

Heat and game meat don’t mix too well, so have a plan to take care of your meat before you head into the woods. Every year I see people make mistakes that can be avoided. Learn to properly dress your animal. With an elk, remove the entire hide, especially the thicker hair that covers the brisket and neck. Also, get the windpipe out. Have some coolers with ice to put the meat on as soon as you get back to the truck.

Unfortunately, with the anticipation of hunting season arriving some degenerates

GWORKS O LCONSTRUCTION Steve Frost Custom Log Homes Since 1971 think that they should illegally shoot big game, stealing our resources. A lot of this

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monkey business happens at night with a spotlight. Fish & Game officers will be deploying their robotic decoys in record numbers this late summer and early fall.

This is not a threat, but more of a warning to those that think illegally shooting animals is fun. It may prove to be the most expensive fun you’ve had.

We set the decoys to catch folks that are hunting at night, out of season, or on private property without permission. If you are a land owner that has experienced problems with trespass, spotlighting issues, and are interested in having a decoy operation on your property, please call me, or your local officer.

Also, the economy is not doing as well as it has been, and some folks are suffering financially. Financial woes are not an excuse to steal game from the people of Idaho. If you need meat please call me and we’ll do our best to put some meat on your table, legally. Every year I have some poacher tell me they were just trying to feed their family. And in most cases they have a fresh box of beer on the seat, and pack of smokes, and the latest cell phone attached to their belt. Pretty lame excuse if you ask me. For those folks that can spare a little meat this year, please consider taking your extras to the food bank or call me and I’ll find a family that needs the meat. Please remember to attach a proxy statement to the meat when you give it to someone else. Proxy statements can be found in the hunting regulations.

Jim Hayden, your Regional Wildlife Manager here in the Panhandle, put out some interesting statistics on archery hunting. According to Jim, we’re seeing the number of archers (includes both A tag and B tag) increasing at a rate of about 4.7 percent a year in the Panhandle. We now have just under 4,900 elk archers in the region. That’s about 1 out of every 4 elk hunters hunting with a bow. Panhandle archers are doing better now than they did a few years ago as well. That’s probably from a combination of better equipment, better access, improved overall elk herds, and/or a shift of hunting to areas with more elk. In 2001, about 9 percent of archers took an elk in the Panhandle. Last

year, it was better than 12 percent. The combination of more hunters and higher success rates led to an all-time record of 594 elk harvested by Panhandle archers in 2007. Just for a comparison, 15 years ago, Panhandle archers took just 128 elk during the 1992 archery season! We’ve also seen a slight increase in the number of nice bulls taken by archers. From 2000 to 2004, archers took about 65 six-point bulls a year. That’s improved now, and last year, archers took 118 six-point bulls in the region.

Unit 1 has really come on strong, and is a big part of the reason that the regionwide harvest is so good. Archery elk harvest in Unit 1 has more than tripled in the last 8 years, growing from about 40 to about 130 elk per year. You still can’t just go up and wander around and find elk necessarily, but the elk herd is growing, and folks are finding them. Archery hunting in the Panhandle has never been better. There is no doubt that we will see a decrease at some point in the success rate as hunter numbers increase. Regardless, it will be another outstanding season.

So get out there and enjoy it! Follow the rules, respect private property and other hunters, and take care of the harvested meat properly.

School is starting soon, and our schedules will be even more hectic. Have you made the effort to spend quality time with your kids in the outdoors this summer?

Grab the kids and hit the woods.

Leave No Child Inside.

Matt Haag is an Idaho Fish and Game Conservation Officer. You can reach him at 208-265-8521 or email mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 25

The Game Trail

Page 26 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

A Bird in Hand

by Michael Turnlund

Waxwings – wandering frugivores with dapper duds

We are fortunate to have not one, but two, waxwings in our neck of the woods.

The eponymous name refers to the unique, wax-like substance on the wing tips of these birds. It is as if God, with a creative gesture, carefully dipped the bird’s wings into pearlescent sealing wax. Ornithologists are unsure of the function of the this waxy material, but the bright red tips serve as a useful and distinctive field mark.

The two species you might chance upon are the Cedar Waxwing and the Bohemian Waxwing. The first we’ll consider is the Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). This waxwing is a local resident, though it never seems to stay in one place for too long. These birds form small flocks that are ever on the prowl for almost any type of small fruit – juniper berries, crab apples, blue berries, service berries, etc. Hence their classification as frugivores, Latin for “fruit devourers.” A dry, frozen cherry is just fine for the Cedar Waxwing on a winter day. But as you can imagine, available supplies are quickly consumed and so the birds are continuously in the hunt. In the summer during breeding season they will also take insects in the air. Bird cannot live on fruit alone!

T h e C e d a r Wax wing is a lovely t h i n g , slightly smaller than a robin. It is clothed in a silky beige garb that

transitions in front into a pale yellow belly and on the back into a gray that covers the wings and the tail. That blunt tail is also edged in bright yellow – another important field-mark. The bird sports a lazy crest that never seems to stand erect and a black bandit’s mask over its eyes. Appropriate wear for someone stealing your berries! Who is that masked bird?

Once you have learn to identify the Cedar Waxwing by sight, the next lesson is knowing it by sound. The Cedar Waxwing doesn’t have a song per say, but rather a distinctive trill that sounds almost like a large insect.

The call will identify it before it comes into sight. I know that the waxwings are raiding my blue berries simply by hearing their wheezy buzzes from my window.

The other waxwing we might see in our area is the Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) . Whereas the Cedar Waxwing is strictly a North American bird, the Bohemian is distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. Our area is just inside of the southerly reaches of its year-round range, this bird tending to favor more northerly latitudes than the Cedar. The Bohemian is also a bit larger than the Cedar, though the size difference might be difficult to judge in the field. Its coloration is similar to the Cedar’s, but it swaps the yellow belly for a gray one and the black chin patch is more prominent. Since I seem to always be looking up at the birds when I spot them, I look for the distinctive rustyred coverts of the Bohemian to separate it from the Cedar, which has white coverts (coverts are the underside feathers of the tail). The Bohemian retains the bright gilded tail edge of its cousin.

Though the Bohemian is technically a year-round resident, our chances of seeing it in the winter might be better than any other time of the year. This is because the Bohemian is prone to population

movements called irruptions. An irruption is when whole populations of birds will move away from traditional forage areas into other, less traditional ones, in response to scarcity of food supplies. Thus, a collapse of a regular berry supply in the winter will send the birds scurrying south, or east, or west. These movements are not necessarily predictable. There are few sights, or sounds, more wonderful than an entire flock of Bohemians descending to feed in a fruit tree. In fact, its specie name garrulus means “noisy.” Its buzz seems to be a little more coarse than the Cedar’s, but definitively waxwing.

Something else noteworthy of waxwings is the late date at which they begin nesting. This summer I saw a flock of Cedar’s stripping moss from some large Douglas Firs. It was already midJuly, a time when the hatchlings of most other birds species are already fledged.

The purpose behind this late nesting date is to coordinate the birth of the chicks with the ripening of the summer fruit crops.

This fall, keep your eyes peeled for the waxwings, especially if you have a fruit tree, mountain ash, or some other enticing food source in your yard.

Chances are you’ll get a visitor or two, plucking berries from the branches and swallowing them whole. But if you are really fortunate, you’ll get the whole gang of masked bandits at once. And once they’ve stripped the tree bear, they will be gone.

Then you’ll know what all the “buzz” is about! Happy birding.

Photos: Cedar Waxwing © 2008 Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Used with permission.

Bohemian Waxwing. © 2008 Clare Biodiversity Group. Used with permission.

You have better ways to spend your money than paying the tax man.

James Hutchens, PA Certified Public Accountant

1211 Michigan, Sandpoint 208.265.2500 • 800.338.9835

Michael Turnlund is a Sandpoint resident who teaches at Clark Fork High School. Reach him at mturnlund@gmail.com. Visit our website at RiverJournal.com for color pictures and links to birdsong.

Hiking the Morris Creek Trail

Morris Creek Trail No. 132 •

Destination: Upper Morris Creek 6,380 feet. Map, page 113.

•

USGS Map: Clark Fork, Scotchman Peak GPS: N48 13 26.6 W116 06 55.8

•

Trailhead: On Highway 200 in downtown Clark Fork, Idaho, turn north by the Chevron Station onto Main and go 0.6 mile, turning left onto Lightning Creek Road. Go 6.3 miles to the trailhead.

•

Trail Length: 2.8 miles

•

Trail Condition: fair

•

Elevation Gain: 2,000 feet

•

Estimated Duration of Hike: 1.5 to 2 hours up, 1 hour down

•

Sweat Index: moderate

•

Best Features: periodic views of Blacktop Mountain and Bee Top

•

Availability of Water Along the Trail: follows Morris Creek

•

Stream Crossings: one, which is difficult or impossible during times of high runoff

•

What is it like? While this trail does not offer the panoramic views that mountaintop destinations include, this is a great, late-season, hot-weather hike with plenty of water. It also has a great diversity of plants and trees.

• •

Camping: not really

Alternate Hikes: For the adventurous, a hike to Scotchman No. 2 or to Goat Mountain makes for the possibility of an open loop.

The first publication of Trails of the Wild Cabinets (Keokee Books, 2003) included trail information on over 80 trails in the Cabinets, just enough to take the hiking aficionado through a long summer, as long as he or she doesn’t have to work for a living. The second edition of the book includes a few more Wild Trails, researched and written by local hiker Jim Mellem. The Morris Creek Trail is one of those hikes.

If your desire is to explore and discover the rugged beauty of the mountains we live in, and plan to spend more than a summer doing so, then pick up the companion to Cabinets, Trails of the Wild Selkirks, and discover an additional 107 trails into the area backcountry.

Both books include information on mountain bike accessibility, and both are available from Keokee Books in Sandpoint. Order online at www.keokeebooks.com, or call toll free 800880-3573

Re-Elect

TODD CROSSETT Bonner County Commissioner

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Together, we can preserve our values, and take charge of our future, instead of allowing our future to take charge of us.

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PAID FOR BY PEOPLE FOR TODD CROSSETT COMMISSIONER, JEFF ROULEAU, TREASURER.

Palin Light- Continued from page 10 Krill went on to say that Palin’s negotiation of the “Alaska Gas line Inducement Act,” was one of her largest contributions to the state, with construction in the near future. AGIA, as its known, was designed to promote the quick construction of a gas pipeline, and to ensure the opening of the North Slope basin to longterm gas exploration and development, by offering incentives to potential pipe line builders and to North Slope gas producers .

“Palin’s reputation for raising taxes apparently stemmed from the Governor’s successful attempts to right the crooked negotiations from the year before she took office. Governor Palin renegotiated the tainted contracts after she gained the Governor’s office.” He also praised her decision to provide approximately $1,200 for energy relief to each Alaska citizen out of record revenues due to increases in the cost of oil and gas. “Rather than enriching the state coffers, Governor Palin awarded the windfall to the citizens of Alaska, amounting to over $1,200 per person. She is a reformer,” Jack said. “She instituted an ethics reform law for state employees, including legislators.”

As Mayor, Palin served two three-year terms and, according to Krill, inherited a just three-year-old city police department. Prior to 1992, when Palin took office as a Wasilla city council member, all police duties fell to the state police, the county not having any such force. Krill said, “Sarah funded [the police department] through a two percent sales tax during the time she was a member of the city council. She believed strongly in

reducing the mill rate,” he said, referring to the reduction in mill rate under Palin from two mills to half a mill. He went on to say, “One of her huge contributions as mayor was to build the new sport complex in Wasilla.”

When asked about the relationship of the fire department with the mayor, he replied, ”We both had a high degree of accountability as public officials. A great degree of self-discipline.

She was, as we were, fiscally prudent with public funds.”

Krill believes this prudence on Palin’s part might “account for some of the personnel changes during that period,” he said.

After college and before being hired by the fire department, Krill hired on with the oil companies up on the North Slope.

He served as an engineer and consultant.

When asked about the controversial drilling in ANWAR, he replied, “I’ve been there both in summer and winter. When you see Prudhoe Bay, it’s kind of trashed around Dead Horse (the original project area). But when you go out to the satellite fields like Alpine, located near the National Reserve area to the west, they make such a smaller footprint that they are hardly noticeable.

This was all made possible by more modern technology.” He went on to suggest that the ANWAR oil deposits were primarily five to six miles from the coast and away from coastal migratory routes.

“The oil companies on the North Slope are very environmentally conscious and rigorously enforce rules to prevent spills,” said Krill. He indicated the staff of these companies are so environmentally conscious that anything spilled on the ground, even water, or dumping your coffee cup out,

is considered a spill and is immediately cleaned up. Repeated offenders are fired for such acts.

“As far as wildlife is concerned, the caribou herds have actually increased substantially since Prudhoe Bay was first developed. I can’t see any impediment that would affect wildlife. In fact, I can remember that when I was up there, the caribou herds actually increased substantially due to the severe restrictions on hunting or harassing wildlife,” he said. Krill went on to point out, “One such phenomenon was that caribou would often climb up on the large gravel pads at a well site to get up out of the tundra and the swarms of mosquitoes.”

It is obvious that Chief Krill is a great admirer of both Sarah Palin and her husband Todd, as well as the rest of the family. He also said, “When you are a reformer fighting corruption, you are going to make enemies from those that are holding public positions of trust that may have been betrayed. It is natural that when you fire someone, they aren’t going to like you very much,” Krill said, and pointed out that many times “the aggrieved party” will attack “those who caused the firings to take place,” he said.

Jack Krill says, “I know she will make a great vice president. She does what’s right for the people first and I wouldn’t have any reservations as to her ability to do that job.

I was her fire chief, now I’m Bayview’s fire chief.”

Asked about criticism of her experience level based on the small population of the areas she comes from, Krill replied, “Most of our country is made up of small towns.

I would trust Sarah Palin to make good decisions. She’s a very sharp person.”

Calvin Nolan, another Bayview, Idaho resident, said he raced snowmobiles in Alaska with Todd Palin. He relates an Iron Dog sled race in which Todd broke his arm in a spill 600 miles before the end of the race. “He drove that sled 400 miles onehanded. Then, at the last checkpoint, his engine blew up. Sarah handed him lunch, then his partner towed him the last two hundred miles and he still came in fourth.”

Calvin points out that both Todd and Sarah “have no quit in them. They are persistent, gutsy people.” Asked whether he thought she would make a good vice president, Calvin replied, “I’m kind of old fashioned and I can’t imagine a woman vice president, or for that matter, president. Having said that, if any woman should be either, I would pick Sarah Palin.”

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Eric Anderson

Page 28 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Successful hunting in our northern forests

by Tess Vogel

For my first column I tried to cover the rules and regulations that any first time hunter, or any hunter for that matter, should follow. In this column I would like to tell you about the first hunting experiences I had when I shot my first buck and my first cow elk.

When I was 11, my dad got me my first rifle, a Remington 7mm Short Action Ultra Mag, for Christmas. I was so excited when I got it. Soon after, my dad helped me sight it in so that I could use it to practice with and go hunting. After I took hunter safety, I was ready to go hunting.

That fall, we went out before and after school looking for deer. As it got closer to the end of the season we were out hunting before school and we came up on a buck that didn’t have a totally awesome rack, but I thought that it looked really cool, so I decided to take him. Not having a rest, I took the shot off-hand standing and dropped him in his tracks instantly. It was awesome!!!

I recommend getting into a prone kneeling position for a better rest. I was so excited and my dad was really excited.

After I shot the buck, my dad and I went over to him and dragged him to the truck. My dad took pictures of me with him. I was in my school clothes because we had gone out before school. After my dad had taken the pictures, we loaded him into the car and took off for home. I

changed my clothes because they had blood on them and went to school. It was an awesome experience!

My second hunting experience was when I got my first elk last fall right before I turned 13. It was a cow elk, but that was totally fine. I used the same rifle that I used to get my first deer. My dad and I would go out before and after school sitting and sometimes hiking up on the mountain looking for elk. One day before school my dad and I were out hunting.

We climbed up onto the railroad grade and sat down on the edge. We waited until some elk came out, and they were all cows. My dad asked me if I wanted to get a cow elk or wait. I told him that I wanted to get a bull elk because that’s what my dad had got. So we let the cows go and we went back to the house and I changed and went to school.

The next morning we went back to the same place and waited for the elk to come out. The elk started across the field and there was still no bull. I was really excited and I wanted to hoot my first elk, so I asked my dad if it was okay for me to shoot one of the cow elk. My dad said “it’s your tag and choice” and he set up my rest and I set up my gun, and put my sights on her. My dad told me to put the cross-hairs right behind her front shoulder and in the middle of her body. I took my first shot—but I missed. The elk started running around but they didn’t leave, so I set everything back up again. They were all walking towards the woods, so I had to take the shot soon or they would be gone. After I set everything up again I put my sight back on the cow that was second from the front, and I had to move my gun with her because she was walking. As soon as I had my gun set up on her just right I took the shot. She took off running towards the woods, but dropped about ten feet before the fence. I was super excited and so was my dad. It was really awesome to get that cow elk.

After 15 to 20 minutes, we walked over to check the elk. My dad told me that my shot was 241 yards and that it was a great shot. My dad and I loaded her into the back of the truck and went to town, so that I could go to my school and give my excuse for why I would be

missing school that day, because I was going in with my dad to Angus’s Custom Cuts to get my elk ready. When we got to the school we wrote down why I wasn’t going to be there and some of the people who saw me were probably wondering why I was dressed in all camouflage, and we left. On the way to Angus’s, we stopped by the Hope Athletic Club to show my elk to my Grandma Lynda who was staying there at a condo. She was really proud of me and excited, too. When we got to town we stopped by at Arnie’s Payless Gas and waited for my mom to come from her office so that she could see my cow elk. She was really proud and took pictures. After that we went to Angus’s, unloaded her, and helped Angus’s with my cow elk. It was a super awesome day.

I hope that you enjoyed my stories. I had a lot of fun hunting and it was an awesome way to spend time with my dad.

Attention Hunters: Area Road Closures

The Sandpoint Ranger District will implement temporary road closures in late September through October to allow Kootenai Electric to bury an electrical line along the following roads: · Bayview Creek Road #2634; the lower section south of Bayview Creek Road #2634 Spur A intersection; and Three Sisters Road #2649 (upper portion only). Closed September 29 through October 10. Alternative Route: Travelers may use Cape Horn Peak Road #297, Spur A. Vehicles towing trailers are NOT advised to use this alternative route. · Three Sisters Road #2649 (lower section); Bayview Creek Road #2634 Spur A (upper section); and Cape Horn Peak Road #297. Expect 30minute delays from September 17 through October 24. These roads will be open without construction delays on Saturdays and Sundays. Also, there are no construction delays Monday through Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. during this time period.

For more information, please call Gianna Vaccaro at the Sandpoint Ranger District at 208-263-5111.

Tess Vogel is a student at Clark Fork High School. Reach her at editorial@ riverjournal.com, attention Tess

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 29

Trail’s End

Palin Dark - continued from page 30 SARAH PALIN: I’m not discussing my make-up.

ME: Tough question two: Your hair, what’s up with it?

SARAH PALIN: This is an outrage. Ask me about my energy record.

ME: Your energy record or your oil record? Because you like to play free and loose with using one term when you seem to mean the other, as well as your state’s production of the one that you forget to use when you used the other.

Which one, Sarah Palin? Oil, energy, or banana bread?

Let’s just skip the oil/ energy/banana bread question. Let’s talk about glasses. I like contacts because I think my glasses hide my glorious eyes. What do you think?

SARAH PALIN: I wouldn’t know.

ME: I like how you came to Idaho for college a couple of times. Did you like it here? Why didn’t you come to my house?

SARAH PALIN: It was in the eighties.

Were you in Idaho then? How about we talk about my record as governor and as mayor of Wassila?

ME: Uh-uh, Sarah Palin. In my house we call earmarks ‘buttmarks’ because we hate them so much.

SARAH PALIN: Foreign policy, then.

Let’s talk about…

ME: cough—not ready—cough SARAH PALIN: What was that?

ME: Nothing. Okay. You say that you’re an expert on Russia because it’s so close to Alaska, right?

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SARAH PALIN: I think I may have been mischaracterized when I used those words.

Yes, I believe we need to keep an eye on Russia…

ME: Because Putin’s crazy, right? We can agree on that, sister-girl!

