Because there’s more to life than bad news
A News MAGAZINE Worth Wading Through
30-30-30 Fundraiser planned for Fair
Local News • Environment • Wildlife • Opinion • People • Entertainment • Humor • Politics
June 2013| FREE | www.RiverJournal.com
The Travel Connection, Ltd. Land, Sea or Air, We Get You There
New Location across from Farmin Park
Suzanne Wakefield, Travel Consultant/Owner • Proudly serving the Sandpoint area since 1990
Grunberg Schloss Collector’s Cabinet
231 N. Third Ste. 103 • Sandpoint bigkakuna@frontier.com TheTrvlConnection.com
MORE THAN A COIN DEALER
208.263.2927
Internet.... Everywhere Need reliable, high-speed Internet service? Call for a free site survey today! Intermax serves many areas of Bonner County from Dover to Hope as well as locations throughout Kootenai County. 208.762.8065 in Coeur d’Alene • 208.265.3533 in Sandpoint
www.IntermaxNetworks.com
BUYING and SELLING Coins and Paper Money • U.S. and Worldwide Gold • Silver •Food quality storage containers • Coin collecting books and supplies Metal detectors • Prospecting supplies Newly Remodeled Store—Come check out our expansion!
208-263-6060
210 C TRIANGLE DR. PONDERAY MON-FRI OR CALL FOR APPOINTMENT
Relax this Summer The world’s first and only Kamado pellet grill made in America. $1799. Stop in and see it burn!
208-263-0582 • www.MountainStove.com
1225 Michigan St., Sandpoint, Idaho Tues-Fri 9 to 5, Sat. 9 to 3 or 4
Stoves • Fireplaces • Spas and Saunas • Specialty BBQs • Closeout Specials
August 1-11, 2013 Thursday, August 1st
IndIgo gIrls with shook Twins Microbrew Tasting
Friday, August 2nd
An Evening with
Cake
Super Country Saturday August 3rd
rosanne Cash with The greenCards and devon Wade Sunday, August 4th FamIly ConCerT “An invitation to the Dance” Thursday, August 8th
John BuTler TrIo with eCleCTIC approaCh Friday, August 9th
sTeve mIller Band with maTT anderson Super Saturday August 10th
The aveTT BroThers with
vInTage TrouBle and marshall mClean
Sunday, August 11th
Grand Finale
“Festival Fan Fare”
spokane symphony orChesTra Taste of the Stars Wine Tasting
FestivalAtsandpoint.com
888.265.4554
FesTival aTsandpoinT The
All Seasons Garden & Floral
31831 Hwy 200 Sandpoint Open Daily Monday-Saturday 9 to 6 Sunday 10 to 4 208.265.2944
Huge Anniversary Sale All Month! 20% to 50% OFF! Grow More for LESS! Protect your crops! Stop in today! We have great organic solutions for : Cherry Worms - spray NOW! Cabbage loopers, aphids & more!
with Finan McDonald - where every day can be Father’s Day. Great shirts, shorts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats, and accessories for guys from Tommy Bahama, Columbia, Quiksilver, Patagonia, Birkenstock, Chaco, Born, & Teva.
301 N. First, Sandpoint • 263.3622 • 210 Sherman, CDA • 765.4349
www.FinanMcdonald.com
The Summer Activities booklet is available NOW! Swimming • Sailing • Tennis Golf • Water Sports • Robotics Basketball • Baseball • Science Soccer • Arts & Crafts • Fiddling Volleyball • Bicycling • Yoga Hunter Education • Dance Drumming • Horseback Riding and much, much more!
At your Sandpoint City Rec Department! 1123 Lake St. in Sandpoint • 263-3613 www.CityofSandpoint.com Scholarships available!
