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Packer Centre looking for approval Thirteen years of kindergarten Super senior stumpjumper Keith Clyde Curless has “soft touch” for horses A new stand-down is rising Life off the grid
June 2009
Michael White, Realtor
BS Forest Resources & Ecosystem Management For land, Ranches, and Homes with Acreage
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R E A LT Y
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240 ACRES Of fORESTED LAND With beautiful lake, mountain and valley views. Four contiguous parcels (two 80acre and two 40-acre) borders USFS on multiple sides. $799,500
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640 ACRES of some of the most productive land in North America! 240 acres of Palouse farm fields, 400 ac of prime timber land with a big year-around creek, awesome views, and wildlife galore. It even has an old farm house, well, electric, phone, new rocked road and paved access! This is the perfect property for farming and ranching, survival, family or corporate retreat. Bring Offers! Asking $1,700,000
LARGE UNDER GROUND CEMENT HOUSE ON 130 acres bordered by two big creeks & timber company land! Features include well, electric plus solar and generator backups, two good log cabins, shop & greenhouse too. New interior road system & county maintained road access just off the pavement. Awesome views. Priced as vacant land, only $649,500!
90 ACRES on Deep Creek w/ alternative energy cabin, Borders state land, good productive pasture land, beautiful forest and great views. 20 minutes to Sandpoint Bring offers! Asking $495,500
20 ACRES iN HAyDEN, iD. Quaint & beautiful horse property with good home, big barn, productive hay fields, pasture, views, good county maintained road, close to shopping, dining, lake, etc... $425,000
20 ACRES with nice cedar sided home, wired for conventional, solar and generator electric. One mile off paved county road, on newly rocked private road with secondary access road too. Big barn, good views, private but easy drive to town. Asking $299,500
17 ACRES w/ SAND CREEk fRONTAGE beaver pond, nice forest, usable land, power & phone,and small cottage. Less than 10 ml to Sandpoint, 1 mile off paved co. rd, 3 parcels sold together for $125,500
2008 fRAME BUiLT construction just minutes to downtown Sandpoint. This home features beautiful wood work, vaulted ceilings and great views. Nearly a half acre lot is biggest in subdivision and access is all on paved roads. Large two car attached garage $244,500
40 ACRES with gorgeous lake views, county road frontage, less than one mile to Clark Fork, ID power and phone are in the road, property is flat on bottom and up on top for excellent building sites. Unparalleled views of Lake Pend Oreille, River, valley & mountains. $249,500
21 ACRES ON LOST LAkE! Great views, power & phone, two building pads w/ roughed-in roads, mostly paved roads on the 10 mile drive to town. Area of nice homes. Great price at $275,000
21AC W/ BiG ViEWS Of THE LAkE, Great views of Lake Pend Oreille, Lost Lake, surrounding Mountains and valley below. Easy drive to Sandpoint, mostly on paved roads. On the edge of Selle Valley, in an area of very nice homes. Firm at $189,500
8 ACRES w/ 800’ Of WATERfRONT, where the Pack River meets the lake. adjacent to Idaho Club! Boatable into Lake Pend Oreille. Great road access, building pad in, perc tested and gorgeous views of river, lake, mountains & wildlife. $995,000
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Consistently ranked top 10% in sales. Your listing advertised in The Real Estate Book, Homes & Land, Coeur d’ Alene Mag., Sandpoint Mag, Inland Northwest Real Estate Guide, Page | TheMag Riverand Journal - A Member News Magazine Wading | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. exposure. 18 No. 6 | June 2009 Farm & Ranch more... of Worth Cd’A and Through Selkirk MLS, doubles your
June 2009 Sandpoint group still trying for an ice rink, plus meet Jamie Packer See stories by Trish Gannon and Sandy Compton on page 3
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
SALES Thirteen years of giving them a good start. See story by Trish
Call 208.255.6957 or email trish@riverjournal.com
PRESS RELEASES
Gannon on page 5
(Email only) to editorial@riverjournal.com
STAFF Calm Center of Tranquility As bears wake up, homeowners should too See Currents by Lou Springer on page 21.
Cartoonists Scott Clawson, Matt Davidson, Kriss Perras
Not too old for the motorcycle, major losses for the River Journal, feed ‘em knapweed, Stand-Down to offer much-needed help..
Departments Editorial
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Ministry of Truth and Propaganda Jody Forest dgree666@sandpoint.net
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8..........Veterans 10.........Staccato Notes 12-19.....Outdoors 20.........Sports 22.........Education 24.........Politics 26.........Faith 30-31.....Wellness 32-33.....Other Worlds 37.........Food 38-39.....Obituaries 42-44.....Humor
Trish Gannon-trish@riverjournal.com
9 Politically Incorrect It comes in threes 11 The Scenic Route Mr. Nicholls 19 Currents Don’t feed the bears 23 Love Notes Erica Curless 27 The Hawk’s Nest Graduation 35 Say What? Security 44 From the Mouth of the River A town by Boots
The weather’s great, so get those kids outside to enjoy it! See story by Matt Haag on page 15. Cover photo by Misty Grage
Regular Contributors
Desire Aguirre; Jinx Beshears; Laura Bry; Scott Clawson; Sandy Compton; Marylyn Cork; Dick Cvitanich; 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; Clint Nicholson; Kathy Osborne; Gary Payton; Angela Potts; Paul Rechnitzer; Boots Reynolds; Kriss Perras Running Waters; Sandpoint Wellness Council; Rhoda Sanford; Lou Springer; Mike Turnlund; 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 2009. Reproduction of any material, including original artwork and advertising, is prohibited. The River Journal is published the first of each month and approximately 8,000 copies are distributed in Sanders County, Montana, and Bonner, Boundary and Kootenai counties in Idaho. The River Journal is printed on 40 percent recycled paper with soy-based ink. We appreciate your efforts to recycle.
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The Packer Centre Will athletic center get off the ice this time around? In the summer of 1999, local vet Robert Pierce, with friends and ice hockey teammates Clint Eberley and George Stonekes decided to take their passion for the game of sticks and mold it into a nonprofit organization looking to build a local , indoor ice rink. The Sandpoint Centre Corp was the base for what’s now become the Packer Centre, a 225,000 sq ft community center envisioned to include that indoor ice rink, volleyball and basketball courts, swimming pools and public meeting rooms, plus 125,000 sq ft of commercial and residential space, and a 90,000 sq ft parking garage which will incorporate in its design the preservation of the old Co-Op grain elevator and the town’s former Catholic Church. “In 2005 a petition was circulated and
over 4,800 signatures were gathered in support of a Bonner County Community Center which included an ice skating arena,” wrote Bruce Pederson, the prime mover behind the Packer Centre and Pierce’s brother-in-law, on the Packer Centre website (www.jpcentre.org). “Our group used this strong foundation of public support and placed legislation before the voters to ask if there was a willingness to fund this facility with tax money. Despite the tremendous excitement for the idea, the voters’ answer was clear: Find another way. Now we have another way.” That “other way” involves no tax dollars but does require a zoning change in Sandpoint for the area, encompassed by Boyer, Church and Oak streets and going toward Fifth Ave, from its current
by Trish Gannon
designation as residential B to residential C. The group will go before the city council on June 17 to make this request and others. They do so with the support of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, representing 550 area businesses. “The project fits in nicely with the recently adopted comprehensive plan that will promote a vibrant and active downtown, making Sandpoint a great place to work, live and visit,” said Amy Little, the Chamber’s Executive Director. Not that everyone supports the proposal—Pederson and Pierce say there are people who live in the area who would rather not see this happen. “Part of the dilemma (for them),” he said, “is they’re trying to preserve something that the comp Continued on page 16
The man behind the name Meet Jamie Packer
by Sandy Compton
After a long and arduous golf season a few years ago, Hidden Lakes professional Jamie Packer “kidnapped” fellow professional Mike Deprez and “forced” him to go to Canada to play golf with him and his friend Jason Hicks. In their last round, they played a game of skins, a format in which each hole is worth something— called a “skin”—and the best score of the hole wins the skin. A tie for best means that the skin carries forward to the next hole. To complicate matters, the threesome decided that a skin couldn’t be collected unless “proven,” and to “prove” a skin, it was necessary to par the hole following the hole won to collect it. Because of the
“prove” rule, it came to pass that all 18 skins were still uncollected on the 18th hole, a par three upon which all three golfers reached the green in one stroke. Deprez was “out”—furthest from the hole—then, Packer, and closest was Hicks. Hicks had won the previous hole and this was his hole to par and prove —for all the skins. Both Deprez and Packer made par. Hicks hit his first putt to two feet below the hole and then—with Deprez and Packer looking on—yanked his easy par putt past the hole to lose all the skins he might have won had he made the putt. “Nobody said a thing,” Deprez remembers. “There was nothing to say. We walked to the car in silence. We changed
our shoes in silence. We put the clubs in the trunk and began down the road. We didn’t turn on the radio. The silence just got bigger. “About ten minutes into our drive home, Jamie says quietly from the back seat, ‘Nice putt, Hicksey.’ It was perfect timing. We all laughed until we were almost crying. Perfect timing.” Jamie Packer had a knack for that perfect moment, and for enjoying it to its fullest. Into his short life, ended by a car accident in 2005, he stuffed more living than many people do into 80 years. Jamie was a skier, skater and a fine enough golfer to be a professional from age 20. He joined the Continued on page
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page
SUPER SENIOR
Stumpjumper Keith Clyde gets his first trophy by Keith Clyde and Desire Aguirre
The race had a rough start. When the starting gun fired, I was so excited to enter the 50 plus super senior bracket, that I ran two steps, crossed my feet and tripped, almost taking down the gentleman who won third place in the 60 and over bracket the year before. He had to jump over me. I got up just as the other bikes were leaving. In the winter, I work ski patrol at Schweitzer Mountain, setting up safety equipment and skiing the entire mountain, on and off duty. At the beginning of March, I switch gears by tearing my XR250 dirt bike d o w n to the frame a n d
increase nutrients, such as nitrogen and septic pilot project is being AllThis Beverage Liquor introduced in order to comply with water License Sale by the quality standardsfor as determined
Federal Clean Water For Act. use inDesignated Sanders to protect water quality, the plan, known as County Montana. a “Total Maximum Daily Load” All offers willfor be Lake Pend Oreille, considered. addresses Please nutrient callissues Dennis Varga for info. In addition, many lakeshore homeowners 406-847-0033 participated in or a survey in 2007 concerning a variety 253-720-4311 of water quality issues. As is turns out, their
rebuilding it for the Stumpjumpers Desert 100 race in Washington. The Stumpjumpers is a family oriented, off-road motorcycle club that promotes safety and fun. Founded in 1967, the club started the Desert 100 in Vantage, Wash, in 1969, but moved it to Odessa in 2,000. I have participated in the Desert 100 three times, and this year, I was able to enter as a super senior. I was glad I only had to race 50 miles this year. When I took off, I thought to myself, it’s kind of rough in the sagebrush and rocks. Just then, a bike passed me like I was sitting still. That bike hit a pile of sagebrush and flew 10 feet in the air. I finally got to the main trail and worked into my race pace. The first half of the race went well. I was surprised when one of the checkpoint people told me I had reached the halfway point. It felt like I had gone 40 miles, not just 25. The second check point had a different diversion. Pretty girls. I must have been distracted. After I got my marks, I took off and wheeled over backward, flooding my bike. It felt like it took 5 minutes to start it back up. I bet those girls were real impressed. Once I got my bike going, I proceeded to the rock cliff., where over 100 bikes littered the scene. The guy in front of me tried
blazing up it and bounced off the top like a toy in a pinball machine. I thought this was a little like coming on to the beaches of Normandy in WWII. I sat there and looked at it for a few minutes, deciding not to do the pinball thing. I saw a line up the middle of the cliff and went for it. When I got near the crest, I hopped off my bike, slipped the clutch, and pushed. At the top, I dropped the clutch, jumped back on and hit the throttle. The bike shot up and over the top; the pinball guy and I reached it at the same time, but he was spent and dropped over his handlebars. I took off and had a good run to the finish. In spite of the tripped up beginning, the pretty girls, and the cliff, I placed fourth in the super senior division, which had over 100 participants. I thought, no way. I was so excited, and I got my first trophy. I also won a new RTT steering damper, but I picked one out for my dream bike, the KTM 450. I went to Boise to buy one, but liked the KTM 250 they had better. The steering damper fits it perfectly. I’ll miss my old bike, but I won’t miss the blisters.
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Worth Wading Through www.RiverJournal.com | Vol 17 Worth No. 18Wading | November 2008 | Page 5 Page | The|River Journal - A News Magazine Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
The Proof is in the Pudding
Madelen Rowe retires as a kindergarten teacher as her very first local class graduates high school this year. by Trish Gannon In the late 1980s, the Memorial “Hil always did march to the beat of got to do my own thing.” One of Teeya’s Community Center in Hope began offering her own drum,” laughed her mom, Debb, favorite memories from Kindergarten—”all a pre-school program for area youth. In the a school counselor in Sandpoint. “I am so our little field trips. She was always taking early ‘90s Madelen Rowe, trained in the glad I signed her up for that kindergarten us on walks.” Montessori method, took over the school class. I wanted her to have an intense Bea Cox is also graduating from and in the fall of 1996, at the request of educational experience.” Sandpoint High School this month. Zack parents, the successful Carlson left high school preschool program added last year. kindergarten to center’s Rowe has followed offerings. Five students those first five students enrolled and attended throughout the years, school Monday through clipping out pages in Thursday. the Daily Bee whenever “I had already been the students were with those five for two recognized and sending years, an I knew how smart off congratulatory they were. And you know, cards. She plans to children always rise to attend each high school your expectations.” graduation that she can. That was 13 years ago, Her former students and those students are say they’ll be glad to graduating high school see her, and thank this year. Rowe eventually her for the foundation left Hope and opened she gave them in their the Learning Center in educational endeavors. Ponderay, offering the “It’s going to be so same successful preschool/ great to see her,” said kindergarten Montessori The first graduating kindergarten class from Hope’s Memorial Community Center: Hillary. “You know, program through the years (l to r) Hillary Nusbaum, Amy Gannon, Bea Cox, Zack Carlson and Teeya Smith she just sent me a card This year’s kindergartners last year after she saw Amy Gannon will graduate on Friday, something about me in the paper. It’s so graduated in late May, and Rowe took off her apron, sold off her equipment, June 5 from Clark Fork High School, third amazing that she remembers us and still and retired from teaching. “That this is in her class. Amy is enrolled at Lewis and cares about what we’re doing. She is such a happening now, when my first class is Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho loving person.” graduating high school, somehow seems where she plans to major in business, and Rowe says she’s proud of what that first is hoping to participate in study abroad class has accomplished with their high appropriate,” she said. Hillary Nusbaum will receive her diploma programs to fulfill her dreams of travel. academic standards. “The proof is in the “Most people probably don’t remember pudding,” she laughed. “These kids turned with her fellow classmates from Sandpoint High School on Saturday, June 6. Having what they learned in kindergarten, but out pretty well.” completed her graduation requirements by I do,” said Amy. Miss Madelen (as all the The Montessori method that Rowe has the first semester, she has spent the last few students called her, despite her being a used to such success is a child-centered months working as a nanny in California. “missus”) made everything seem like a process that self-directed activity. There She’ll return to California in the fall, where game. She was always nice, always smiling. are all types of “work” that children can she’s enrolled at Santa Monica College. She I remember she always tried to instill good decide to do, and Rowe also provides plans to major in business with a minor in manners with food, though she wasn’t “challenge work;” each student is required photography and hopes to eventually find always very successful.” to choose at least one ‘challenge work’ Teeya Smith will graduate in June assignment every day. “I’ve found that the work as a photographer that will allow her from the Olive Grove Charter School in more freedom you give a child, the more to travel.” “She (Madelen) taught us so much Los Olivos, California. This fall she will be quickly they learn responsibility connected art,” Hillary enthused. “I remember we attending the San Francisco Conservatory with that,” she said. “I’ve always shad just went through a lot of macaroni! She was of Music, where she plans to study opera really nice kids, and I found you just have just such an amazing teacher,” she added. and major in voice. “I really appreciate that to give them a chance and let them go. “She was always very loving, no matter experience,” she said. We had such closeRowe’s exposure to Montessori started how obnoxious we were. And besides, she knit relationships. And Madelen created a with her own son’s preschool. “I couldn’t program that was really student-driven; I taught me how to spell my name!” Continued on page 29 June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page
Packer-Cont’d from page teaching staff at Hidden Lakes in 1998, where he instructed until he died. Packer was born in England in 1971 and raised in northern Alberta. One of his proudest possessions was his CPGA card. The “C” stood for “Canadian,” an anomaly that he and his friends had a lot of fun with. He did finally accept a PGA card in his last season at Hidden Lakes. Sandpoint West Athletic Club owner Don Helander remembers golf lessons with Jamie. “He didn’t try to dismantle my swing and put it back together,” Don said, “but rather let me have my swing and showed me how to use it more efficiently.” As a left-handed golfer teaching mostly right-handers the art and science of golf, Packer had a very interesting method that can only be describe as “looking in the mirror.” He stood facing the student, showing them how to hold their hands on the grip, how to bring the club into position at the top of the swing, and how to strike the ball. Emulation was easy because of the mirror effect. Packer’s widow Sheila had just given birth to their son Brady when he was killed. She is excited and pleased about the prospect of a recreation center named after him. “Ten years ago,” she recalls, “when this idea was first presented, Jamie was secretary-treasurer of the group that was trying to get it going. He was raised in a community with a similar center. It was a central part of his growing up. Sheila, who has since remarried, is very interested in the proposal. “I’ve been going to city council meetings,” she say. “I like it that it could make things available to people who might not otherwise be able to afford access to a facility like this.” “I think Jamie would think it is an awesome idea.” Packer loved golf, and he loved hockey. But above those things, he loved his family, his friends and God. His wife, two daughters and son were blessed with a fine husband and father. His joy at their presence in his life was always apparent, as was his love of life itself. In a world that seems full of somewhat confused and often self-obsessed 30-somethings, Packer belied his age with a wisdom and contentment some people never achieve. If the center is built, the builders could go a long way and not find a better name than the one they have chosen.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Saturday, August 15, 2009 6:00 PM (MT time) at the Heron Ballfield Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Living
OFF THE GRID A report from those who do
After reading the May 2009 River Journal column “Land Management” by Michael White, I am inspired to tell my story. I agree with Michael that self reliance “is simply a great country lifestyle which brings a certain peace of mind on many levels.” I find that conversations about selfreliant living are often filled with fear and I hope to offer a personal perspective on being prepared for the unknown for the fun of it! My husband Tom and I both grew up in North Idaho after our families relocated here in the 1970s. Tom was raised in the Bonners area and I lived near Priest Lake and then in the Selle Valley just NE of Sandpoint. We now live about three miles due east of the West Shinglemill road farm where I grew up. Tom purchased our 20 acres in 1988, setting into motion his plan to live in a home built from the trees on his land with views of Schweitzer Mountain where he has skied since the 70s and worked at for over 20 years. I joined the Schweitzer crew in 1990 and we were married in 1992. For years we spent weekends and free time parking out the property, clearing a building site and decking logs to mill into lumber. In 1995 we started the 16’ X 24’ cabin that makes up the larger half of the home we now live in. We had purchased a starter home in Sandpoint when we got married so we were not under pressure for a place to live. That gave us the freedom to take our time, pay as we could, and build the cabin ourselves. I often hear people say that they built their home and I wonder if they mean that they acted as their own general contractor or if they dug the footings, built the forms, mixed the concrete, laid out the joists, decked off the floor, framed up the walls, placed the rafters, sheeted the roof, nailed each shake... I will move on, just thinking about all that work makes me tired! There are many ways to be involved in a building project and at 42 I would not choose such a hands-on approach today, but at the time we were motivated by the adventure, finding great joy and satisfaction in the accomplishment! By 1999 we had scraped up enough