Give it to me right there (holds hand up for high five. Sarah Palin thinks she’s too cool for school.)

That’s cold, Sarah. That’s Alaska cold, Sarah Palin. So you told Charlie Gibson that the Ukraine should join NATO, and that we’d go to war with Russia on the Ukraine’s behalf if we had to?

SARAH PALIN: The United States has a right to defend her allies, Kristi. And we need to have all options on the table.

ME: That’s awesome how you just totally said that like you meant it. Like, seriously, if we were in the twenties I’d say, “Whatta dame! This doll’s a firecracker!” You just suggested nuclear war with Russia is totally in our foreseeable future! (And I love, by the way, your use of ‘nucular’ during the Gibson interview. Priceless.) I just want pinch your little cute cheeks!

SARAH PALIN: You wouldn’t talk to Obama like this.

ME: That’s because my Obama questions are all about traditionally racist things, like watermelon and fried chicken. You know, (whispery voice) because he’s black.

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SARAH PALIN: This interview is over.

ME: My interview with John McCain is going to be about dementia and erectile dysfunction and whether or not he uses Depends yet. I’m also going to ask him if all his childhood friends are dead now, and I’m going to play ‘Fire and Rain’ in the background. That should get a tear out of him. (whispery voice) He’s very old.

SARAH PALIN leaves in the angriest way possible. Slamming doors, stomping.

I can tell she wants to give me the finger but she shows some restraint at the last moment.

ME: WHAT? WHAT DID I SAY? I’M NOT SEXIST!!!! I’M A WOMAN! SEE! (Flashes boobs) This interview isn’t over until I say it’s over, missy! Sit your Alaska butt back down here on this rickety stool!

YOU’RE LOSING MY VOTE, SARAH PALIN!!!!!!

A fellow River Journaler pointed out that a serious interview with someone who knew and supported Sarah Palin isn’t really offset by a satirical make-believe interview that pokes fun at some of the questions that have arisen around Palin as a VP pick. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get permission to reprint an email sent by a Wasilla, Alaska ‘watchdog’ which details concerns with Palin’s performance, though I will link to it on our website as a continuation to this story. In print, humor will have to suffice. That’s not to say that a serious consideration of Palin’s public record (as with all candidates) isn’t needed.

Like most people, Palin is not easily characterized as good or bad, but an honest look at her actions in public life should give people an idea of whether they would be comfortable with her service as the nation’s vice president, or even, should it become necessary, as president.

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Page 30 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

by Dustin Gannon

Procrastination. It isn’t just a word, it is also a behavior, one which is characterized by a repeated deferment of actions or tasks until a later time. Its earliest found usage was located in a 17th century sermon created by a man known as Reverand Walker. I did not know this man, but if I had, he would most likely have killed me. You see, he believed that it was a sin to procrastinate.

I however, disagree. Procrastinating to me is more like, well, perfecting. I’m just taking my time to ‘perfect’ this story for all of you to read. I kick down the door labeled deadline and burst into the world of laziness where I am free to perfect anything I wish. Like this story.

The summer is officially gone. The weather is about to change and we’re all about to be faced with the cold, bitter white blanket known to many as depression.

The warmth of the fire and football on the television is all too good a reason to do absolutely nothing with your day. With all that to look forward to, I’ve taken some time to interview some of the forecaddies that work with me at the Coeur d’ Alene Resort. I can’t imagine anybody out there has time to read

another 700 words about something that I have to say so how about something that a variety of people who carry a variety of personalities and a variety of various vicious thoughts that should be kept in a vestry? The ‘V’ key just broke off.

I’ve met a lot of caddies while working at the Resort. Rich Mast is a special one indeed, for he is my father. Okay, not really. But he looks as if he could be my father. Rich is a 42-year-old pacifist who loves the movie Eraserhead. Not only does he look like a surprised parent, but also a retired NFL linebacker. The guy is huge! Not fat huge, like, if King Leonidas would have lived another, oh, let’s say 20 years huge. I asked Rich what he thought of our golf course out here and he simply replied, “it’s like Disneyland with a lot of grass.”

Another interesting gentleman that I somehow came into contact with is a Mr. Edward Hernandez. He goes by Eddie.

When he isn’t caddying, he works as the caddie master. He has a neat desk, a variety of CDs, and nice a little booster seat that is not made up of phone books, but of neatly folded towels. Eddie has worked at the course on and off for 10 years. I asked Eddie what he thought of all the caddies as a whole and, being a caddie himself mind you, he explained to me that “they are all a bunch of misfits and malcontents with joi de vive.”

Apparently joi de vive is French for “full of life.”

I don’t know what I’m going to be doing for the fall so I asked Eddie what his plans were. “No clue, lookin’ for work so if ya got anything, call me up at the golf course.” Yeah, that didn’t really help me much. He has traveled down to Las Vegas in the past to work at golf courses there for the winter but he likes it here more. He says, “Coeur d’ Alene embodies kindness, community, sincerity, integrity, genuineness, serenity. Vegas embodies the exact opposite, except Vegas has excellent restaurants.”

After I talked with Edward, I was fortunate enough to run into a certain Jacob Eckstein. I don’t think I’ve ever gone a day at work without hearing this guy laugh. A chuckle with a side of Red Bull and you have Jake Eckstein, who insisted that I call him X-Tiz so that

Continued on page 54

Dustin Gannon is a sports fanatic who is learning to enjoy writing as well. Reach him at Dustin@RiverJournal.com

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 31

FORE!play

he could remain anonymous. “The best thing about being a caddie is meeting cool people and being on a badass golf course,” exclaimed Jake before he was about to head to the first tee in his extra small jumpsuit. I was wondering why he was wearing such a revealing piece of clothing and he explained to me, “It makes me faster, more aerodynamic.”

I even went behind the scenes to find out what other people thought of us caddies. Ron Miller works at the guest services counter and he is also in charge of the bag room. When asked what he likes about his job he said, “The people that you work with because of all the good personalities and that they are cooperative.” Even though everyone at the golf course is very different from one another, we all get along for the most part and it’s just a fun environment to be a part of.

Brandi Meeks is a beverage cart girl out there and she likes the caddies. “I love them, all of them. Especially Dustin Gannon.” She really said that for the record. Actually, she insisted that I put that in there. She has also heard her fair share of pick-up lines from golfers.

“Here’s my room key,” being one of them.

She wouldn’t disclose to me any others.

Dan Bright is a first year caddie. I swear to you that every day I see Danny, he is wearing a different pair of college basketball shorts. He has to have at least 365 pairs. I talked to Dan and asked him if he liked his first year out here, and with a slightly tilted hat he replied, “It’s a good time. Meeting new people and hanging out with the caddies is fun. Half of them are awesome, half not so awesome.”

Would he recommend others to try and become a caddie? “Yeah, I would. It’s a good experience.”

Chip Haugen is a caddie who came here from Vegas but when I asked him which was better all I got was this: “ .”

A lot of caddies have various jobs and hobbies that they do in the winter after the course closes and some, like myself and Mr. Hernandez, are still looking for something to do this winter. Travis Gentle already has a job that lasts through the winter. He works with kids at a rec center in Spokane called the Tamarack Center.

Nick Haas has it all planned out as well.

“I hunt. Huntin’ season and steelhead fishin’, baby.” The thing he likes the most about working here is “the hour and a half that you get before your round to hang out with the caddies.”

Page 32 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | September 2008

Education & our Growing Diversity

By Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Dick Cvitanich

Email Dick.Cvitanich@lposd.org | 208-263-2184 ext. 218 Every state in our country is becoming responsibility to help our students recognize understanding of other cultures, if possible. more diverse as our population grows or the growing diversity outside of northern As an example, a business recently suffered shifts from place to place. Some of this Idaho. When our students leave the Lake a walk out by employees who desired diversity is driven by the employment Pend Oreille School District they will to pray at a specific time because it was opportunities our country continues to experience a different world than their their holy week. This problem might have provide. Some is driven by the conflict in home area. As examples: been easily avoided if management had a other parts of the world. The U.S. is often • Almost half of the record 50 million deeper understanding of their employees viewed as a refuge from that suffering. students entering U.S. schools this fall and culture.

As these students and families become a are minorities.

Politically, there are many opinions about part of our communities, schools, and places • One in five of the above is Hispanic. how, as a nation, we include or even exclude of work, there are obstacles to be overcome. • It is estimated that the number of different cultures. There is also a “predominant” Our challenge as educators is to help these immigrant children will grow from 12.3 culture in our country that many people believe new students and families assimilate into our million in 2005 to 17.9 million by 2020. should be adopted by those new to our country. culture. We must teach them to read in a new This jump will account for all of the That is certainly a political decision. However, language, understand math concepts, and projected growth in the nation’s school as an educator, I simply know that our students understand our history and values. However, age population, with rural communities need to be ready to enter into a society that it is also our job to help our current students expected to face the most dramatic is different than that which I entered as an understand how to interact with people who changes.

18-year-old back in 1969. As families and carry a different history, culture, and in This change is not simply a big city educators we can help them to enter it with s o m e cases, value issue. Lewiston, Maine has a population reason and understanding. system. of 36,000 residents. Almost 10 percent A positive way to begin helping your As a of their population, 3,500 residents, are children to understand the wider world is to s c h o o l Somali immigrants. In large districts like ask your librarian, both school and public, district we Prince William County, Virginia where for books that tell stories of different cultures. have a 73,000 students attend, 13,000 are of There are many fine novels and picture limited English proficiency with over 100 books that will help our students to develop languages spoken. Every state in our an appreciation for the differences. Jump country is becoming more diverse and one right in to read these stories as a family. of our greatest challenges as educators Compare and contrast the differences. Your is to help our students understand how to world view is important to them. interact with others as they transition to Although we often decry television, one adulthood. can find numerous specials, PBS stories, In the work place, your children may and news programs that focus on the world interact with colleagues who observe outside our neighborhood. If you subscribe Ramadan; find people whose culture to cable, the world literally opens up. Artists demands a different style of dress, and and musicians from different cultures are whose holidays are different. They may hear often featured on television. individuals speaking different languages or Finally, dinner conversation is a great read notices in two or more languages. They opportunity to talk about our changing may witness racism. To effectively navigate world. The conversation begins simply with this world, our students will be required to respect toward one and all. It is a great develop a respect for different cultures at departure point for our students as they a minimum, and perhaps even a thorough head out into a rapidly changing world.

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Love Notes

By Marianne Love

Email: malove@imbris.net | www.SlightDetour.blogspot.com I can remember when Bat Waves was the rage among young people around Sandpoint. I can also remember when the distinctive Bat Waves logo seemed ubiquitous, with stickers of the smiling bat wearing sunglasses appearing on sweatshirts, school lockers, signs around town, store windows and notebook covers.

That was all by design, according to one of the original Bat Waves owners, Del Sanborn, a Sandpoint High grad now living in Wallace where he owns a general contracting business, specializing in masonry.

“We gave away stickers for free,” Sanborn told me r e c e n t l y. “ O u r philosophy was to get the stickiest glue possible [ t o render stickers almost impossible to remove]. That way you’ll be advertising me forever.”

Del also told me that another SHS grad, Lance Hruza who works in the movie industry, was instrumental in seeing that the logo even appeared in the radio station scenes of the television program “Northern Exposure.” It also appeared in old MTV segments. For sure, Bat Waves got plenty of its own literal exposure at Northwest snow resorts appearing on mitts, jackets, and hats of snowboarders flying through the air.

In 1987, Sandpoint’s Sanborn brothers, Chase and Del, along with partner Keith Snyder, helped found the Bat Waves concept, influenced, in part, by a scene from the Hunter Thompson movie “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

Chase Sanborn, who’s now embarking on a new career with micro-brews in Wallace, asked his college roommate Scott Walters, a U of I art major, to sketch the final logo.

They forged a successful business sewing and selling Bat Waves snowboard mitts, hats and lots of other gear with the recognizable image. We Loves, as a family, always applauded and supported

their efforts, especially because Del and Chase had been active members of Bill’s local Boy Scout Troop 111.

The mitts “made us big,” Del Sanborn says. “At one time we were selling in nine different countries.”

The Bat Waves mitt “could withstand the beating snowboarders would put their gear through,” according to a press release recounting Bat Waves’ early history. “At the time only ski gloves were available to boarders. On the hands of these knuckle draggers, ski gloves would become shredded in a matter of a week.”

So, the Sanborns and Snyder came up with an adaptation of a mitt designed for the Iditabike race, a 200-mile trek across the Iditarod trail in Alaska. Bat Waves, operating from Wallace, Idaho, quickly became a top name in the exploding world of snowboarding.

Back in the ‘90s, I recall making a stop in Wallace to visit the store where Bat Waves put out its product. After the grand tour, I walked out with a bagful of colorful nylon and velcro neck wallets with Bat Waves logos. The Sanborn brothers gave them to me to pass on to my staff of teen-aged journalists back in Sandpoint who, I figured, would go wild about them.

They did. My daughter Annie, now 30, still carries hers more than a dozen years later.

I was saddened to hear a few years ago that Bat Waves had gone out of business.

This, according to Del Sanborn, occurred because of situations beyond their control, resulting from their lending institution being bought out by another bank.

Now, I’m happy to report in this column that Bat Waves, doing business as “Batwaves,” is back. Same distinctive logo. Same high-quality snowboard mitt.

Same seamstress. New owner and a former student of mine.

Sandpoint native 33-year-old Josh Moon and his wife Rebecca have assumed Bat Wave rights. They’re once again promoting the logo and its distinctive snowboard mitt. I can also report my own purchase, this summer, of three black, hooded Bat Waves sweatshirts, and I’ve been proudly wearing mine.

Josh delivered those sweatshirts directly to me one day while Joyce Campbell was giving me my bi-monthly hair zap at Hair Tenders on North Boyer. He brought along a pile of mitts, and we all gave them a try. They’re colorful, comfortable and masterfully constructed.

I learned a little about that construction from seamstress Betty Ann Custis who sews the mitts in her Kellogg home. She knows what she’s doing too, having assembled about 45,000 mitts for the Sanborns and about a dozen pair for Josh. Production has just gotten underway during the past couple of months with Betty working a few hours each day to complete orders, some of which are custom. She estimates that she’ll be up to 40-hour weeks of sewing once the word gets out that Batwaves is back.

Why is the Batmitt so durable? Well, a visit with Betty answers that. A lifelong seamstress with experience sewing for Eddie Bauer, LL Bean, The Silver Needle in Kellogg and KL Manufacturing in Post Falls, Betty has 15 sewing machines in her home.

She uses five of those machines to complete a mitt. The Battmitt includes velcro, rubberized material, polar fleece, and cordura. Every pair includes a pocket of rubberized nylon, usually on the bottom opening of the left mitt, but on the right for custom orders.

“People are excited that have seen them and know they’re back out there,” she says. And, Betty seems genuinely excited herself to be working with the Continued on page 48

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 33

Page 34 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Grammar Damage

by Gene Merica Grammar and composition books have various sections: grammar, sentence structure, composition, mechanics and usage. Usage concerns itself with the correct and incorrect use of words whether they be verbs, nouns or words that sound alike.

Lately there has been a great deal of confusion between the words “bring” and “take.” You hear people saying, “Bring your plate over to the sink.”

Is that correct or incorrect?

Similarly you might hear someone say, “I’m going to bring food home for dinner.”

Correct or incorrect?

Here are the definitions from two different textbooks called “Grammar and Composition”: 1: Bring, take.

These two words are exactly opposite in meaning. Use BRING to indicate motion TOWARD the speaker. Use TAKE to indicate motion AWAY from the speaker.

2: Bring and take. BRING means ‘to carry from a distant place to a nearer one. TAKE means the opposite: ‘to carry from a near place to a more distant place.’

So, according to the d ef init ions above, y o u would take your

plate over to the sink or you would take food home for dinner if you were not near the sink or you were not at home when you spoke. (But see answers below.)

Suppose you are at school or work. You would TAKE your work home and you would BRING it back the next day.

You wouldn’t ‘bring’ your work home (from school or work).

Interesting proof is offered by fast food chains. They have a “TAKE OUT” window for you to take food (from the restaurant) to your home. They don’t have a “BRING OUT” window.

Also, even extra terrestrials know the difference. At first contact, the alien requests, “Take me to your leader.” He/ she doesn’t request that you “Bring me to your leader.”

Now here’s your assignment for next time: thinking of Yoke’s, Safeway, and WalMart checkout counters, what is wrong with this sign: “10 ITEMS OR LESS.” ANSWERS: *If your mother is standing by the sink, she might say, “Bring your plate over to the sink.” If she is at the table and the sink is across the room, she might say, “Take your plate over to the sink.” **If you are at home you might say, “I’m going to bring food home for dinner.” But if you are at work or school, you might say, “I’m going to take food home for dinner.”

Is it a Keyboarding class or is it Typing?

I learned to type in high school on an old Royal typewriter so to this day, when I really get going, I find myself pounding pretty heavily on the keys of my keyboard. I have typed on a mostly regular basis ever since I learned how. I would say I know the Qwerty keyboard better than I know the back of my hand but I don’t really know the back of my hand very well, so it’s not a good comparison. I can type out “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs” in less time than it takes most people to answer the telephone.

Then computers became ubiquitous, and software was developed to do what typewriters couldn’t do, which meant I had to re-learn some of what I’d been taught in my typing classes.

In today’s classrooms, students don’t take typing anymore—they take keyboarding. But what most of them are really doing is taking the same typing classes I took back in high school— they’re just utilizing a different machine as the tool. That’s a good thing because typing skills are expected in all but the lowest skill-level jobs in today’s computer-based world. That’s also a bad thing, however, because typing classes don’t recognize that the tool really is a different one.

Take spaces, for example.

It was drummed into my head during typing classes to use two spaces at the end of every period. This was important, because typewriters used monospace fonts—that is, each letter in a word used up exactly the same amount of space as any other. A document needed to have two spaces at the end of the period in order for the eye to see clearly the end of one sentence, and the beginning of another.

Computers, however, mostly use proportional fonts, which determine their own spacing

between letters in order for the end result to be more pleasing to the eye. If you use two spaces at the end of a sentence in a computer-generated document, therefore, you will have more space between sentences than necessary, and end up with a visually unappealing document, with rivers of blank spots in the body of your text.

Another difference between what’s taught in your keyboarding class (old typing rules) versus what’s expected in documents in today’s world is knowing the difference between a hypen, an en dash and an em dash.

The hyphen is found on the key between the number zero and the +/= key on most keyboards. You will generally use the hyphen when creating compound words.

The em dash—a long line used to break up sentences— is taught in typing classes as two hyphens (space--space), breaking a sentence like this.

Again, software has been developed to do what typewriters couldn’t—and the double hyphen is no longer used when the em dash is available.

The en dash, slightly shorter than the em dash, is used to designate the word ‘through’ in our sentences—for example, January–December.

Both of these marks can be set in most word processing software as an auto-correct option, or by inserting them as a symbol.

Bear in mind that typography rules (whether for typewriters or computers) are developed to create a visually pleasing document. If you use a monospaced font on the computer like COURIER, add two spaces after a period. If you’re given an assignment that requires using a particular style (say MLA style) then follow those rules. If you’re submitting a document for publication, check to see if guidelines for submissions are available.

-Trish Gannon

Gene Merica is a retired teacher who spent 32 years teaching English, social studies and even art. He lives in Hope.

Is Big Brother Watching Your Purchases?

by Thomas McMahon You may think, at least you would hope, that once you purchase an item from the store there is some sense of privacy involved in the transaction. That you may take the item wherever you wish and do with it what you will, without any foreign intrusion. While this is taken for granted, and it should be, there is a new device that is tracking items from the store and back to your home.

This may sound like something from Big Brother, but the radio-frequency identification tags that stores are putting into their merchandise is no joke. The RFID tags were first introduced into the consumer sector in order to increase the efficiency of inventory tracking.

The way it works is that companies can track the RFID tags in the product, so when a product is taken off of the shelf the company will know about it almost immediately. That way the store will always be stocked and items can’t get lost. This can become a problem when the company can still receive the RFID signal after the purchased item leaves the store.

RFID tags have many uses and more are being thought of everyday. Many of them include the marketing sector as previously mentioned but many uses are happening in more active roles. RFID tags are used in track events to record lap times, they are implanted in animals for identification and tracking, and libraries incorporate them for inventory management and tracking as well.