THE RIVER JOURNAL A News Magazine Worth Wading Through
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~just going with the flow~ P.O. Box 151•Clark Fork, ID 83811 www.RiverJournal. com•208.255.6957
STAFF Calm Center of Tranquility Trish Gannon-trish@riverjournal.com
Ministry of Truth and Propaganda Jody Forest-joe@riverjournal.com
“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
4. 30-30-30 Local artists support the fairgrounds by raising 30 to the third power. 6. DOWNTOWN CALENDAR Take a look at what’s happening in Sandpoint. 7. RAISING CHICKENS In Trish’s experience, it’s not an activity for the faint of heart. POLITICALLY INCORRECT 8. POLICE YOUR COMMUNITY After a recent spate of vandalism, Matt says enough’s enough. THE GAME TRAIL
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13. WHEN THE WORLD’S AGAINST YOU Sandy says maybe it’s time the world just better watch out. THE SCENIC ROUTE 14. PADDLING THE PEND OREILLE Larry reflects on what might lie beneath the waters of Lake Pend Oreille. VALLEY OF SHADOWS 15. THE MACHINERY OF THE GODS Jody takes a look at some archeological finds that challenge what we think about the abilities of our distant ancestors. SURREALIST RESEARCH BUREAU
9. CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD Mike has a fondness for this short term resident he calls “the wee-est of the wee.” A BIRD IN HAND
16. BUGS! Nancy takes a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the insect world, and lets you know what to do about them. GET GROWING
10. THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE Kathy’s Faith Walk leads her down roads where many may not follow. KATHY’S FAITH WALK
17. THOSE WHO SERVED Gils says there’s more to supporting those who served than mere rhetoric. VETERANS’ NEWS
Contents of the River Journal are copyright 2013. Reproduction of any 11. SURPRISES AT KILL DEVIL HILLS 18. OBITUARIES material, including original artwork and Just when you think he knows it all, advertising, is prohibited. The River Journal Ernie goes and gets surprised again. is published the first week of each month THE HAWK’S NEST 2O. ONE-ARMEDNESS and is distributed in over 16 communities Live is always a challenge, but it’s in Sanders County, Montana, and Bonner, 12. LEGISLATURE WORKS TO SUPPORT even more so when only one arm is VETERANS Bills passed this year will functional. SCOTT CLAWSON Boundary and Kootenai counties in Idaho. help our area vets. A SEAT IN THE The River Journal is printed on 40 HOUSE percent recycled paper with soybased ink. We appreciate your Cover Photo: Bonner County Fairgrounds. Photo by David Broughton efforts to recycle.
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PhotosbyHawks.com
Area artists plan fundraisers to pay for Fairground improvements In this area, fundraising is a way of life. From small-scale car washes and bake sales to the more pricey dinners and silent auctions, there’s always an event on tap to attend and raise money for a good cause. But how many silent auctions can one person attend? And how often can our local businesses donate “to the cause?” These are issues avoided by a small group of artists who were looking for ways to fund improvements at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, and came up with some unique fundraisers that are sure to do the job. It starts in this month—the weekend of June 22-23—when the first ever “Plein Air Paint Out” will take place on the pedestrian portion of Sandpoint’s Long Bridge. The artists will be setting up their easels from sunrise to sunset not just on the Long Bridge, but also in various “pull-outs” on Highway 200 in the Hope area, capturing some of the gorgeous, watery scenery that has made this area a nationally-known destination. The paint out offers a unique opportunity for travelers to see local artists at work, and to draw attention to the needs at our local fairgrounds. The big event, however, is a 30-30-30 that will take place this year during the Bonner County Fair (August 20-24 with the theme, “Dr. Seuss is on the Loose.”). Thirty artists will each paint or submit 30 original or giclee pieces of art, which will be sold for just $30 each, proceeds split 50/50 with the artist and the fairgrounds. That’s over 900 pieces of art that will be available to purchase, and will potentially raise almost $14,000 for fairground improvements. There will also be several “showcase” pieces of art for sale, with prices determined by the artist. First chance at the art will be given to
fairground sponsors during a reception on August 18. It’s not too late to become a fairground sponsor, and get early dibs at an original piece of artwork by these famed local artists for such an incredibly low price—simply call the fairgrounds at 208-263-8414 or write out your check and mail it to Bonner County Fairgrounds, PO Box 47, Ponderay, ID 83852. This unique fundraiser came about when local artist Elaine Linscott joined the board of directors for the fairgrounds, and saw the need. With support from fellow artists and fairground supporters Elise Creed, Connie Spurgeon, Janene Grende and Bonnie Shields, a “Call to all Artists” was sent out explaining, “The Bonner County Fairgrounds needs our help.” An important point to note is that the fairgrounds is not fully funded by taxes in the county budget. Fairgrounds manager Rhonda Livingstone and her small crew, therefore, work all year long to help raise the dollars for operating revenue by renting out the fairgrounds to various events, operating a camping/RV site
by Trish Gannon
rental area, and writing grants. The Fairgrounds is home to some pretty important events throughout the year. It hosts major fundraising events for Lost in the 50s, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the Festival at Sandpoint; is the site for Sandpoint City Rec volleyball and a practice area for Sandpoint soccer; hosts the Veterans Stand Down and Sandpoint High School’s Grad Nite; features rodeos, demolition derbies and horse shows throughout the year; and, of course, is the home site for one of the finest fairs around, a traditional, country county fair that features the best of our local farms and ranches, along with the efforts of area children through the highly successful 4-H program. “You can see our fairgrounds are multifaceted in what is offered in our beautiful community, and this is why we are looking for ways to help support it,” Elaine writes. “Thirty dollars for an original piece of art is not a lot of money,” she adds. “This is about raising money for our fairgrounds.”
Get your SEASON PASS to the BONNER COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS today! Just $45 adults/$20 youth (12 and under). Save $$$! Demolition Derby • June 15 • 7 pm Battle of the Bulls/Dance • June 29 • 7 pm Monster Truck Show • July 6 • 7 pm Rodeo • Aug. 16 or 17 • 7 pm Demoliton Derby • Aug. 24 • 7 pm Season passes are limited, so call today! 208.263.8414
June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page
Need to earn some extra money? Why not consider working as a sports official?