by Kristina Kingsland capital and momentum to make our dream of living on the property a reality. Our daughter Erika was 3 and we both were working at Schweitzer at the time. I knew that if life was too rough we would not be happy in the long run, so I told Tom that in order to move out of town I needed a shower and a washer. I think at the time I said that the toilet was optional but I am glad we opted in on that! When we called the power company to see what it would cost to connect to the grid, they wanted $12,000 before hookup fees and meters. That was a lot of money to us in 1999 and Tom figured he could set us up on a solar power system for close to that price. He had always been interested in alternative energy and liked the challenge of creating his own power. I would not call myself a survivalist because the word can bring up images of underground bunkers full of army rations and ammunition, but to survive is one of the two most compelling drives a human has! What does it take to sustain the human? Air, water, food, and shelter are the most basic of necessities. Speaking for myself, I want a shower and a washing machine too! As a society we rely on the systems in place to provide for our basic needs and are very affected by any interruption in those systems, I could digress into apocalyptic scenarios but I will leave that to your imagination. Personally I do not spend much mental energy on what could go wrong; I prefer to put energy into finding things that work well with how things are now and would also work if the current systems of support were not active. Solar power is a great example; it provides all of the comforts that my grid power friends enjoy with only a little more conscious input. I must be more aware of phantom loads, energy efficient appliances and turning power off when I am not using it. Sometimes when it has rained for a few days and the sun finally comes out you will find me catching up on my laundry and vacuuming. I do not have central air but I do run a window air conditioner when it
blazes on our southwest facing hill top at the end of July through August. We use wood to heat our home and propane for on demand hot water, the dryer, the range, and to run the backup generator. We currently have a large solar array, over 3000 watts, batteries that could hold us for almost a week and an industrialquality propane backup generator. Some people have a soft spot for classic cars or Club Med vacations but we have entertained as well as sustained ourselves with solar power as our hobby! The system is not perfect; we still use propane and batteries full of toxic materials. We dream of producing hydrogen in the summer with our excess power, and burning it instead of propane. Although there is progress being made in Europe on the technology it is not yet available or affordable for us. We started with a system about onequarter of the size and have added and upgraded as our budget allowed. We started in 1999 with the cabin and the power room. The power room is a sodroofed, partially submerged, 8’ x 12’ concrete room that houses our power system and batteries as well as a freezer and pantry. The cabin is 650 square feet with one bedroom, one bathroom, and a loft over the kitchen accessed by a sliding library ladder. I like to refer to the 8’x 16’x 4’ loft as the “Master Suite.” Because of its compact size we have put effort into using every possible square inch and have been able to use more expensive finishes than we could have in a larger home. The cedar tongue and groove ceilings, slate, tile and fir floors, handmade interior doors and cabinets make the space feel more like a boat than most homes. We have a few friends who “cruise” on sailboats; they say our house is big! The many windows do not leave room for art but it does make the space feel larger and I have yet to see art as appealing as the view. Continued on page 28
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The colossal number of homeless veterans on American streets sleeping in alleys, doorways and boxes is unacceptable. Accurate numbers are challenging, because no national statistics record is kept on homeless veterans. Though the Veterans Administration estimates 154,000 homeless veterans on any given night, approximately twice that experience homelessness throughout any given year. According to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, veterans account for 23 percent of all homeless people in America. Walk through a downtown Los Angeles street, and the overwhelming number of homeless veterans might become more obvious than here in Sandpoint, though Bonner County is no stranger to homeless vets. The national and local veteran community is actively responding to this crisis. The NSHAPC estimates 300,000 veterans will be homeless at some time during the year, with the VA reaching 33 percent of those in need. That means nationally 200,000 veterans are still in need of assistance from local government agencies and service organizations in their communities, like our local Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Chapter #890. Approximately 500 homeless veterans, veterans and needy families were served at last year’s local stand down. The expectation is over 700 will come to receive help at this year’s annual stand down. The reasons behind a homeless veteran and family are varied and difficult, ranging from an extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income, access to health care and the current state of the economy to a large number of displaced and at-risk veterans living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, domestic violence and substance abuse. A stand down in times of war were for exhausted combat units that were removed from battlefields to a secure base camp area where troops could manage personal hygiene, obtain clean uniforms, hot meals, medical and dental care and receive mail and letters in the camaraderie of a safe environment. A community stand down is a coordinated effort to assist homeless veterans, veterans and families in need. While the first stand down, outside of active duty military, was held in 1988 in San Diego, the community stand down has continued since with currently over 100 stand downs nationwide. Our local VVA’s stand down is an incredibly strong effort with assistance from the VA in the form of a grant providing clothing, tents, shoes, blankets and various outdoor gear that will assist homeless veterans, veterans and needy families during their period of need. The stand down goes much further than these much needed temporary aides though. The local stand down, to be held July 11,
from 8 am to 5 pm at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, will provide services to homeless veterans, veterans and needy families such as food, shelter, clothing, haircuts, personal care supplies, vision and dental care, health care screenings, mental health assistance, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, flu shots, VA and Social Security benefits counseling and referrals to services, such as housing, employment, substance abuse treatment and transportation to and from the Spokane VA Medical Center. Other items on the agenda include a VVA yard sale. For donations and pick-up information, call Michael Harmelin at 208263-8724. Russ Fankell (208-263-5419) is heading up a raffle of a Vietnam Era M-14 rifle that could potentially raise $2,500, if all raffle tickets are sold. Monies raised from the raffle will be for the local Disabled American Veterans Chapter #15 Audie Murphy’s effort to purchase a new van to transport vets to and from physician appointments at the Spokane VA Medical Center. Panhandle State Bank is currently assisting the local DAV chapter through a matching funds fundraiser. Friday May 15, Panhandle raised over $2,000 towards the purchase of the new van with their outdoor bar-b-que at the bank. A very big thank you goes out to our local Rotary Club who donated $1,000 that day, and also to Robert Wynhausen and his family who donated $250. Wynhausen is a vet and volunteer van driver for the VA, transporting vets to and from Spokane. With the matching funds from the Panhandle, that day raised over $4,000 for the new van. The bank’s matching funds effort still continues with other events. Watch this column for more information. The Idaho Women Veterans Conference will be held in Boise on August 29; for more information, please visit veterans.idaho. gov. An art exhibition auction will be held in September. All funds raised will go towards the purchase of the new van for the vets. Watch this column for more information. I salute all veterans from every era and current active duty service folks. It is, as always, an honor to serve my country. Kriss Perras Running Waters is a disabled American veteran-U.S. Navy
Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Politically Incorrect TRISH GANNON | www.riverjournal.com | trish@riverjournal.com
It Comes in Threes? In May, a series of losses hit the River Journal and, even more so, the staff at Keokee Publishing, with the deaths of three of our good friends. On Monday, May 4, Dennis Nicholls, who founded this publication you hold in your hands back in December of 1993, died in Noxon, Mont. After leaving the River Journal, Dennis wrote two popular hiking guides for Keokee—Trails of the Wild Cabinets, and Trails of the Wild Selkirks. Dennis died of an infection called coccidioidomycosis, or Valley Fever. On Wednesday, May 20, just a few hours after I had promised to return the next week with organic, black bean soup, Carole Eldridge died. She was not just a wonderful friend, Carole was the pulse of Keokee, keeping all those creative types in line and on track through the years. Because Keokee steps in when the River Journal needs Sandpoint office functions, Carole was often the public face for this magazine. Carole died after a year-long battle with lung cancer. On Friday, May 29, the big heart of Dick Wentz could take no more. Dick worked for Ducks Unlimited Magazine before moving to Sandpoint. Here, he edited Flyfisher Magazine, published by Keokee, and for a brief but amazingly memorable six-month stint in 2001, worked for the River Journal as well. A fellow Walter Payton fan, Dick actually got to spend a week with Payton doing an interview, an experience he shared with me over many a beer. Dick had struggled with heart problems for many years. My mother would say that tragedy comes in threes, but May brought me face-to-face with loss in other ways as well. In the early morning hours of May 9, in a somewhat frantic phone call from my son, he related his experience witnessing a murder in Coeur d’Alene—and I knew that the innocence of a child raised in a small town had died. And on Friday, June 5, I will experience a different kind of loss when my youngest daughter and my last child at home, Amy Gannon, walks through the middle of the gymnasium at Clark Fork High School and, with many of her own good friends, will accept the diploma that signifies her graduation from high school and her embarkation on the next stage of her life—a stage that does not include living at home with Mom. Graduation is a
year-long preparation, but May is its most frantic month. I have therefore spent much of May contemplating the process of letting go, an action I am not very good at and never very comfortable with. I have cried, visited with friends, drank wine, read books and poems, cried some more, listened to music, cherished a thousand memories, and gone through hundreds of photographs as I remember all the wonderful people and events that I’ve been so blessed to experience thus far in my life. I can’t say that any of these things have made me able to cope with the losses May brought to me—truthfully, I’m not sure that I’m coping at all. It’s a struggle to get through every day, and I’ve cried more this month than I have in the last few years. I keep hearing Sheryl Crow singing “this isn’t how it’s really meant to be.” But each and every morning the sun rises anew and I get out of bed, drink that first cup of coffee, and face a new day in a new world where things have changed in ways I never expected. Although many think it originated in the Bible, it was the Anglican church’s Book of Common Prayer that brought us the words, “in the midst of life, we are in death.” I don’t actually have a clue what that means, but I sense that it might be rather profound. It may simply be a reminder that here, too, we all will go, but somehow, in those words, I sense that life has purpose, even if I don’t always know what that purpose is supposed to be. I know that Dennis, Carole and Dick changed my life in enormous ways. Their existence, and their friendship, made me a better person than I would have been otherwise. Likewise Dustin was changed by his friendship with Tim, as short as that friendship turned out to be, and he will undoubtedly be changed by what he saw on the night that Tim’s life ended. Amy will change as she goes off to college and encounters a world so much bigger than this little town of Clark Fork, in the same way that her life was shaped by growing up here, where everyone knows her and most of those love her. These experiences we have, if we choose to let them, can help us become more than what we would have been. Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe life has no real purpose at all, and if that’s the case,
then I need to embrace what I’ve been given even closer than I do now, because this might just be all we’ve got. Which brings me back to loss, surprisingly enough, because like everyone, life gives me loss; sometimes more loss than I think I can handle. So my response to May has been—to become a non-smoker; to embrace yet another loss in my life. (If “losing” smoking sounds weird, then you’ve never been a smoker.) Interestingly enough, this has nothing to do with death—if the health risks of smoking really made a difference to smokers, there wouldn’t be any smokers. Instead, it has to do with having power over my life, and as a smoker, I’m not the one in control. For any smokers out there still in denial about this, let me just remind you of how it feels when it’s late at night, the stores are closed, and you realize you’re out of cigarettes. I don’t know how long I’ll live, but I do know that one day I’ll die. And I know it’s likely I will leave behind people who will mourn and who will think that I deserved more time, just as I think that Dennis, Carole, Dick and Tim were taken much too soon. What I hope, however, is that even though they would want more for me, they will look at my life and believe that I lived it to the fullest extent I could—and that I didn’t live any more of it chained to a drug addiction that does me no good. And of course, when I go, I hope that A.P. Carter was right after all, and that the circle will be unbroken—that Dennis, Carole, Dick, my brother Boyd, my sister Faye, my nephew Chuck and my father and grandmother and others will be there to welcome me home. My grandma will pour the whiskey that I’ll still refuse to drink; Tyler Pesce will put on some music I really won’t like even though he’ll insist I will; Carole and I will kick back to enjoy the sunset, and Dennis will show up late to the party ‘cause he was out hiking some mountain range that he just couldn’t resist. If I’m really lucky, my cat Dumpster will come curl himself into my lap, and the next part of my journey will begin. Continued on page 18
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page
STACCATO NOTES Music
tickets online (a $2.50 handling fee will be charged per ticket), go to the Sandpoint Online General Store at www.SandpointGeneralStore. com. 263-9191
THE AREA’S FREE EVENTS PLUS EVENTS HOSTED BY NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. Compiled with help from SandpointOnline.com
travels in Thailand. The evening will begin at 6 pm with a wine sampler and appetizers by Pend Oreille Pasta, and the program begins at 7. Tickets are $15 each, available at the MCC or from Pend Oreille Pasta in Sandpoint. All proceeds benefit the charitable programs at MCC. 208-264-5481 June 19&20 Winery Anniversary Party. Downtown Sandpoint’s Pend d’Oreille Winery celebrates its 15th anniversary both days from 10 am to 7 pm with the much-anticipated release of their reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, enjoy wine and merchandise discounts, live music and complimentary appetizers. Visit POWine.com for more information. The winery is located at 22o Cedar St. in Sandpoint. 208265-8545. June 19 & 20 Arts Alliance Solstice Celebration. The Arts Alliance marks the official start of summer during its third annual Solstice Celebration happening at the corner of 5th and Oak (next to Foster’s Crossing) in Sandpoint. On Friday from 5:30 pm ‘til dark, take a “Walk on the West Side” art gallery tour plus enjoy an outdoor movie; on Saturday, take in art activities, live music, demonstrations and more from 10 am to 4 pm. Go to ArtsAlliance. info to learn more. 208-265-4303 June 19-21 Horsin’ Around Horse and Mule Expo. Come ride, watch and learn at the 2009 Horsin’ Around Horse and Mule Expo, held at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. This year’s event features local clinician Jack Mervin’s presentation “Riding with Feel, Timing and Balance,” as well as gaming events, an Extreme Trail Challenge, the Northwest Mounted Shooters, and more. Admission is free on Friday (3 pm to 9 pm), and $5 for Saturday and Sunday (8 am to 9 pm both days). Ages 10 and under are free. HorsinAroundExpo.com. June 20 Danceworks 2009. Local dance studio holds its annual performance at the Panida with shows at 3 pm and 7 pm. 263-9191. June 20-23 Father’s Day Weekend at Silverwood. Silverwood Theme Park on Highway 95 hosts a Father’s Day Weekend event—dads are free when accompanied by their children (when a child purchases a ticket at the front gate for themselves they will be given a free ticket for their dad). 208-6833400. June 24-27 David Thompson Bicentennial. Series of events slated in and around Hope to commemorate land geographer David Thompson, including a one-day conference, teacher workshop, Kalispel Encampment and living-history event. DavidThompson200.org. 263-2344 June 27 Schweitzer Summer Celebration. Schweitzer Mountain Resort’s summer season opener includes a barbecue, free scenic chairlift rides and fun family activities. Schweitzer.com. 263-9555
Club Music at Three Glasses Located at 202½ First Ave. in Sandpoint, Three Glasses hosts live music at 8 pm. On June 12 enjoy awardwinning New England-based songwriter Jason Spooner and his band. June 13 features a Singer-Songwriter Showcase. On June 14 the June 11-13—Duplicity—The Panida Theater performance is by Wide River, a band influenced hosts the romantic and stylish spy comedy by blues, swing, jazz, a bit of ‘60s and ‘70s rock, Duplicity at 7:30 pm each night as part of the and a touch of old-time honkytonk country. On Global Cinema Cafe film series. Starring Clive June 19, join the After Party for the Voice of Owen and Julia Roberts, tickets to the movie Reason following the concert at the Panida are $7 adults, $6 senior citizens and students. Theater. On June 20, Stoney Holiday performs 208-263-9191 American honky tonk. On June 21, acoustic June 25 through 27 Sugar. The Panida Theater rock/folk artist Joshua Walters performs for an presents the baseball film Sugar, playing at 7:30 all-ages concert from 8 pm to 10 pm. The rock pm each night as part of the Global Cinema ‘n roll band Illusion 33 will perform on June 26 Cafe film series. This touching and poignant and DJ Shagg performs June 27. immigrant tale follows the story of Dominican Winery Music. The Pend d’Oreille Winery, baseball star Miguel “Sugar” Santos and his 220 Cedar St. in Sandpoint, hosts live music recruitment to play baseball in the U.S. minor from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. On June 12 listen leagues. Tickets to the film are $7 adults, $6 to folk and Celtic duo Bridges Home. On June seniors and students, available at Pack River 13 enjoy Truck Mills on acoustic slide guitar Potions and Pedro’s at the Panida, and at the rock and blues. June 19 it’s Americana singer/ box office. 208-263-9191 songwriter Daniel Mark Faller and June 20 features the rockin’ guitar duo of Mike and Shanna Thompson. June 26 features soulful singer/songwriter Emily Baker and local folk June 12 through July 27—ArtWalk I— guitarist Doug Bond will kick off the holiday on Sponsored by POAC, this revolving art exhibit July 3. July 10 enjoy Montana’s experimental at 20 or so gallery locations downtown begins folk, Americana and blues musician Larry with opening receptions on June 12 from 5:30 Hirshberg. 208-265-8545 pm to 8 pm. For locations, visit ArtinSandpoint. Summer Sounds at Park Place. The Pend Oreille org. 208-263-6139 Arts Council presents live music every Saturday June 12-13 Relay for Life. The Bonner County from noon to 2 pm on the Park Place Stage at Fairgrounds hosts the annual Relay for Life the corner of First and Cedar in Sandpoint. In event, with proceeds benefitting local cancer June, enjoy the Monarch Mountain band on efforts. 208-660-1445 the 13th, Larry Mooney on the 20th and A Touch of Jazz on the 27th. In July, look for Peter June 13 CHaFE 150. The second annual CHaFE Lucht on the fourth, the Selkirk Brass Quintet 150 regional bike race takes off from downtown on the 11th, Mike and Shanna on the 18th, and Sandpoint, with proceeds benefitting the Ready! for Kindergarten program. Visit Carl Rey and the Blues Gators on the 25th. CHaFE150.org for more information, including June 10—Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women how to register. 208-263-7040. Concert. KPBX Spokane Public Radio presents Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women Concert for June 17 43rd Annual Farm Tour. Take an their “Thank You” show, beginning at 7:30 informative bus tour to some of the region’s pm. in the Panida Theater in Sandpoint. To small farms. Sponsored by the Greater learn more about this acoustic blues trio, visit Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, visit UppityBluesWomen.com. Tickets are $25. 208- SandpointChamber.org for more information or call 263-8511. 263-9191 June 19 Voice of Reason Concert. Stonehouse June 18 Summer Sampler. Taste the fine cuisine Productions presents the Voice of Reason from Sandpoint’s finest restaurants beginning reggae concert at 8 pm in the Panida Theater at 5 p.m. at Farmin Park, plus enjoy cook-offs, (opening act is Outpost). Voice of Reason live music and more. Visit SandpointChamber. describes their sound as “authentic old school org or call 263-8511 for more information. reggae and ska with some rock influence, June 19 Artist Series Presentation II. Hope’s rather than the other way ‘round.” Learn more Memorial Community Center, 415 Wellington about the band on their MySpace page. Tickets Pl., hosts Glenn Grishkoff as the featured to the concert are $8 in advance, and $10 at speaker during the second Artist Series the door on the evening of the show. Tickets Presentation in the three-part series. Grishkoff, are available at Eichardt’s, The Loading Dock a renowned ceramicist and brush maker, will and The Long Ear in Coeur d’Alene. To purchase be presenting a slide show pertaining to his Page 10 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Theater
Events
The Scenic Route SANDY COMPTON | www.sandycompton.com | mrcomptonjr@hotmail.com
Mr. Nicholls
In the first week of May, my friend Dennis Nicholls died; 53 years, 9 months, 1 week and some days old. Chronologically. Spiritually and emotionally, he was about fourteen years old. Fourteen was a place that Dennis couldn’t get past. For a number of reasons, many of which I don’t know and some of which I do, he was “stuck” in that place; unable and unwilling to grow up and accept some of the realities of life on this planet. And, that’s what killed him. Dennis ostensibly died of a physical disease contracted more than likely while he was in prison in the California desert. He was there because it was discovered that he had images of children in sexual situations on his computer, which is a federal crime. The judge in Dennis’ case didn’t do him any favors when he sentenced him to months in prison, especially after Dennis had proactively addressed his real problem— an addiction to pornography—and moved
A lot can happen to a guy while he’s trying to grow up to be what he wants to be when he grows up.