Humans have also been implanted for a

variety of reasons; some clubs in Europe use RFID tags in VIP customers to help pay for drinks and admittance, while places of high security use RFID tags in their employees.

RFID devices can be extremely small, only a few millimeters wide, so they are easily incorporated into almost anything.

Most devices are made up of two parts, one that sorts the information and the other being an antenna that sends and receives the information. Some tags only consist of an antenna; this means they can be printed directly onto a product without needing a chip. Due to this characteristic, RFID tags are starting to replace barcodes in some areas since they have many more capabilities than a traditional barcode.

Some ideas have arisen in the medical field for incorporating tags and implants in patients. The idea is that an ongoing patient would have the implant put in so nurses could scan it and get all the information they need. This would make everything work smoother and safer so patients aren’t misdiagnosed or over medicated.

So while most of the time RFID tags are safe and make a business run smoother, some of them are too strong for their own good. That means you buy a sweater, and all of a sudden Wal-Mart knows where you live. Many people find this intrusive and steps are being taken so this kind of thing stops happening.

Of course the bigger story is how such a small device can make such a big difference in the way the world does business.

Here’s a hint: you’ll find them in your own backyard

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Thomas McMahon is a student at the College of Idaho with an interest in tennis, engineering and playing geeky video games. Reach him at auzie_boy@hotmail.com

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 35

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Season Urban Political Before you check the Legends ballot, check the facts

by Trish Gannon

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s political season, why canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we hunt them?â&#x20AC;? Okay, that jokeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed to be about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;tourist season,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; but right about now, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it just seem to fit? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know about you, but by the time October comes around in a big election year, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just about sick and tired of having to research every email, television commercial, debate, newspaper story and talk show comment to find out just how muchâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if anyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of that information is true.

Back when I was growing up, and probably when you were, too, there were facts and opinions, and if you tried to pass the second off as the first you were called a liar. In some houses, you even got your mouth washed out with soap for doing that.

I guess that mouth-washing just doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen anymore, because not only are we daily treated to opinion disguised as fact, we also get facts that simply are not true.

And that happens on both sides of statements, 19 that are half true, another the party line.

22 that are barely true, 23 that are false Luckily, there are four websites out and six that garnered the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pants on fireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; there designed to help the average voter judgement as lies. Of those six lies, five check out the facts of the campaign were about Obama, saying he legislated information theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve come acrossâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; sex ed for kindergartners, called factcheck.org, votesmart.org, politifact.

Sarah Palin a pig, wants to increase com. and 2008election.com. Not that government by 23 percent, opposes the average voter really seems to want innovation, the electric car and nuclear to learn the truth, but I know people energy, and that Obama wanted to who read the River Journal are above bomb Pakistan. His final whopper was to average, so I offer these sources in compare the price of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;gas tax holidayâ&#x20AC;? hopes theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be used. to the Bridge to Nowhere.

So how do the candidates score?

Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also lied about his attempts to Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s check â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em outâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in alphabetical get earmarks for his state (he said he orderâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;on just one of those sites. hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, but that just ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so).

Politifact says that Joe Biden has McCain has done half flips on made seven true statements, four that whether the government should bail out are mostly true, six that are only half AIG and on offshore drilling, and pulled true, four that are barely true, four that a full out flip on President Bushâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tax cuts. are false and two that are â&#x20AC;&#x153;pants on fireâ&#x20AC;?

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800-880-3573 Hope: 264.5067 â&#x20AC;˘ Sandpoint: 265.8333 Â&#x153;ÂŤi\Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2C6;{°xäĂ&#x2C6;Ă&#x2021;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;->Â&#x2DC;`ÂŤÂ&#x153;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;\Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2C6;x°nĂ&#x17D;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x17D; So there you have itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;four ways to Visit us at 6Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;>Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;°V>Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;LÂ&#x153;Ă&#x2022;ÂŤÂ&#x2026;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;V>Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x20AC;>ÂŤĂ&#x17E;°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C; KeokeeBooks.com check the facts on candidates before www.CaribouPhysicalTherapy.com you vote. Please do so.

Page 36 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Books from River Journal writers

Becky Thornton, Clark Fork I was staying with a friend and we kept hearing all these noises. We just thought it was the dogs and then we realized the dogs were all asleep. A lady told us later that her mother had died in the house.

Brian Arthun, Sandpoint I might have. For a while after my father-in-law died I would come upon these really cold spots in the house, and weird things would happen, like the blender would just suddenly turn on.

Maureen Arel, Trout Creek. No, but once I was visiting my daughter in Colorado Springs, Colo. We went to her friend’s house for a women’s bible study.

The women were praying so fervently that I felt the Holy Ghost. It was like a wind in the room. It was awesome! (We’re assuming it’s some kind of spirit that blurred this picture so badly.)

Phil Kemink, Sandpoint I haven’t, but a family member had an odd experience at the Banff Springs Hotel, which many say is haunted. Over the years, employees have reported a lot of strange occurrences there. My relative didn’t actually see a ghost but had to switch rooms because she could feel someone watching her.

Patty Speelmon, Clark Fork In the house I live in, I’m pretty sure Gloria has come to visit. I’ve felt her sitting down on the bed beside me.

Priest River- Cont’d from page 11

retrained. “Some people look at the glass as being half empty,” he said; “If they are going to be laid off anyway, it is a great opportunity for some to get job retraining.”

When the PRDC began its revitalization efforts almost 30 years ago, Priest River was sunk in the depths of a severe national recession much worse than the current downturn is so far. The town has come a long way since then. Its physical appearance has been dramatically improved, and much hard work and expense have gone into improving the town’s deteriorating infrastructure.

The largest building in the downtown area, originally known as the Beardmore Block, is almost at the end of an extensive and extremely expensive restoration carried out by Brian Runberg. Runberg has scheduled an upcoming open house to show off the completed building (minus the theater on the north side, which has yet to be addressed). The Seattle architect is the great-grandson of the man responsible for the Beardmore’s construction in 1922, timber entrepreneur Charles Beardmore.

The former Napa Auto Parts building, now called Seven Planet, on the southwest corner of Main and High streets, directly across High from the Beardmore, has been transformed into an attractive internet café. “They’ve done a beautiful job,” Martin said of owner Leif Youngberg and Gary Dickson, the manager. The business will also feature the work of local crafts people, Dickson said, as long as the crafts fit in with the business’s environmental emphasis.

AJ’s Café has also been spruced up—as has the library, which now has a beautiful façade and landscaping, and a pretty nice interior, too. Other improvements to the town’s appearance have been effected over the years as well; therefore, Martin feels the description of downtown in the newspaper story as “a collection of ragtag antique stores with torn awnings,” was a far cry from an accurate appraisal of what his city looks like today.

Thanks to the joint efforts of Runberg, Youngberg, and Dickson, Priest River will have an Oktoberfest celebration on October 4 in conjunction with the open houses the three are planning at

Larry Richards of Waterville, Wash.

(Here visiting) Yes, I’ve had a feeling of something different, but it’s really hard to explain.

their buildings. Portions of the downtown streets will be blocked off for the event.

Martin said there will be music all day, and street vendors. “This grand opening event will give the Beardmore Block and Seven Planet building an opportunity for the community to see the completed restorations and for the owners to reintroduce these beautiful buildings to the historic downtown.”

Runberg added, “The Oktoberfest celebration is a symbolic inauguration for a new chapter for the downtown.” Just as important, he added, the Beardmore Building is adding four new tenants before year’s end.

So… is Priest River in danger of dying off like some endangered wildlife species? No way say those who love the place. The town has faced and overcome too many hard knocks in its more than a century of existence to give up now. In the mayor’s words, “There’s too much positive going on.”

One new business, the Hardwood Grill, opened “uptown” about the time the JD closure was announced, in a refurbished building on Highway 2. So far, it appears to be thriving.

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 37

on the street

Have you ever experienced a ghost?

Page 38 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

In the Valley of Shadows with Lawrence Fury

“...His solid flesh had never been away, for each dawn found him in his usual

place... False phantom trifles of some vaster plan. His folk and friends are now an alien throng to which he struggles to belong.” - H.P. Lovecraft There are more than ghost stories in October for Halloween. This tale will make you afraid to go into the woods for other reasons than Bigfoot.

It’s 1937, a time that movie makers and TV shows often depict through a yellow filter. Dad (Dennis) was a young man of 21 at the time, a few years from WWII. Working for the summer for the Forest Service, he could experience firsthand his true profession, forestry.

It was late August and he, along with his friend, Roger, and a more senior ranger, Carl, were taking supplies, news and mail up to the Blacktail lookout tower.

They arrived at the trailhead on a morning late after a sudden, severe thunderstorm had passed through the previous night.

They pulled a trailer with the mule that would carry the bulk of the supplies. All three shouldered packs after getting the mule out of the trailer and started up the trail. The watchman in the lookout tower was interested in world events, and the magazines relating the plans for a huge World’s Fair in New York in 1939, along with the newly resurgent Germany, would be appreciated reading along with several novels to while away the next month or so until the end of the fire season.

An hour into the hike brought the trio and the government mule to a trail fork. The one on the right was two miles and more severe. To the left, a little over a mile. My father and Roger started left, but Carl called out: “We’re taking the other one, fellers.” Pointing out the shorter distance failed

to persuade the older man to take that route. Carl started right; no further persuasion was entertained.

Shrugging, Dad and his friend followed.

It was pushing noon when the trio came within sight of the tower and even the two newbies could see something was very wrong. The legs and the basic platform were still there, but the rest showed blackened skeletal claws pointing up to a now sullen, yellow sky. Another storm was coming in.

Carl ordered them in no uncertain terms to stay put while he went to investigate.

As the younger men watched, Carl delicately climbed up the ladder to the ruined tower and disappeared behind the blackened remnant of a wall. A minute later, Carl appeared and yelled down for one of them to bring up a saddle blanket.

Roger grabbed one and hurried to the tower. Meeting him half way down, he instructed Roger to return to the mule with my dad.

Ten minutes later, they watched as Carl carefully backed down the tower with a grisly burden wrapped in the blanket. Walking forward, they met Carl as he stepped onto the ground and laid the blanket and contents over the now skittish mule’s rump, securing it with a rope. “Let’s go,” was all he said as they headed to the trailhead.

The time spent at the tower was barely half an hour, but already the wind was picking up. It might not arrive full force for a couple of hours, but all three knew they needed to get back to the truck as quickly as possible; that’s why both the younger men were surprised when, again, Carl refused to take the shorter route down.

This time though, Dad and Roger stood their ground and started down the shorter route. Carl stood there looking at them holding the reins of the mule. After cussing several times he finally followed. As they descended Dad noticed Carl constantly looking off both sides of the trail as if he expected a mountain lion to suddenly leap out at them.

Nothing threatened them except distant rumbles of thunder as they reached the trailhead. Carl quickly led the mule into the trailer, removed the watchman’s body and as gently, but quickly as possible, put it in the back of the truck.

Only two-thirty in the afternoon, it was more twilight. Carl quickly climbed into the driver’s side, shooting another look at the trailhead now shrouded in gloom.

Roger climbed in just as Dad tossed his pack into the back and stepped on the running board. Seeing where Carl was looking drew his attention as well, He could hardly believe his eyes as a cold electric current went down his back, hackles rising.

They were no longer alone. There, 30 feet away stood eight forms, seven of them maybe a little under four feet tall, maybe the size of twelve-year-olds. But these were no children.

Old albino men was what came to Dad’s mind. They seemed to defy the gloom. He could see the shrouds which they were dressed in, for lack of a better description, appeared to be made of heavy spider webs. The only part of their body showing, their faces, were like shriveled, dried up apples with piercing dark seeds for eyes and narrow, lipless mouths. They just stood there, unmoving, watching.

The other form appeared to be some wolf or dog, but like no other canine they’d seen. In the shadows, no real detail could be seen, but the profile of the head was... well, something they were glad they couldn’t see.

This observation and thought happened in the snap of a finger as Carl swung the truck and trailer around, nearly throwing Dad to the ground before heaving himself into the cab and slamming the door.

Carl made record time getting to the main road to Sandpoint, throwing the two shaken younger men “I told you so,” glances during the white knuckled drive.

As they came to the bridge across the river, he admonished them to keep their lips buttoned. Who would believe them anyway?

This story was told to us 20 years ago.

Dad presented no theory as to what he had seen back then, especially the canine shape, but one can’t but wonder. Carl had known something about the shorter trail. Lore of the woods passed down from the early settlers and before them, the Indians perhaps?

Were they unknown denizens of the woods, perhaps like Bigfoot, who some think has the ability to slip into and out of this dimension? Aliens? Observers from another time? Or something completely unimaginable that may still dwell somewhere in these forests, 70 years later in this Valley of Shadow? “...and their waxwork faces with the look of things that could never have lived...” -C. Day Lewis

Surrealist Research Bureau

by Jody Forest

Last issue of TRJ you might recall I mentioned a lingering mystery concerning the moons of Mars, wondering how Jonathan Swift, author of “Gulliver,” could have predicted their number, size, and periods of rotation in his tales a full 150 years before their “official” discovery.

Virtually every aspect of human knowledge can likewise be found to have such an Enigma File. Take a simple thing like the South Pole or Antarctica; we all know from history class that Antarctica was “discovered” in 1818, right? How then do we explain maps and portolans dating from the 1400s to 1500s which show not only the correct bays and mountain ranges under all that ice, but appear to have been prepared using spherical trigonometry?

Looking at these old maps, and with Occam as our guide, we can only assume that some 6,000 to 8,000 years ago an advanced sea-going civilization (with a means of determining longitude, and using spherical trigonometry) mapped a large portion of the earth back when the South Pole was largely icefree. (Modern science and ice core samples confirm that the last time Antarctica was ice-free was during a brief thaw 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.)

The Sandpoint Library (bless ‘em!) has a number of remarkable books on this subject, chief among them “Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings” by Charles Hapgood, 1996, Adventures Unlimited Press.

In this instance, Professor Hapgood and his team, including the U.S. Navy Cartography Department and top mathematicians, pored over hundreds of ancient maps and found that, almost without exception, the older the map was, the more accurate it was found to be.

Prince Kamal, a modern geographer, has stated in rather colorful language, “Our incurable ignorance as to the origin of the portolans and navigational charts will lead us only from twilight into darkness. Everything that has been written on the history and origin of these charts and everything that can be written hereafter can be nothing but suppositions, arguments, hallucinations.”

A few of the charts showing the apparently unglaciated and ice-free continent to the south are: The Piri Reis Map, dated reliably to 1513 AD but a note in the map’s margin by a Turkish Admiral states it was copied from one used by Christopher Columbus (presently in the Library of Congress); the Oronteus Fineas map of 1531 AD (shown at left); and Mercator’s Map of the Antarctic of 1569 AD. For brevity’s sake I’ll mention only those three but remember, the Antarctic wasn’t discovered for nearly another 300 years! Captain Cook nearly found it in 1799, reporting spying in the distance a great wall of ice below the tip of South America. I hope you’ll have an opportunity to swing by the library and check out “Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings.”

Another book with some cool old maps is “1421, The Year China Discovered America” by Gavin Menzies, 2002 Harper Collins Press, which details the Great 2,000 Ship Fleet of Exploration of Admiral Zheng Hei (some of the ships were 400 to 600 feet in length!). This book is also available at the Sandpoint Library. Exhaustively researched and highly persuasive, the author once commanded a British Warship and sailed the same routes pioneered by Magellan and Capt.

Cook. In the course of researching 1421 he has visited 120 countries, more than 900 museums and every major sea port of the Middle Ages. A “cracking good read!”

Yet another Sandpoint Library find is “Strange Angel”

by George Pendle, 2005 by Harcourt, Inc., subtitled “the Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Parsons.” No old maps this time but a really strange life history of one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who was also (unbeknownst to most) the head of the Ordo Templi Orientis or “Black Magick” Crowleyan Church in America while designing the rockets that made him famous. Peopled by friends and co-workers such as a young Ray Bradbury, (R is for Rocket) L. Ron Hubbard, later founder of Scientology, and soon-to-be science fiction greats like Robert Heinlein (Starship Troopers) it evokes a bizarre time of blacklists and witch hunts. Nearly the entire staff of the JPL was fired for left-leaning politics during the McCarthy era, their positions filled by ex-Nazi V-2 rocket scientists who had run concentration camps with slave labor but who were solidly anticommunist. Parsons died mixing explosives in his home garage workshop in 1952 at the age of 37. The book’s frontispiece by Robert Lowell puts it thus; ”No Rocket goes as far astray as a man!”

“I can conceive of nothing, in religion, science, or philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear, for a while.” Charles Fort The Oronteus Fineus map shown at top is used with the permission of Adventures Unlimited Press.

Jody Forest is a noted writer of surrealist poetry. Reach him at dgree666@sandpoint.net

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 39

From the files of the River Journal’s

Page 40 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | September 2008

Faith Walk

Delighting in the Lord

by Kathy Osborne I had a good conversation with a young man yesterday. He is struggling with the concept of worship. After leading worship in countless church services, youth camps and concerts, he has come to the end of himself. “I just don’t know what real worship is,” he said to me.

This young man is one of thousands of young people discovering that an hour of singing at church each week just isn’t cutting the worship muster anymore.

They are the Christ Followers of today suffering from a hunger which cannot be satiated by organized religion. Simply put, the source of that hunger is also the satisfaction of it: the LORD The Book of Psalms in the Bible is full of worship to the LORD. Some of the Psalms are very sad indeed, when David is personally spent, looking for relief from his enemies. But many of the chapters just come from the heart of a young shepherd boy, alone, tending sheep, with only his voice and an abiding love for the LORD and all His creation.

King David of Israel was known as a worshipper of the LORD; a man after God’s own heart.

The first few verses of Psalm 37 are about delighting in t h e LORD.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

(New American Standard) This passage calls Christ Followers to delight in the LORD. In English the word is LORD. But in Hebrew, that word is YHWH, or Yaweh. It means to delight in the Creator of all things; to recognize that the beauty all around us is His doing; to follow His guidelines; to commit days to His oversight; to do the daily work of life and as a result, He will give us the desire of our heart which will then be to further desire after Him, or to do what He delights in. It is a beautiful circle and it deepens our love for Him as well as our sense of security in His love for us. I think this is awesome!

I talked to this young man yesterday about the aspect of delighting in the LORD as a gateway to more meaningful worship. We agreed, if the spiritual hunger to worship God is there, then delighting in Him is a great pathway leading to the satisfaction of that hunger through deeper worship.

I am excited to see where this hunger among our youth for deeper worship will lead the Church. I believe there are exciting days ahead!

Clark Fork Baptist Church Main and Second • Clark Fork Sunday School.....................9:45 am Morning Worship......... ..........11 am Evening Service.........................6 pm Wednesday Service................. ..7 pm Call 266-0405 for transportation

Bible preaching and Traditional Music

Kathy Osborne is the editor of the Co-Op Country Round Up. You can reach her at coopcountrystore@yahoo.com

The Hawk’s Nest

By Ernie Hawks

Email: ehawks@photosbyhawks.com | www.PhotosbyHawks.com The new PC, with all its upgrades from our old one, adds a another challenge to my already low threshold of tolerance for computers. I can use the tool all right, but at times, it causes me great frustration.

Usually, as my aggravation gauge starts reaching into the red, I will simply walk away—out into our woods for a break.

Opening the door into outside air is always a beginning of relaxation from the irritation I blame on that contraption I use daily. First Nikki, our dog, is excited I’m there. Most dogs when animated wag their tails—Nikki just wags. Just being in her presence, I start to feel better. Still on the porch I feel a breeze on my face, I hear the clink-clinking of the bamboo wind chime singing harmony with the obsidian crystals striking each other, all of it accompanied by the metal pipe chimes hanging in a nearby tree. Nikki and I leave the porch.

As we wander through the trees, I listen to the wind in the crowns. I hear the dry grass under our feet cracking with each step. I smell autumn as it is taking control away from summer. I feel the stress of work fade out of me like the green is fading out of the leaves of the ocean spray along the path.

It is September, a month when peace, or the desire for it, seems to be a major focus. There has been another passing of 9/11 followed on the 21st which is the International Day of Peace. To say nothing of the election campaigns, with each party’s crusade to put forward their best solution for peace: economic peace, social peace, and world peace.

Many churches use the second Thursday of September as their day of prayer with prayer vigils and special services.

In my woods, out of sight and sound of the computer, I start to find that peace. The world situation hasn’t changed, the election isn’t over, that computer is still going to respond to my commands the same, I know all this. Yet, I start to feel peace.

I sit under a grand fir, listening to a tree branch moan as the wind moves it along the trunk of an old snag, and I let the peace in.

Years ago my understanding of peace became personal. I was experiencing severe pain and for some reason I didn’t understand, but do now, I realized my pain hurt my body but not my mind, or some may say soul. Somehow, I was given another message at that time also: that my pain was not an excuse to mistreat others. I could be at peace and treat others as I wanted to be treated even when ordinary movement was very uncomfortable, sometimes debilitating.

So now as I sit under that grand fir with Nikki sleeping in a hemlock’s shadow, I begin to think about the peace I’m feeling. I am not at peace because I’m in my woods. This fir tree my back is against is not giving me peace. The ground where I sit cross legged can not give me peace. The wind is not blowing peace on, or through, me. I have to be willing to be at peace, if I want to be at peace.

My thoughts go back to those days of pain and my decision to find peace in it. Then a very discomforting thought appears. I can have that same peace while working at a computer even if I don’t understand the new systems I’m trying to deal with.

Beautiful 3BR 2BTH cedar sided home on 6+ acres of heavily timbered property with seasonal creek running through it!

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“No, that can’t be. I don’t want to be at peace with that damn computer, I don’t like it.”

But, if I can choose to be at peace under a fir tree why can’t I choose to be at peace at the computer? I did buy the thing to make my life better, right? Then I upgraded with all the bells and whistles to make my life even better yet; what more do I need for peace than the latest and greatest computer?

The fir cannot give me peace, the wind cannot blow away dis-ease, and the computer cannot make me suffer… unless I allow them. Does that mean an expensive, sophisticated tool sitting on my desk can give me peace? No, but it can’t take it away either.

Nikki wakes up and wags over to my shade to nudge me into continuing our walk. I listen a little longer to the forest knowing it is time to get back to work.

As I walk back, I make a quiet personal affirmation to take the September reminders of peace into ALL of my life.

Then as I sit down to the computer, I realize it too is a part of that all.

This waterfront home on Cocolalla Lake has 204 front feet, 2 decks, and is immaculate. Two bedrooms, two baths, circular driveway, 2 car garage and many large mature trees shade this .57 acre parcel (3 lots). Easy access to Sandpoint or CDA. Affordable waterfront and private. $499,921.

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(208) 255-2244 | (888) 923-8484

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 41

Page 42 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Duke’s Food Obsession

by Duke Diercks | Duke@RiverJournal.com

The ABCs of Wine In the wine world, you can sometimes find snobs. Hard to believe, I know, since when you talk wine, you normally associate it with NASCAR, fraternity parties, and cookouts. But no, snobs do exist in the wine world.

In most cases these oenophiles (I had to look that one up) tend to spout off about the more esoteric, boutique wines and first-growth Bordeauxs. But there also exists a reverse snobbery.

About 20 years ago, (it could have been longer, but wine has killed too many of my memory cells) the noble varietal chardonnay took off in popularity and sales. Trying to seize on this popularity, many winemakers and wineries churned out less than spectacular wines, in some cases adding wood chips to bump up the oak factor, overusing malolactic fermentation to promote the buttery attributes and ignoring chardonnay’s natural fruit and acidity. In the past few years, as a way to combat this overmanipulation of chardonnay, many wineries have introduced “naked” or unoaked wines. I think they’re fine, but as a student of the California school, they are not my type. But more on that later.

So, many winos politely hopped off the chardonnay bandwagon and preferred to drink ABC: anything but chardonnay.

Well, I am not afraid to buck the trend and look like an uncultured hillbilly.

I proclaim loudly that I am a huge chardonnay fan. It is

my preferred drink. I like it often and often in large quantities. Sure, there are some lousy chards out there, but I am going to offer my two cents on what makes a good and even great chardonnay, and even offer a few suggestions—for what that’s worth.

Chardonnay, like all wines, should have balance. In the case of chardonnay, this amounts to the proper proportions of oak, butter, fruit and acidity. Too much oak and nothing else, and it’s like sucking on wood chips. Too much butter and no acidity to brighten up the wine, and the wine is pronounced flabby. A great chardonnay has just enough oak, butter and acid in balance and the last crucial factor—exceptional fruit that throws off powerful flavor and lingers on the tongue without going watery.

As with most things, in the world of wine, you get what you pay for. More money, in most cases, means special vineyards that have been nurtured by the vineyard owner for specific attributes. It also means special care taken by the winery. And finally, it might mean special oak barrels that may be only used for a specific amount of time.

Now for some recommendations. I think I mentioned above that I come from the California school of wine. Indeed, it was a great weekend day when we could blow off midterms and drive up to Napa or Sonoma, well before they started charging for tastes, and be drunk by noon. Helpful hint: bring along plenty of water and slam some in between spots.

So, for me, a chardonnay, in classic California style, should be big and bold with very pronounced flavors.

In the bargain- to medium-priced range, I have learned to trust labels like Beringer ( one of the best chardonnay producers year in and year out for my money) Bogle, La Crema, Barnard Griffin from Washington, Columbia Crest Grand Estates and Yalumba from Australia. If you are a fan of unabashed oak, try the chardonnay from those zinfandel experts: Ravenswood. It is

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an oak bomb. A recent mid-priced Aussie chardonnay that I really like for its balance is Sticks. Ask for it.

Now for the pricey stuff. I am a bit hesitant here as if you take my advice and buy one of these, you might hunt me down if you don’t like it. So I’ll only recommend a few. The ’04 Mer Soleil from the son of Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards is tremendous.

The ’05, while not as good is still very good. The Beringer Private Reserve ’05 is also extremely good—no, great—with balance and fruit that lingers forever in the finish. If you can find the Newton unfiltered, it is almost always great. The Franciscan Sauvage is a classic example of a big California Chardonnay.

Cakebread is a bit overrated for my taste, but still very good, and if your host ever offers a Kistler, or Peter Jacobs, you must kiss him. The only piece of advice I have is to please not serve any of these too cold— it kills the fruit and flavor.

Duke Diercks is a master chef. Reach him at Duke@RiverJournal.com

Local Food of the

Inland Northwest

a great deal if you tell them you want to buy large quantities for preserving.

Check out your local farmers’ market or visit www.localharvest.org to locate produce grown near you.

Put aside a day or morning to PREP:

Put a Little

Summertime in a Jar

by Emily LeVine Come winter, most Americans won’t necessarily notice a change in their diets due to the change in seasons.

The supermarket carries ripe tomatoes and beans right on through the five feet of snow that long covers our gardens.

Restaurant menus reflect no change in the availability of produce. Life goes on as if it were perfectly natural to have fresh melon in December. And maybe it is, in some neo-technological evolutionary way. But when you think about how much effort and energy goes into making these foods a possibility, it can actually become a question not about the privilege of morning fruit, but of the security of our food system. I’m no apocolyptic, but I believe it perfectly sane and reasonable to consider this idea: what if the transportations systems that deliver all of our goods faltered?

Where would we get our food?

A friend once told me that she was in Idaho when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. Ash piled so thick over the region that access was cut off for many days. She and many other people learned a lesson the hard way that week: It could take

less than a week for a fully stocked supermarket to sell out of food.

Lucky for us, there are alternatives to supermarkets. And they used to be not so alternative. Canning, drying, freezing, and root cellaring have been practiced for many decades, and can be a safe and economical way to secure part of your food for the cooler months to come.

Start with a PLAN: The bibles of storing food for the winter include Stocking Up by Carol Hupping and Putting Food By by Ruth Hertzberg & Company. For methods of canning using honey as an alternative to sugar, try Putting It Up with Honey by Susan Geiskopf.

Or ask your mother or grandmother.

They’ll probably share their secrets.

Then go out and BUY: First be sure you have everything you need for your method of preservation.

Food dehydrators can be purchased or homemade. Canning supplies can be found at your local grocery stores, hardware stores, and Co-Ops. You shouldn’t have to pay retail price for fruits and vegetables that you want to store; most local farmers will give you

Emily LeVine is a soon-to-be farmer living in the Selle Valley. If you have ideas, questions, or comments, or topics you’d like to read about regarding local food, please contact her at localfoodchallenge@gmail.com Next month’s topic will be ROOT CELLARS. If you have a root cellar and might be interested in being part of a root cellar tour, please let me know!

The longest step of any food preservation is the preparation. Invite friends over, pop a bottle of wine, and get washing, slicing, peeling, and pitting as a group. Make it fun!

Just DO IT: Ask an experienced friend to help you if you’ve never made pickles or dried fruit before. Follow recipes!! They are your friend.

In the cold days of winter, ENJOY: Company loves homemade food.

Relatives love it as gifts. Husbands and kids love it as snacks. And it’s all packed with love, nutrition, and ingredients you can count on one hand.

Local Food of the Month:

Salsa Note: When canning salsa, it’s important to follow a tested recipe to ensure proper acidity for storage. The following is one such recipe, and you can get (almost) everything you need at your farmers’ market!

Yield: 16-18 pints 7 qt peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes 4 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles 5 cups chopped onion 1/2 cup finely chopped, seeded, jalapeños 3 Tbsp oregano leaves 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro 2 cups bottled lemon juice 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 Tbsp salt 1 Tbsp black pepper 2 Tbsp ground cumin Combine all ingredients except cumin, oregano, and cilantro in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add spices and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner: 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet, This recipe works best with paste tomatoes.

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 43

Page 44 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | September 2008

Introducing the Sandpoint Wellness Council The Sandpoint Wellness Council is an association of independent, complementary wellness practitioners located in Sandpoint dedicated to holistic health care, who together see the value of our synergistic practices, and who have chosen to work diligently to bring to you relevant and scientifically researched information on health care options. We believe that there is no “one” solution for everyone; rather each person has unique needs and concerns, and undertaken in such a perspective, effective remediation of causes of distress and dis-ease can be accomplished.

This year our collective aim is to bring you information about our individual practices and their objectives so you may make informed decisions about what you want in your personal health care regimen. Complementary health care is about synergy, about working with all ideas for health improvement, prevention, and maintenance of well being. The Sandpoint Wellness Council aims to inform, generate relevant questions, answer those questions, and assist others in finding and understanding current research. Many of our practitioners offer protocols that can effectively provide relief of many common complaints.

Each month we will be presenting a topic and will provide information from several of the participating Sandpoint Wellness Council members. We invite our readers to contact us with questions you would like us to address, and we will provide that information in upcoming issues of The River Journal.

A Holistic Approach to Allergies & Asthma From the Sandpoint Wellness Council Allergies are among one of the most common medical conditions, affecting approximately one out of every five Americans. Common triggers include various grass and tree pollen, such as ragweed and elm, as well as foods or food groups like milk, nuts, or shellfish, and animal dander. Basically, anything the body does not recognize as “self” can become a potential allergen. Simply put, an allergy is an abnormal immune response to an otherwise harmless substance. The body detects a food or pollen exposure as a foreign invader, which triggers an inflammatory reaction.

Symptoms range from the irritating but benign nasal congestion, sneezing and itchy eyes to possible skin rashes and hives, to the potentially fatal inflammation and swelling of upper airways.

Asthma is a respiratory condition that affects nearly three percent of Americans. Asthma is closely related in nature to the allergic-type response, as it too is a hyper-inflammatory reaction to an otherwise harmless substance or event. Often, people with asthma also suffer from some form of allergies. In asthma, one’s ability to breathe is greatly affected. Typical symptoms include spasm of the bronchi (or airway tubes), swelling of lining of the lungs, and excessive mucous production. Shortness of breath and wheezing are often experienced. The

greatest concern is that if not immediately addressed, an asthmatic attack could lead to respiratory failure.

Mario Roxas, ND, 208/946-0984 A Naturopathic Prospective Allergies and asthma are both conditions that can benefit from various alternative and complementary therapies.

From a naturopathic perspective, one of the key considerations is to lower a person’s allergic threshold. This involves not only identifying the triggers and finding ways to reduce the risk of exposure, but also looking at aspects of an individual’s current lifestyle and health that may make them more prone to allergy reactions. If a person is already in a state of higher stress or inflammation, then they are more susceptible to react to other stressors that come their way.

For example, habits such as smoking, and/or excess alcohol intake, lower an individual’s ability to handle the additional stressors that seasonal allergens may place on the body. Additionally, poor diet and nutritional deficiencies can play a very significant role in reducing one’s resistance to allergens. Key nutritional supplementation, like omega 3 fatty acids and bioflavonoids, along with certain diet and lifestyle modifications, can help reduce inflammation and strengthen the body’s resistance to stressors, allowing

bodies, we stop tensing. For whatever reason, we learned to hold our breath when stressed; when we just let go and breathe, the stress seems to dissipate.

When the tension of stress is gone, we breathe naturally.

Owen Marcus, MA Certified Advance Rolfer, www.align.org, 265.8440 A Rolfer’s Perspective Respiratory disorders, such as allergies and asthma, can actually alter the body’s physical structure. In the case of respiratory difficulty, restricted breathing can create a misshapen rib cage. If breathing is difficult—or even scary—the body will distort around that stress, adapting by creating fascial adhesions or scar tissue. Not taking full breaths creates the restricted structure reinforcing the experience that breathing is difficult.

So how do we reverse this pattern?

First, you free the chronic structural and soft tissue pattern by releasing the chronic tension held in the body. Rolfing was specifically designed to remove the chronic tension held in the body’s soft tissue and can reestablish the subtleness to allow the rib cage to move more freely.

Twenty years ago, I conducted a study on Rolfing with elite runners at Arizona State University. The biggest improvement they collectively experienced was increased vital capacity (the ability to take in more air). Even the world-class runners—including an Olympic marathon runner—experienced breathing improvements. Chronic allergy and asthma sufferers, after decades of breathing restrictions, usually see considerable improvement with Rolfing.

The other key factor with optimal breathing is to learn not to respond to stress in the old tension-producing manner.

When I had a clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, we operated a Mindfulness Stress Reduction program for hospitals and corporations. In the eight-week course, we often had students who experienced breathing problems. After a few weeks of teaching their mind and body to relax in the face of stress, the respiratory symptoms would decline.

The core of the course was learning to feel, and then let what was occurring to occur. When we stop resisting our

Penny Waters, Relaxation Destination, 208/597-4343 Herbs and ReflexologyPerspective, Handling Allergies With the Touch of Reflexology and Herbs Many of you are probably breathing a sigh of relief now that the days of buds in spring and grasses in summer are turning to cooler days of fall and winter.

Gone will be the allergens that cause you such discomfort—itchy and runny eyes, sniffles, sore throat, stuffed up sinuses, aching head and so on. Would you like to be free of this yearly misery? Then let’s use the winter months to prepare for spring in such a way that you do not experience your allergies next year.

Without a doubt, the immune system needs to be cleansed and strengthened in order to fight the myriad of external pollutants and irritants that surround us daily that cause our allergic reactions. I recommend some wonderful herbs for this purpose. Foods that congest our system and cause our immune system to work overtime have to be reduced and eliminated, too. Foods that will be good for you are also recommended and help give you replacements for your usual fare. I also use herbs to boost immunity: Herbs that are high in Vitamin C that help flush the kidneys and detoxify the liver all find a place in an herbal formula. Herbs help curb cravings, too, when we give up some of our comfort foods for the sake of our health.

At the core of this program to control allergic reactions is reflexology. A series of reflexology sessions in the fall and then in late winter before spring will ensure success. The body is stimulated to throw off the congestion and toxic accumulation in your blood, organs, and lymphatic system. This will be strongly supported by your food program. You will be amazed at how deeply you can breathe, how clear your head feels, how alive and mobile you are, and how great it feels to experience true wellness.

Don’t wait until spring. Start now and avoid allergy misery and give yourself a health boost that will last a lifetime.

Robin and Layman Mize, Quantum Biofeedback, Certified Biofeedback Specialists, 208/6109997.

Biofeedback and Allergies When we hear the term “allergy testing” we most often think of the traditional medical approach, using a “scratch test” or needles to determine allergy stressors or sensitivities.

Biofeedback Analysis is a phenomenal, scientific method to detect sensitivities using ones’ own muscle strength and the static electricity present in the body.

Even children feel comfortable using this accurate, non-invasive and painless method of analysis!

Continued on next page

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Photo at left: Sandpoint Wellness Council. Owen Marcus, Penny Waters, Robin and Layman Mize, Ilani Kopiecki, Krystle Shapiro and Mario Roxas – missing from photo: Kristine Battey, Mary Boyd, Tess Hahn, Julie Hutslar and Toni Tessier

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 45

for better management of allergies. To find out more specific things you can do to manage your allergies and asthma, please call Mario Roxas, ND at 208946-0984 or email at info@drroxas. com and set up a visit.

Asthma- Continued from page 45 Biofeedback analysis is based on the idea that there is an energy field which flows around and through all things.

The Chinese call this energy Qi or Chi (pronounced “Chee”). Like a magnet creates a magnetic field which holds iron filings in a certain pattern, the Chi creates a field which holds the cells of our body in alignment. Theoretically, by altering the Chi, one can alter the body.

In biofeedback analysis we use the body’s energy as a gauge to determine the level of stress intolerance to a given substance.

Krystle Shapiro, BA, LMT, CDT, Touchstone Massage Therapies, 208-290-6760 A Medical Massage Therapy Perspective I find Manual Lymph Drainage Therapy especially helpful for clearing congestion in the sinuses and chest when my clients complain of stuffy heads, runny noses, and difficulty breathing.

The lymph system works overtime during spring and summer when so much environmental toxins are present in our air and water. This specialized massage

effectively encourages the lymph system to speed up its removal of accumulated toxins and cellular wastes of all kinds.

This may increase a runny nose and/or coughing experience, but these reactions are short lived as the wastes are eliminated leaving the allergy/asthma sufferer feeling more clear headed, less achy, “dryer” and more energetic to get on with normal routines.

Clearing the accumulated debris from the immune system in a timely fashion enables it to continue its normal alert, attack, and manage activities that keep us healthy and vibrant. Manual Lymph Drainage is the perfect complement to your fall/ winter health regimen.

This article and many more health and wellness articles may be viewed by visiting the Sandpoint Wellness Council’s blog, online at sandpointwellnesscouncil. com, where you can review all published articles and offer comments.

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Page 46 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Be Careful What You Wish For

A Single-Payer Health Plan Might Not Look Like You Think It Will

by Angela Potts-Bopp As we get closer to election day, there are growing discussions among Americans regarding what’s generally referred to as the “health care crisis.” Despite the fact that public opinion surveys show the American public is happy with the health care they are personally getting, those same Americans are still unhappy about cost increases in the healthcare system, and just plain frustrated with the whole process.

In response, during the last year an unprecedented number of universal coverage initiatives were debated in state legislatures and in the city councils of several major municipalities—many of those were actually passed. Most were universal access initiatives, not true singlepayer plans, where the government would be the only provider of health benefits.

As a person who sells insurance, it might not surprise you to learn I have concerns about various forms of singlepayer systems, and I would warn you to be careful what you wish for.

Advocates of a single-payer system will tell you that one of the great things about this type of delivery system is that everyone has access to care all of the time—“the health care that’s always there.” But in a single-payer system, everyone has an EQUAL access to insurance coverage— not necessarily all the care a person wants, or even believes they need.

In America, e v e r y o n e already has full access to all the healthcare services they want.

The question is who

will pay for it—the government, an insurance carrier, or the individual themselves.

In some countries with what is called “universal care,” residents don’t have the level of specialist care we have here. In addition, many of those single-payer systems are giant Health Maintenance Organizations without competitive options for people to switch to when they are dissatisfied with their care or outcomes. In some countries, you don’t even have the right to a second opinion, or a right to see what’s written in your medical record.

Since users of the system don’t pay for care directly, the only way to control costs outside of the existence of the system itself is to limit utilization and access to medical technology. A singlepayer system’s economic success is dependent on rationing the access to services, particularly access to the most sophisticated and expensive types of medical treatment and services.

Next month I’ll talk more about the health outcomes with single-payer systems, and associated costs, but let me finish with this belief – Americans value freedom too much to accept a singlepayer plan.

In other countries, these systems can work because people have more willingness to follow what their governments and bureaucracies tell them.

Americans value the freedom to choose and I don’t believe they would flourish under a system with no options.