Blue Creek Press &
Vanderford’s Books present a special Solstice edition of
The StoryTelling Company celebrating the release of Sandy Compton’s book
Side Trips From Cowboy:
Addiction, Recovery and the Western American Myth
Stories and selections from the book On Cedar Street in Sandpoint Saturday, June 20, 2009 10 am to noon Save the date.
a long way into recovery from that. But, the judge was trapped in our “system,” which, like all institutionalized systems, entropies endlessly toward inflexibility. So, Dennis, who had made some remarkable jumps toward growing up, went off to Taft Prison, where he probably contracted valley fever, the physical malady that would eventually kill him. There are a number of tragedies in this. The first is a system of judgment that can’t really hear, see or act on the reality of a situation because they are bound by depersonalized rules and “sentencing guidelines,” which ultimately encourage judges to take no chances, make mitigated judgments and play it safe professionally— even when people’s lives hang in the balance. The second is the failure of our prison system—an institutionalized, privatized boondoggle of pork barrel politics and greedy contractors—to provide anything but containment and brutalization for folks who run astray of our legal system. It is a system imposed on a system, and farmed out, to boot. Almost nobody in the system cares. The third is the failure of Dennis to recognize that sometimes life sucks; and when it does, it is up to us adults to live through it in good order — to face up to it and do what has to be done. The fourth tragedy is the failure of Dennis to recognize and capitalize on the fact that he was in possession of dozens — maybe hundreds — of friends who stood with him in his difficulties. Many of us are angry about that lack of recognition. We backed him through his arrest, prosecution, trial and time at Taft, and we were ready to back him in a restart. What the hell, Dennis? What are we? Chopped liver? I’m still pissed about that. And, that’s what I have to forgive Dennis for: his lack of faith in us, his friends. And, my anger is compounded by the fact that we had faith in him to continue in the good directions we saw him moving before—and while— he was at Taft. Ultimately, and most tragically, I suppose, Dennis did not have enough faith in us or himself to survive the nonsense that systems like the ones we have in place are capable of producing. So, he ran. And, when he did, I mourned
him. When he didn’t listen to all of us telling him that, with our good help, he could make a good life; when he let ghosts and specters chase him out of our lives; I mourned him. The last time I saw Dennis Nicholls was just over a year ago. I was standing in my back yard one morning, and from the driveway on the other side of the building came a voice, low and melodious; “Good morning, Mr. Compton.” I knew without thinking who it was. “Come on in,” I said, and I met him at the door. I fed him breakfast. We spent thirty minutes “catching up,” and then I had to go to work. I handed him a couple of apples and said goodbye. That visit was from another realm. Dennis had chosen by then to live somewhere where we couldn’t come — from where he could only intrude into our sphere for a moment or two, and only at his own whim. There was that 14-year-old, living behind the closed door of a messy room, making raids on the refrigerator when he had to. These are things I have learned from your life and mine, Mr. Nicholls. You can’t outrun an addiction. And, you can’t mitigate the past by ignoring it. The one thing you can do is stop and make your stand. It is better to die fighting than to be taken down from behind. At least, you might scratch one of the Bastard’s eyes out before you expire— or surprise yourself and actually win back your soul—and thereby make the world a little safer for the rest of us. I miss you, Mr. Nicholls. Good luck and God speed on your present journey. Sandy Compton’s new book, Side Trips From Cowboy: Addiction, Recovery and the Western American Myth, ($16, 320 pages) is available at Vanderford’s in downtown Sandpoint, or can be ordered by writing to books@bluecreekpress.com.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 11
STOP THE INSANITY! Of calls from telemarketers
The Thousand Year Old Weed Control Solution By Noah Poritz
It may come as a surprise to you that the solution to your spotted knapweed and toadflax problems began thousands of years ago. As these weeds slowly evolved in Europe and Asia, specialized groups of herbivorous insects slowly developed that fed on them. Some insects ate only the seeds, others ate the developing flowers, and still others mined the stems and roots. Through the centuries, these insects became so specialized in their diet that now, without their specific host plant, they could not survive. Today, after thousands of years of evolution, overwhelming majorities of the world’s plant-feeding insects are host-specific. They feed only on a single plant species or a narrow group of closely related species. It is because of this destructive feeding that knapweed, for example, is an insignificant and rare plant in its native environment. The history of humankind is one of movement and settlement. As people expanded their travels on land and across expansive oceans, they carried with them seeds from their distant homelands. As settlers arrived in North America, some of these seeds were dumped on shore from ship ballast. Others seeds were hidden among the desirable seeds of crop plants. When these undetected invaders became established in North America, they flourished. These plants were free of the natural enemies that kept them under control. Slowly, decade after decade, these immigrant plant species spread from coast to coast. They invaded the river valleys and crept up mountainsides. Their invasion was a biological wildfire spreading from state to state. These plants are no longer the obscure wildflowers of some distant land. They are the weeds that plague millions of acres of our rangelands and pastures.
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Once a weed is identified as a candidate for biological control, the U.S. Department of Agriculture explores regions of the world where the weed originated. The most promising insect candidates for biological control are collected and identified. Some are collected alive and shipped to special facilities (quarantine laboratories) where extensive testing is completed on the bug’s diet and reproduction. Host-specificity testing is slow; it takes years to learn the diet of these bugs. Dozens of plants related to the target weed are tested. Unrelated plants, which have physical and chemical similarities, may be on the test list. Of course, crop plants, economically important to North American agriculture, are tested on the insect as well. Once the host-specificity testing is completed, a wide range of scientists examines the data. From that information, a determination is made whether an insect is safe for field release into the United States. Once an insect is deemed safe for introduction, private companies begin the work of developing colonies of these beneficial insects for commercial production. They develop rearing and handling techniques that ensure that the insects arrive to their customers in healthy and vigorous condition. Releasing these bio-control agents is the first step to restore some balance to an unmanageable weed infestation. The past decade has seen more and more releases of weed-feeding insects against toadflax and knapweed. The impact of these bio-control insects on these weeds is impressive. Dramatic declines, the outright collapse of infestations these weeds, are being reported throughout the western US. On knapweed, it is the combined impact of a flower weevil and a root weevil that is causing these impressive declines. On Dalmatian toadflax, the use of a stem mining weevil has been an emerging success story in the control of the perennial weed. Continued releases of these and other insect are making a significant impact in the war on weeds. Noah Poritz is a biologist who works for Biological Control of Weeds, Inc., the nation’s largest supplier of weed-feeding insects. Their web site is www.bio-control.com.
I don’t need a new windshield from some unknown provider—my vehicle warranty is just fine—and if I want to donate money to a good cause, I’ll do it without a phone call. So several years ago, I registered with the state of Idaho’s “Do Not Call” database. So why have I been getting all those phone calls again? I visited the Idaho Attorney General’s website to search for an answer and discovered that, in accordance with federal law, Idaho no longer maintains a separate “Do Not Call” database—those interested must now register with the National Do Not Call Registry. I quickly beat a path over to the national website at www.donotcall.gov and reregistered my home telephone, and the five cell phones on our family share plan. Those without internet access, or who prefer not to register online, can call 1-888-382-1222 from the number they wish to register. Registration is free. Can I now expect those unwanted telemarketing calls to end? Not totally. The law requires telemarketers to visit the National Registry every 30 days to update their list of numbers they are not allowed to call, so it can take 31 days before your registration takes effect. In addition, telemarketers you have a “previous relationship” with are not effected by the ban. This can include organizations you’ve donated money to, a business you have an existing relationship with, political organizations and charities. However, if you don’t want to receive those calls, you simply need to tell them to remove your number from their list. By the way, business telephone numbers are fax numbers are not covered by the Do Not Call Registry. If you get telemarketing calls 31 days after your registration, and you believe those calls do not fall under the exemption guidelines, you can file a complaint on the registry’s website (www.donotcall.gov) or call 1-888-382-1222. In order to file, you must know either the name or the phone number of the business that called you, provide the registered number they called, and the date you were called. Telemarketer violations can be punished by a fine up to $11,000.
Page 12 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Incentives, Derbies and Seminars
It must be time for Rainbow Trout The Lake Pend Oreille Fishery Recovery Task Force is announcing new incentives to encourage anglers to harvest rainbow trout along with the second annual “Trash Can” and Aggregate Derby. In addition, the Task Force will host a free fish fry and fishing seminar in Bayview to help anglers get started. All coming soon! The predator removal program, comprised of the Angler Incentive Program (AIP), an aggressive bounty program and a netting program, is aimed at restoring the lake’s kokanee, bull trout, and trophy rainbow trout fisheries. To date it has resulted in over 72,000 lake trout and nearly 20,000 rainbow trout being removed from Lake Pend Oreille since its inception in 2006, and last year resulted in the highest kokanee survival rates observed in many years. “A review of the program has shown that anglers and netters have made significant progress at reducing the impacts of lake trout predation on kokanee, but that rainbow trout predation is still too high,” says IDFG regional supervisor Chip Corsi. “While a goal of the program is to ultimately restore the trophy rainbow trout fishery that Lake Pend Oreille is famous for, we first need to restore the kokanee that feed these trophy fish. To do so, we’ll need to control rainbow trout predation in the short term.” This year will see a continuation of the program as well as an added incentive for rainbow trout harvest beginning in June. Over 100 rainbow trout have recently been caught, “PITtagged”, and released in Lake Pend Oreille. These PIT tags are in effect a “lottery” system, worth values ranging from $50-$1000. The tags are not detectable; all interested anglers must participate in the AIP, clearly fill out the form, and place harvested heads in freezers around the lake. The Captn’s Table in Garfield Bay is sponsoring the second annual “Trash Can Derby,” beginning June 5 and running the three following weekends. In addition, this year they are adding an “Aggregate Derby,” whereby 10 days will be chosen at random from May/June and the angler with the most heads turned into the AIP will win cash prizes. There are additional species categories for kids and lots of prizes. Weekly registration is required to participate. Awards will be announced June 21. On Friday, May 29 from 6 to 9 pm the Task Force will be holding a free fish fry and seminar at the Bayview Community Center. Interested citizens are encouraged to attend to learn about the AIP, downrigger fishing, trolling, planer board fishing, jigging, bull trout conservation, lake whitefish fishing, and more. “All of these programs are aimed at restoring the kokanee salmon in Lake Pend Oreille, a key species for the conservation of bull trout, growing trophy rainbow trout, and providing a popular fishery,” says Corsi. Native westslope cutthroat trout are also expected to benefit from the
by Kate Wilson
program as well. In 2008 the number of spawning kokanee was up, and survival rates increased dramatically from the year before. The Lake Pend Oreille Fishery Task Force is comprised of Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game personnel, sportsman group representatives, local anglers, guides, and outfitters. The group meets monthly and acts as a sounding board, think tank, and advisory organization for fishery management efforts on Lake Pend Oreille.
STAND DOWN. July 11, 8 am to 5 pm at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. Help is here.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 13
The Goldfinch No, there are not wild canaries in our area. In fact, there are no wild canaries in North America. That is not to say a person might not stumble upon an escaped canary, fluttering about, wondering “what in the world do I do now?!” Those little yellow birds you see in our haunts that look like canaries are probably either an American Goldfinch or a Pine Siskin. Let’s look at each of these two feathered jewels separately. First, the American Goldfinch. Classify this one as drop-dead gorgeous. This bird, especially the male, is hard to mistake for anything else: bright, bright yellow plumage, a jaunty black beanie that is pushed to the front of the head, a white rump (the base of the body on the topside above the tail feathers), and matching black tail and wings, both with white racing stripes. And that pinkish-yellow, near-perfect conical beak is a real seed crusher and is especially helpful for identifying the bird during the off-season. Careful: the beak will be quite a bit darker in the non-breeding phase. Like the waxwings, the American Goldfinch adjusts its breeding to coincide with its favorite plant food: thistles. They tend to nest a bit after other birds, perhaps not until the middle of summer. When you see one you are bound to see others, as they tend to congregate in small, loose flocks. During the early part of the breeding season you’ll see the males chasing each
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other around as they seek to establish their territories. It’s kind of fun watching them act so tough with each other. You can lure goldfinches to your yard by putting sunflower and thistle seeds in your feeder. They don’t mind sharing and typically get along with other species. They’ll even tolerate each other once the eggs are laid and being brooded. Also, think twice before clearing out the thistles
by Mike Turnlund but may completely lack yellow. If you see a pair, the male will the be the yellower of the two. The Pine Siskin is one of my favorites, though it is not a regular visitor to my feeders. I will see them frequently for a short time and then they’re gone— sometimes for weeks. Maybe they have already picked out the choice pieces that they can reach with their little, pointed beaks, and are waiting for the house finches to come and stir things up again. We all have our needs. Pine Siskins are faithful year-round residents, but an empty gizzard will cause them to move on en masse in search of food. This mass movement by large flocks— generally in winter—is called irruption, and siskins seems to be more prone to the phenomenon than other species. Have hunger, will travel. Goldfinches and Pine Siskins are fun birds to have around. They are pretty, active, and easy to identify. Take a pair of binoculars and head to some scrubby,
American Goldfinch. Photo by Glenn Tepke
from your back forty. Do you really need to? Wouldn’t it be better to provide some natural forage for our fine-feathered friends? A thought, anyway. Goldfinches in in our whereabouts may or may not stay year around. Depends on the mood. Some hard winters might drive a few south, whereas other winters they’ll all hang around. Everything is centered around food supply. Just like college kids. During the winter, the male is far less gaudy than in the summer and more similar to the female in coloration. Both birds at this time are still quite attractive and distinctive. Though they are a bit more drab in appearance, the patterns on the wing really set them apart. And they still sport a lot of sunshine. And this brings us to our other finch: the Pine Siskin. Siskins can also be quite yellow, but the degree of coloration differs from individual to individual. What really defines the siskin’s plumage is the streaking. These birds are peppered with short, little brown paisley smudges, up and down the body. Generally, the yellow will be found on the wing bars and the tail. Sometimes especially bright males will have yellow around the head or flanks, but the yellow wing bars are the field mark ne plus ultra. Females are similar to the males,
Pine Siskin. Photo by HVBirder
weedy areas near any stand of trees and you are bound to get lucky. But just remember: just because they are common doesn’t mean that they aren’t special. Just like you and me. Happy birding!
Mike Turnlund is a teacher at Clark Fork High School. Reach him at miketurnlund@gmail.com
Page 14 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
by Matt Haag The sun is shining and the thermometer is flirting with 80 degrees as I sit down to type the latest Game Trail. While the weather was perfect I hope you all had some time to get out and enjoy our great outdoors, especially with the kids. I feel strongly about the need for children, especially in today’s world, to experience all that the outdoors can provide. I end this column with the saying “Leave No Child Inside.” That motto— created by author and journalist Richard Louv—is much more a movement than just a saying. School and government programs are being created every year to encourage children to experience the wonders of the outdoors. I would encourage the parents to be the lead or at least a huge part of the process of getting kids involved in outdoor activities. The number of obese children in the United States is staggering, and we are not immune to it in North Idaho. We are truly blessed with a myriad of outdoor opportunities out our backdoors, yet there’s kids plugged into electronic devices far more than then they should be. According to the Center for Disease Control, children between the ages of six months and six years spend an average of 1.5 hours a day with electronic media and children between the ages of 8 and 18 years spend an average of nearly 6.5 hours a day with electronic media. Another alarming statistic shows only half of America’s kids between the ages of 9 and 13 are involved in outdoor activities such as fishing, hiking, and walking. What the heck are we doing to our kids? As the parent of two girls I understand the challenges of finding the time to get outside as a family, but it has to be done. It’s easy to fall in the trap of structuring our kid’s lives to a fault, with too much parental supervision. How much time are we allowing our kids to explore the world they live , to jump in puddles, chase fish up a creek, or climb trees? Sometimes on hikes I become impatient with my oldest
daughter because she is exploring something. “We’ve got things to do... let’s go!” I say. What more important things do we have to do then allowing our children to explore the world? Sports are great; they are good for the body and provide a mechanism for learning discipline, but they don’t provide the opportunity for our kids to discover and use their imagination. We need to have a balance of both. Through my job I talk to a number of kids in and out of the woods and their parents. I hear some kids talk about the environment and the earth with rhetoric they hear in schools or from the TV. The earth is wrecked, people are killing the earth, we need to save our planet by recycling; some serious doomsday stuff for our children to be bearing. How and why should their little minds be dealing with such complex issues? Usually the kids who speak like this are not the ones getting outside; subsequently, they’re reading about the outdoors on the Internet or reading emotional or agenda-based propaganda. We’ve started to create misguided armchair naturalists! This occurs because parents aren’t getting their kids outside to connect with the outdoors. We’ve become aliens on our own planet, peering through a bubble into the great outdoors, reading about nature on the Internet, and treating wilderness like a magical far off place, rather than somewhere to hike to and in. We’re bombarded with things that say hands off is the only way to treat nature; when man touches it, it all goes to hell. Look, don’t touch. Nonsense! Touch with respect, use it wisely, and leave it better than you found it. The Idaho Children and Nature Network is an organization formed by a conglomeration of agencies, including Idaho Fish and Game, united in reconnecting Idahoan children to their sense of place in nature and promoting a healthy outdoor lifestyle. Their motto “We connect with nature in Idaho, from backyards to mountaintops” hits the nail on the head. Check them out sometime on the web at www. V isitIdaho. o r g / childrenin-nature
Matt Haag is an Idaho Fish & Game Conservation Officer.Reach him at mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov
Free fishing day in Idaho is June 13 this year. Are you a single mom or parents who have never fished, but would like your kids to learn the fundamentals of fishing? Please being them out to a free fishing day event nearest you. All events are staffed with IDFG employees and volunteers that will not only provide some fishing gear but also some advice and tips if needed. Here’s a list of locations for free fishing day events. Bonner’s Ferry – Snow Creek Pond – 9am to noon. Clark Fork – Clark Fork Lodge Pond – 9am to noon. Priest Lake – Priest Lake Golf Course – 9am to noon. Sandpoint – Round Lake State Park – 9am to noon. Leave No Child Inside
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 15
Centre- Continued from page plan says has to change. The comp plan says that area should be professional office space—we’re trying to comply with the comp plan and move forward into a future where downtown Sandpoint can become a thriving, exciting community.” “My first passion is to build this in Sandpoint City Council Meeting
June 17 at 5:30 pm
Sandpoint City Hall, 1123 Lake St.
Sandpoint,” said Pierce. “Right now, businesses are closing and Sandpoint is losing its heart, and I want it to remain the heart of this community.” Pierce believes support for the project is growing—”the excitement it generates is phenomenal”—and that Sandpoint is finally ready to take a step like this. “Back in the 1970s the city put out a bunch of surveys and one of the things the people said they wanted was an ice rink. When we sought voter support to create a center in 2005 we collected almost 5,000 signatures in support for the formation of a recreation district, even though it failed to generate the votes in Sandpoint to make it happen. But of those voters, there was overwhelming support from parents with children. And the rest of the voters—they didn’t seem to object to a center as much as they objected to funding one with tax dollars. So that’s why we’ve come up with a different plan. Bruce is really brilliant, you know—he figured out how to make this work.” Funding for the center will come from
three separate sources—the sale and lease of residential and commercial spaces, donations, and grant dollars. “The project qualifies for several types of grant dollars,” explained Pederson. “We’ll be preserving two historic structures, plus participating in urban renewal. These grants are available and we do qualify,” he said. In addition to outright property sales, the development will also offer properties in a rental pool, similar to timeshares but upgraded to fit a new century. Pederson says even with the national downturn in the real estate market, he has no concerns about finding buyers. “This is a unique product,” he said. “There’s simply nothing else out there like it.” And while the group says it’s premature to set a price range, Pierce says,
“We’re not talking high end here.” And with a 501c3 component to the organization, like-minded individuals and businesses can donate to a project that Pederson says goes beyond the “typical sports complex” with mentorship programs and other youth-oriented services. As for the name, Pederson and Pierce both wanted to honor their friend Jaime Packer, who was killed in a car accident four years ago. “Jaime was one of the founding people in the initial push for a community center,” said Pederson. “He lived and breathed hockey—you should have seen it. Jamie was from Canada and he recognized that smaller towns than us have even bigger complexes then what we were proposing. He saw no reason why we couldn’t do that here.” Step one, however, is the zoning change request to city council; Pierce says “the message to people is to show up on June 17. We have to quit sticking our heads in the sand about the future, and go out and create what we want. This area is changing whether we want change or not, and if we don’t manage it, we’ll get sprawl, like Hayden. But a project like this will take us in a direction we need to go. This type of mixed-use project encourages fewer cars, creates less of an impact for living space, and is better for our environment. What we need now is people who agree with doing projects like this to come to the meeting on the 17th and let the council know how they feel so we can move forward.” Information on the Packer Centre is available on their website, www.jpcentre. org, and includes several renderings of the proposal donated by yet more supporters— Sean Fitzpatrick and designer David Koel for CTA architects and engineers—who has made over 30,000 drawings so far. In addition, people are invited to email skate@idahovet.com.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 16
by Michael White
One important aspect of Estate Management includes issues which pertain to the urban / sub-urban wildland interface, those areas where human habitat comes in contact with the “wild land,” otherwise known as life in the woods. The main issue I will discuss in this article therefore is protecting your estate against danger from wildfire. Given that the fire danger is rising as the weather gets warmer and dryer, landowners should think about minimizing their loss from wildfire, which is a normal and inevitable part of ecosystems here in the Inland Northwest. I was amazed by the results of wildland surveys I have performed which included fire history studies. These surveys showed that wildfire frequencies ranged from every seven years in some habitats to well over a hundred years in others, depending on location and topography. Generally speaking, southwestern slopes tended to burn quite often, about every 20 years on average but with a fairly low intensity. Because of the high frequency of these fires, the underbrush and ladder fuels (fuels which allow a fire to move from the forest floor into the forest canopy) were minimized and so these fires tended to burn along the ground, and caused little if any damage to the forest and stimulated grass/perennial plant growth. However, on the north slopes and in the more moist, shaded draws, the fires tended to burn much less frequently, perhaps every 80 to 100 years or more but when they did burn, they tended to be much more destructive to the forest. They were stand replacing events which can be quite healthy for the mountain ecosystem as a whole. Stand replacing events such as fire, insect epidemics and logging are a necessary part of providing food for the critters of the Inland Northwest, especially the ungulates or deer, elk, moose, etc… which tend to eat brush, herbaceous plants and grasses. These plants tend to need full sun and open areas to thrive in. Over the last 80 years or so the state and federal fire agencies have done a wonderful job of putting out those wildfires but in so doing have inadvertently set up a situation where the southern slopes have accumulated a lot of unburned fuels and
the northern slopes have grown extremely dense and also collected a massive amount of unburned fuels. Then there is the fact that many more folks are recreating in the wild lands and are not too smart with fire. Throw into this mix all of us who want to live in these rural areas and we now have huge potential problems, for when fires do break out, they are much harder to control, burn hotter, may move faster and tend to cover more ground than has been historically the case. With an ever-increasing density of human habitat, namely houses, shops, barns, suffice it to say those who live in these wildland interface zones need to take precautions to minimize the risk of burning up. From the onset of building a home in the wildland interface, there are certain building material choices a land owner can make which will greatly reduce the odds of your home burning down if wildfire encroaches. While I love the look of log, cedar siding, cedar shakes and those types of materials, and have chosen to use some nice cedar decking too, obviously those are some of the most flammable products you could choose to build with. Know that if a wildfire encroaches on your land, you are at a higher risk of losing the home but those are the choices and risk we must make when building. There are, however, many other products on the market for building which are far less flammable and some which are downright inflammable. Metal, Class-A asphalt shingles, slate or clay tile are the best choices for your roof which tends to be the part of a home which is most susceptible to catching fire. It would even be prudent to construct a fire-resistant sub-roof for added protection. For siding, products like hardy plank, stucco, stone or masonry are much less flammable, albeit perhaps less attractive, and be aware that vinyl siding tends to melt when heated. Even the size and materials used for windows can be a way of reducing the risk of fire damage. Smaller panes hold up better in their frames than larger ones and tempered glass is a real safe bet. Also be aware that plastic skylights melt when heated and you may want to consider using glass. Vents should be covered with wire mesh which is no larger than 1/8 in, to prevent sparks from entering the interior of the home. Keep gutters and roofs clear of accumulated debris and clean out from under decks each season. It is not a good idea to keep firewood stored near the house it tends to generate a tremendous amount of heat when burning. Avoid attaching fencing to your home or deck but if you have that condition existing, consider
putting a non-flammable barrier between. Landscaping is of paramount importance and if your home is already built and may well be the best thing you can do to minimize fire hazard. You want at least 30 feet around your home which is relatively fuel free and defensible. This would include it being easily accessible for fire trucks and having adequate irrigation or water outlets available for each side of the house. The landscaping should consist of less flammable, lower growing plants and shrubs, preferably well spaced out from and not in contact with the house or decks. Trees should be few if any in this zone or at least out away from structures and most importantly not hanging over the roof or in contact with the exterior walls. Any trees which are around the home should have the lower branches pruned up at least six feet and consider putting a fire resistant ring around the base such as stone. As you move out away from this first thirty foot minimum protection zone and out about 100 to 150 feet you still need to remove accumulated fuels, minimize shrubs, prune up trees and thin out the forest, so that trees are well spaced and less likely to carry a fire close to the house or outbuildings. It is a good idea to also have a lot of hose lay, which can be strung out into this wider area, in case spot fires flare up around the home. Wildfires can send flaming embers a mile or more out in front of the main forest fire, if wind conditions are right. No matter what you do, when you live in the Mountain West, especially in the woods, you and your stuff are in danger from wildfire but you can minimize the danger. Statistically you are still in way more danger from driving your rig or crossing the street. But given that just about every square inch of this land has burned and will burn again, it is prudent to take some steps to minimize your susceptibility to loss. So be smart and don’t put it off again this summer. Get out there and enjoy your yard, while you minimize the fire danger.