I feel that most people who support a single-payer system do so under a false set of beliefs as to what it would be like, and that they would be surprised by the reality. Just as with real medicine, it’s rare to find a miracle cure to our health care problems. Health care is one area where we should feel good about promoting consumerism and the necessity to be informed.

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The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 47

Insurance

Dam- Continued from page 23 Noxon Rapids, Cabinet Gorge, and Albeni Falls. The front of the flood wave would reach Thompson Falls in 30 hours and Noxon Rapids in 36 hours; peak flows would occur within 55 to 60 hours, and could reach as high as 36,000 cubic feet per second. Debris would no doubt have major impacts on the downstream dams, even though Noxon Rapids shouldn’t be overtopped. In Noxon, the water would reach 15 feet above the town, but there would be plenty of time to evacuate the citizens. Lake Pend Oreille could rise by as much as ten feet. A Tabletop Exercise will be held by the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that operates Hungry Horse Dam, this fall—hopefully downstream concerns will be addressed at that time.

“It’s a large amount of water,” says Ayres. “We need to be aware of what would happen downstream.”

Bat Waves- Cont’d from page 33

Albeni Falls Dam, operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the outlet of Lake Pend Oreille would respond to all of these scenarios by opening their spill gates, as necessary, to maintain the lake level for flood control. Campground and recreation sites would be evacuated immediately.

“We study EAPs all the time,” said Noxon Rapids Dam Operator Eddie Sue Judy, “but it is good to work through these scenarios that you just don’t know about ahead of time.”

Though these dam breach scenarios are, in reality, not likely to happen anytime soon, the key to preparedness is being proactive, and that is why these exercises are so important to the protection and survival of our local communities. It helps knowing that someone has been thinking ahead, that there is a protocol to follow, that there is hope in the event of a crisis.

“We’re the folks that make Avista do the EAPs,” says Tom Bobal of FERC. “By far this [exercise] gets a passing grade; I’m pretty sure they’d even get an A.” These plans can also be used in the event of a natural disaster, flood, or the failure of one or more spillgates, similar to what recently happened at PPL Montana’s Hebgen Dam. Though the presence of a plan doesn’t mean that there are no kinks, at least you may rest assured knowing that it is in a constant state of improvement and that the powers that be are communicating and collaborating on how best to protect our special places.

“Although periodic exercises are required by FERC, the real reason we conduct the EAP exercises is for the benefit of both our (Avista) personnel and local emergency responders,” says Ayres.

“After each exercise, we always discover some way to improve the EAP, even after all these years–as the old saying goes, you can only get better if you practice, practice, practice!”

2 Ryan Wells of Sandpoint with a bright-red Bat Waves flag draped over a side window.

Wells, a 1997 SHS grad and a veteran of four short Iraqi tours, is serving a one-year tour of duty in Afghanistan with the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment of Fort Campbell, Kent.

Josh, a father of four, attributes his newfound passion to old-time bombardment of Bat Waves while growing up. He’s already enjoying all levels of satisfaction.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. Please exercise your right to vote. product again. She’s also proud to proclaim that the product is 100 percent “made in the USA.” Bat Waves has returned because of Josh Moon’s steadfast perseverance over the past several years to revive the concept and thanks to Del Sanborn’s guidance, which has allowed Josh and his wife to move forward without having to re-invent the mitt.

“Our screen printing is done locally in Sandpoint,” Josh says. “Plans are in progress to create a larger production facility here.

Batwaves is also taking on investors to help grow production capabilities. Our website www.batwaves.com is operational... we are beginning to market our stuff in multiple ways.”

Recent marketing strategy has even included an Army Kiowa Warrior helicopter flight over Afghanistan September 11 by Chief Warrant Officer

It’s easy to make promises in an election campaign—it’s harder to stand on your record. I’m proud to say that standing on my record is something I’m not ashamed to do.

I have worked hard to remain accessible to the residents of North Idaho, and to represent fairly your interests.

I’d be honored to continue to work on your behalf, and would appreciate your vote this November. Thanks for reading! George

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Page 48 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Currents

By Lou Springer

Email: nox5594@blackfoot.net A river system can be visualized as a massive tree. Twigs are the creeks, branches are the rivers, and trunk (in our case) is the mighty Columbia. The Clark Fork River is the major limb of this immense Northwest tree, and we have treated it like a toilet.

When you love rivers, a large riverstilling dam is a tragedy. However, there is a consolation to be had: no dam lasts forever. In a thousand years every dam built today will be silted in. After the inevitable dam failure, the river returns, winding through deep sediments deposited by the impounded water. In the past, these deep soils would be farmable.

When your river is treated like a toilet, however, only vast amounts of geological time can heal the mistakes. In February 1997, a thundering ice jam pounded the old earthen-filled Milltown dam located at the junction of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork.

Water containing arsenic and other heavy metals killed fish for 30 miles downstream. This flood and local well contamination propelled the movement to dismantle the old dam and move mining sediments away from running water. At great cost, the poison mud is dug, hauled up river and dumped near another Super Fund mining reclamation site.

The difficulty of removing toxic sediments has hit Thompson Falls, Montana like a brick. Despite the presumably good efforts and best intentions of the Environmental Protection Agency, much higher than estimated amounts of arsenic, copper and other heavy metals were released downstream. The toxins were suspended in moving water through Missoula, Alberton, Superior, St Regis, Paradise, and Plains. When reaching the impoundment (which acts as a septic tank) behind the Thompson Falls dam, the heavy metals settled out.

The Mayor and County Commissioners have called for meetings with the EPA. Overlooking that it wasn’t a question of if, but when the old Milltown dam would fail—in which case all the

toxins would have reached Thompson Falls—some have complained that the dam should have been left in place.

The local newspaper editorialized about Missoula environmental groups that failed to consider downstream problems while pushing the dam removal. A river lover can certainly understand the local officials’ concern, but shake head in wonder at their hypocrisy.

Local leaders, casting blame and calling for action now that their water is contaminated, have been indifferent

reclamation plan. We can’t count on them to oversee Revett’s Rock Creek operation when they have failed abysmally at the Troy Mine.

Understandably more jobs, customers and clients are appealing reasons to support the proposed mine, and many people see mine development as an economic upswing. These folks need to pause and consider that long-term economic growth depends upon clean and healthy water.

Many mine supporters are not knowledgeable about the microclimate around the proposed tailings pond encompassing the old Noxon dump. They have never seen a rain-on-snow event. They do not understand that this unlined tailings impoundment is dependent upon the slurry sinking into the ground water.

The mine owners can say convincingly that the tailings are only inert sand, but they do not tell how the slurry, containing water-soluble toxins, nitrates from blasting and processing chemicals is required by the design to drain into ground water.

Under the proposed impoundment site runs a small river, which surfaces in the spring and has a ditch to direct it into the Cabinet Gorge Reservoir. A recent slope cut to create a business site nearby shows a thick layer of gravel, underlayed with nearly impermeable clay. In the spring, water gushed from the cut banks; the owner had to put in French drains. The soil between the reservoir and the proposed 600-acre tailings impoundment has proven to be unstable, requiring constant road repair.

Engineers have expressed concern that the proposed tailings pile could create a slumping hazard for both the highway and railroad tracks.

So while efforts to rid the Clark Fork of past poison flushes are proving to be problematic, we, upstream as well as downstream, should be vigilant in protecting our branch of this most valuable resource.

The difficulty of removing toxic sediments has hit Thompson Falls, Montana like a brick. to downstream concerns. Most have supported the proposed Rock Creek Mine and believed that any ill effects can be mitigated. The inability of government agencies to control these persistent toxic elements, the cost in water quality, and public health concerns should give them pause in their chorus of approval for the proposed mine.

Revett’s plans to de-water the proposed tailings impoundment follows the old plumbing design: flush toxicity downstream. Avista, (the water power company that owns and operates the two dams on the lower Clark Fork, Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge), threw a wrench in this ‘dilution is the solution’ scheme. Avista denied Revett’s request to cross their waterside property with a pipe and dump toxicity into the Cabinet Gorge reservoir.

Most mine supporters aren’t evil people, but they are too trusting in a system that is broken. If they care about the environment, they have faith that environmental regulations will be enforced. However, Montana Department of Environmental Quality has such a backlog of permitting minor gravel pits that it has not had time to enforce Revett’s Troy Mine delinquent

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 49

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A Seat in the House with George Eskridge The Interim Energy, Environment and Technology Committee that I Co-Chair along with Senator Mckenzie of Boise met September 17 and 18 in Boise to discuss current energy issues and possible programs or legislation that the legislature should consider in promoting alternative or renewable energy development.

The committee had been asked to consider the use of tax exemptions or other tax incentives to encourage the purchase of hybrid or electric vehicles. In response, Mr. John Weber of Boise Westside Body Works was invited to appear before the committee to present information on hybrid and electric cars and his thoughts on possible incentives. Mr. Weber’s company has designed, built and have a car currently being used in Boise that has a 45+ miles per hour speed, a 40 mile range and an electricity cost of about 2 cents per mile.

Mr. Weber stated that the benefit of a hybrid vehicle was that of using less gas, along with less noise and air pollution.

The downfalls include the higher cost of purchase and the cost of new batteries.

The benefit of electric cars is that they use no gas, produce no local air pollution, and can be recharged with local renewable electric energy resources and have lower maintenance costs.

The downfalls include the cost of purchase or conversion, the cost of batteries and a limited driving range.

Mr. Weber suggested that the state could support increased use of hybrid and electric vehicles by offering incentives for the purchase or conversion of hybrids, plug in hybrids, and electric vehicles. He also suggested that additional incentives for Idaho-made or -converted vehicles would be helpful in creating a new manufacturing base in Idaho that would result in good paying jobs for Idahoans.

Mr. Weber also suggested that the state should consider purchasing more hybrids and electric vehicles to promote the use of these vehicles. (Just as a note: Governor Otter, in his 2008 budget recommendations did propose purchase of hybrid vehicles when agencies needed to replace existing vehicles.)

Draft legislation providing an incentive for school districts to use a consistent statewide process for building school buildings with more efficient energy use was also introduced to the committee. The legislation provides that school districts use two processes, integrated design and fundamental commissioning, when designing, building and operating new facilities.

Integrated design “means a process to develop consensus among the project team (architects and contractors) and the owner as to the energy savings and building performance goals of the building and to identify design strategies to achieve the designed goals…”

Fundamental Commissioning means the use of a third party to review building design, building system specifications and to specify and monitor the performance of energy systems used in the building to insure that they operate as designed Currently, school districts are required to set aside a certain amount of funds each year for maintenance of new buildings; The proposed legislation provides an incentive for the integrated design and commissioning by allowing the school district to use the money that is required to be set aside for maintenance in the first five years of operation of a new school building to offset the additional cost of the integrated design and fundamental commissioning for the new building.

The committee tabled the proposed legislation until its next meeting to allow time for school districts and other interested parties to review and comment on the legislation.

The committee was also asked to consider a change in utility rate design that would allow electric utilities to charge new consumers a specific rate to partially recover the costs of a utility’s capital investment in new facilities to serve new customer growth. Because this is a new concept in electric rate design that may have significant impact on electric use and business development, the committee scheduled time in its November meeting to hear additional public comment on the new rate design proposal.

Jim Yost, one of Idaho’s two members of Northwest Power and Conservation Council, presented a summary of the Council’s draft energy plan to the committee. The Council’s plan still emphasizes conservation and efficiency measures as first priority in meeting the region’s electrical energy needs followed by the use of renewable resources. Highlighted in Mr. Yost’s presentation was the immediate problem of a lack of transmission capacity to integrate wind and other renewable resources into the region’s electric transmission grid to move the resources to the load centers.

The Interim Energy, Environment and Technology Committee is scheduled to meet again in November to continue discussion on legislation to promote building of more energy efficient school buildings, the proposed change in electric utility rate making and the possible use of state incentives to promote increased energy conservation and development of renewable resources.

As our November issue of the River Journal will only be out a few days before the November election, I’d like to take this time to remind you: “Democracy Is Not A Spectator Sport!”

Please be sure to go to the polls and vote for the candidates of your choice on November 4!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to contact me with issues of concern to you. You can reach me by phone at 265-0123 or by mail at P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho 83825.

George

George Eskridge is Idaho’s Representative for District 1A. Reach him at PO Box 112, Dover, ID 83825 or call 208-265-0123

If you are a Republican voter, you may have just experienced what normally happens to Democrats: you fall in love with a candidate. Locally-born Sarah Palin has brought the Republicans together behind John McCain. McCain garnered enough delegates to win his nomination back in March, and the Democrats battled out a tough primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for another three months. But it didn’t feel like there was much excitement for McCain until Ms. Palin took the stage and spoke in St. Paul. Now it feels familiar to me as a Democrat—a kind of lovefest.

Our lovefests with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama meant we did not know our nominee until June. There are a couple of reasons why the Democrats went to the bitter end of this primary season: one, we apportion delegates to the candidates in our primaries and caucuses, instead of the winner-take-

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all system of the Republicans. Two, we Democrats not only can rationalize why we are supporting her/him, but we feel passionately about our candidate. We have learned our lesson (Gore/Nader) about getting behind the nominee, and I never doubted for a second that Democrats would fully embrace Barack Obama as our candidate for 2008. I personally had my heart broken in 1980 and 2004—are there any Ron Paul supporters reading this?

So, I have pointed out some differences between Republicans and Democrats and now I want to let you know what we share in common. I think we all value the blessings of liberty—encompassing justice, tranquility, security, health and happiness. We believe in government of, for, and by the people. We believe our success is a result of our abilities, talents, and efforts; it is not based on birthright. We want our children’s and grandchildren’s lives to be better than our own, and we are willing to work hard toward that end. Given the myriad of ways to achieve a more perfect union, the issues of peace, energy security, and the economy, the upcoming election is as important as any in the last 40 years.

In November, we citizens 18-yearsold and older have the opportunity and responsibility to choose our elected officials on the county, state legislative and federal levels (and in Montana, state offices will be decided as well). In our representative democracy, these people make decisions on our behalf, subject to the rule of law. According to this liberal Democrat, voting should be the most important activity a citizen participates in, and there is more to it than just marking a ballot. The preparation for casting your ballot involves learning, careful thought and decision-making.

If you have not started the process of learning about all the individuals who may represent us, you have less than 35 days until your vote must be cast. I

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recommend you read the candidates’ literature, in print or online, and plan on attending local forums in September and October with a question in mind. You can contact most candidates by e-mail or phone if they are not addressing an issue. Get clear about the values and decision-making processes the people running for office hold and practice.

It is more important to me to know how an elected official learns about issues and makes decisions, than whether they agree with my current positions. I appreciate the candidates who have been listening to people and interacting with them (some for months) instead of spewing forth their own opinions or defending their positions and votes. As a devoted student of history and politics, I understand the process involves compromise. I am willing to trust a representative who is more interested in creating solutions than in standing firmly in a position where no progress or decision is made.

Although it may be helpful to read and listen to the opinions of others (pundits, polls, and blogs), most of us agree the mainstream—and especially the fringe— media have bias. Stick with the source, the candidates themselves, or ask a friend if they have met or researched a candidate.

If you want more information, go to the non-partisan, fact-based web sites like FactCheck.org, 2008election.procon. org, and VoteSmart.org. Use your values, life experience and philosophy to come to your own independent conclusions.

These activities take time, but our government of the people doesn’t work well without the thoughtful participation by the people, to solve problems and make decisions for the people.

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 51

Left Turn with Laura Bry

Page 52 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

In Montana with Pat Williams

Oil Opportunism

Oil and water don’t mix; unfortunately opportunism and politics do.

It is a truism that in politics timing is everything and the current demand for the United States to end our moratorium on off shore oil and gas drilling is more about election year opportunity than energy independence.

The policies of both presidential candidates, President Bush, and the mostly Republican members of the U. S. Congress to begin oil drilling in the waters off our coasts comes at one of those rare political moments during which unfortunate events collide, roiling the waters and creating a clamor for immediate action—action which would not be taken in calmer seas.

Certain elements are necessary for such opportunism: fear among the people, financial hardship, war, shortages of essential goods and material, and an election day just around the corner.

Each of those are now present, whether perceived or real.

It is in such a time that the political powerhouses, the big boys, strike. In this case the powerful are big oil and their goal is to drill in the ocean waters nearest America’s shores. This is also the opportune time for Congressional Republicans who for two years couldn’t find an issue with a search warrant. Finally, they have one—the energy crises.

With turmoil in the Middle East, terrorism on the march, America’s oil consumption at 20 million barrels a day, and the global oil business earning three trillion dollars a year, one would assume that now is the moment to begin freeing ourselves from oil addiction. Instead, the enormously powerful oil lobby is convincing both the Congress and apparently a majority of Americans that rather than move toward both conservation and alternative resources we should instead drill off shore.

We Rocky Mountain Westerners have watched this scenario of moneyed, political opportunism play out many times. As Montana’s Congressman during the 1970s, 80s and ’90s, I was deeply involved in one of these mad scrambles for oil. The same set of criteria for opportunism had come together back then. War in the Middle East, inflation, high prices and long lines at the gas pumps offered big oil the perfect moment and they moved to open up drilling opportunities in some of America’s most pristine and important places. The companies successfully enlisted the support of then President Ronald Reagan and his Secretary of the Interior, James Watt.

The exploration and drilling assault was to begin, of all places, in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front and The Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Reagan and Watt, as it turned out, picked the wrong place. Despite the perceived energy shortages, long lines at the pump, and soaring gasoline prices, all due to the Arab Oil Embargo, Montanans and Americans refused to take the bait. The opposition to exploration and drilling in our last best place was widespread and the Congress accepted my resolution to prevent opening the Bob—and other

wilderness areas—to the bit and bidding of the oil companies.

Should our companies drill for oil? Of course... and they are. But reason demands that appropriate restraints be applied.

Should the U. S. Congress now open the waters near America’s shores to drilling? Although deep water exploration technology has improved during the past 30 years and oil spills have become increasingly unlikely, the spills that do happen are often catastrophic; restraint is warranted.

During the past 40 years there have been 90 major, notable oil spills in the world. Seven of those occurred just since the year 2000. The oil industry has documented 10,000 spills, almost all of which they place in the category of “small spills” that is, less than 7 tons of spilled fuel.

We all recall the 1989 Exxon Valdis tanker spill in Alaska which injured the economy of that state; the clean up of which still continues. In 1969 an offshore drilling well in the Santa Barbara Channel just off the coast of California experienced a catastrophic “blow out” which marred 35 miles of beach and spread for 800 square miles killing thousands of birds and sea life. Dead seals and dolphins were washed on shore by the oily tides. The local economy suffered significant damage.

The American people, through our president and the Congress, must decide if the risk is worth it. Ironically, it was President Bush’s father, former President H. W. Bush who decided the risk was too great and instituted the current ban on off shore drilling. Whether or not the Congress decides to remove the ban, we should resent the blatant opportunism practiced by many members of Congress as they dance to the tune of Big Oil.

Face to Face Bill Litsinger • Bob Wynhausen 1400 AM KSPT • 1450 AM KBFI

Friday lunch at 12:15

Former Montana Congressman Pat Williams is the Northern States Director of Western Progress and Senior Fellow at The University of Montana

A Primer on how the Legislature Works

Now that the 2008 election for state legislative races is close upon us it seems like a worthy idea to review what the heck it is that the Montana Legislature does. It’s my opinion that most folks form their understanding and opinion of most everything from national television news. By that measure the state legislature is a full time, three-day-a-week job held by people we hire at outrageous salaries to pout and insult members of the opposite party in the hopes that someone will think them hard at work.

Well, it’s a little different from that. The Montana Legislature only meets from January to April every odd numbered year for 90 working days. Legislators usually work a six day week and rest—sort of—on Sundays. Twelve to fourteen hour days are commonplace. Pay is $98 a day after taxes, and there is a per diem allowance of $99 a day to cover the cost of meals and lodging. Legislators do not get reimbursed for mileage, phone calls, or postage expenses incurred outside of Helena, and I can tell you that adds up fast in a rural district.

The Montana Legislature has a Senate of 50 members and a House of Representatives with 100 members. Each representative represents one percent of Montana’s population, which works out to about 9,500 men, women and children.

Senators represent double that number, and there are two representatives for each senate district.

There were about 1,500 pieces of legislation introduced in the 2007 session, and almost every one of them had a hearing. And how, you may well ask, does anyone read, let alone understand, 1,500 bills? Well, quite frankly, they don’t.

Legislators have to rely on other legislators who are familiar with the bills in their area of expertise, and this reliance is based on trust in both the other person’s ability and honesty.

There are also committees that meet in the interim between legislative sessions. They are almost always made up of equal numbers of House and Senate members evenly divided by party. Because there are fewer senators than house members, senators usually have to serve on two or more interim committees. That can take up two to five days a month in meetings, usually in Helena.

It stands to reason that 90 days is not a lot of time for a legislator to master one subject, let alone more than one, so the longer a legislator is in office they more they comprehend… usually. Like the general population, not every legislator is a genius. There are, however, non-elected folks who do have mastery on various issues called bureaucrats and lobbyists, and there are plenty more of each than there are legislators. Trust figures high with these folks, too. My mentor in the legislature, Francis Bardanouve, told me that a lobbyist will show you one side of the coin; it’s up to you to turn it over. Presenting only one side of an issue is expected of a lobbyist; being untruthful is not. It is rare that a lobbyist lies to a legislator, but once is all it takes to ruin their credibility.

In 1992 Montana voters enacted term limits. The conditions are that no one office can be held by the same person for more than eight out of 16 years. That holds from the Governor and other statewide elected officials to members of the House or Senate. It is permissible to run for a different office after being term limited in a previous one. Before term limits about one third of legislators did not come back for the next session due to retirement or defeat.

Some argue that because lobbyists and bureaucrats are not term limited they have increased political influence at the cost of state legislators. Others argue that legislators get too “cosy” with lobbyists and each other and need to be removed after eight years to prevent that.

Both Republicans and Democrats supported the term limit movement. It’s up to you to make up your own mind as to whether it works well or not, but if it’s a good idea to limit a person’s time in office, is it a good idea to limit ideas? In short, should term limits have term limits?

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Jim Elliott is Montana’s Senator from District 7. Visit his website at www.JimElliott.org

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 53

Montana Viewpoint with Jim Elliott

Forecaddies-

continued from page 31

A lot of different personalities make for some interesting conversation. It is a lot of fun to hang out with the other caddies because they are always, or for the most part, pretty upbeat with a good attitude. I’m not working at some fast food place with a bunch of guys who hate their jobs. These people like what they do, and have fun doing it, which makes the caddie program at the Resort pretty fun.

Another interesting suspect you can find wandering the fairways of the Resort is Bob Ciccone. Bob is 59 years young and runs around the course just like all the other caddies.

Well, except Alex Day, who kinda walks the course. Bob’s been a caddie for eight years so I asked him what he thought the biggest change in the course had been since the first day he started. “The caddies don’t get as many perks. Now we have to walk in from the maintenance shop and we used to be able to park in the lot, and we don’t get to use the driving range anymore.” He seemed pretty upset about the driving range privileges so maybe my boss will read this and have a change of heart. It’s almost Christmas after all.

Then I asked Bob what his favorite memory of working here was and he had a pretty interesting one. “One day I had four Canadian guys take off their clothes and swim from the lady’s tee box to the floating green. The they putted in their underwear.” I’ve only been out here for two years now but I’ve never seen anything that would come close to as sweet as that!

So there ya have it. Now you know a little more about what it’s like working at the Coeur d’ Alene and you know a little bit about the messed up people that I have to deal with every day. :)

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Projects are 1-3 weeks long and involve advertising sales. Travel required.

Call Rachel at 208-255-1810 for more info.

PART TIME HELP WANTED - Person with own tools needed for small engine work. Call Ron’s Repair at 208-264-5529.

VOLUNTEER DRIVERS NEEDED-The Bonner County Disabled American Veterans has an urgent need for volunteer drivers to take Veterans to and from their Doctor appointments at the Spokane VA Hospital. If you are in good health and have a clean driving record and can help just one day a week, please call 208-255-5291 for info or stop by the Veterans Service Office on McGhee Road and pick up an application.

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BOAT MOTORS, SMALL ENGINES AND MORE Best buy on marine deep cycle batteries and auto batteries. Ron’s Repair in Hope. Call: 208-2645529 FOR SALE OR TRADE– 8hp DR Brush cutter (blade) 24”, $590; lawn mowers, string trimmers, $50 and up; Craftsman 16hp lawn tractor $545; Pressure washer, 1750 PSI, 6hp, new engine $295; AMF 26” snow blower, new engine, OHV electric start $595; Craftsman 9hp electric start snow blower, 24”, $695. Deep cycle marine and auto batteries, reconditioned batteries $25, power house fuel stabilizer (ethanol) for auto and small engines (ounces, quarts, gallons), ask about other small tools available for lease. Call for information Ron’s Repair at 208-264-5529.

MISCELLANEOUS MASONRY WORK- Al Stoffels Masonry, stonework, flatwork, landscape retaining walls, waterfalls and all types of repair. Free estimate, fair pricing with no change on price. Call Al at 208-266-0307 LET’S RECYCLE. Now’s the time for small engine repair. Trade your old machine. Don’t wait. I pay more for old batteries. Don’t dump. Reconditioned batteries just $25. Ron’s Repair, Hope, Idaho. Call: 208-264-5529 MUSICIAN AVAILABLE- Live music from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.

Jazz standards and pop songs. Ray Allen playing a single on guitar and vocals for private parties, special events, restaurants, etc. Low rates. Call 208-610-8244.

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Say What?

By Paul Rechnitzer

Email: pushhard@nctv.com For those of you who thought politics was mostly about people running for office and a trip to the polls—guess again.

Politics, among other things, is about being in control of those who are in control. It is about influencing those who badly need to be influenced. It is about doing for others what they are incapable of doing for themselves.

In many instances it doesn’t take much to make a case for any of the above. We can do strange things, to make ourselves feel good, in the name of making life better for all mankind. It is somewhat like the picture of a Fish and Game guy wrestling a bear for his own good. That tranquilizing shot is a victory of sorts.

Anyway amongst us is a small group of dedicated folks who, after finding Ron Paul was a candidate for President, found he was a spokesman for a subject dear to their hearts—getting rid of the Federal Reserve System, getting us back on the gold standard and, along the way, dumping the Internal Revenue Service. That is what we call “talking in big numbers.” No petty stuff here.

That the central banking system dates back to 1913 doesn’t prove anything.

That it was established to exercise some form of control over the banking system and the consequences of its failures is inconsequential. It has been unconstitutional, in the minds of some, for 95 years In case you don’t know who Ron Paul is or really care, let me repeat what his web site tells us.

He is a 9-term Republican from the 14th Congressional District in Texas. That’s a gerrymandered district that covers various parts of south Texas south of Austin. And so you will know, Ron Paul is Doctor Ron Paul.

His degree is not in economics or finance but in delivering babies and the system required. Nevertheless, Ron Paul is a strong advocate of returning to the gold standard.

Paul has worked at the highest levels with others supporting the same idea. His published work is “A Case for the Gold Standard.” The locals are so encouraged by the few delegates he garnered for the 2008 National Convention that they have managed to send a Resolution to Congress encouraging our Representatives to dump the world’s largest functioning monetary system in favor of one that has failed not once, but many times.

The heart of any banking system is confidence. The value of our currency is based on what we feel it is worth.

The theory of the gold- or silver-backed currency people is that as long as you can redeem a piece of paper (called flat money) for precious metal, you have something worthwhile.

The silver dollar is supposedly worth more than a dollar.

Actually, a silver dollar is worth what you are willing to exchange it for. If the silver dollar is a rare mint or has greater value to a collector than a shopper, the dollar might be worth more than something else priced at a dollar. These days a silver dollar is a collector’s piece and is worth whatever the traffic will bear. Its value is also higher because the price of silver is higher, if for no other reason because the costs of mining are far greater than ever before.

The case for a gold certificate is much the same except there is less gold available than silver.

In the old days a piece of flat money redeemable in gold was passed easily simply because it was easier to use than a gold coin and gold coins were abused (shaved) along the way. But there is another consideration As our economy grew and the dollar became the currency of choice world wide, we could not accumulate enough gold to back every dollar afloat. Silver took over for a while but in the long run it is the

confidence we have in the value of our dollar that gives it stability. And fortunately the Federal Reserve System has stabilized our banking system restoring confidence in your bank to protect your deposits (FDIC).

When you think your bank is failing, you rush to withdraw your money. When everyone does this, we have a panic.

Prior to 1913 we had a number of such events that had disastrous affects on both business and the public at large, even with gold-backed paper money.

But the most telling argument against Dr. No (as Ron Paul is called in polite circles) is the size of our economy and the global reach of our economy. That the current system works is evident in the history of our country, especially after WWII. Forget that we had the capacity to win two huge conflicts and still build our country to the envy of the world. Forget that our standard of living can’t be compared to any time past even when flat money was backed with gold or silver. Forget that our monetary system has worked.

Of course all this means little or nothing to the average guy who is ‘fat, dumb and happy,’ going to work every day and making payments on his house, car and boat while raising a couple of children.

What is important is that it is easy to be critical of anything especially when you don’t have to offer a better solution. Keep those Resolutions going to Washington, D.C.; Rave on Ron!

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 55

reviews

HHHHH- Buy it, keep it, loan it out HHHH- Buy it, but you won’t share it much HHH- Rent it or borrow from the library HH- Don’t bother unless you’re desperate H- You’re not THAT desperate

BookThe Ghost Map

The story of London’s most terrifying epidemic - and how it changed science, cities and the modern world.

Steve Johnson PB, 299 pages, $15.00, ISBN 978-1-59448-269-4 Published by Riverhead Books. Non-Fiction

Readers are invited to submit their own reviews of books, movies and games to editorial@ RiverJournal.com. Reviews are due by the 15th of each month.

the history of waste, and the building blocks for the public health system.

And it’s all written down in a page-turner of a book that highlights the gifts of a true storyteller. “Above the river, in the streets of the city, the pure-finders eked out a living by collecting dog shit (colloquially called ‘pure’) while the bone-pickers foraged for carcasses of any stripe... The scavengers, in other words, lived in a world of excrement and death.”

Best yet - the book includes an appendix with notes on further reading, detailed footnotes, a complete bibliography and a comprehensive index.

HHHHH

-Trish Gannon

BookThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Thomas and Sarah Lewis’ second child, a girl, was six months old when she contracted cholera in the summer of 1854, the ‘index case’ in an outbreak that would eventually leave 616 people dead, what Dr. John Snow called “the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in the kingdom.”

The 1854 epidemic earned its place in the history books not due to the people it killed however, but to Dr. Snow himself, who showed the dread disease was not spread by ‘miasma’ (breathing bad air) as was popularly believed at the time, but by contamination of the handle on the commonly used community well.

The Chicago Tribune called “The Ghost Map,” “more than a great medical detective story. It’s the triumph of reason and evidence over superstition and theory, and Johnson tells it in loving detail.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says it is, “... a truly compelling story, and he calls in the voices of Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys, George Eliot, Jane Jacobs, and Stephen Jay Gould to help tell it. They make a lively chorus.”

In these pages you meet Dr. John Snow, along with the Reverend Henry Whitehead, whose knowledge of his parishioners helped to identify the index case; the cholera bacterium itself (Vibrio cholerae); plus Victorian London, 19th century medical theories,

Mary Ann Shaffer and Ann Burrows HB, 288 pages, $16.95, ISBN 978-0385340991 Published by Dial Fiction

This charming novel transports the reader to England in 1946 just after WWII. Author Juliet Ashton has spent the war in Chelsea writing humourous columns for a major London newspaper in an effort to boost national moral. Juliet is looking for something new to write and she finds it in letters she receives from inhabitants of the Channel Island of Guernsey.

Dawsey Adams has come across a used copy of Charles Lamb’s essays which had belonged to Juliet and seeks advice for reading suggestions and other literary matters. In the exchange of letters, Dawsey mentions he is a member of an island book club, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was formed spontaneously during the years that Guernsey had been occupied by the Nazis in an effort to protect locals from German reprisals for being out after curfew (they were feasting on a secret pig which should have been send to their

occupiers). Eventually, the society becomes the real thing and the friends start to read and discuss books and the club becomes a refuge from their grim situation.

One member, Eben Ramsey, describes reading Shakespeare: “Do you know what sentence of his I admire the most?” It is, ‘The bright day is done, and we are for the dark.’ I wish I’d known those words on the day I watched those German troops land, planeload after planeload of them...

All I could think of was, Damn them, Damn them, over and over again. If I could have thought the words, ‘The bright day is done, and we are for the dark’, I’d have been consoled somehow and ready to go out and contend with circumstance...”

Soon Juliet is corresponding with several members of the society who bear witness to the deprivations endured by both occupied and occupiers. Germans soldiers would risk execution by stealing food from the islanders, who themselves survived mainly on turnip soup and fried their parboiled potatoes by scorching them with an iron. Moral confusion arose among people forced to live daily with the “enemy.” As they appeared to be likeable as individuals, collaboration began to occur as it does between Elizabeth McKenna, a young English woman and a German officer.

The characters we come to know through the correspondence all speak in their own distinctive voices which are engaging, thought-provoking, poignant, wry or just plain fun.. In the second half of the book, Juliet does indeed go to the island to meet her new friends where more surprises are to come.

In many ways, this novel is a love letter to books and how reading can be a catalyst to friendship, comfort and a means to share the human experience. The author, Mary Ann Shaffer,was a former bookseller and wrote this book later in life. She never had the satisfaction of seeing her only novel published. Her daughter, Ann Burrows, finished the manuscript.

Here is old-fashioned storytelling at its best. There’s romance, suspense, tears and laughter.

HHHHH I loved this novel, and you will too!

—Marcia Vanderford, Vanderford’s Books and Office Products

Page 56 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

Columbia Pictures- Rated PG-13 for some drug content, nudity, sexuality, violence and language Released on DVD, UMD & Blu-ray February 2008 Directed by Julie Taymor. Starring Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, TV Carpio, Dana Fuchs, and Martin Luther McCoy

songs ever composed in our history were actually good and worthwhile.

Whether you enjoy musicals or not, the singing acts were not a disappointment.

As a devoted Beatles fan, I often complain when I hear a rendition other than the original. After watching ATU, I bought the soundtrack.

While altogether this review is strikingly positive you must be aware that soon after I had finished my first viewing, I decided it was my favorite movie. It just goes to show, love really is all you need.

HHHHH Drugs, riots, Vietnam, hippies, radicals and obscure art; there is one thing all of these things have in common and that can only be… The 60s! Okay, maybe there are other things that have those things in common, but there is only one movie that can tie all of those images and events together with beautiful music and that is ‘Across the Universe.’ And again, there is only one band that can accurately tie all of this nonsense together, and that band is The Beatles.

Writer/Director, Julie Taymore has really pulled a rabbit out of the hat with ‘Across The Universe’, a musical based solely on the already existing stories in such classic Beatles songs as “All My Loving,” ”Strawberry Fields,” and “Come Together,” among others. Through stunning visuals and a virtually unknown cast ‘Universe’ radiates every emotion from joy to sadness to passion directly into your living room.

With such a wide array of personal stories you are never left bored and there is someone to identify with for everyone. The film’s heroines, Jude (Jim Sturgess, ‘21’) and Lucy, (Evan Rachel Wood, ‘The King of California’) are caught up in the whirlwind of the 60s when Lucy’s brother, Max (Joe Anderson, ‘Becoming Jane’), is drafted for the Vietnam War. Lucy then joins a group of Anarchist radicals who eventually tear Lucy and Jude apart.

Also joining the crew and adventure is guitarist and Hendrix-impersonator, Jojo, fleeing racial riots in Detroit, matching up with Sadie, New York club singer who bears a striking resemblance to Janice Joplin. There’s also Maxwell, Lucy’s fun-loving brother, and Prudence, caught up between free love and society.

One thing that cannot be argued about ‘Across The Universe’ is that the song covers of some of the greatest

-Hanna Hurt

MovieJuno Fox Searchlight Pictures Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language Released on DVD and Blu-ray April 2008 Directed by Jason Reitman. Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman

Now I have to admit, my expectations before seeing this movie were a little low, due to the fact that I had watched Knocked Up beforehand (another unplanned pregnancy movie), and I went in thinking there was no way they could make a pregnant film as good as Knocked Up so this is going to be a disappointment. Well Reitman, you proved me wrong, because this movie was just as good, in a style that’s never been seen before with my eyes. Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Michael Cera (you know, the cuter, scrawnier one in Superbad) all added to this movie to make it unforgettable. I give it four out of five shiny stars.

HHHH

-Amy Gannon

MovieBurn After Reading Focus Features Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence September 2008 - In theaters now Written, produced and directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. With George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich

It all started with a chair. Well, at least it did for Juno MacGuff. Juno (played

by Ellen Page) is your not-so average teenage girl, just trying to get by her high school days with friends, love, and life. Oh, and she’s also dealing with an The Coen brothers strike again. I adolescent pregnancy. went and saw Burn After Reading the This has been an interesting take on other day and it was AWESOME! It’s not telling such a story, and I enjoyed every just a straight up, knee-slapping comedy minute of it. Jason Reitman directs in like Tropic Thunder or Step Brothers, a style that’s not as dramatic as most and that is what made this movie funny. directors would have used for such a Brad Pitt played an excellent part sensitive subject, and instead showed the as a gym trainer. He played the role to lighter side of choosing to give a bundle perfection and was hilarious. George of joy to another family and how she Clooney did a good job as well, even would still have a life of her own. though he played a quirky mysterious role There were two key ingredients that that you don’t usually see him in. John seemed to make this movie special; Malkovich was exceptional as well with the off-beat character Juno, and the his blunt anger and constant yelling. soundtrack. Juno’s unique sense of I was a little hazy on the plot of the humor ties together the whole mood movie when I went to see it and it never and tone of the movie, which is proved really cleared up to me. Not to confuse beyond a doubt from the moment you, however, but I think that is exactly she finds out she’s pregnant and the what the Coen brothers were trying to interesting way she chooses to inform do. Burn After Reading is a MUST rent the father. And there could be no other if you aren’t the movie theater type and artist to better complete this film’s I recommend it to people who enjoy a touch than Kimya Dawson, who sings most of the songs throughout this movie good laugh. It was definitely worth the 8 dollars for the movie ticket. to create an original soundtrack (along HHHHH with her band Moldy Peaches and other -Dustin Gannon talented artists).

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reviews

MovieAcross the Universe

Scenic- Continued from page 21

There are trail guru Jonathan Ley miles (we follow his annotated maps), trail guru Jim Wolf miles (Phil carries his authoritative trail guide), Forest Service miles (we see USFS trail signs on occasion) and real miles. Without a GPS, it’s anybody’s guess which are which. Jim Wolf says we walked 14 miles today. The Forest Service did not weigh in (we saw no signs). Jonathan Ley says about 15 and a half. We figure we went 17. Not counting the slope. And there was lots of slope.

Deb and Phil (who met on the PCT 14 years ago to the week) would have hiked the entirety of the CDT this summer but they couldn’t get on the Divide early enough because of snow at both ends, in Montana and New Mexico. They have settled for the north half and plan to walk the south half next year. As an invited observer, joining them for a mere 100 miles—or 110, depending on whose miles you measure by—I am being privileged with an inside look at the world of through-hiking, with its own heroes, legends, conventions and taboos, of which there are more than several.

Case one: Trail names. Everybody has one. Phil and Deb are, respectively, “Nowhere Man,” and “The Walking

Carrot.” We have met “Sharpshinned,” “Stricts,” “Jeesuu” and “Cicely B.” Mine might be, as noted above, “Anchor,” but I’m leaning toward “Contour.” I much prefer a traverse—if it’s available—to topping out on each of the high points these ridges sport too many of. It’s often not available.

I find myself dreaming of building an actual trail through here. All I need is a million dollars and dozens of volunteers.

No problem.

Case two: Everyone has stripes. We have heard rumors about a guy with the trail name “Sundown,” who appears to be a “yellow striper.” This designation, along with “white striper” and “green striper,” grew out of trail markings on the AT. White stripers are purists, staying completely on the main trail, which is marked by white stripes on trees, posts and rock cairns. Green stripes mark side trails that might lead to a nearby McDonalds, Pizza Hut or Motel 6— which, by the way, are all perfectly “legal” in the through-hiker world, as long as one comes back to the point of exit to re-enter the trail. Yellow stripers, though, are disdained by true through-hikers for hitch hiking along highways (with yellow

Phil and Deb are not crazy in a bad way, but certainly in a special way. There are not a lot of through-hikers out there, perhaps five thousand within the United States. I imagine there is similar group in Europe, given the nature of Germans, Scandinavians, Scots and the Irish— hardy, inured to inclement weather and capable of doing somewhat crazy things to recreate.