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 17
Threes- Continued from page
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Until then... Go with God, my friends. We, and I, miss you very much. As I finished the final edits on this story, I learned that Will Menghini has died. He was an awesome young (middle-aged) man. So Will... you too, go with God. A memorial service for Dennis Nicholls will be held on July 26, the day after his birthday. Friends are encouraged before then to enjoy the mountain trails created by “Straight-Up Joe” (as Dennis and Sandy called him) that Dennis enjoyed so much himself.
The service in remembrance of Carole will take place on June 14 at 2 pm at the lovely Oden Bay Hall. In the Hawaiian tradition, guests are asked to wear ‘aloha’ clothes—bright colors and flowers (definitely no black). If you want to write a “Carole story” ahead of time please do so, as we will be gathering stories together for her grandsons. And in honor of his service to it, look for a remembrance of Will Menghini during this year’s Festival at Sandpoint.
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SANDPOINT DINER thanks all their loyal customers. OPEN on Father’s Day. FREE chocolate cake to all DADS! Page 18 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Good, clean and safe fun Although snow is still visible at higher elevations, the valley has been snowfall free long enough that residents are starting to believe that summer might really have arrived. (Spring, somehow, just never seemed to happen this year.) The onset of warmer weather combined with more hours of daylight means people are spending more time outside, enjoying the best of what this area has to offer. Following a few simple rules will help to ensure that your summer fun is safe as well. ON WATER—Fly over North Idaho and western Montana and it seems as though there’s as much water as there is land; and in the summer, residents use it in a variety of ways, from canoeing to jet skis to swimming and fishing. When in or on the water, bear in mind the risks inherent in Giardia. A germ that causes diarrhea, Giardia is one of the most common causes of waterborne illness
in the United States. Luckily, it’s also one of the most preventable. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the best way to prevent contaminating yourself with Giardia is—don’t drink the water. If you’re outside a lot, and find that cold mountain stream to be just too tempting, invest in a water purifier or chemical treatment tablets. Giardia is fairly large and therefore relatively easy to filter, but bear in mind that bacteria, which can be much smaller, are found in the water as well and can make you equally as sick. If you’re on the water instead of drinking it, make sure you understand the rules of boating safety regarding wake zones and keep a good distance between you and other boats or water craft. This is easy to do on Lake Pend Oreille even on the busiest boating days, but pay special attention on the smaller area lakes. If you’re participating in activities like water skiing or tubing,
make sure you have an extra person on board to carry the flag—a raised, orange flag indicates a person in the water and lets other boaters know to be extra careful. Your life jacket, by the way, is not just a boat accessory. It can only save your life if you’re wearing it. Be aware that the law requires that children under the age of 14 on a boat smaller than 19 ft. wear a life jacket at all times when on a boat, all users of personal watercraft must wear a life jacket.. ON LAND—It’s easy to believe that a list of enjoyable outdoor activities in the Pacific Northwest might well be infinite... and somewhere on that list will be getting out onto the numerous trails into the mountains to be found. Be it hiking, four-wheeling, mountain biking or horseback riding, the most important thing you can do is to let someone know exactly where you plan to Continued on page 25
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301 Cedar St • Sandpoint 208.263-3189 June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 19
Spilled Milk & Skinned Knees
By Dustin Gannon
Not many people north of the beautiful city of Coeur d’Alene have had the chance to experience one of the greatest things to ever happen to the wonderful Northwest. I used to think the Madden video game franchise and the ‘hitstick’ was the greatest thing ever to be invented. I was wrong. Sorry to John and everyone at EA Sports, but your title has been formally usurped by what is known as The Kroc Center. The Kroc, as we like to call it, is a wonderful facility that sits just below the Coeur d’Alene sunset on the corner of Golf Course Rd. and Ramsey. As I recall from my more naïve self of two years past. I remember driving to school at NIC along the previously mentioned road of Ramsey. As I passed the Ramsey baseball fields I noticed they were constructing new traffic lights for a meaningless intersection. I was heading south; on the east side of this intersection was a government-owned rock pit. Nobody could pass through the intersection to the east. To the west was Golf Course Rd. Although it goes to the Coeur d’Alene Public golf course, it has no significant amount of traffic that would require a stop light. For the next week I was puzzled as to why this traffic light was going to be put up. It could easily add five minutes to my time from home to school, which would take away five minutes that I could use to sleep in the morning. Needless to say, I was pissed. After that school year I moved back home and completely forgot about the ‘traffic light to nowhere.’ But now that
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traffic light has returned, and become more powerful than I could ever have imagined. When I heard that the Kroc Center was opening I was excited to go down and see the new building. But I had no idea what to expect when I got there. As we approached the intersection I had previously hated with so much passion, my heart was filled with glee, as if the tooth under my pillow had been magically replaced with a crisp dollar bill. The final product of what had been the nucleus of all my adolescent hatred was now going to be the gateway to a cataclysmic wave of happiness. Bill Clayton and I drove into the parking lot and the tires of my car were gently greeted with the smoothest surface of asphalt in town. As I laid my car to rest in its gentle new bed of a parking spot, my companion and I quickly headed to the front doors. It was crowded. The facility had not officially opened, today was just an open house. That saddened us, but we pushed on because we had to see what was inside. As we walked in our skin tasted the cool, refreshing air conditioning that has not yet been needed since the temperature that day was a year-high 70 degrees. Friendly people were as plentiful as water in Atlantis. We decided the tour was just going to slow us down and that we could see everything on our own. The main lobby features more than enough seating room and a wonderful coffee and smoothie shop. We passed the check-in desks that were lined up with people signing their families up for new inexpensive memberships. A family of five can enjoy the commodities of the establishment for as little as 55 dollars a month. We passed the gates that separate the lobby from the actual fitness area and immediately headed to what looks like a gym. We were wrong; what we thought was a gym was actually a stadium. Three basketball courts, eight basketball rims hanging from brand new professional glass backboards, and a synthetic rubber court that bounces like hardwood but feels like a pillow to the unsuspecting crash of a basketball player. The large room that is the basketball courts lays directly north of the 30 foot wide hallway that houses hundreds of brand new machines that range from bench press bars, treadmills, bicycles, and curling bars. Anything you could possibly imagine is there and as fresh as the legs
of Lebron James tonight as he turns the series around against the Magic. (Mark my words, Cleveland and Los Angeles will play in the Finals.) On the south side of the hallway is an Olympic sized swimming pool with competition lanes, starting boards for races, and stadium seating for the spectators of the high school swim matches that will be held here in the future. East of this swimming pool is another pool for the less competitive. Equipped with hot tubs and a lazy river, you’d think they did enough, but they went a step further with a bright yellow waterslide. The co-ed locker rooms are nothing short of five-star as well. Several changing ‘cabanas’ are spread out amongst the lockers that are free for people to use. The Kroc Center really outdid themselves for the community when they are offering memberships for cheaper than most ordinary gym memberships in the city. For anybody that wants to join, you can get a membership for as little as 28 dollars a month. I have found myself a new love interest and her name is KROC!!
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 20
Currents LOU SPRINGER| nox5594@blackfoot.net Spring is morning for bears. All winter bears have been in small, cramped hidey holes, perhaps dreaming of clover-filled meadows, defenseless fawns, teaming anthills. They awaken to a spring day filled bird song, rapidly growing vegetation, and balmy breezes. The season with its promise of abundance to come, adventures to be had, and all the delights of summer, stretches ahead. Their stomachs are growling and the very most important thing is to satisfy that emptiness. Other important activities are to doze in the sun, scratch at those pesky ticks, roll around and wave paws in the air. Ah, spring. This May, a young cinnamon-colored bear hung around for over a week grazing in a small field across the creek from our hayfields and below the county road. Two separate fellows had the courtesy to stop and ask permission to kill the little guy on private property. We thanked them for checking with us, but declined. A neighbor kindly used some of his orange signs to post the field. I made daily patrols to keep the turkey hunters honest. The small bear, perhaps 150 pounds, seemed unusually tame. He was unfazed by the rumble of the school bus, the sound of human voices, idling cars. Everyone in the neighborhood had seen and watched
the bear as he grazed or dozed. Questions were raised, and opinions varied about his apparent lack of fear: was he a bear spoiled by human contact; was he too sick to be fearful? One of the hopeful hunters described him as a large bear. At first glance, bears always look big. The biggest bear I ever saw charged out of the stream side brush directly towards me and my son. It wasn’t until the creature dashed past us, being chased by our lab, that we realized the bear was the size of a spaniel. We collected our dog and hightailed it out of there before mama found us. Bears have taught us many lessons that should be shared with the uninitiated. Bears, who know how to rip apart stumps, have the skills to open refrigerator doors. Bears, who can carry a deer carcass, can haul a 50-pound plastic tote from a garden shed into the forest, where, finding privacy, a bear can get the lid removed and slurp up blood meal. Bears make a mental map of the orchards and the berry patches. In the Missions, grizzlies come back every year to certain mountain tops to feast on migrating ladybugs. Food is the most important thing for bears, and they must be smart enough to find it. And we should be smart enough
not to habituate them to humans as a food source. Most bears upon learning our sloppy ways will become problems. If you live in the country, it is a social responsibility to keep feeders, pet food, garden supplements and garbage secured from bears. That is why it seems really stupid that the state of Idaho allows baiting bears. Training bears to become problems seems dumb. And to call it hunting? Setting out smelly food to attract, and then kill, a bear doesn’t sound like hunting, or even sport. Spring bear season doesn’t really seem like a fair sport either. The poor bruins have just come out of a smelly, dark, damp hole into the glories of spring. The rationale for this hunting season: “to give hunters further opportunity” seems lame since females are sometimes slain and their cubs then starve. On the other hand, a fall hunting season makes perfect sense. Bears are cranky, and destructive, driven by a terrible need to eat before a winter’s sleep. In autumn, bears have nothing to look forward to but that dark, damp hole. Ah, but in spring the whole world vibrates for a young bear.
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 21
FOCUS ON EDUCATION
Face to Face Bill Litsinger • Bob Wynhausen 1400 AM KSPT • 1450 AM KBFI
PAFE grants make for exciting learning opportunities Teachers in the Lake Pend Oreille School District wait anxiously every spring to hear if their latest innovative idea will meet the strict criteria set forth by the Panhandle Alliance for Education’s Innovative Teaching Grants. This year, because of the drop in state funding, teachers were even more excited to learn if their creative ideas that directly benefit our students would be a winner. The word is out, the jury is in, and over $125,000 dollars has been awarded again this year for the 2009- 2010 school years! This incredible opportunity is made possible by the generous donations by our community, the annual Gala sponsored by PAFE, and the support of the annual golf tournament by Coldwater Creek and other businesses. The true winners in this full effort are the children in our schools who get the opportunity to participate in exciting learning opportunities that in all likelihood would not happen. These range from dissecting animal brains to increasing fine arts opportunities. Below is a list of opportunities that will find their way into classrooms across our district. Thanks once again to the Panhandle Alliance for Education. They help make teacher dreams a reality! Brain Unit- Jackie Crossingham- Sandpoint Middle Alternative Energy- Perky Hagadone- SmithSandpoint Middle Ovation Support for Arts- Kim Queen- All schools Kaleidoscope Support for Arts- Kim QueenAll schools Geometry of Wind Chimes Pat Lynch- Sandpoint Middle Book Worm Club- J u l i e Reister Keaton- Kootenai Geometry Sketchpad- Lisa Cessna- SHS Poetry WorkshopImogene LyonSandpoint Middle Acadeca Support- Mary Bird- Clark Fork, SHS Orff Musical InstrumentsTamara
Gunter- All schools Project I Can- Pat Valliant- Southside Music Equipment- Ryan Dignan CF, SMS Acadeca- Mary Bird- SHS Before School Enrichment- Jayne SturmNorthside Spell Checkers- Randi Kullis- Southside Motorized Mechanisms- Richard Ross- SMS And theyCamerasdon’t have to—after all,SMS don’t Document Marcea MarineMath Counts- Patbelieve Lynch- ifSMS we Americans it’s ours, it’s ours AcadecaTurnlandClark we Forkwant? Or and we Mike can do with it what Mars Rover- Ray Bird- Sagle is College Fair and PTE Tourand weJeralyn want it,Mirethen SHS, youCF have to give it to us and if you don’t, Brain Pop- Jacki Crossingham- SMS then you sponsor and Prezwe’ll Arts Authors and terrorism Us- Tom
Friday lunch at 12:15 They have ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ and ‘touch the face of God.’
Washington By the way, House ChinaKitwants that Priceoil as Carpentry/Green Richard well. Remember China? The people who SHS loaned us Trainingall that Lee money? China’s oil Sub Teacher StevensDistrict Office consumption is around 6.5 billion barrels Success Susan Leea year,Trackerand is growing at Washington 7 percent every ShakespearienceDeb McShaneSMSbarrels year. It produces about 3.6 billion Interwrite PRSMikethis Martzevery year. Does mathSHS look good to Friends of RachelIrene Adleranyone? Can anyone otherSMS than Sarah Active Engagement - Imogene Lyon- SMS Palin and George Bush believe we can Kootenai Math club- Naticia Litvindrill our way out of this problem? Anyone Kootenai who doesn’t better hit theJeanette ground Science Labthink we Materialsrunning to figure SchandelmeierLPOout how to fuel what we want Projectfueled with something other than Library Julie SmithAll elementary oil probably deserves to go back to an Sagle Math ClubLiz GollenSagle Management and Leadership- Pat ValliantSouthside : I could go on Master Dance Class-quit Cindy Smith-SoSHS forever, but you’ll reading. one final Drum Circle KitGordon- public. All schools discussion for Aaron the American First, Point Sale-a Melinda Nieman- SHS let’sofhave true, independent analysis of Clickers for Feedback- Mary Wellswhat happened on September 11, 2001. Southside The official explanation simply LPO doesn’t Human SkeletonGeorgina Puailoahold water. This Linda is one of those Organic GardeningSpadeLPO “who knew what, when”Susan questions Projection SystemsLee that- must be answered—and people/institutions must Washington P.O. Box 949 • PE/Health Curriculum - Pam Lippi- All elementary Sandpoint, Idaho Speaking of accountability, you might Computer TablesPauline be surprised to learn that IDelamarterwould not Farmin Stidwell support an effort to impeach President Collegiate Medical Texts- Kathy Holm- SHS www.CoffeltFuneral.com Bush after the November elections. First, After School Tutoring- Trudie Weidenbecause that’s too late, and second, Farmin Stidwell because more than Bush have been Moon Chapel involved in crimes against the American By Lake Pend Oreille people. School What District Superintendent I would like to see are Pinecrest Dick Cvitanich |charges 208.263.2184 218of| treason) (at the least,ext charges Cemetery Member by brought against Bush, Cheney, et al. Bring dick.cvitanich@lposd.org Moon Crematory invitation only the charges and let’s let the evidence of Page 22 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
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Love Notes
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Erica Curless
We’d never had a house-sitter before. We had hired people to care for our animals and to stop by to check on things, but never had we asked someone to actually stay in our home while we were gone. So, it was a huge step to ask my longtime friend, Erica Curless, to do just that while we visited Chicago last month. She seemed perfect. I’ve known her all her life. I taught her at Sandpoint High School. We’ve both worked as journalists and, most recently, collaborated on a writing seminar. Besides, this Dover native knows Border Collies and horses. Like everything else she has achieved in life, Erica did a wonderful job at the Lovestead, allowing us to enjoy our trip and to come home to happy pets, a spotless house, thriving plants and a freshly mowed lawn. My confidence in Erica stems from seeing her in a variety of situations, always observing the same consistent traits: common sense, genuine warmth, sensitivity toward others, an enthusiastic focus toward perfection, raw talent and a sense of responsibility. I’ve seen this in her as a student, colleague and, most recently as our first-ever housesitter. Recently, Erica moved on in her life to a new career. For years, she has served as an outstanding reporter for the SpokesmanReview. Like so many in the economically ravaged newspaper business, she took
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a proactive approach toward her future and returned to school to pursue a new vocation. She’s now a certified equine massage therapist who also works with dogs. With that in mind, I’ve decided to turn the tables and ask Erica the questions. She definitely has fascinating information to share about this aspect of therapy. ••• Explain what an equine/canine massage therapist does. Why are these services helpful to clients? Most human professional athletes, whether they are football players, golfers, dancers or cyclists, use massage as a critical part of their training regimen. Animal athletes are no different. A body is a body. The idea is to get ultimate and correct movement so the horse or dog can do its job and have a long, successful career without breaking down or getting injured. A massage therapist works with the soft tissues to get the muscles working together properly. Massage helps horses and dogs engage their hindquarters (where the motor is located), lift their ribcage and free their shoulders for uninhibited power and free, long strides. As with humans, massage also helps with rehabilitation from injuries and surgeries. How long has this method of therapy existed? People have been massaging horses since ancient times. The Greeks massaged their horses as did the Arabs and the (east) Indians. Ancient Greek
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geographer Strabo wrote that Indian and Arab horses have much finer coats than their English counterparts due mainly to their being rubbed by hand. But it wasn’t about grooming. The texts say it was about helping the health of the animal. It’s nothing new. It’s just newer to the general animal public as alternative therapies gain acceptance and popularity. A lot of the horses and dogs that I work on also get acupuncture and chiropractic work. All those modalities complement massage. People really seem to understand when I relate it to human athletes. Why did you choose this profession? To me there’s nothing more magnificent than a fast horse with flawless motion. It’s breathtaking. I grew up on the back of a horse. I got interested in equine massage when I was looking for a new career because the newspaper industry was tanking. At the time I was running marathons (not very fast or with good motion!) so I needed a lot of massage work to keep me going. I think it just clicked one day that horses and dogs would benefit from the same therapy. So I started researching it on the Internet. The more I learned, the more I knew this was a perfect fit for me and a way that I could use my horse background and my writing skills. Explain your formal training and disciplines covered in the program. In October I earned certification from Prairie Winds Equine Massage Therapy College in Wellington, Colo., which is in the Fort Collins area. The school isn’t associated with Colorado State, but because of the university there is a wealth of knowledge and skill in that region. I picked Prairie Winds because it was the only school I could find that offered a two-month intensive course. All the others were only a week or two or mostly Internet based. I wanted a real education with hands-on experience and classes taught by people not only knowledgeable about massage but also horses and how they move and think. You need a well-rounded education so you can perform massage treatments but also help people understand how their horses’ muscles work and different ways they Continued on page 34
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 23
A Seat in the House by George Eskridge
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$375,000•Tom Renk MLS# 20901957 End-of-road alternative energy property. Beautiful home has large windows, skylights, vaulted ceilings for bright, open interior. Custom wood cabinets, wood and tile flooring. Outbuildings include guest house, large shop, woodshed. 40 acres includes fruit trees, grapes, berries. Borders timber co. land on 3 sides
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CUTE AND COMFORTABLE MODULAR HOME
$219,000•Tom Renk MLS# 20900350 Lake views from cozy home close to Sandpoint. Great floor plan, bright and cheery interior, fireplace, vaulted ceilings, lots of kitchen cabinets, and deck with hot tub. Private setting on 1.6 wooded acres. Less than one mile to public waterfront access at Springy Point.