On this continent is a core of about 2,000 die-hards within which Deb and Phil live on the moderate edge. They have yet to saw the handles off their toothbrushes to save trail weight, very seldom eat olive oil with a spoon and have never tried to hike the Big Three in a single year. But somebody who is a through-hiker has done all of these things. They live on the other edge of the core from Deb and Phil.

The Big Three are the longest and toughest of the 17 National Scenic Trails; the CDT at 3,100 miles; the Pacific Crest Trail at 2,600 miles; and the Appalachian Trail—grandmother of them all—at 2,175 miles, about 8,000 miles total. I say “about,” because, as Phil points out in their blog at www.walkingcarrot.com, there are many kinds of miles.

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stripes) from one spot to another on the trail. They are often untruthful about their hiking accomplishments, to boot.

Deb and Phil consider themselves “green stripers,” but they are a very pale green.

Case three: Food is life; life is food.

Because of their prominent place in the personal deism of through-hikers, all meal names are capitalized; Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Breaks. Breaks are not Breaks if they do not involve food.

All trail conversations devolve to food: what kind, how much, who is getting more than their share and food fantasies—ice cream, cold beer (beer is food), meat-lover’s pizza, medium-rare 20-ounce steaks, cold beer, half-pound bacon cheeseburgers (there are few vegetarian through-hikers), French fries, single-malt Scotch, ham sandwiches and cold beer.

Pre-packaged, freeze-dried “camping food” is not present on this hike. The foil pouches sometimes weigh as much as the food within, and, for the price of one meal, we can eat three or four times, and well. Somewhere in Carrot’s pack are carrots (ya think?) and a plastic jar of creamy peanut butter. Don’t think that one hasn’t been dipped into the other, and don’t think that peanut butter hasn’t been deemed finger food from time to time. Nowhere Man started this leg with a package of burrito-sized flour tortillas in his pack. The white cheddar Cheezits were gone on day two. Trail mix, cheese, hard salami, Woods VX Smokies, apples, oranges (but no bananas) and pasta, pasta, pasta. Very serious trail conversations have centered on what brand of mac and cheese is best.

Don’t get between a bear and her cub. Don’t get between a through-hiker and her food.

Case four: Famous feet. Phil will take a picture of my battered heel tomorrow while I am changing the duct-tape dressing after Lunch and on Friday, when we are back in the world, send it to one of the websites dedicated to throughhiking. My heel will be famous for a few minutes, but not for having duct tape on it. It’s the size of the blister that matters.

Case five: Water, water, everywhere, but something’s dropped in the drink.

Everybody’s got a water story. Phil’s worstcase scenario involves pumping water (through a filter) out of a pond that had cows standing in it while on a particularly arid section of the PCT. We have not had to do this—again, thank you, God. We do abide by the rule that pumping out

of a running stream with cows around is much better than pumping out of a standing pond with cows around. We have come up with a water taste rating system, 1 through 10, with 1 being “Don’t drink it under any circumstances, and don’t stick your foot in it.” Think Berkely Pit water. Ten is the best water on the planet. We haven’t encountered 1 water, but tomorrow morning, we will pump and drink for most of my last day on the CDT some 5.7. (Pump it, no treatment tablet required, but you’re not going to like it.) A few days ago, we found a source pumping out 60 gallons of 38° F pure 10 per minute. Mmm, mmm! The big spring at Tex Creek will not fade fast from my memory.

This section we have been walking is not pristine wilderness. There are cows, fences and jeep tracks almost everywhere, with a few notable and beautiful exceptions. Of the 110 miles we will finish tomorrow, only 25 or 30 miles are along sections of the cut tread one expects of a USFS trail. Much of it is along steep, dusty, rocky four-wheeler tracks or simply following rollercoaster ridges, which have been instrumental in my daily dismantling.

The rollercoaster, by the way, is not the one in the kiddy amusement park. I have looked at my feet a lot, trudging up 15 percent to 30 percent grades, just to fall down a similar slope into the next saddle, just to trudge up the next grade. Looking at my feet when I am going down has prevented stepping on a rock that would roll out from under me. Looking at my feet when I am going up prevents discouragement from stopping me in my tracks.

There’s that trail-building fantasy again.

In my imagination, I see a sinuous line of tread winding from saddle to saddle, replacing straight-up-the-ridge fourwheeler tracks and fencefollowing, giving us hikers a chance to enjoy the view. It

might even weave from one side of the Divide to the other, with an occasional series of switchbacks to make that next lift on the CDT a bit more pleasant.

In the morning, after Breakfast, we will begin out of here, and off the trail.

After stopping at the 5.7 spring, the obligatory 2,000 feet of vertical ascent each day seems to start with and Lunch, we will begin down one, last rollercoaster ridge into Modoc Creek, where we will find a road and be mooed at by a bunch of cows who are obviously not bovinus alpinus, the high-country cows who have pretty much ignored us. We will trudge eight Phil, Deb and Sandy miles on a gravel road to the freeway, which we will scamper across like pronghorns—with packs on—to walk another two miles to the phone booth at the ghost town with the big junk yard: Monida, Montana. We will call Mike at the Mountain View Motel in Lima, and he will come get us in his big white pickup truck. When we get to the motel, we will begin indulging our food fantasies and some others.

I’m not sure if it’s possible, but I may try to eat an ice-cream bar while drinking a cold beer—in the shower.

Will I find myself recreated?

I think I might. When brother Chris lands his Stinson at Dell International Airport day after tomorrow, come to pick me up and fly me home, I may have a different look in my eye. The next few months will tell. This journey won’t be digested or processed quickly. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time, reviewing my journal and the pictures I’ve taken, unraveling just what we did on the CDT for this last week in August.

In the meantime, Supper’s ready. I go share some of it with Phil and Deb. The beacon at Dell flashes—green-and-white, green-and-white—luring me into thinking of the flight home.

In the Montana hollow below us, bovinus alpinii call to each other, while a coyote howls over in Idaho.

Nineteen more miles tomorrow, and I’m done with the CDT. For this year.

All photos by Sandy Compton

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Coffelt Funeral Home Sandpoint, Idaho www.CoffeltFuneral.com

WILMA IRENE PAGE, 90, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Saturday, August 23.

Funeral services were conducted in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel. Father Dennis C. Day, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, officiated and interment followed in Pinecrest Memorial Park.

Wilma was born in Madera, Calif. on October 15, 1917, the daughter of Dante and Norma Venturi. In 1935 she graduated from high school in Santa Maria, Calif. She worked as a bank teller for the Bank of America, in Merced, Calif., for 17 years. On February 23, 1959 she married Fred Page in Merced, Calif.

The family moved to Hope, Idaho in 1966 and she volunteered for the Bonner General Hospital Auxiliary for 27 years. She liked to knit and read, however, her greatest pleasure came from preparing meals for her family.

Wilma was a member of The Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Clark Fork, Idaho and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sandpoint, Idaho.

She is survived by her husband Fred Page, Jr.; two sons John (and Lynn) Rutherford and Fred (and Elizabeth) Page the III; and three grandchildren: Ryan Rutherford, Emily Page, and Katherine Page.

She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother Elmer.

On August 28 DON MITCHELL lost his four and a half year courageous battle with cancer, at home, with his family by his side.

Don Mitchell was born in Islington, Ontario, Canada on November 1, 1932 to Frances James Mitchell and Laura (Bache) Mitchell.

He came to the United States on a permanent visa in 1955. Don was an avid hockey player and passionately competed in Canada and the United States. As fate would have it, Don met the love of his life and married Shirley Harbaugh in Dumont, NJ on August 17, 1957.

He was blessed with two children, Laurie and Kevin. While living in New Jersey he worked for the Ford Motor Company. He would then move his family to Long Island, NY where he worked for the Krugs Baking Company. In 1963, he began his career in the insurance industry with Prudential Life Insurance. On a summer vacation out west in 1968, Don and Shirley fell in love with Idaho, and in 1969 moved their family to Coeur d’Alene. Without a job, place to stay, and arriving during one of the biggest snow storms in years, this was challenging to say the least.

While having his Volkswagen camper serviced at the local dealership, Don’s charismatic charm landed him with a serviced Volkswagen and a job. In February 1972, Don had the opportunity to purchase the Farmers Insurance Agency in Sandpoint, which he owned until his retirement in 1998. Don not only supported his family, but also supported and served his community. He has served as past president of the: Sandpoint Lions Club, Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club/K&K Derby, Button Auction, Circle & Swing-Square Dance Club, and was a member of the Port Alberni Yacht Club, (Vancouver Island, Canada) for over 28 years.

First and foremost, Don loved his family. He was very proud of each and every one of them and let everybody know it. Don’s hunger for life was evident in those lives he touched. As a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and lifelong friend to many, he taught us all

how to live life and enjoy each day. He lived life by smiling and laughing, along with loving passionately and abundantly. He entertained many by the songs and stories that he told and captured the full attention of those who heard him. He told the legend about how he came to this earth. He stated, since he was the youngest of seven, God took the brains from his three brothers and the good looks from his three sisters, put them together, and he was born. He also told many, that since he was born on “All Saints Day” and his first name was Joseph, he had to be a saint… all told with a big smile on his face.

His other passions in life were boating, fishing, and hunting. His favorite part was that his wife shared these passions. They spent the month of August for the past 35 years, on their boat, in Barclay Sound off the West coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. Don and Shirley spent 51 wonderful years of marriage by each other’s side. He will truly be missed.

Don is survived by wife Shirley Mitchell, children Laurie Raynor and Kevin (Val) Mitchell, grandchildren Tanjee (Robert) Kellogg, Jarae (Alfredo) Nevarez, Kinsie Raynor, Ben (Brittney) Mitchell, Nick Mitchell and Hayley Mitchell, great grandchildren Jayden and Konner Kellogg, B.J., Lilly May, and Noah Mitchell, Breckin Nevarez, brother George (Kay) Mitchell, sister Norma (Art) Pilcher, mother-in-law Evelyn Khoury, brotherin-laws James (Roxanne) Khoury, John (Betty) Khoury, and local cousins George (Donna) Gow, Bill (Diane) Gow, Michael (Laura) Gow and Hunter, Gregg Gow, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews, great-nieces and -nephews, and great-great-nieces and -nephews throughout the United States and Canada.

Preceded in death by infant son Brian M. Mitchell, parents James and Laura Mitchell, sisters Irene Stoll, Pearl Kirkpatrick, brothers Frank Mitchell, James F. Mitchell, nieces Eleanor Duck, Ann Kirkpatrick and great nephew Kim Kirkpatrick.

At his request, the family hosted a “Celebration of Life” open house in Sandpoint. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sandpoint Lions Club, P.O. Box 414, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

LEIGH MILES STANDISH, 85, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on September 10.

Leigh was born a “preemie” weighing under two pounds in Underwood, North Dakota April 7, 1923, the son of Lloyd and Ellen Standish. The doctor sent him home to die. His parents kept him alive in a cigar box in the warmer of the wood stove. The family moved to Sandpoint during the Great Depression. Leigh graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1941. In May, 1942, he married Betty Jo Caughey and they raised four children. Their children are Charmian Standish; Larry Standish; Bill Standish (deceased); and Marilyn Mavity.

Leigh spent his career hauling logs and driving truck. He has enjoyed what North Idaho has to offer as a hunter, boater and fisherman. He was a gun enthusiast and accomplished gunsmith.

Leigh has been a long time member and a past president of the Sandpoint Gun Club. Since his retirement, Leigh has kept busy managing the homestead and tree farm at Wrencoe Loop. This has been the Standish home for 56 years.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his only sibling, Marjorie Mathison; and son, Bill. Leigh is survived by his wife of 66 years, Betty; three children, seven grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren with one more on the way and two great-great grandchildren. A family

gathering was held at the Wrencoe home and a “Celebration of Life” open house was held at the Tam O’ Shanter in Sandpoint.

Toward the end of his life, DR. FRED ELWOOD MARIENAU, a man married 55 years to his bride Delsie, gave his grandson David Marienau some advice, “Always do what your wife tells you,” he said. His children would agree that Fred practiced this during his life.

Fred, a man of outstanding achievements, also told David that he’d like to be remembered as a “great” grandfather. His grandchildren and children will also vouch for him in that category.

Dr. Marienau died at his home in Dover on September 11. His family and an appreciative community of friends, many of whom Dr. Marienau delivered into the world, honored the life of this “great” grandfather and beloved family physician, at Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, with Pastor Steve Nickodemus officiating.

We invite you to visit his online memorial at www.coffeltfuneral.com to read his entire obituary, as it is too lengthy for these pages.

HENRY L. “SHORTY” LAGROU, 96, of Spokane, former Sandpoint resident died Sunday, September 14, in Spokane.

He was born June 29, 1912 in Sandusky, Mich. the son of Leon and Elodia Lagrou. He moved to the Sandpoint area as a small child and was raised and educated here.

He married Mildred C. Anderson on June 2, 1943 in Havre, Mont. Shorty was a mechanic in Sandpoint for many years. He was a member of the Lutheran Church. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, spending time in God’s great outdoors, but perhaps his greatest gift was his sensitivity to the needs of others. He would drop whatever he was doing to help those in need whether it was to help with a broken down vehicle, visiting the sick, or doing whatever was needed.

Shorty is survived by his wife Mildred; 3 children: Don (Jodi) Lagrou, Linda (Bill) Norberg, and Barbara Lagrou; twograndchildren: Conni (Chad) Cossette and Sam (Chrissy) Lagrou; and by two great-grandchildren: Collin and Corrianna. Graveside services were conducted at Pinecrest Cemetery, with Pastor David Olson officiating.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests you plant a tree in memory of Shorty who loved the outdoors, or contribute your time, talent, or money to the Quilting Circle of 1st Lutheran Church, 526 S. Olive, Sandpoint, Idaho for the distribution of quilts around the world.

GLENN DUDLEY NEWTON, 89, of Cocolalla died Tuesday, September 16 at his home after a year-long battle with cancer, never once losing His sense of humor.

He was born October 18, 1918 to Alvie and Allie Newton, the sixth of ten children, in Enon, Ark. As a small boy his family moved to Verdagas, Okla. After the sudden death of his father, when he was 14 years old, Glenn quit school to help provide for the family. Later the family moved to Los Angeles, Calif.

In 1940 Glenn married Bonnie and had one son, Glenn E. Newton. After several years they divorced, but remained good friends until her death. In later 1945 his mother passed away leaving the two youngest children to be raised by others. Glenn would not allow the kids to be separated so in 1946 Glenn applied for their guardianship and raised them to adulthood.

In May of 1950 the love of his life Anna, with her daughter, walked into his Malt Shop and stole his heart. Their first date was over Memorial Day

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weekend and on July 1, 1950 they were married in Las Vegas. Together they had two children, Bill and Kathi. In 1952 he started Newton Roofing Co. in Los Angeles. He stayed in business for 25 years when he retired on a disability. Glenn was a life member of the NRA, a hunter safety instructor, guided deer hunts in Utah, and loved to fish.

In 1975 Glenn and Anna moved to Cocolalla, Idaho to live the rest of their years side by side.

Glenn lost his precious Anna in 1998 to Alzheimer’s.

In 1999, due to health issues, Glenn moved in with his daughter Kathi and her husband Bob. He lived with them until his passing, when once again, he joined his beloved Anna.

Glenn is survived by his sister: Kathy; daughter: Mary and her husband Jerry Dutton; son: Bill, daughter: Kathi and her husband Bob Moore; ten grandchildren: Brad Dutton (Kathy), Vicki Johnson (Ted), Gregg Dutton (Janet), Brent Stephens and his wife Michelle, who was his caregiver and best friend, Ken Stephens (Staci), Jay Newton, Nichole Plummer, Angela Newton, Shawna, Kelli and Heather, numerous great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, mother, six brothers, two sisters, his son Glenn and his beloved Anna.

He was deeply loved and will be dearly missed by all.The family suggests memorials be given to Bonner Community Hospice, PO Box 1448, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

Lakeview Funeral Home Sandpoint, Idaho www.lakeviewfuneral.com

FRANCES MARIE PEARSON, 89, passed away on Saturday, August 23 in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Memorial Services were held at the Lakeview Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Jim Osman of the Kootenai Community Church officiating.

Frances was born on April 15, 1919 in Homedale, Idaho to Cleo and Pearl Painter. She married Clyde Pearson on March 19, 1937 in Homedale; they had known each other since they were children.

Frances and Clyde had a chicken farm in Homedale until 1952 when they moved to Seattle and went to work for Boeing. Frances worked soldering components together. Frances was forced to retire after suffering a heart attack, and the couple retired to Hope, Idaho in 1976. They later moved to Sagle where Clyde passed away in 2004. Frances enjoyed needlework.

She is survived by two sons, Delbert Pearson and Bob Pearson She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Clyde, brother Kenneth, and sister Leora.

JOHN BRIAN BAKER 56, of Long Beach Calif. passed away unexpectedly on Sunday August 24 while visiting his family in Sagle Idaho. Memorial services will be held in California on John’s birthday, September 13.

He was born in Long Beach, Calif. on September 13, 1951 to Donald C. Baker and Dollie J. Baker.

He moved to Northern Idaho in 1960 and attended schools in Sandpoint, graduating SHS in 1969.

John attended the University of Idaho before transferring to Long Beach University.

John married Vicki Busby on December 24, 1977 in Long Beach. The couple later had a son, Brian.

John worked as a surveyor on large construction and development projects for over 30 years and was a member of Operating Engineers Local #12.

John was a wonderful, caring father; there wasn’t anything more important to him than his son Brian.

He enjoyed playing volleyball, sports, fishing and reading. John was a kind, thoughtful honest person

with an effervescent sense of humor who loved to laugh. He will be greatly missed and we will all miss him making us laugh.

He is survived by his father Donald (JoEllen) Baker, mother Dollie (Joe) Kocarnik, son Brian, two sisters Sally Baker and Christine (Gregory) Miller, 2 brothers Dan (Angie) Baker and Jeffrey (Leony) Baker, and friend Stacy Hujing. He is also survived by numerous uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews.

PATRICK EDWARD LAMBERT, 80, passed away on Wednesday, August 27 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Rosary was said at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint.

Funeral Mass was held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church with Father Dennis C. Day officiating. Burial followed at the Evergreen Cemetery in Priest River, Idaho.

Patrick was born on October 4, 1927 in Spokane, Wash. to Ralph and Beatrice Lambert.

He served his country in the United States Army during the Korean Conflict. Patrick served a career with the United States Forest Service on the Kaniksu National Forest. He also ranched with his brother Ralph in the Nordman and Laclede areas.

After Patrick’s brother and mother passed away he sold the ranch in 1984 and moved to Sandpoint.

He was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, and was an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

He is survived by his two sisters, Mrs. David (Mary) Wacker and Mrs. Erval (Lola) Rainey, and numerous nieces and nephews. A special thanks to his niece Susan Bristol for her loving care to Patrick during his final years.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his twin sister Patsy, and a brother Ralph.

BETTY JEAN HUTCHISON, 79, passed away peacefully at home in Sandpoint, Idaho on Friday, September 12.

Betty was born on January 7, 1929 in Wallace, Idaho to John and Edith Johnson. She grew up and attended schools in Mullan, graduating from Mullan High School. She went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho.

Betty married Frank Hutchison in 1956 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and they lived in Wallace, Idaho; Portland, Ore.; and Petaluma, Calif. before retiring to Sandpoint.

She leaves behind her husband Frank, twin brother Tom, sister Elsie, son John (and Susan), daughter Nancy (and Creed) and two grandchildren, Ian and Jane.

Strong and independent, Betty was happiest outdoors. She loved to fish, tie flies, hike and golf with friends. Memorial donations may be made to the Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar St., Sandpoint, ID 83864.

HELEN A. JOHNSON, 91, went to be with her Lord Jesus Christ and all His glory on Monday, September 15 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Memorial services were held at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint with Pastor Steve Nickodemus of Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church officiating.

A reception followed at the Lakeview Funeral Home reception area.