The first regular session of the 60 th Idaho Legislature ended “SINE DIE” on the 117th day on May 8, 2009. This was the second longest session in Idaho’s history, only one day away from tying the longest session ever. Going into this legislative session members of the legislature realized that this was going to be a difficult session. This was the first time in Idaho history that we have experienced two years in succession of negative growth projections in general fund revenues. The Governor had already imposed cuts in this fiscal year (FY 2009) spending and we knew that we were going to have to make these cuts permanent and for the first time in Idaho history, were going to be left with no choice but to make cuts in the education budget that currently requires over 50 percent of the general fund appropriation. While in the session we had to recognize a projected decrease in revenue for our current fiscal year of 12 percent and in addition had to compensate for a further reduction in projected revenues for FY 2010. In order to cover the revenue decreases we had to use state cash reserves and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Act) dollars to help bridge the budget gap; but even with these dollars we had to reduce spending for state agencies and institutions at an average of 12.8 percent from the original FY 2009 appropriation. This included a five percent reduction in state employee personnel costs and a five percent reduction in state salary support for public school administrators. It also included a reduction in state salary support for public school teachers at about 2.7 percent. As stated above we did use federal stimulus funds in establishing the FY 2010 budget; however the legislature, in agreement with the Governor, only utilized those funds in a manner that did not incur a continuing expenditure of state funds
when the federal dollars are gone. The sudden availability of these funds provided both an opportunity and a challenge in setting the budget. An opportunity because the availability of additional funding helped mitigate spending cuts in agency programs important for health and safety needs, but a challenge in determining the most effective way to use the funds without incurring ongoing obligations that would have to be met with state taxpayer dollars when the stimulus dollars were no longer available. The timing of the announcement of the stimulus fund availability and requirements for use presented an additional challenge to the legislature. We received notification of the availability of stimulus funds in March when the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee had completed almost all of its budget recommendations for the legislature to consider. This made it necessary to redo all that work and to prepare new appropriation legislation incorporating the stimulus funds. Notwithstanding the challenges of this session and the controversy among members of the House, Senate and the Governor on issues such as transportation funding, this was a productive session. Legislative services highlights key accomplishments of the legislature in the Key Actions Summary as follows: “The depth and breadth of public policy issues the legislature addressed was typically far reaching and included raising over $50 million for transportation funding, passing bills which provided for election consolidation, daycare licensing reform, control of invasive species, sexual offender registration, school bonding issues, open meetings, regulating lobbyist activities, tax commission reform, reworking the medically indigent Continued on page 42
George Eskridge is a Representative from District 1B to Idaho’s legislature. Reach him by email at idaholeginfo@lso.idaho. gov, by phone at 800-626-0471 or by mail at PO Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720
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Safety- continued from page 19 go, and when you can be expected to return. There are plenty of wildlife in our woods, and many of those who regularly join them prefer to carry some sort of pepper spray. In my experience if you carry pepper spray, you will likely use it spraying grouse, or some kid will end up letting it off and getting you, yourself. In all my years in the woods, I have never used my pepper spray in response to an encounter with bear, cougar or moose (and I don’t think it works on moose—moose will likely take the pepper spray out of your hand and beat you over the head with it) but others who have used it swear by it. Better than pepper spray is simply noise. Yes, I know, you went into the mountains to enjoy the quiet, but if you make sure that animals know you’re coming, by making a lot of noise, you’ll find they generally give you a wide berth. Be aware of fire danger whenever you go out into the woods, especially in a motorized vehicle. You are responsible for knowing the requirements, which include keeping a shovel in your vehicle (to smother fires) and any restrictions on burning or travel. Forest Service offices in Sandpoint, Trout Creek and Bonners Ferry are the newcomer’s best resource to recreating in the wood—and the information is free. THE WEATHER—Extremely hot weather isn’t exactly common in this area, but we can generally expect to see at least a few weeks of temperatures in the high 90-degree range. Heatstroke can kill you, so it’s well worth your time to educate yourself about a few basics. Heatstroke occurs when your body has absorbed more heat than it can quickly disperse. Preventing heatstroke is as simple as preventing giardia, though it’s the exact opposite recommendation—drink the water! Dehydration is the quickest path to heatstroke. Caffeine and alcohol, by the way, don’t cut the mustard when it comes to preventing heatstroke, as they actually contribute to dehydration. On the other end of the temperature spectrum, summertime fun can also run the risk of hypothermia, the complete opposite of heatstroke. A nice, strenuous sweaty hike in the mountains followed by sunset and a drop in temperature can run you into trouble if you’re unprepared. Space blankets take up little space in your pack and can literally save your life. It’s imperative to raise your body temperature, so take off wet clothes. Pay attention if
you find yourself shivering, because hypothermia approaches when the shivering stops, as your body can no longer afford the energy of trying to warm you. And the mental disorientation that comes with hypothermia, especially if you’re out alone, can prevent you from taking proper care of yourself. THE BUGS—Beware the bloodsuckers! Both West Nile Virus (mosquitoes) and Lyme disease (ticks) have been contracted in the area. Your best bet to avoid the critters? Wear light colored clothing that covers as much of your skin as you’re comfortable with. Remember, mosquitoes like nectar so brightly colored clothing that makes you look like a flowers screams “dinnertime!” to a voracious mosquito. The CDC recommends using a DEET insect repellent on your skin—for those uncomfortable with chemical repellents, Avon’s Skin-So-Soft has been considered an effective repellent by many for years. There’s also some evidence that regular doses of thiamine (Vitamin B1) is also effective, as it appears to produce a skin odor not noticeable by other people, but unpleasant to mosquitoes. If you’re hiking in areas of heavy brush, consider tucking your pants into your socks to prevent ticks from traveling from your shoes to your hidden skin. Then, when you get home, inspect your body closely. Ticks like hidden nooks and crannies, and places where they can hide in hair. If you find a tick, use tweezers to remove it, making sure you get all the mouth parts. Then disinfect the area of the bite. THE REST—Although life here doesn’t have much in common with the big city, some safety tips are the same the world over. Wear sunscreen; don’t stay out in the sun long enough to burn; keep foods properly refrigerated; enjoy alcohol only in moderation and never when driving; don’t set off the M-80 while you’re holding it in your hand; put a helmet on before biking, skateboarding, rollerskating or riding a motorcycle; and don’t leave children or pets alone in a car—even on a relatively mild day, car temperatures can climb over 100 degrees in an amazingly short period of time.
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 25
Kathy Osborne’s
Faith Walk
My horse Ellie is in rough shape. She is two years old, very adventurous, and a bit on the fearless side. She got into some barbed wire the other day and ripped herself up pretty bad. When I found her I immediately set to washing her and dressing her wounds. The vet assured me
the slow care of love, and time, it will die this way. God is uniquely qualified to bring the wounded human heart back to life. He designed it. He can heal it. Many times He heals through people who love Him, and thus, are able to love wounded people. This is a gift I have come to appreciate over the
The wounded heart often will not, and sometimes in the end, can not trust. she had done no serious damage. But the healing is slow. Some of the wounds are deep and one is almost too painful for me to care for. It turns out that Ellie is an ongoing lesson for my heart. I rescued Ellie over a year ago from a horse trader barn where she was wallowing in two feet of manure with no dry place to rest. She was covered from top to bottom with the stuff and was malnourished. I could not leave her there. When I got her home she ate, drank, and slept for days before the light returned to her eyes. She did not “speak” for months and has only recently begun to do so when I come to the barn. Now, when I walk into the corral, she immediately comes and presses her head into my chest. Ellie is a type of the neglected, wounded human heart. It can be damaged in more ways than I know and most of those wounds take time to heal. Time: the one medicine that always works but no one wants a prescription for. In the healing days it helps to have someone else there if only to change the dressings; to massage the damaged tissue; to keep the circulation going and to keep the scabs soft and pliable. It is not so different from how God goes about healing our wounded hearts. The wounded heart often will not, and sometimes in the end cannot, trust. It is in agony and cannot move without pain. It is unpliable because it has chosen, for survival’s sake, to stop caring. It will not give because it cannot. And without
years. It’s funny. Healers don’t talk a lot. They just tend the wounded. As with healing any wound, the heart must first submit to care. This is less out of trust than the need to stop hurting. As God gently speaks to the heart about the wound He cleanses it. This is about forgiveness for those who did the damage. His grace and mercy are a balm, applied to the bare tissue to keep it soft. His servants pray for the heart and invite it, slowly, to speak. In return, God’s word supplies food and water to the weakened area allowing it to gain strength. His Holy Spirit teaches the heart how to move again though the scars remain. In time, the heart will learn to trust not in man, but in God, the physician who never fails. Ellie will heal. As I dress her wounds God speaks to me, teaching me to be careful with bare tissue and human hearts alike. Don’t press too hard. Speak quietly. Respond to pain with gentleness and above all, give it time to heal. Kathy Osborne is the editor of the Co-Op Country Round-Up
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The Hawk’s Nest ERNIE HAWKS | www.photosbyhawks.com | ernie@photosbyhawks.com
Thanking a Teacher
The bumper sticker on the car said “If you can read this thank a teacher.” The car the sticker was riding on sat near a graduation ceremony I was attending. It’s spring, a time of new beginnings and one popular ending: graduation, which we all know NOW, is really a new beginning. However, if you remember all those final exams and papers, I bet you, too, just wanted them to end. It is easy, this time of year, to think back on those school days, and nights; however, here we will focus on the days. But first I need to make a comment about fashion. Don’t worry, I’ll get back the teachers and I just might be able to tie it all together. I know the fact I even know that word, fashion, may come as a surprise to many folks. More than once, after I have given a great deal of thought to what I was wearing, I got the question, “Did an ageing blind aunt whom you never visit any more give you that for Christmas?” One of the ways my wife shows her love is helping me shop for clothes. She worries, if she left all questions of color up to me I would look like the UPS man. Personally, I think they have a really cool looking uniform. So, for those who are waiting with baited breath to learn how I could possibly give any kind of critique on apparel, here goes—my first review of fashion. Who is it who thought those goofylooking mortar boards that graduates wear make them look even a little educated, enlightened or intelligent in any way? How could some educator, after investing years in those students’ interests, even suggest they put an unused bookshelf on their head and walk across campus? That’s it, my first fashion review. Notice I didn’t bring into the review those professors of higher education and their head gear during the graduation ceremony. Now back to the bumper sticker, “If you can read this thank a teacher.” As I watch various graduations each spring (I have several friends, it isn’t that I’m fond of long speeches) I can’t help but think of those who accepted the challenge to teach me. I had some excellent teachers who added to my knowledge base a great deal, some who didn’t have the skills to
teach a newborn to suck, and some with great knowledge, who were exceptional teachers, loving and nurturing, but couldn’t get past my preconceived ideas of what I could and couldn’t learn. My high school German teacher, Mrs. Stene, was one of those people, an
important person in my educational life, but it wasn’t German I learned. I walked into her class thinking English was only language I could even consider mastering; how could I possibly learn another? The Hawks have been speaking English since the Middle Ages so it was in the genes. I know, English has changed since the Middle Ages but I did do pretty well with Chaucer and Shakespeare, though not the German literati until it was translated. No educator worked so hard for so little as Mrs. Stene. She shared her love of the language and its beautiful words and phrases, but they didn’t stick in that gap between my ears. She would be gentle, then forceful, then nurturing and always loving; I really think she wanted me to know German. Even though she could not teach me German she taught me some incredible lessons. Any teacher would be proud of the accomplishments she made with me, as the lessons I took to heart were lifeenhancing— but not German. When I was found in the library studying boat designs I was told to work on my homework not fool around daydreaming. A few days later it was Mrs. Stene talking to me in the library telling me to follow those passions. I still have some boat plans—even lived on a boat for a few years—but the lesson she taught that day was used in all parts of my life. In class she focused on what I did accomplish
rather than what I hadn’t. In other words, Mrs. Stene taught me to follow my bliss, even if my bliss didn’t include German, and to look for the positive, not dwell on what I didn’t accomplish. Another student in her class said I needed to know another language if I ever wanted to travel outside the United States. I’m proud to say I did manage several weeks in England and Scotland without the aid of an interpreter. I also do well in Canada. A trip to Italy was successful, with the help of my stepdaughter and her husband who lived there at the time. Mrs. Stene couldn’t get German to stick but her life lessons have been invaluable. Another of my teachers had a very different style but taught just as valuable a lesson. He was the high school choir director, Mr. Madson. When I walked into his class I already knew the performing arts were fun and rewarding. What he taught was how to turn fun and rewarding into a passion, and I learned, from him, discipline. It’s true he wasn’t able to turn me into a Pavarotti—not even a Bob Dylan—but that work ethic was invaluable, and, I believe, led me to a great deal of success, adding depth and power in my stage acting, theater directing and writing for years after I last sang for him. And, because of his that lesson it was even more rewarding and I had more fun doing it. I mention these two teachers who gave me life skills that did not include the subject of their class, yet they formed my life immensely. Like most of you, I too experienced many other impressions also, but when I think about the public schools, private schools and colleges I attended and the memories come up of the challenges, enlightenment, and mental stimulations, I thank those teachers. Because of their efforts I know where to put my attention— on the positive. I admit I love the eternal beginning, ending, beginning spiral of life, thanks in part those who tried so hard to teach me. Fortunately, I can do it without those goofy looking caps. When I read the bumper sticker, I did thank a teacher, and, I was thankful it wasn’t written in German.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 27
Grid- Continued from page Over the years we have expanded to include a 20’x 24’ carport, a 10’x 25’ wood shed, an 8’x 16’ garden shed, an 8’x 8’ twostory play house, an 8’x 20’ earth berm greenhouse with a 6’x 6’ root cellar in back and we are just now finishing our long awaited shop. The buildings are all built out of the rough cut lumber we have had milled from the trees off our property. I think of myself of a tree hugger more than a tree killer but over the years I have come to see our forest as a sustainable garden of wood, wood to burn for fuel and wood to build with. The land gives us so much, we try to be aware of how much we use so that future generations will be able to live here in the same style that we enjoy! Over time our garden and landscape have grown too. Both my mother and Tom’s mom are organic gardeners who grow a lot of the food that they eat and they raised us on garden produce. Beware: once you’ve had a vine-ripe garden tomato you’ll be hooked! Our climate is a zone 5 and I also have some zone 6 crops like seedless grapes that like our southwest slope. We cultivate about 2,000 square feet of garden in annual crops like tomato, zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, garlic, potato—too many to list! We also have fruit trees, berries, herbs and perennial flower beds. I like to joke that I am in training for subsistence farming but at this stage it is really just a hobby and the bulk of our food is imported. Many people believe that you need flat land to garden but frost will settle in the low areas and if you have a slope, especially with some rock, you will be less effected by sneaky growing season frosts that can catch you by surprise the day before you were planning to make pesto and turn your basil brown! There are many tricks we use to extend the growing season here and so many different micro climates in the area I will save that for another article and wrap up my garden comments by saying that it is my passion! I often hear people say that they do not get enough time to do the things they like to do, that they don’t have time to work out, or have the money to eat right. I find that gardening gives me some workout, and healthy food to eat while I am spending time doing what I like to do. I feel fortunate to live in an area where there is so much of what we need all around us. If you ask what the products of North Idaho are the list will be long but the first that come to my mind are trees: lumber and fuel; livestock: meat and dairy; grass: grain and hay; water: fresh drinking water, hydropower, fish, and recreation! Bonner and Boundary counties are approximately 70 percent state, federal, and timber company land with a population that could
self sustain through times where imports were too expensive or not available. Already a large portion of our population fill the freezer with meat from local farms or game from our forests. We purchase local produce from the various outlets or grow our own. We live the good life purchasing inexpensive imports from around the world, happily using fossil fuels to keep us warm and for transportation but we could survive without those luxuries. This brings me to a point on which I disagree with Michael: I do not believe that if imports were to stop flowing into our area “the private lands would quickly become hunted out” and that we would need to hunt on public land to survive. I suppose that is one approach but you could also consider buying one of the many established farms and raise animals or stock up on what you need from your local farmers and have an alternative power to run your freezer! We can survive crisis in this area if we ban together and network. I think that there are already many moves being made to keep our community strong and promote local food production, for health and commerce as well as a way to reduce our vulnerability! Man does not survive well alone. It may work in the short run to isolate yourself and wait out a challenge but to truly survive and thrive we must evolve past independence to interdependence! We can work together to make North Idaho as strong and self sufficient one self reliant, interdependent Idahoan at a time! Photos this page and page 7 courtesy Kristina Kingsland
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 28
Ms Madelen-cont’d from page
afford the tuition so I started cleaning the school and I fell in love with the order and the atmosphere,” she explained. “Montessori is all about calmness and beauty.” A quarter of a century of teaching now under her belt, she says “I’m so lucky that I’ve done what I wanted to do. You know, I got to go to preschool every year— what’s better than that?! “Montessori is a self-directed curriculum based on a children’s interests, so it really helps to develop a self-motivated learner.” Maria Montessori, who developed this teaching philosophy back in the early 1900s, wrote, “From the moment the child enters the classroom, each step in his education is seen as a progressive building block, ultimately forming the whole person, in the emergence from childhood to adult. All focus is on the needs of the child.” The Montessori ‘method’ was built on the idea that children are not just miniature adults—they learn, develop and think differently than adults do.” “It’s a wonderful way to teach. I love loved teaching students this way. I’m thrilled to have spent my career with little kids.” The only drawback to teaching preschool, in fact, is the difficulty in making a living, especially given the state of the economy. Because it’s not required for students, many parents often see spending money for preschool and private kindergarten as a luxury they cannot afford. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do now,” Rowe said. “I’ve sold my supplies—my stuff is all over town now and I love that. Somehow it seems fitting that I’m retiring when my first kindergarten class here is graduating high school, and now I’m just going to leave myself open to whatever opportunities are out there. Photos at right: Top-Hillary Nusbaum, middle-Amy Gannon, bottom-Teeya Smith.
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 29
A Holistic Approach to
Sports Performance Enhancement by the Sandpoint Wellness Council www.SandpointWellnessCouncil.com
A Physical Therapist Perspective by Kristine Battey The primary focus of physical therapists working in the sports performance arena is to provide injury prevention, injury rehabilitation, and fitness training. Some physical therapists are lucky enough to work with athletes during their training mode and can take a pro-active approach towards injury prevention as part of their regular training program. Injury prevention exercises include core strengthening, specific muscle strengthening, and flexibility. Rehabilitative exercises are included for areas of the body that are at a higher risk for injury. An example would be to include rotator cuff strengthening exercises for the shoulders of baseball players and deep abdominal and lumbar stabilization exercises for all athletes. Both physical therapists and personal trainers are skilled at designing the physical fitness portion of an athletes training program. This part of the program will include a multi-phased approach to increasing strength, power, agility, flexibility, and endurance. The program will also include active and non-active rest and cross-training in other sports. If a person has an injury, physical therapy can decrease pain, increase strength, restore motion, and restore a patient’s ability to function in their sport and in everyday life. Physical therapists are skilled
at designing rehabilitative programs for any injury that an athlete may encounter. Rehabilitation may include therapeutic exercise, manual therapy including soft tissue and joint mobilization, and healing modalities such as ice, heat, electrical stimulation, and ultrasound. As both a physical therapist and a personal trainer working holistically, I am lucky enough to also be able to provide nutrition coaching to my clients. Food is the athlete’s fuel and it is imperative that athletes nourish their bodies with high-quality, nutrient dense foods. A diet with organic produce, hormone and antibiotic free meat and dairy products, and nutritious whole foods is the base of any healthy athlete’s diet. It’s also important for the athlete to time when they are eating according to their workout and competition schedule and for recovery afterwards. Kristine Battey is a licensed physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (personal trainer) and a holistic lifestyle coach. She owns Divine Health & Fitness, www.divinehf.com, and can be reached at (208) 946-7072.
A Rolfing Perspective by Owen Marcus, MA, Certified Advanced Rolfer, 208/2658440 How do you improve your performance without drugs? Tune your number one instrument: your body.
Men in particular will not hesitate to spend money for the newest development in equipment technology. We covet a new set of skies, clubs, or maybe that new mountain bike. We like our toys. But how often do you consider the next advancement in improving your bodies? About the only time any of us do anything for our bodies is when we have to--when something breaks down. Your body is your most important piece of equipment. No matter how good your clubs are, your skis are, or your shoes are, if your body is not performing at its peak level, you won’t get the results you want. Chances are you also won’t be having as much fun. For a while you might be able to push it, but eventually your body will tire. Several years ago, I conducted the first study on Rolfing and sports performance with ASU. We ran three groups of elite runners through; only one group got Rolfed. The intent was to quantify the improvements the runners experienced from the Rolfing. To do that, the researchers decided to reduce the body’s performance down to small mechanical movements and measure those. Shank angle (the angle of the ankle relative to the knee) was one such measurement. These measurements changed little, yet each Rolfing subject’s injuries disappeared—and they all set new personal records. Rolfing puts in practice the principle that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Yes, most clients come to see us because they have a specific problem. But to fix the problem, increase performance significantly, and sustain those improvements, we need to look beyond the parts. As you play a sport, your body is dealing with many variables from gravity, coordination, strength, aerobic capacity, endurance and structural alignment. Each of these factors has many interrelated aspects constantly affecting your performance. Your bad knee could come from your rotated femur which comes from the shortness in your piriformis and gracillis muscles that may have first started shortening because of your everted foot. To deal with all the primary and secondary causes that limit your performance, you must address your entire body. You need to release and re-organize your fascia (soft tissue system). This thin connective tissue holds everything together. Over the years it may become distorted feeling like you were performing in a suit that’s a size too small. Because the process of distortion was slow, you are only aware of the problems--sore back, aching knees, etc.—you may not even notice your hindered performance and just chalk it up to aging. Continued on next page
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Most clients come to me to alleviate a problem. That’s the easy part. Transforming the entire suit is the challenge I love. After releasing, the pain is gone and the client invariably starts to experience gradual improvements in performance. They are amazed how much better they are performing – they hadn’t realized the full impact of their restrictions. Last year a man in his fifties came to me after a life of playing many sports and the usual associated injuries. He was hoping to avoid shoulder surgery. Before he finished his tenth session, his shoulder was 95 percent better, his performance in each of his sports was better—and easier than it had been in decades. But the most exciting effect was that he was having more fun. He said he felt like a kid again. After their bodies begin to loosen and straighten, I start to teach my clients what I call the Natural Walk. This way of walking goes against what most of us do: leaning back as we walk causing us to fight gravity. I teach clients how to use gravity to do most the work. For sports like skiing and running, this is huge. Even for sports such as swimming and cycling, I see improvements because clients learn to use their core muscles correctly. When you get this walk down, you click into using your body as it was designed to be used. Using gravity and your core muscles correctly gives you an enormous advantage. When your fascial suit loosens, becomes flexible, and straightens, your range of motion, recovery time, and adaptability significantly improve. Your newly resilient body feels younger from your soft tissue deeply relaxing. Also, your breathing improves because your chest, diaphragm and back are looser. While in Scottsdale, Olympic
runners I worked on told to me that the biggest benefit from their Rolfing was not the healing of their injuries, it was their increased vital capacity (the ability to exchange air). Improving performance is more than just getting stronger, becoming more flexible, getting better trained, or upgrading equipment. It can transform your entire structure. This magnitude of change often seems unrealistic until you experience it. I certainly wouldn’t have believed that, at age 55, I would be one inch taller, a lot faster and looser, and better coordinated, than I was at 25. Our bodies are constantly changing. Fortunately, we get to decide in what way. A Biofeedback Perspective by Robin Mize, CBS, AHH, 208/263-8846 Performance enhancement to me means to be at the top of my game and super healthy in body and mind. It is a wide subject and I think it is what we all want. With my specialty being so entrenched in Quantum Biofeedback, I have learned a great deal about how the body works at an energetic cellular level. I have touched on biofeedback in my other articles so today I wanted to talk about one of the tools I have in my office. It is called PEMF Therapy. By now most of us know the power of magnets and how important electromagnetic energy is to our very survival. We were thrilled when we were introduced to PEMF (Pulsating Electro Magnetic Field) about a year ago and here are some of the facts on PEMF Therapy; Nearly 50 years of research provides compelling evidence that pulsed electromagnetic fields supply pulsed energy for the cell to better accomplish function and repair. The benefits of PEMF technology are well
represented by more than 2,000 doubleblind medical studies and experiments being done at major universities and clinics around the world. These studies are published in prestigious medical journals and are presented in the National Institute of Health Library showing success with arthritis, depression, hypertension, lymphocytes, Multiple Sclerosis, osteoporosis, Parkinson’s, circulation, endometriosis, healing, migraine, nerve repair, pain, bone re-knitting and the list goes on. So what is PEMF? It is high powered Magnetic therapy. Magnetic force is very important to the human body and essential to our very existence. The earth is full of magnetic force and it is what makes us feel grounded. PEMF is very powerful and can help you remain flexible and works fast on pain and inflammation so that you can get on with performing at a high level. A typical session lasts 12 to 30 minutes with 80 to 90 percent results. Check it out for yourself. I offer the first session for free. I am that convinced it will help you out. For more information, read www.scribd. com/doc/8515450/Electromagnetic-HealingElectrotherapy
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 31
Big Bird
“When the blackbird flew out of sight, It marke the edge of one of many circles... It did not give or bird or bush, Like nothing else in Tennessee.” -Wallace Stevens No, not “Big Bird” from Sesame Street. There have be en reports of exceedlingly large birds throughout our history. One flesh and blood sighting, or in this case, feathers and bone, occurred on the East Coast in the early 1960s. A small private plane crashed due to a collision with a bird, but not like last year’s Miracle on the Hudson. The bird, singular, that brought this plane down was at least the size of a small plane. The wreckage of this plane sported a mystery: Plastered all over the tail assembly were the blood, bone fragments, tissue and huge feathers of an unknown bird. BAsed on comparison to known birds, this avian had to be at least 15 feet long with a wingspam of nearly 25 feet. A bird of enormous size may have ruled the skies long ago, a remnant of which may survive to this day. This was a bird so large it could carry off young bison; even children were known to go disappearing. This brings us to our local account from June six years ago. A young woman here in town witnessed what the Native Americans would likely have called a Thunderbird. No, not a Ford. It had a white head and a dark body. A thick neck appeared to support a collarlike ring of heavier feathers. It did not look like an eagle or a hawk. It trailed its legs behind it like a heron or egret. Height was difficult to judge, but it appeared to be at least the size of a hang-glider. About the same time, a number of people at the Sagle Flea Market briefly witnessed a similar bird fly over, described by witnesses as the size of a Pipe Cub airplane. Animal oddities are reported every year all over the world, but we will remain in this country. Like its cousin in Wales, England, reports have circulated in Texas of a phantom wild cat that doesn’t match
Brushmaker
In ThE
Valley of
ShadowS with Lawrence Fury
descriptions of known wild cats; and we won’t go into the myriad reports of hairy hominids. In Illinois about 30 years ago, a 70pound, ten-year-old boy was carried approximately 20 feet by a pair of birds with eight-foot wing spans until he struck one and was dropped. Local officials scoffed, stating there were no native birds matching this account, except maybe turkey vultures, that could account for this story. Turkey vulture wingspans can reach 6 feet, and they could possibly carry a 70-pound boy a few feet with his running momentum aiding the abduction. Both boy and mother admitted that they may have exaggerated the story, and they allowed that pictures of vultures matched what they saw.Their description detailed hooked, 6-inch-long bills, black in color with white rings around the neck. In 2003, a 5-pound puppy was abducted and released by a large bald eagle. (Hey, rabbits and other large rodents are their prey.) San Antonio, Texas in early 1974. Two school teachers spotted two birds one late afternoon that appeared to have a 16foot wingspan and whose skeletons could be seen through their thin skin against a background of gray feathers. Pennsylvania, September 2001, just two weeks after 9/11. People were watching the skies and a witness claimed to have seen an enormous winged creature fly over Route 119 south of Greensburg. His attention was drawn by what he said sounded like flags flapping in a thunderstorm. The wingspam supposedly was 10 to 15 feet. It swooped as low as 60 feet above the ground, even glidnning gracefully over an 18-wheeler. The sighting lasted less than a couple of minutes where it briefly tried to land in a large tree, but broke a branch with its
great weight. Speaking as a North Idaho native, I have never seen a bird larger than a blue heron, or one of the geese down at the beach (which I miss, by the way). Are there turkey vultures here? I’ve never seen nor heard of them, but the May issue of Mike Turnlund’s “A Bird in Hand” for the River Journal says they’re here. Vultures need the thermals created by warm rising air to carry on their scavenging patrols. That is why you rarely see them in the early morning or on cold days. Instead, they wait until the sun is high and the breeze is warm before starting their rounds, just like an out-of-school-for-thesummer teenager, he wrote. (If you missed it, you can read it online.) The legends of Native Americans and their Thunderbird seem the most logical explanation. Have a very few of these huge birds found a way to survive into the 21st century? Nothing supernatural there, maybe, unless as explored in my other columns, they have found a way in and out of a dimensional doorway and are occassionally drawn here, to the Valley of Shadows. For more on big birds, including teratonis and the Mothman, visit our website and read the “Big Birds” story of March 2009 from the “files of the River Journal’s Surrealist Research Bureau.” Photo, below: Larry may miss the geese at Sandpoint’s City Beach but they’re doing well in Denton Slough. The amazing eye and camera of Jay Mock caught this family of birds at the first of the month.
Glenn Grishkoff
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Page 32 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
From ThE
Files
Of The River Journal’s
SurrealisT Research BureaU When Legends Die
It was 1967, the Summer of Love, and my battalion of grunts of the 173rd Airborne Brigade had lost a company of men near the small hamlet of Dak To, nestled along the Laotian border of South Vietnam’s mistshrouded central highlands. That was a mere omen of things to come, for over the next few months we fought an agonizing, brutal series of pitched battles against a division of scattered, well-dug-in NVA regulars, culminating in the bloody, costly battle for Hill 875. Visions of the Alamo and Custer’s Last Stand were continually before my young eyes. Under constant pressure from officers flying high above the battlefield in helicopters to find and count more enemy dead, we finally resorted to holing up in caves and sending in false radio reports. The climactic Hill 875 battle alone ended up officially claiming some 500 NVA dead as against 140 Americans, though we on the ground knew less than a hundred enemy bodies were actually found. Later, we were given the new John Wayne film “Green Berets” to watch at the Dak To base camp and I remember laughing at it uproariously and throwing beer cans at the screen along with the other GIs. I later learned the real “other” Alamo had its own facts that didn’t seem to fit the legend. Far from fighting for freedom, the 184 men in the San Antonio mission back then were also fighting for the right to own slaves and the Mexicans of that time were just as adamant that slavery would not be allowed on Mexican soil. A penny western reporter who gave no source didn’t put the famous tale of Col. Travis “drawing a line in the sand” forth until 30 years later, though it’s still being reported as fact. Mexican diaries state unequivocally that Davy Crockett, far from going down fighting, swinging Old Betsy, was one of a number of men who surrendered, hoping to save their lives, and who were later killed on Santa Ana’s orders. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral likewise holds some surprising revelations, chief among them the finding that the true cause of the battle turned on a simple struggle between the Earps and Clantons for control of the town’s lucrative gaming and gambling concessions. Witnesses state that the Earps not only fired first but that one of the Clantons was unarmed and another was on a horse that started bucking wildly at the first sound of gunfire. (The complete
Tombstone O.K. Corral Inquest can be found at a number of online sites). I bring this all up due to the recent by Jody Forest showing on the Disney channel of the film “Newsies” which purports to show a musical version of a famous 1899 strike by newspaper boys against the newspaper conglomerates of the era. What the film neglects to mention is that the poor, valiant boys in the film actually lost their strike and were viciously beaten by thugs and scabs hired by the newspaper tycoons. There was no happy ending in real life; the “newsies” lost their strike and before child labor laws, were returned homeless and hungry to the cold, New York City streets. Recent news reports suggest that former Vice President Cheney first okayed waterboarding in order to find links between 9-11 and Saddam Hussein. The Iraq War will turn out to be one of the most costly mistakes of the past century, built on a myth which, like castles made of sand, disappear when washed in the oceans of truth. We need truth in this day and age more than ever. Nearly 400 GIs died in the hills around Dak To during the Summer of Love and their sacrifices were honorable; they were brave men, and they deserve nothing less than the truth. The men of the Alamo were brave men as well. It took courage for the young “newsies” to revolt. We don’t need to mythologize them, they too deserve the truth. America has nothing to fear from the truth. Not now, not ever! My friend Dennis Nicholls, founder of the River Journal, died recently after a long illness. In his long, silent and solitary journeys through the hills he loved I believe he spoke more loudly and eloquently than most of today’s preachers, poets, politicians or pundits. We’ll miss his gentle spirit. “For how short a while man speaks, and withal how vainly. And for how long he is silent. Only the other day I saw the mummy of a King once in Thebes who had been silent already for four thousand years.” (Lord Dunsany)
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 33
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Curless—Continued from page 23 can ride or do ground exercises to help get those muscles to change and have lasting, observable effects. Prairie Winds also offers courses in business management and movement along with sessions with farriers, veterinarians and horse trainers. It really was a complete package. I graduated with honors after completing the 360-hour program. How have you honed your skills and enhanced your knowledge since leaving Prairie Winds? I’ve learned it’s a lifelong study. Every horse and dog is different. I’ve been reading a lot about how muscles work and the physiological process—how massage actually impacts the body. A massage therapist doesn’t “fix” anything. We help the body (soft tissues) and the mind work together to heal. Massage therapists are really just facilitators that help the animal bring self-awareness to their bodies so they can adjust themselves and achieve correct movement and balance. I plan to take a craniosacral course this summer, which is more advanced study in how to release restrictions in the body’s craniosacral system (brain and spinal cord) to improve the functioning of the central nervous system. That’s fascinating work and really will help me understand how the muscles work with the spinal cord, brain and entire nervous system. I’m working with my dad who trains Border Collies to herd livestock. He’s helping me learn more about how dogs move and the demands of their bodies when they are gathering sheep and cows. We are also trying to develop some exercises to help individual dogs build strength and get more balance in their muscles. Dogs are new to me. I didn’t grow up with working dogs. And it’s difficult because I can’t ride them and actually feel their strides and movement. It’s also more difficult to suggest exercises because I haven’t worked dogs. I’m very fortunate to have the expertise of my dad, Randy Curless, who has such a diverse understanding of dogs and how they think, move and work. He gives lessons every week at his ranch in Dover, so it’s like having a working lab. It’s really fun to collaborate with him and get a little more insight to his passion. Summarize what you’ve done so far. Describe visible signs of improvement resulting from your therapy. The goal is to get observable results that the owner can see and in the case of horses, feel when they ride. The animals are so responsive. You can see them processing the treatment. They often stretch, yawn and poop, which are signs of relaxing. But the true difference is in how they move and how they feel. The strides are longer, their backs more rounded and their muscles feel relaxed and less braced. One of my highlights has been helping my mom’s Border Collie recover from hip surgery last fall. Massage really helped her start using that leg and building up strength. Now she travels like nothing happened and she is strong and fluid. I also enjoy working on therapeutic riding horses that are part of the Free Rein Program in Spokane for people with disabilities. Those horses work really hard and having riders who often are unbalanced really takes a toll on their back muscles. Massage helps them stay strong and balanced so they can do their jobs—empowering people with disabilities. I’m honored to work with those horses. How does canine therapy differ from equine therapy? The body of a horse and a dog are actually very similar. So the therapy is similar. The biggest difference is with their minds. Dogs think and respond differently than horses. So I have to figure out how to connect with them. What range of responses have you experienced from people since you decided to go into this profession? Everyone at the newspaper thought I was crazy. There were lots of massage jokes and jabs about “How do you get a horse on a massage Continued on page 40
Page 34 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Say What? PAUL RECHNITZER| pushhard@nctv.com
Security I don’t recall what caused the expression to be coined but something was described as the “window to the world.” If there ever was such a view the computer and the Internet certainly made it come true. How else would a home body ever be privileged to have contact with officials in Nigeria, the office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria? Those struggling bankers have such a hard time getting their money washed makes you want to have a spaghetti feed to raise some funds for a new Maytag. In this new, wonderful world wide economy where we are now honor-bound to make nice with all stripes it makes sense that the bankers in Malaysia would also be seeking help. (But why me?) I hope they enjoyed their visit to Boise where they called me from a pay phone. It is very sad to note that the banking problem has spread to the Hong Kong banks too because they are having the same problem. If you are more caring than me, call Mr. Yang Ming or is it Ming Yang (No e-mails he says, thank
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you). He provided a promotion code I’ll pass on only to callers. Lest it appear that all the miscreants are from the other side of the world I am proud to announce that Sir John Greening has advised I have won 300,000 pounds (sterling?) AND a model 407 Peugeot. The car, I guess, is in the UK and it would be up to me to get it over here, as though I would want a French car. I trust he is not holding his breath waiting for my call. The mastermind of this one wants my name and address. Good luck to you, Johnny G. Thinking all these messages from dreamy, far away places were perhaps mis-routed I asked the Sheriff’s office for guidance. I was given a confidential number for the FBI where my complaint probably was filed in the round basket. When I tried to file a second complaint there was no such number. (Budget cuts, don’t you know).Why should I be surprised in this new era of side stepping and high jumping? Then there was the telephone call the other night when I was asked if I would like a 40 to 60 percent return on my money and did I have $25,000 ‘liquid’ in a week. For the nanosecond that I felt like a winner the call continued saying that if I was interested “touch 1,” if not, “touch 2.” I was very reluctant to pass up such a great opportunity but absent any references I hope that I didn’t ruin the phone by hitting the figure 2 too hard. So what in the hell is going on? Between the scam artists on the Internet and the over-sexed locals, not to mention the poor souls running out of pain killers and short of enough cash to get wired, it is no wonder that the world has degenerated to endless passwords and pins. There is enough skepticism even your in-laws look guilty. To all the frustrated inventors out there, how about a system for managing my Personal Identification Numbers? A local bank seems to speak rather harshly to the caller if he or she does not have their pin ready. And don’t forget the 3-digit number on the back of your CC. Your SSN works some times. And if you are not sure about where your parents were born you are in deep doo doo. Even Pay-Pal tells me I
am wrong. Good to know there is someone else in this wide world who cares enough to ask. In short, I am getting depressed about the sad state of our ethics. Morality seems to be something the men of the cloth can talk about after bingo. Of course it may be of little wonder since there seems to be little or no consequences for our actions. How else can you explain a DUI where the driver has double-digit priors on his rap sheet? You steal from someone and get away with it because your childhood was less privileged. After a few hours of Dr Phil I am beginning to believe everyone but me has had abusive parents. Those emotional scars seem to have been self-inflicted. Excuses, excuses, excuses. We have reached a sorry point in life when “I am going to be honest with you” is as trite as “have a good day” And here I thought that honesty was a given, not a gift. Of course, if the current administration is going to give first-time home-buyers a chunk of change you begin to wonder where it will all end. We are blowing out of the water the idea that you solve your own problems. The poor slob who cuts his own firewood is getting to be in the minority. Sounds like the bleeding hearts have won the day. Maybe those campaign contributions were really a good investment. If you are inclined to raise money to bring that pirate’s mother over for the trial don’t count on me. He probably has an account at the Hang Seng Bank, Ltd, but I can’t make a wire transfer because I forgot my pin. Try Congress. PS: How far do you have to travel into Mongolia to get to Outer Mongolia? The Mongolian Petroleum Authority has a deal for me described as “a concealed business suggestion.” Sounds devilishly clever. Another Google address. @$%&#$ you and the yak you rode in on!.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 35
Say goodbye to
THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN
Uppity Women: A Closer Look by Kathy Sackett Rollicking. Ribald. Riveting. Mere words until you experience a live performance by Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women. I first heard them on Tina Boston’s Blues program years ago and rushed to get tickets when a March 2000 show at the Met was announced. The concert was packed with people of both genders laughing, dancing in their seats, clapping, shouting, and having a helleuva good time…hoping the concert would never end. Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women play the acoustic blues in their own sassy style influenced by classic blues legends like Alberta Hunter, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, and Ma Rainey. They may be down… but they’re not out…and don’t you forget it! They released their first album on Alligator in 1990. After 25 years of touring and eight more recordings of classic and original blues songs they have decided to do one more tour and then pursue their own projects.