Helen was born on November 18, 1916 to Dan and Amelia Zaklan at their farm in the Oden-Sunnyside area. This birth was exceptional because the only people present were mother and daughter. Both of Helen’s parents emigrated here from Yugoslavia in the early 1900s. She grew up on the farm with her nine other siblings and two best friends Evelyn French and Ethel Johnson. Attending high school during the Depression was difficult for farm families and eventually her father pulled her out of school to help with chores and raise her younger siblings.

Although she only graduated from the old Oden School, she became a prolific reader all her life.

She spoke both Serbian and English.

From 1937 to 1939 she and Ethel worked on a dude ranch in Seeley Lake, Mont. During the early part of WWII she came back to Sandpoint to work at J.C. Penny’s and help Evelyn run her restaurant.

Later in the war she worked in the Spokane Army Depot supporting troops in Europe and the Pacific.

At war’s end she started dating her neighbor and childhood friend Herb Johnson who had just returned from Japan as a prisoner of war. Herb and Helen were married in Libby, Mont. on June 1, 1946. Herb’s Air force career took them to Tucson, Ariz. where all three of her children were born and later to Plattsburg, NY. Helen’s family all returned to Sandpoint in 1960 upon Herb’s retirement.

Helen was a loving mother who instilled the virtues of hard work and Christian principles in her children. She was an encourager, a giver and servant to many. She considered others more important that herself. Her passions were nutrition, gardening and sharing the fruits of her labors with family and friends. She loved reading her Bible, huckleberrying, and swimming in Lake Pend Oreille on hot summer days. She was active in the First Presbyterian Church, the Gideons, and the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary. She welcomed all visitors to her home and provided many wonderful meals, always followed by a walk around the Syringa Heights Loop. Her energy level was amazing even in her final years. She always had a beautiful smile.

On the night before her passing, she carefully packed a small bag of personal belongings and announced that Herb was coming the next day to pick her up; she placed it beside her bed and never woke up. We know they’re enjoying a second honeymoon after 7 years apart. God Bless them both.

She is survived by 2 sons, Gary (wife Diane) and Bruce (and wife Janie) Johnson, one daughter Susan (Bill) Reed, one brother Stanley, two sisters Sophie Guichard and Julie Walhgren, six grandchildren: Dawn and Emily Johnson, Megan and Alexa Johnson, and Hudson and Elliot Reed of Washington, and her caregiver of two years, Kristine Lwin.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Herb, and six brothers.

Memorial donations may be made to the Gideons, PO Box 1723, Sandpoint, ID 83864 DARRELL DEEN HORTON, age 56, of Elmira, Idaho, died Thursday, September 4 at his residence. Funeral services have been held in Coleman, Texas.

Darrell Deen Horton was born June 13, 1952 in San Diego, Calif. the son of Charles Franklin Horton and Charlene Bates Horton Cole. He moved with his family from Olney, Tex. to the state of Washington at the age of nine. Darrell served his country in the United States Navy where he armed and disarmed bombs.

Following his military service, he worked in Civil Service in Seabeck, Wash. He has lived in Elmira for a number of years, working as a carpenter building log houses. He was a long-time member of the NRA, an avid hunter, fisherman, camper, and hiker.

Survivors include his mother, Charlene Bates Cole; one sister, Shirley Horton; one niece and one nephew, Stacie Reynolds and Sam Reynolds; aunts and uncles, Lucille Day, Jimmy Bates, Mary Jones, Alvin Bates and Minnie Chamberlin.

He was preceded in death by two uncles and his step-father, Bill Cole in 2007.

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 61

Widlife- continued from page 62

this case, we were hiking alongside the water, which was high and roaring—the noise was so loud we could barely hear each other speaking.

We came around a bend in the trail right at the time Mr. Cougar was jumping down onto it. He spotted us in mid-air, and had his eyes on us before even hitting the ground. Impaled by that gaze, I knew immediately that we had been classified as prey and all that remained was for Mr. Cougar to decide whether or not we were worth the effort of eating. This is when yelling, waving your arms and making yourself look bigger comes in handy.

Instead, I took his picture. My hands were shaking and I not only didn’t bother to focus, I didn’t even manage to get the viewfinder past my breastbone. Picture taken and still, Mr. Cougar watched us. Growing braver, I got the viewfinder all the way to my eye, carefully focused the lens, and snapped another shot.

And still he watched. Having succeeded in my goal of documenting this moment on film, I was ready for Mr. Cougar to move on.

I completely forgot the ‘act like a cat’ rule.

“Shoo, kitty,” I said, in a high, shaky falsetto I’ve never, before or since, heard issue from my vocal cords. “Shoo now.”

Why he left I don’t know but I’ve always suspected it was out of disgust.

I was on a bicycle the day I had my upclose-and-personal encounter with a moose.

This took place on Trout Creek Road, which is located just past the bridge on Hwy. 200 that crosses the Pack River Flats—an area where moose are fairly common.

My plan had been to stop at a somewhat swampy area by the side of the road to get pictures of a family of turtles who liked to hang out on a sunny log there. The moose, as is their habit, was eating off the bottom and, with his head underwater, it was a minute or two before I noticed him. Despite being aware that moose tend to be both badtempered and fast on their feet, and that this moose was no more than ten or fifteen feet away from me, again, I lifted my camera for

Mailman- Continued from page

S

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Alaska. During the thirteen years he carried the mail he missed only two days. George and Darlene Johnston carried the mail from 1978 through 1991. Darlene would carry the mail during summer and George during the winter. Tragedy struck when Darlene was running one day in 1982. Just after gassing up at Boileau’s, and carrying a young man as passenger, the boat caught fire and sank. The passenger, 16-year-old Joe Dory, didn’t swim, nor did Darlene. Dory made it to shore. Darlene drowned, after throwing the mail sacks overboard. Boyd Westphal took over and ran the route until 1993. John Thaxter, the present mail carrier and our

a shot.

The click of the shutter sounded like a cannon going off in the stillness of the day and before I knew it that moose had lifted his head out of the water to stare directly at me, pure hate in his eyes.

God, he looked magnificent. And scary.

Immediately, I did my very best impersonation of a tree, which was somewhat hampered by the bicycle I had tangled between my legs. And again, I was lucky, deemed ‘not worth the effort’ by our local wildlife.

I was a tree for about ten minutes, which might be the longest time I’ve ever held still in my entire life. Eventually, the moose went back to feeding and I left the area as slowly and as silently as I possibly could.

That picture never came out, because I never thought to take the lens cap off the camera. There’s no pictures of the bear at Glacier, either, though you can visit our website and see some pictures taken right before and after that encounter. As for the picture of the cougar—well, you can see that on the website as well, though I have to admit, people tell me he’s hard to spot.

All I can say is he was closer than it looks in the photograph, and much closer than I ever want to be to a cougar again.

In each of my encounters with local wildlife, I did the exact wrong thing, which makes me lucky to be sitting here, writing these words. If you find yourself heading out into the woods (especially if you go with wildlife-attracting Taneesha), don’t trust to luck. Keep your eyes open and make lots of noise. And if an animal spots you anyway, remember the three rules: be a dog for a bear, a cat for a cougar, and slink away like a snake for a moose. You might keep in mind a fourth rule as well—don’t stop for pictures.

See pictures at www.RiverJournal.com

host, runs the lake six days a week, through rain, snow, fog; well, everything but famine and pestilence and maybe even then as well.

Today, John Thaxer still plies the waters of Lake Pend Oreille through some pretty horrific weather at times. In addition to carrying the mail, he conducts rescues, and carries the occasional passenger who, having cabin fever, hits Bayview for a day or two. Sometimes, with an isolated party low on grub, he even delivers groceries. A mellow, low-key guy, John Thaxter is typical of the carriers who came before him, some sacrificing their lives in the process.

Page 62 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

At Stepping Stones Wellness Center Oncology • Sports Medical • Energy Stress Relief Krystle Shapiro, LMT

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Creepy Gourds for a Spooky Trick-or-Treat Who wants a traditional jacko-lantern when creative people worldwide have shown just how ‘far out’ a pumpkin can be?

Extreme pumpkins (www. extremepumpkins.com) for example, tells you, “Pumpkin carving is reborn!” and one look at their website will send you running for the sharpest knife in your kitchen.

At this website, get design strategy tips, cool carving patterns, and learn about what power tools work best on your autumn collection of gourds (think jig saws, sawsalls, drills and routers—chain saws are less than successful). In addition, if you don’t end up using them for a heaving extravaganza, learn what you can do with the ‘guts’ you pull out of your pumpkin. Be warned, these designs certainly pass the border of good taste, and may be too much for those easily offended—and even for some of those not so easily offended!

The website is the brainchild of Tom Nardone, the man who wrote the book (literally) on extreme pumpkin carving (Extreme Pumpkins— Diabolical Do-it-yourself Designs to Amuse Your Friends and Scare Your Neighbors).

If you’re feeling really lucky, check out the link to “Pumpkin P yrote chnic s”— but see about getting a burn permit before you do.

H a p p y Carving!

On the Teen Scene

by Shaina Gustafson

Here we go again, another painful and annoying nine months of pure torture. As the new school year begins I can’t help but dread those late nights of the utterly confusing and often seemingly pointless homework assignments. That homework just happens to come from eight classes that aren’t necessarily the classes you want to take, but that have been chosen for you, based on your grades and the availability of classes.

As an average 11th grade student at Clark Forkl, I get no choice of any P.E. class because of schedule conflicts; also there is not one art class offered to any high school students. Generally those types of classes are free of homework. So you guessed it, I am completely stomped with homework from, basically, every class.

A few years back I remember coming to this high school for the first time was fun, I had the chance to join P.E. and home economics, and my social life was booming.

Life was all about living in the moment and taking full advantage of the joys of being a kid. Then, as the fun and exciting days fizzled down to the dreary days of high school hell, I started to ask the teachers why certain things were even worth the time of learning, I usually got a simple reply: “This particular lesson is mandated by the department of education.” Eventually, I gave up on all hopes of getting out of any annoying and time-consuming homework assignments and just did them with little effort, hoping to get them in on time.

Just the other day I was talking with my mom, and she was listening to me complain about school and how intolerable it is.

Then she told me that back in her day, school was just something you did and nobody really complained too much, they just got through it. I started to question my complaining. Was I just an abnormal child that hates school?

Then I realized no, that wasn’t it because we have a whole school full of kids counting the minutes until that savior (the lunch bell) rings. Maybe it is the teachers.

Have they lost the passion for the job, and just come to school every morning to make their living? I honestly don’t have the answer to that question and if I did it would probably help a little bit, and then create more questions.

But then something else hit me. Maybe, as the generations trickle on a lack of interest sparks up, and also just pure laziness—this makes for less hard work and more video games. All of this leads to young adults not leaving the nest. In the 2000 census there were 4 million American people between the ages of 25 and 34 that still lived at home, with their parents. On average, over 60 percent of college seniors say they expect to move home after graduation.

Isn’t that astonishing? Why would a person want to go back home after having that lovely taste of freedom? But with the economy with the way it is I am just hoping that I don’t have to move back into that same bedroom that I have spent most of all my nights in.

All that I really have to do is hope that maybe there will be a positive change after I get through these last two years.

And for the rest of you kids entering the harsh reality of life, good luck, because we all know that you will need it. Parents, good luck as well—hopefully now you’re getting to that point in life where you get to enjoy yourselves and not have to worry about setting that extra place a the dinner table for your adult “child.”

Maybe that’s the best reason of all for doing your homework—the knowledge that better grades and a good work attitude will help move you forward into a self-sufficient life of your own.

Shaina Gustafson is a junior at Clark Fork Jr/Sr High School

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008 | Page 63

Touchstone Massage Therapies

Page 64 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 17 No. 17 | October 2008

From the Mouth of the River

Has this been a great summer or what?

If it got too hot to fish you could always go swimming, goggle at the girls on the beach, play in the water, or just lie in the shade. The wildlife is getting into summer in a big way. They are finally catching up on the weight they lost over a long and cold winter and a wet spring.

I, on the other hand, put on weight over the long cold winter and apparently it has decided to stay throughout the summer. The wild fruit has been a bumper crop this year, helping the bears and coons fatten their babies.

Of course, our cherries ripened first and just like long lost relatives who discovered you had moved to God’s country, the critters all decided to visit us until the food ran out. A young sow and her cute cub showed up the night before the cherries were ready to pick.

They climbed up the first tree and pigged out, breaking a limb or two. The next night they showed up and devastated the second tree. So, I hot wired both trees. That’s right I connected a livestock fence charger across to both trees. She was not impressed. She crawled most of the way over the wire then it lit up her butt. She shot to the top of that cherry tree, pushed her cub out on a small limb at the very top and would not come down.

I found them there at 4:30 in the morning.

Even our old dog, Tess, did not faze them. In fact, I think Tess was just encouraging them to hang in there and bring a little excitement into her otherwise dull life.

This bear incident would have made a great movie. Walt Disney would have loved to have filmed this just to prove to the world how much bears and humans are alike. First, she threatened me with some bear profanity and I returned with some of my own and at one point when I was referring to her family heritage she covered the cub’s ears.

Finally, after using all the words of discouragement I could think of I unhooked the wire and took it down from the tree. She didn’t care and wasn’t budging. So, I hosed her down. I stood there with the garden hose turned on high and she let out a squall of bear profanity so loud the cub covered his own ears. That’s when she decided to empty out all the cherries she had eaten for the last two days. It looked like about five gallons of cherry pie filling. We backed out of the garden and waited. Then around 10:30 she had had enough so she came down to the lowest limb and stopped. Then she did something a human would do. She slid one hind leg slowly down the tree feeling with her foot for the hot wire. Not finding it she went back up on top of that limb and crawled out head first until the limb bent down close enough to the ground, then jumped off. The cub followed and they headed for the nearest woods as fast as they could. They were back the next day, but gave a wide berth to the garden and this time she and the cub were only eating serviceberries. Cherries just didn’t seem that appealing anymore.

Now, I know that the Northwest Indians believe the bear is their brother and is almost human, but then they observe bears in a different light than we do. Lovie and I have been observing bears doing their thing for a long time now and, yes, some of the things they do are quite humanistic. For instance, serviceberry bushes are about the size of a man’s arm and grow up to 20 feet tall. They are too small for a grown bear to climb, so our little momma bear stood on her hind feet and reached as high as she could and pulled the limbs all the way down to the ground, eating berries as she went and then she sat down on the limb so her and the cub could clean off the rest of the berries. At first I thought this was a novel accident until I watched her do this to all the berry bushes in that group. Pull them down and sit on ‘em until she and the cub could clean all the berries off each limb. One funny thing happened during this procedure as she stepped off of a limb before the cub was done eating. Unfortunately, it was standing astraddle of the limb and was shot up into the top of the stand of serviceberry bushes where it began to eat as though that was a normal reaction.

As a youngster I read the story of Johnny Appleseed, the young man who went through the woods planting apple seeds to assure that future generations would have apples.

But, here in the Northwest, it is the bear that scatters the apple seeds.

Each fall with a belly full of apples he deposits seed everywhere he relieves his bowels. That’s why you’ll find apple trees in the oddest and sometimes most remote places throughout the woods. It’s a good thing all the seeds

Boots Reynolds

don’t sprout because if they did you couldn’t see the forest for the apple trees.

Sportsmen throughout the world have hunted bears for trophies and early settlers hunting bears for food rendered the fat out for cooking. It’s not unlike the fat on hogs, except bear fat is considered the best for baking pie crust. As a young man growing up in the South I read everything I could about bear hunting in the outdoor magazines and was excited to hunt for my first bear when I arrived in Idaho.

The Pack River bottom is covered in berry bushes and when fall came so did the bears.

Each evening we could hear the bears pulling down berry bushes as our home was just a short distance from the river. One evening I found myself hidden behind an old stump overlooking a bend in the river. No sooner had I got set down when out of the brush across the meadow stepped a black bear.

I rested my rifle on the stump and waited.

The bear was strolling straight to me. When he got to within a hundred yards he stepped up on a log exposing his chest, which would have been a perfect kill shot. But, I was raised up to take a neck shot on elk, deer and antelope so you wouldn’t ruin any meat.

Just at that time the bear turned his head and looked across the river and I took the neck shot. The bear jumped as high as any high jumper and came down over the ten foot bank and into the river. I ran as fast as I could to get to him, afraid he would escape out the other side of the river. In the meantime the bear was thrashing wildly in the water. By the time I arrived on the spot where the bear went over the river bank, the splashing had stopped. There, ten foot below me, floating in the river was my first bear. With help from all the neighbors and our pickup we finally had the bear hanging from the rafters in our barn. By the time the hide was skinned down to the bear’s head it was mentioned by several onlookers how much the bear’s carcass looked like that of a human. It was at this time our neighbor, Jim, pointed out that there was no sign of a bullet wound. This statement opened up the opportunity for me to brag on my shooting ability.

“My dear fellow, one does not waste precious meat where I come from. First one learns to shoot. For instance, I shot this bear right behind the ear in the neck,” I said, “not wasting an ounce of meat.”

“Show me,” he said.

We skinned the hide down over the bear’s head and found no bullet wound in the neck or head. After closer examination we found a small nick in the skin just under the jaw where the bullet had broke the hide. Apparently, the bear’s reaction to the impact of the bullet shocked him into jumping up and landing upside down in the river, which caused him to panic and to breathe in too much water and drown. I have made a lot of great shots in my hunting career but to scare a bear to death with one shot is one for the record books!

Boots Reynolds is the internationally renowned cowboy artist and author. Reach him via editorial@RiverJournal.com

ELECTION 2008 Idaho

Candidates for State Legislature - County residents vote for candidates in their district. Most of Bonner County lies within Legislative District 1, which extends north to also include all of Boundary County. Nine southern precincts of Bonner County lie within Legislative District 2, which extends south to include much of Kootenai and all of both Shoshone and Benewah counties.

Legislative District 1

Senator—Republican: Shawn A. Keough, UNOPPOSED Representative, Position A—Republican: Eric Anderson, incumbent • Democrat: Steve Elgar Representative, Position B—Republican: George E. Eskridge, incumbent • Democrat: Tom Hollingsworth,

Legislative District 2

Broadsword, incumbent • Democrat: Rand C. Lewis Representative, Position A—Democrat: Mary Lou Shepherd, incumbent UNOPPOSED Representative, Position B—Republican: R.J. “Dick” Harwood, incumbent • Democrat: C.J. Rose

Candidates for Statewide Office—

County residents vote for all open positions.

U.S. Senate—Democrat: Larry LaRocco • Independent: Rex Rammell • Libertarian: Kent A. Marmon • Republican: Jim Risch Congressional District One— Republican: Bill Sali incumbent • Democrat: Walt Minnick Supreme Court Justice (to succeed Joel D. Horton) Joel D. Horton (to succeed Warren E. Jones) Warren E. Jones Appellate Court Judge (to succeed Sergio A. Gutierrez) Sergio A. Gutierrez

Send one of us to Boise!

VOTE FOR STEVE ELGAR FOR THE IDAHO HOUSE ON NOV 4.

Steve has talked with thousands of north Idahoans, but not one lobbyist.

He’ll work for us, not special interests and big Boise businesses.

Steve will fight for:

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Senator—Republican: Joyce

County Commissioner, District 1 Democrat: Todd J. Crossett, incumbent • Republican: Cornel Rasor County Commissioner, District 2 Republican: Joe Young, incumbent • Democrat: Brian Orr Bonner County Sheriff Republican: Daryl Wheeler • Democrat: Larry Hanna Prosecutor Louis Marshall, (R) UNOPPOSED

Boundary County

Commissioner, District 1 Democrat: Jerry Pavia • Republican: Ron Smith Commissioner, District 2 Republican: Walt Kirby • Democrat: John O’Connor • Independent: John White Prosecutor Republican: John “Jack” Douglas UNOPPOSED Sheriff Independent: Allen Gemmrig • Republican: Greg Sprungl

Montana

Candidates for State Legislature County residents vote for candidates in their district. Sanders County, Montana is represented by Senate District 7 and House District 13 Senate District 7 Senator Democrat: Paul Clark • Republican Greg W. Hinkle Representative Republican: Pat Ingraham, inclumbent • Democrat: Jim Elliott

Please Remember to Vote November 4th

Paid by Friends of Steve Elgar, B. Raubenheimer, Treasurer

Bonner County

BRITT, HER GUIDE DOG WHIT, & STEVE

www.steve-elgar.com