Spokane Public Radio is extremely lucky that Saffire is coming back to our region as part of their 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour. They’ll be playing two concerts for Spokane Public Radio, Tuesday, June 9, at The Bing Crosby Theater and June 10 at the Panida Theatre in Sandpoint. Their shows are part of our annual Thank You Concert, which began 15 years ago in a desire to thank our volunteers and underwriters in a way that really reflected the programming heard on KPBX. Our concerts bring special people together and thank them for their many contributions to the station. They have also allowed us to showcase the incredible talent available in our area from our first Guitar Summit, ragtime pianist Scott Kirby to Roll on Columbia: the Sings and Stories of Woody Guthrie. We’ve presented people and groups heard on public radio like Ira Glass, Dr. Zorba Paster, Pearl Django and now Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women. By holding the concerts at The Bing Crosby Theater, we’re able to sell tickets to
our listening audience and public so they, too, can celebrate the spirit of volunteerism and community, as well as enjoy these special concerts. So don’t miss Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women! They’ll be celebrating 25 years together singing the blues with rare wit and musicality, while SPR honors the people that help sustain the station in so many ways. It will be a concert to remember for both Spokane and Sandpoint. If you have time, I encourage you to see both shows. I know I will. Sandpoint / Wednesday, June 10, 2009 - 7:30pm The Panida Theater, 300 North 1st Ave. In Sandpoint, pick up tickets at Eve’s Leaves at 326 North 1st Avenue, or call TicketsWest. *Ticket fee may apply. Fee waived at the Spokane Arena Box Office and at Eve’s Leaves in Sandpoint Spokane / Tuesday, June 9, 2009 7:30pm The Bing Crosby Theater, 901 West Sprague Ave. Tickets available in Spokane at TicketWest locations www.ticketswest. com/800.325.seat.
View by God
Fireworks by Hope area businesses
Dusk, July 4 Hope, Idaho
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 36
Local Food of the
Inland Northwest
The movement toward small, sustainable food production is evergrowing. National news anchors now use the term “locovore” without a definition strung on to the end. We’re getting somewhere. But as with many aspects of the sustainability movement, it is almost backwards motion. Not backwards in philosophy, but backwards in time. A hundred and fifty, seventy, even sixty years ago, local food was a reality in this country, not a crusade. People ate what they could produce, with certain help from outside producers. Most families could grow, prepare, and preserve food in its purest sense; and all members of the community contributed on some level to its own food reserve. My question this week is simple: if they could do it then, what’s stopping us from doing it now? This is not intended to be a rhetorical question, designed to evoke inspiration and hope. It’s a real question. What was so different about the infrastructure of the 1940s, say, that makes it so much harder to locate and afford locally produced food in today’s world? If we can determine the systems that where in place during a time of a compulsory “hundred-mile-diet”, we can discover where and how to start rebuilding our current food system to reintegrate local foods. There are, in my mind, a plethora of answers to this question. Naturally, the circumstances involved a combination of events and mindsets, and so there is no one, or even ten, right answer(s). However, I think that a solution can be roughly outlined, and my proposal for the fuzzy version follows. Individuals held a strong sense of community Emily LeVine is in her first season of growing produce and cut flowers for Red Wheelbarrow Produce 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
Neighbors Helping by Emily LeVine Neighbors
regarding the welfare of their neighborhood or town, and the circumstances of the time required a sense of value for high quality products. Neither of these statements hold true for most Americans in this decade, nor this generation. nor the generation before that. Where those morals disappeared to is another article. But a combination of those values makes room for what is probably the most imperative principle of sustainability (and of kindergarden); and that is sharing. The long and short of it is that if every producer has to own and maintain his own everything, it is simply unsustainable. In a time when “every man for himself” had yet to emerge on such a grandiose level, a person had to rely on others to some degree, and they learned to do so with pride. In return, they openly shared their own wealth, be it in the form of farm equipment, extra hay in a long winter, childcare, or barn-raising assistance. And because you couldn’t just run to Wal-Mart and get a replacement part, people learned how to care intensely for their belongings. The neighbor knew (for the most part) how to care for tools, so you felt comfortable lending them out. These days, many people own too many belongings, and our sense of value for them is way down. The products were
also easier to care for and more resilently made. In other words, we knew, as a culture, that the health of our own families depended on the health of the community. We can get back to that, but it is a slow ride. It involves developing trust, extending curiosity toward our neighbors, and expanding awareness of our relationships. When you ask for a favor, add it to your mental checklist(not the community garden you owe somebody something. Notsite) necessarily money, and not necessarily the same thing you received. Ask them. “Does this feel balanced to you”? Let’s return to the principle of borrowing: return everything you are lent in better shape than when you got it. A full tank of gas, etc. We should teach the next generation to at least attempt to fix things before waltzing out to buy a new one. As a culture, we should demand quality products, not the junk we are getting today. I have personally been awed by the generosity that has erupted in the last toward my own new food growing endeavor Perhaps the time is here. A return to the good old values of sharing goes hand in hand with the strength of our community, and of our local food system.
Local Food of the Month: Salad of all shapes and sizes It’s here. Spring has sprung. From here on out, I can’t begin to keep up with the onslaught of produce that will overtake our local farmers’ markets and CSAs. But this month, let’s start at the beginning. Salad. It’s cold-hearty. It’s light. It’s flavorful! It’s diverse. Every locally grown salad mix is going to vary. Many have exciting additions to the standard lettuces that make the mixes more colorful, texture-ful, and flavorful. Edible flowers include nasturtium, johnny jump-up, and even rose petal. Other growers include “micro-greens” such as baby chard, pac choi, spinach, mustard greens, baby kale, and arugula. Make sure to ask your local farmers what’s in their mix: it might be spicy! Also, don’t forget about good old head lettuce- this time of year it’s tender and it melts in your mouth. For a good light dressing, mix 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar, 1 tablespoon chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 3/4 cup olive oil.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 37
McBirney’s name at Wells Fargo Bank, 320 N. Fourth, Sandpoint, ID (208)255-3880.
French
Coffelt Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.
Get complete obituaries online at
www.CoffeltFuneral.com
Spade
Pascal L. Spade, 93, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Sunday, May 17. Funeral services were conducted in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel. Interment was in the Westmond Cemetery. Pascal was born on August 19, 1915 in North Platte, Nebraska, the son of Walter and Fern Spade. He attended school in North Platte and learned to farm with horses. He came to North Idaho in 1935 to work and farm. He married Bernice McElhinny on May 8, 1937. They arrived in Kootenai on July 11, 1937, driving a Model T truck. In 1944 the family moved to the Sagle area and established the Spade Farm. He raised alfalfa and corn and also logged in the area. For years he contracted, through Timberline Metal Buildings, to build many of the metal buildings in the area. He supported local 4-H programs and participated in the Bonner County Fair. In 1996 Pascal was honored by the Sandpoint Lions Club and named Grand Marshall of the 4th of July Parade. On Oct. 2, 2007 he married Vicki Burrell in Thompson Falls, Mont. He enjoyed fishing in Alaska and traveling to “see what was on the other side of the hill.” Pascal’s survivors include his wife Vicki, three sons, one daughter, a brother, a sister and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Pascal was preceded in death by his parents and his wife Bernice.
McBirney
A. Martin McBirney, 60, of Sandpoint, died Friday May 22, in Sandpoint, Idaho. He was born October 14, 1948 in Germany, completed high school and college in Eugene, Oregon, as well as one year of college in Kent, England. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Oregon in 1971. Athletic pursuits such as surfing, professional bicycling, and rock climbing were mainstays of Martin’s life. He climbed the major cliffs in Yosemite Park, including the Salathe Wall on El Capitan. He participated in the sport at a world-class level, establishing numerous first ascent routes in Yosemite and throughout the Northwest. After moving to Sandpoint in 1992, Martin continued his outdoor pursuits, most recently enjoying kayaking. Martin’s career in the long term care insurance industry included actuarial work, product development, marketing and lobbying for American Express and GE Capital Assurance Company. His consulting work in product design, industry relations, and as an expert consultant earned the respect of industry, insurance regulators, and consumer advocates across the country. Martin was defined by his creative talents, his analytical abilities, and his love for family and community. Neighborhood projects were easily administered and everyone’s bikes were happily fixed. Volunteer work at his daughter’s schools included construction projects and teaching mathematical concepts to students in the Upper Quartile Program at Farmin Stidwell. Martin enjoyed woodworking projects with his daughter Marquax, entertained her and her friends with extreme treasure hunts and sledding runs, and enjoyed outdoor pursuits with his family. Whatever the sense of failure Martin may have felt at the end, his accomplishments and the love that his family and friends feel for him will long survive his passing. He is survived by his wife Karlen and their thirteen year old daughter Marqaux; two sisters and their families, and parents Robert and Carmen of Eugene. Martin was preceded in death by his brother Richard. Memorial Services will be held July 25, with the location to be announced. Donations may be made to a thirdparty administered college memorial fund in Marquax
Ruth Margaret French, a woman of enduring faith, kind spirit and gentle action, passed away Friday morning, May 22, in Sandpoint. She was 91. Ruth was born in Lake Wilson, Minn. to John and “Mayme” Westera on August 20, 1917. She was the middle child of three sisters. Frances, the oldest, passed away in 2000. Evie resides in La Jolla, California. Ruth and her family moved to Sioux Falls, SD when she was a child. She attended elementary and high school there. She was very involved in many aspects of the church from an early age and sang in various church choirs nearly all her life. It was at a church youth function that she met Dallas French, a young man who later became a pilot in the Army Air Corps during WWII, a minister, and her husband. Ruth and Dallas both attended Sioux Falls College together and served as homecoming king and queen one fall. Ruth graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education. After the war, Ruth and Dallas married and they remained together for 42 years until Dallas passed away on May 26, 1987. Their desire to serve God led Dallas to attend seminary in Berkley. Following his ordination, they served in a number of American Baptist Churches throughout Idaho, Washington, South Dakota, and Montana. Their son, Mark, was born in 1950 in Palo Alto, Calif and their daughter, “Dee” (Denise), was born in Walla Walla, Wash. four years later. During her middle years, Ruth excelled at multiple occupations: elementary school teacher, choir director, pastor’s wife, and mother. She developed a passion for sewing and gardening. No matter how busy she was, she always made time for her family and her church. In 1990 after retirement and her husband’s passing, Ruth moved to the home of her daughter’s family in Sandpoint. She made many dear friends in the community over nearly 20 years, particularly at the Sandpoint United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian women’s sewing group. Ruth was busy with church activities such as choir, reading and study programs, United Methodist Women, and Morning Glory Activity Group. She regularly prepared food for the community meal and sewed hundreds of quilts which were donated to various community outreach programs. Ruth was the ideal grandmother figure to many boys and girls, and especially so to her very own-—Ben (1977-2000) and Sarah—the children of Dee and Ray Kosse. She felt blessed to witness the marriage of Sarah to Wingate Barraclough in 2003. Ruth leaves behind scores of friends and a family who loved her deeply. A celebration of Ruth’s life took place aat the Sandpoint United Methodist Church. Memorials may be made to the Sandpoint United Methodist church, (711 Main) or the Idaho Panhandle Habitat for Humanity (PO Box 1191) both in Sandpoint, ID 83864.
Beauchene
Beulah M. Beauchene, 92, of Sandpoint died Sunday, May 24, at Life Care Center of Sandpoint. Funeral services were conducted in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel. Pastor Ken Smith, First Baptist Church, officiated. Interment was in the Pack River Cemetery. Beulah was born in Bainville, Mont. on April 27, 1916 the daughter of Albert and Maude Mattingley. She grew up, and attended schools, in Montana. On Jan. 24, 1940 she married Ernest Beauchene in McCabe, Mont. In 1951 the family moved to the Bronx area, near Sandpoint. They operated a family farm until moving to Sandpoint in 1974, Ernest passed away in 1979. She was a member of the First Baptist Church and volunteered at the Sandpoint Senior Citizens Center. She enjoyed her flowers, gardening, quilting, raising farm animals, and the squirrels in her yard. She married William “Bill” Ogden on Aug. 28, 1982 in Sandpoint and he passed away in 1992. She is survived by 3 sons; a daughter; 9 grandchildren, 9 great-grand children; and a brother. She was also preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Raymond and Bernard, and a sister Bessie.
Ballou
Catherine E. “Kay” Ballou, 90, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Monday, May 25. Graveside committal services were conducted in the Holy Cross Cemetery Mausoleum in Spokane, Wash. Father Dennis C. Day, St Joseph’s Catholic Church officiated. Kay was born in Chicago, Ill. on Feb. 8, 1919, growing up in the
Chicago area. She moved to Sandpoint in 1945 and married Wally Ballou on November 16, 1955 in Rochester, New York. She lived in Sandpoint and was a member of St Joseph’s Catholic Church. She belonged to the Ladies of the Moose, the American Legion Auxiliary, and volunteered for the Cancer Society. She enjoyed fishing, hunting, photography, gardening, flowers, and traveling. She liked to give gifts of her knitting and crocheting. She is survived by her husband Wally Ballou, and was preceded in death by her parents and one sister.
Diehl
Susan Edith Diehl, 94, of Post Falls, former Sandpoint resident died Tuesday, May 26 in Post Falls. She was born Feb. 23, 1915 in Bossburg, Wah. the daughter of Elwood and Edith Day. She was raised in Colville, Wash. where she attended school and graduated from high school in 1923. Susan married Donald James Diehl in 1935 in Colville. After he finished pharmacy school they resided in Newport, Wash. for a few years. In 1939 they moved to Sandpoint where they lived for the next 30 years at which time they moved to Plains, Mont. After Mr. Diehl’s death in 1981 she moved back to Sandpoint. In 2002 she moved to Post Falls where she has since resided. Susan was a member of the Sandpoint United Methodist Church, the Hospital Auxiliary of Sandpoint, and Daughters of the Nile. She enjoyed a good game of bridge and was an avid fisherman. She is survived by 3 daughters, 5 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren. In addition to her husband she was preceded in death by 1 brother and 3 sisters. Memorial graveside services were conducted at Pinecrest Memorial Park, with Pastor Dan Nickerson officiating.
Haberkamp
Alice Marie Haberkamp, 72, of Sagle, died Wednesday, May 27 at her home. Alice’s courageous battle with ovarian cancer lasted five years, but through it all she remained strong and kept a smile on her face. She was born May 14, 1937 in Chicago, Ill, the daughter of James and Emily Klepak Loomis. Alice attended schools in Chicago and Wheaton, Ill. On May 16, 1953 she married the love of her life LeRoy Haberkamp. They resided in Illinois until January 10, 1972 when they moved to Sagle, Idaho. Alice was a housekeeper for various families in the Sandpoint area until her husband started his cabinetry business at which time she helped him in the shop. Alice was a devoted member of the Catholic Church. The simplest things in life brought her joy-playing cards at the weekly family dinners, chocolate milkshakes, flowers, and spending time in the woods on their property. She is survived by her husband: LeRoy Haberkamp, 3 children, 4 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren; and 2 sisters. She was preceded in death by her son Clayton in 2006. The family would like to express their deep appreciation to the Clinic at Bonner General Hospital, the oncology department at Kootenai Medical Center and hospice for the love and care they demonstrated to Alice. Memorial services were conducted at Coffelt Funeral Chapel with Father Carlos Perez officiating.
Ramsay
Helen Elizabeth Ramsay, 93, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Sunday, May 31. Funeral services were conducted in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel. Interment will be in Pinecrest Memorial Park. Helen was born in LaSalle, Colo. on October 4, 1915, the daughter of Walter and Emma Kimzey. The first grade of school was in Evans, Colo. in a schoolhouse her dad had just built. She finished high school in Torrington, Wyo. and moved to Wrencoe in 1935.She worked in Spokane, Wash. for Paul Kemp and his wife, returning to Wrencoe and going to work for the Ramsays. On November 13, 1939 she married James Warren Ramsay in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She worked on the family farm in Laclede. Following the death of Warren, in 1981, she moved to Sandpoint and shared a home with her son Robert. In 2007 she returned to Laclede and lived with her daughter, Catherine. Helen was a member of the First Christian Church and enjoyed needlework. She was a 4-H leader, in sewing, for Wrencoe and Dover. She is survived by her children, 12 grandchildren,15 greatgrandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren. She was also preceded in death by her parents, a grandson Max, 6 brothers, one sister, and her son in law Leon Rembowski.
Page 38 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho. Get complete obituaries online at
www.LakeviewFuneral.org
Rice
E. Grace Rice, 92, passed away on Monday, May 4, in Sandpoint, Idaho of natural causes. Private family services have been held and interment took place next to her husband, Kenneth Rice, in the Paradise Valley Cemetery. Grace was born on January 12, 1917 in Straw, Mont. to Jack and Fannie Fairbairn. She married Kenneth Rice November 16, 1931, and was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Her greatest love was for her family. She enjoyed the outdoors, gardening, and working on the farm. She is survived by her two children; three grandsons; two granddaughters; three great-grandsons; four greatgreat grandchildren; her sister Cecil; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Kenneth, and nine brothers and sisters.
Raikes
William Walter Raikes, 93, passed away on Wednesday, May 6, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Private family services will be held at a later date. Bill was born on July 3, 1915 in Salt Lake City, UT to George and Jessie Raikes. He grew up and attended schools in Culver City, Calif., graduating from Alexander Hamilton High School. Bill married Evelyn Davis on November 24, 1938 in Los Angeles, Calif. Bill worked for 20 years as a civilian airplane mechanic with Northrop Corporation at Edwards Air force Base. During that time he served as one of Chuck Yeager’s mechanics, and helped design and build the “Flying Wing,” which later became known as the Stealth Fighter. He retired from Northrop in 1970. Bill and Evelyn moved to Lake Tahoe where he volunteered as a sheriff deputy. Later they settled in Santa Rosa where he volunteered his airplane knowledge and talents by restoring antique airplanes. One of his proudest accomplishments was helping restore the “Flying Wing” for the Smithsonian Institute. In 2003 Bill moved to Sandpoint to be closer to family. In Lake Tahoe he was active in the Lion’s Club. He also enjoyed fishing, socializing with friends, and playing Bridge. Bill’s family would like to express their gratitude to the staff at Huckleberry House, and to Dr. Crane and Susan. He is survived by three daughters; four sons; 16 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a neice. He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Evelyn, two sisters, and three brothers.
Nicholson
Norma Phyllis Taylor Nicholson, 44, passed away on Monday, May 11, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Private family services have been held. Interment will take place in Rockingham, VT. Norma was born October 3, 1964, in Bellows Falls, VT daughter of Fred and Irene (Lanou) Bussino. She was a Graduate of Bellows Falls Union High School Class of ’82. Norma was a hard worker all her life. While living in Vermont she worked at the family business, Buffum’s Supermarket in many positions, but would be best known as Deli manager and baker. She also worked at Jelly’s Market in Andover. After moving to the Inland Northwest Norma worked for Wal-Mart as an assistant manager and at Yokes Fresh Market in a variety of positions. A loving, funny, and memorable lady, Norma brought a fun and efficient work ethic wherever she
went, including her home. That is where she taught her children love and self sacrifice, doing whatever it took to make sure her kids were provided for, both physically and emotionally. We will always remember the love she taught us and how she extended that to all people, selflessly and wholeheartedly. Norma leaves her companion of many years William “Bill” Nicholson; her four children; and special friends. Survivors also include her mother, stepfather, four brothers, five sisters as well as many nieces and nephews and her stepmother. Her father, Fred Bussino, is now reunited with his baby girl and is holding her close in his arms.
Neil
Brian Keith Neil, 75, of Cocolalla, Idaho, passed away on Wednesday, May 13, in Coeur d’Alene. Memorial services were held at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint with Pastor Barry Johnson of New Song Bible Church officiating. Brian was born on October 6, 1933 in Chicago, Ill. to Harold and Viola Neil. He graduated from Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Ill. in 1952. Brian served his country in the U.S. Navy from 1953-1957 and traveled the world as an aircraft engine mechanic. He received his B.S. degree from Northrop Institute of Technology in Aeronautical Engineering. After graduation Brian worked for Elgin Watch company in Illinois, where he met and married Judith A. Piper. The couple started their married life by driving to San Diego where Brian began a new job in the space program. Brian had an amazing engineering career and retired in 1999 to build a home in Cocolalla, Idaho. Brian had a pioneer spirit and obtained several design patents. He had a pilot’s license and often enjoyed going for an early morning flight before heading into work in the San Diego area. In Vermont he built and flew his own gyrocopter and started a business called Land-Air Enterprises where he sold and repaired motorcycles and snowmobiles. Brian and his wife Judy had three children. They later divorced, and Brian returned to Chicago and took up square dancing for a hobby. It was while square dancing that Brian met Donna Sweet. Brian and Donna were married May 25, 1984 in Coeur d’Alene and their many square dance friends helped them celebrate. Brian was a member of the Circle ‘N Swing Square Dance Club in Sandpoint and served as Vice President 2008-2009. He was in charge of lessons for new square dancers. Brian also enjoyed volunteering his time to read to students at Southside School in Cocolalla. Other hobbies included round dancing, working on computers and high tech gadgets, photography, and geocaching. Hobbies he enjoyed with his children included riding horses, playing tennis, and rebuilding a Ford truck. He loved animals and took good care of his pets. Brian is survived by his loving wife of nearly 25 years Donna Neil; one daughter; two sons, and 10 grandchildren. Memorial Donations may be made to Panhandle Animal Shelter, 870 Kootenai Cutoff Road, Ponderay, ID 83852.
Caesar
Thomas Andrew Caesar, 58, passed away on Thursday, May 21, in Sandpoint, Idaho from lung cancer. Memorial services were held at the First Baptist Church in Sandpoint with Pastor Ken Smith officiating. Tom was born August 19, 1950 in Seattle, Wash. to George and Mary Alice (Atkinson) Caesar. As a child, Tom lived in Fairbanks, Alaska for five years before his family eventually settled in Boise, Idaho. He attended St. Mary’s grade school, Bishop Kelly High, and Boise High School where he graduated in 1968. Tom attended Boise State University, in the end choosing a vocational career as a machinist/welder. Tom married his best friend Roselle J. Renk on December 28, 1974 in Missoula, Mont. The couple made their home in Sandpoint, and worked as a team in everything they did for the next 34 years. Together, they built two homes, first a log cabin in the woods, and later their home near Sandpoint. They spent many years developing their business property as well. Tom started Vulcan Machine Works with Bob LaFore in 1976, ultimately taking over the business and moving it
to his own facility. In 1983, soon after their son was born, they sold the business and he went to work in Montana as a machinist. In 1989 they moved back to Sandpoint and started Caesar’s Machine. Tom was well known and respected in the community for his friendly smile and ability to repair broken equipment at a reasonable cost. He later went into manufacturing work creating prototypes and filling orders for a local health/therapy equipment business, Pneumex, Inc. Tom loved fishing and the sea; he spent his early summers processing salmon roe for Cossack Caviar in Alaska. Of late, he was often seen out on the lake with his friend, George Hendrix, pulling in big trout and bass. He loved the outdoors and had a passion for backpacking, huckleberry picking, and hunting. Tom was a committed Christian and a member of First Baptist Church. He believed strongly in the right to life for the unborn and was often seen at the annual prayer vigil. He is survived by his wife Roselle, one son, his father, one brother, and three sisters. He was preceded in death by his mother Mary and sister-in-law. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Life Choices Pregnancy Center, PO Box 2360, Sandpoint, ID 83864
Reum
Roxanne Reum, 56, passed away on Saturday, May 23, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Memorial services will be held at 2 pm, Saturday, June 20, 2009 at the New Life Christian Center, 1414 2nd St, Polson, Montana. Roxanne was born June 3, 1952 to Michael and JoAn Ellenwood in Tacoma, Wash. The family moved to Polson in 1963. Roxanne married Vernon Reum on September 27, 1969 in Polson. She worked for several years at Mission Mountain Natural Foods, and then she and Vern built the tire recycling business, Tire Depot. Roxanne was the backbone of the daily operations at the business. When she put her mind to a task you knew it would be done to perfection. All of us knew Roxanne as a vibrant, beautiful woman. She was a caring, giving human being, who was courageous and strong. She willingly gave of her gifts and talents to all who came into contact with her especially with regard to her knowledge in health issues. Roxanne was very creative and that was evidenced in everything she endeavored to do, from the way she dressed to the way she decorated her home, she was a class act, and she was beautiful to the end. After her diagnosis of cancer, Roxanne was able to experience her lifelong dream of living on the ocean. They purchased a home in 2003 just outside of La Paz, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez. She enjoyed gardening, dancing, singing, whistling, bike riding along the ocean, and spending time with her children and grandchildren. Her greatest joy was being a mother and wife, daughter and grandmother. She is survived by her loving husband of nearly 40 years Vern Reun, her, mother, one son, one daughter, and two grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her father Michael Ellenwood, step-father Robert Lynn, and two brothers.
Luce
Audrey Diane Luce, 74, passed away on Monday, May 25, in Hope, Idaho. Private Memorial Services have been held. Audrey was born on October 2, 1934 in San Francisco, Calif., the daughter of Kenneth and Jane (Jones) Aldrich. She grew up in San Francisco where she attended school and graduated from high school in 1951. Audrey married Donald Fredrick Luce on December 19, 1953 and established his construction business career of 33 years, moving to San Jose, Calif. where they resided for 10 years. Audrey was a housewife, while raising her children she was a secretary at Rolling Hills Realty in Penn Valley, Calif. In 1987, they moved to Rio Vista and managed the Spindrift Marina, later retiring in Reedsport, Ore. Following her husband’s death on December 27, 2008 from lung cancer, Audrey was diagnosed with lung cancer and moved to Hope, Idaho to be with her family.Audrey was a member of the Hauser Community Church and loved the Lord. She also enjoyed fishing with her husband, sewing, crafts and was a member of the Red Hats. Helping seemed to be her mission.Survivors include her daughter and son, and four grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, daughter and son in law.
June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 39
Curless--Continued from page 34
$87,521 This piece is level and ready to build. Trees provide privacy from Highway, yet the access is easy. Room for a home, a barn and outbuildings. No building restrictions or CC&Rs. Views of the Selkirk Mountains. Perc tested. MLS 20901362 $139,921 Great property at a great price. This .43 acre parcel is zoned for a triplex. Paved road, electricity, natural gas and phone to property line. Heavily treed, easy access to the village. Buyer to pay sewer and water hook up fees, or drill well. MLS 20805257 $149,921 Nice size parcel with a density for a quadplex with no conditional use permit required. Paved roads, electricity and phone to the property road. This is a great location to build and less than a mile to the village. Adjacent parcel is also available. MLS 20805258 $270,021 Buy 2 big lots for one great price. This combined .90 acreage is zoned for a triplex and quadflex respectively. Paved road, electricity, natural gas and phone to the property line. Heavily treed. Easy access to the village. Buyer to pay sewer and water hook up fees, or drill well. MLS 20805386
table?” I think Matt, my husband, had his doubts too. It was such a radical change and a total leap of faith. But now I think people are impressed that it really is a viable business and that there’s a market for this work. There’s a lot of excitement in the region that there is now a massage therapist available with such solid training and an extensive background with horses. People have told me they’ve never seen me happier. I think that’s true. Going to work in a barn with horses and dogs is the best. What happens when you make a visit? Dog and Pony Show is mobile, so I come to you. With horses, I keep them haltered and hold the lead so I have their complete attention. With dogs, I get on the floor or the ground with them. It’s important not to have them tied up so they can move around and adjust themselves. Each session lasts about an hour. What are your fees? Equine massage sessions are $65 and usually last about an hour. Canine massage sessions are $50 and last about 45 minutes to an hour. I’m giving demonstrations at the Horsin’ Around Horse and Mule Expo at the Bonner County Fairgrounds in Sandpoint June 20-21. I also will do on-site massage for both horses and dogs with reduced prices, giving people a chance to see how I work and how their animal responds. It’s a great introductory opportunity. The Expo is packed full of activities for the entire family. It’s great because anyone can bring a horse and participate in the clinics and workshops. It’s a great showcase of local talent and equine businesses. Describe the support you’ve received from traditional veterinarians. It’s been very positive. A lot of veterinarians have embraced alternative modalities such as
massage, acupuncture and chiro. There are a few veterinarians that I really respect and want to collaborate with. It’s all about helping horses and dogs become the best athletes possible without injuring themselves. What are your overall goals with this new vocation? Will you continue to use your writing/reporting skills in the future? I always will be a journalist even if not in a traditional sense. Animal massage opens a new chapter for me. My goal is to write about horse and dog massage and help educate people about the benefits. I also would like to help my dad write a book about training Border Collies. There are so many possibilities. It’s really exciting. Describe crazy things have happened to you since you started working with massage therapy. About two weeks before I graduated from massage school, the Spokesman laid me off. So it was great to have a backup plan. The next day, a horse at a dude ranch spooked at a hose and stomped my foot, breaking it and my big toe. So I spent the last weeks of class hobbling around in a walking cast. I also missed my first wedding anniversary that week. It was a lot of big changes all at once. The other adventure involved massaging a chicken. A friend in Westmond had a hen which acted like she had a stroke. I worked on the hen—even though I know nothing about birds other than how they look in the meat aisle. She was living in a claw-foot bathtub and had mites because she was too weak to dust herself. In the end, the chicken had a virus contracted from wild turkeys. “Speedo” is no longer with us. Can you work on other animals besides Continued on page 42
$399,000 This home with 39.43 acres affords you the ability to hunt on your own property and still have easy access to town. The 3 Br 2 bth home is cozy with a landscaped yard and plenty of fruit trees. A huge shop with double doors and framed for a work area. Territorial and mountain views. MLS 20805866 $450,000. 51 acre property has incredible views from the top of Schweitzer, Idaho Club, Lake Pend Oreille and the Selle Valley. Granite outcroppings and a huge pond. The shop will hold all your toys or large equipment. The 3 BR 2 BTH home is cozy with plenty of fruit trees in the yard. Sitting on a well maintained county road with easy access to elementary school or town. Lots of timber to harvest. MLS 20805865 $499,921 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. Easy access to Sandpoint or CDA. Affordable waterfront and private. MLS 2084098 $800,000 Calling all developers. Here is a project ready to be marketed. 6 parcels adjacent to Little Muskrat Lake with open space for a total of 25 acres. Enjoy the abounding wildlife. Views of Muskrat Lake from some of the 2.5 acre parcels. Surveyed and prepped, and awaiting final plat. Call for a detailed presentation. MLS 2084727
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Page 40 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
by Scott Clawson Now that it’s June and almost SPRING around here, my thoughts always turn to wasps. That assorted and colorful bunch of ‘friendlies,’ the piranha of the air... the recycling crew. If they run out of things to recycle, they get nervous and tend to keep you huddled in yer car when you pull into the driveway. Time to set out some freshly baited traps to capture the stupid ones so the only ones left are smarter than you are! This typifies modern pest control everywhere, in that you kill off all the weak, stupid and genetically unprepared in a certain population until there’s only the best and brightest left to multiply on an abundant food supply. This works remarkably well on viruses, also. So, what do you do with the untrapped ones busy building nests and servicing their queens? Good question! Here’s some of what I’ve tried in the past. With a gas powered line trimmer, mow along until you get stung at least four times in succession. This reduces the chance of just a random encounter and may indicate the presence of a ground nest nearby. If you’re not preoccupied with pain and screaming, try to pinpoint the nest opening and firmly stuff your trimmer (engine first) into that hole and leave it running to asphyxiate the colony while you seek immediate medical attention and some well deserved consolation or mockery from neighbors and family. Have one of them call the fire department as you could well have a problem back at the hole.
With a mower, it’s much the same. Just scent on a bench in my shop. I had everything leave the thing running over the hole. When ready, to lessen exposure time, just in case. it runs out of gas, though, you’ve got a small Just in case I’m dumb enough to leave the problem (actually, dozens of ‘em). Here again, door open, which I was, is, and did. No only the smart ones are left down in the hole! sooner did the snipped neck of a new pouch They’re probably hungry and thirsty and hit the floor between my feet than a yellow anxious to turn yer fanny into a smorgasbord. yacket flew in to check it out. I didn’t panic at Here I’ve tried various methods of mower first, preferring to save that for a hole card. retrieval. One entailed a rope, a grapling I stood motionless and oddly silent, thinking hook (happily played by my boat anchor) and maybe he’d be a good scout and go fetch his my own variety of tough luck. Unless you get buddies like they usually do, but NOOOO! free mowers somewhere, this gets mighty They were already here! So I had to play my expensive. Another way involved my not-as- hole card. gullible-as-I-thought wife and a hose. Don’t By the time you heal up from your rebother with this one, either, as you risk giving bait, so to speak, you’ll start to notice every your neighbors fuel for gossip and you’ll still member of the family Vespidae out foraging get wet and stung for your efforts. I finally for food, hovering around the driveway got wise enough to wait ‘til early mornin’ looking for hapless victims of tires and boots. when everything is cooled off. You’ll be amazed how fast they can transport, So now you know where the nest is; by pieces, a squashed beetle or grasshopper. well, sorta. You think you can find it, right I’ve seen two unrelated hornets pack off a next to one of those stumps int hat stand of wounded third towards their respective nests daisies behind the garden. Follow the mower only to meander in between, bumping into track, stupid. Will they notice you before you the east end of my west-facing dog. One day can pinpoint the hole? A good bed! There’ll I stepped on a grasshopper outside my shop be guards posted, so go slow and enjoy the door. I apologized and moved on. On the way experience while you can. out, I saw two jackets already feasting on it, Now is not the time to have a “Rambo so I stepped on them, too. Five minutes later moment” and resort to volatile liquids as I came back for yet another nail, and there was a solution. I’ve auditioned for that part a a half-dozen chowin’ down. I crashed that number of times now and find I need the party also. When I got back to where that headband just to hide my burned eyebrows. nail needed to be put, I noticed I also had a Thankfully, some kind soul around here bunch of company around my right boot. I’d told me about using bleach in the morning brought the party with me! and I’ve been pretty good with that ever since. I started over with a fresh grasshopper Just take a yogurt tub with some bleach in it, and repeated steps (literally) one and two draw a cool bead on the opening, and drive but instead of using my boot in round three, that tub in there like you mean it, wiping as I resorted to a flyswatter. Round six looked many critters as possible off your arm before like lunch time at a prison cafeteria. I used a you bolt again for home and the medicine concrete block! Round seven came 20 minutes cabinet. Doing this early enough in the later and I thought it was a reenactment of mornin’ only assures the participation of as the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. I was many bugs as possible. If you can improve on fascinated for a bit, but went after my show this routine, have at it. It’s also possible and/ shovel (now deceased). or probable that this practice is in violation By round nine I was startin’ to get a little of some stupid rule, so check with the proper nervous about crowd control and pondered upper authority currently assigned this area once again on the idea of volatile liquids, of our lives. or at least a makeshift ballistic firewood By mid-season it will be time to re-bait launcher. those traps. This takes a little prudence as Then I got to thinkin’, so I it’ll be warm enough in the mornin’ that you went after a cold beer. This won’t get up before the hunting party does. always slows me Plan your moves. For some unknown reason, down; not enough the attractant used in these traps is far more to prevent damage effective on yer fingers, nose, dingleberries, but it cuts my thirst. clothing or shop floor than it is in the actual Then it hit me like a six traps. pack... GO AUTOMATIC! Now repeat after me: “Never (and I mean The illustration shows NEVER) rip the neck off of one of those scent my first draft (patent packs with yer teeth. You simply can’t fathom not applied for... yet). the adrenalin involved with this innocent little act. If you use your teeth a lot to open things (like bottled beer, toothpaste, katsup and portland cement bags) have someone else rebait yer traps for ya. Last year I got all my traps lined up to reJune 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 41
House- Continued from page 24
program, wolf management, aquifer recharge and clarification of the Swan Falls agreement, and assisted living issues, to name a few. From a practical standpoint, having to essentially redo the entire state budge in early March added three weeks to the session, and negotiating the transportation funding package ultimately contributed toward making this legislative session the second longest in Idaho history at 116 days.” (Note: the legislative journal records the session length at 117 days) I will provide specific information on many of these legislative actions in upcoming issues of the Journal, beginning in the next issue with a description of the transportation funding compromise approved by the House, Senate and the Governor in the final days of the session. Thanks for reading and as always feel free to contact me on issues of importance to you. My home phone is (208) 265-0123 and my mailing address is P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho 83825. George
Curless- Continued from page 40
horses and dogs? I suppose I could work on other animals if I did a little studying on their muscles. I’ve worked on a few cats and attempted to work on the neck of a llama. I’ve heard there’s a lady in Spokane who has zebras. I think that would be interesting. Maybe elephants. What animals do you own? Do they get massages? If so, how do they like them? My poor animals are neglected in the area of massage. And they let me know it all the time when I come home covered in another horse or dog’s hair. I get the pitiful looks. I have a Quarter Horse mare. She’s the daughter of my old barrel horse and a true love of my life. Then there is LeRoy, the mini-mule who keeps Tad, the mare, company. My husband and I also have two dogs and an old cat. Explain the services you offer to potential clients. Contact information/hours availability/etc. Potential clients will get
Earlier this year, the heads of the GM, Ford, and Chrysler appeared together in front of Congress to ask for a $25 billion bailout. When asked what they would do with the money, all three said, “Buy a new BMW.” Conan O’Brien
individualized treatments and hands-on therapy for their horses and dogs. Massage is a great way to boost your investment in an animal because it helps horses or dogs do their jobs to the best of their ability and prevent injury so they have long, successful careers. My massage training is based on Shiatsu. It’s very quiet, subtle, gentle work. No poking, prodding, pulling, elbowing or jerking. That’s partly why animals are so responsive. The light touch therapy allows animals to be aware of their muscles so they can adjust themselves. The therapist must be quiet and gentle to get that work done. Besides, nobody likes to get poked and jerked. Horses and dogs are the same, except they are even more sensitive than we humans. Think about how they can use their skin muscles, which we don’t have, to protect themselves from flies. I work whenever I’m needed, so I’m pretty flexible with evenings and weekends. Anything you care to add? Come and visit me
at the Horsin’ Around Horse and Mule Expo. I will give equine massage demonstrations at 12:30 pm Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21 in the swine barn. Sunday I plan to use a mule for the demonstration. Participants can bring their horses or dogs to the Expo and get a special discount: half-hour horse massages for $25 and dog massages for $15. Pre-registration to guarantee a spot is available online at horsinaroundexpo.com. Also listed is a full schedule of events and more information on clinics and activities. The Expo includes something for everyone: riding clinics, a trainers’ challenge, mounted shooting demonstrations and an extreme trail race. For telephone information, call 208-290-2701. For more information about Erica’s services, contact her at Dog and Pony Show, Massage for Performance Horses and Dogs, Cell: 509/ 991-7314, email:ecurless@hotmail. com 707 S. Idaho Road, Liberty Lake, WA 99019.
Page 42 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
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June 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.6| Page 43
From the Mouth of the River
Can you believe it? I’m writing a tellall book about our little community of Chipmunk Falls and its people and, yes, you’re in it! To protect the innocent I changed the name of no one, for after living here for over thirty years I have yet to meet someone who falls into that category. The same goes for the guilty and not guilty of a community who owes its very existence to the land; hunting, fishing, trapping, logging, mining, and stealing. Some may do actual work, like Junie at the post office. It doesn’t matter if some of these people live dull lives, when I get done telling about it they won’t recognize themselves anyway—but you might. Take, for instance, the little old lady who lives down the street. When she goes out to fill her bird feeders she talks across the fence to her neighbor’s scarecrow, an old stuffed dress with a bonnet on it. If it’s a nice day she may talk for over an hour. However, her bird feeder is always full, without a bird in sight. Perhaps it’s the kind of bird seed she puts out or maybe it’s the eight hundred cats that live with her. The neighbors keep their windows closed even on the hottest summer days because of the smell. On bright nights when the moon is full, you can sometimes get a glimpse of, Chain Saw, the one-legged deputy sheriff, and a couple of his cohorts from down at the local watering hole catching cats with their dip nets back in the alley and castrating as many toms as they can. “Just trying to keep
things within reason,” Chain will say. “You’d think someone would complain,” I said to Chain one day down at the Mercantile, “because every time there’s a breeze or if it rains you can smell that cat urine all over town.” “You’re new here aren’t you?” Chain asked. “Thirty-five years this spring,” I said, “but I live on the other side of town and never ask about her.” “Well, back during the big war she started a home for lonely sailors over in Sawdust. Got some lovely young women, too, you know, to hold their hand, maybe dance with them. After all, there was a major Navy base here on Lake Pendorally and them sailors was a long way from home. She made enough money to build a nice home over here where most of the men liked her well enough, but the women here felt they were too good to be seen speaking to her. She bought a lot of property here in town, built several buildings, and helped pay for a new schoolhouse, even though she didn’t have any children of her own. She owns the phone company, water company and the electric company. She got mad one time at a city council meeting and dared anyone to try and vote her out. “I’ll cut you off too short to hang up.” she said. “It’s run smooth ever since. Of course, when she dies everything will go to the town. Like I said, she never had any kids.” There are many short stories in my tellall book; most are humorous but some have a cutting edge. Like the Johnston family who lives a short distance out of town on a small farm. They raise kids and hogs. They’ve been married eight years and have either nine or ten kids. Shoat Johnston couldn’t think of a name to call his last kid so he just called him Oink. Below is a sample of the Johnston family stories. As I walked into the Mercantile one morning I noticed Mr. Dribble, the school principle, sitting on a bench next to the west wall. Mr. Dribble was easily recognized as he always wore the same faded brown pants pulled up over his pot belly and a faded plaid shirt with a bow tie. In the winter he also wore a wool sweater with leather patches. I looked down at my watch and noticed it was ten
Boots Reynolds
thirty and thought to myself, ‘he should be at school.’ Also sitting with him was Mrs. Sally Saw, Chain Saw’s wife and fourth grade teacher. Between them sat a small girl, maybe eight years old. She had been crying and sat there with her hands folded in her lap. Chain Saw, our deputy, was kneeling down in front of her consoling her in a low voice. I crossed over to the post office window and noticed June’s eyes were red from wiping tears on her apron. “What’s happened?” I asked in a low voice. “Who’s the little girl?” “She’s one of the Johnston kids. There’s a bunch of them, you know. She’s the oldest. After she came to school this morning she started crying. Her teacher, Mrs. Saw, took her down to see Mr. Dribble, who finally got her to tell him what was wrong. It seems they were short one kid at supper last night; their two-year-old boy. Can you believe it? The hogs had eaten her little brother!” Not all the stories in our town are funny. But for over fifty years this story was told as a joke in the South, (I haven’t had so much fun since the hogs ate my little brother), but it originated in truth.
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Page 44 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 6 | June 2009
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