Call the North Idaho Officials Association today! 800.304.4117
Independence Day Activities Clark Fork: Parade starts at 9:30 am All day long, old-fashioned 4th of July with races, watermelon eating contest, log cutting contests, raffles, food booths, beer garden & more. Fireworks at dusk. Hope: Fireworks at dusk. Plains: Sanders County Fairgrounds, fireworks at dusk. Priest River: Communitiy fireworks at dusk at Bonner Park West. Sandpoint: Lion’s Club parades downtown in the morning. Live music at City Beach in the afternoon and fireworks at dusk. Trout Creek: At dusk, back yard of Lakeside Motel and the Naughty Pine. View fireworks from all around the lake! June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page
DOWNTOWN SANDPOINT EVENTS SANDPOINT EVENTS
June
July 4 Independence Day Celebration! Parade, Kids’ Parade, Live music at City Beach,
12 Music Conservatory Student Concert, Panida Theater, 6:30 pm 263-9191 13 Sleeping Beauty. The Panida Theater, Studio One dance concert, 6:30 pm. 263-9191 14-16 Bricks & Barley Opening Weekend, Bridge St & First Ave. 14-18 Pend d’Oreille Winery Anniversary Party, live music & specials all weekend. 265-8545 14 Mostly Motets, First Lutheran Church, 7 pm. 263-0199 14 Reel Paddling Film Festival, Panida Theater, 7 pm. 263-9191 15 Danceworks Spring Concert, Panida Theater, 3 pm. 263-9191 17-24 Community Drum Circle/ Class, Sandpoint Comm. Hall, Mondays in June. 208-627-8011 21 ArtWalk Opening Receptions, 5:30 to 8 pm. ArtinSandpoint.org for locations. 263-6139 21 ArtWalk AfterParty at The Hive, starts 8 pm. 208-304-9199 21-22 Relay for Life at Bonner Co. Fairgrounds. 263-8414 22 Fauxy Hats Tea, The Brown House, 2 pm. 208-304-6374. 27 Sandpoint Summer Sampler, 5:30 - 8 pm in Farmin Park. 28-29 The Wizard of Oz, Panida, 8 pm. 263-9191 29 Battle of the Bulls, Bonner Co. Fairgrounds, begins 7 pm.
Fireworks!
Experience
Downtown Sandpoint!
Visit www.DowntownSandpoint.com for a complete calendar of events
July
4 Independence Day Celebration. Parades, afternoon stage performances at City Beach, and fireworks at dusk. 6 Old Fashioned All-American Fun Fair and Yard Sale, Bonner Community Food Bank, begins 8 am, fair at 10 am.
PLUS:
• Trivia every Tuesday night at MickDuff’s, 7 to 10 pm. • Tuesdays with Ray, Trinity at City Beach, 6 to 8 pm. • Club Music, Wednesday 6-9 pm at La Rosa Club. • Contra Dance, every 2nd Friday of the month at Community Hall, 7 pm • Winery Music - Live music every Friday night at Pend d’Oreille Winery • Saturday Jam at the La Rosa Club.| Live June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com Vol. music! 22 No. 255-2100 6| Page
Politically Incorrect Trish Gannon
Chickens - Not for the Faint of Heart
For three years I have been wanting to get a flock of chickens and for three years have been too busy to get a coop built to house them. This spring, looking ahead and knowing that time constraints argued against coop building, I went ahead and ordered my chicks, figuring that the fact of their presence would move the coop way up in priority on the to-do list. Boy, that really worked out. Young chicks can be housed most anywhere as long as you keep them warm—at least 90 degrees in that first week of life (dropping 5 degrees each subsequent week until they are fully feathered)—so my chicks went into a kid’s plastic wading pool in my bathroom. Kids, don’t try this at home. At least, not for very long. While the presence of the chicks certainly made building a chicken coop a priority, what it didn’t do was erase any other items on my to-do list (things like magazine publication and college finals that can’t really be put off); neither did it magically endow me with building skills, nor building-agreeable weather. The first batch of chicks wasn’t much of a problem, but I do have one important lesson regarding chicks in your house: do not leave a grandchild with them unsupervised, not even for two minutes. Because two minutes was all it took in my case. After playing with the chicks, feeding them noodles and laughing at their antics, I told my three-year-old granddaughter that “it’s time for the chicks to go night-night,” and we went off to do other things. When she left my side later, it took me two minutes before I questioned whether she might have been tempted back into the chick room and, when I opened the door to find her there, seven chicks were already dead.
Chicks are fragile, and don’t stand up well to a three-year-old attempting to convince them “it’s time to go night night.” It was a traumatizing event for both me and my granddaughter; lesson number one is that chicks die, and it doesn’t take long for a person to become rather strongly attached to them. This was Mother’s Day weekend, so for Mother’s Day, my daughters bought me seven replacement chicks, and with weather now cooperating, coop building was at the top of the list. I had one of those old metal storage sheds on a nice foundation in the back yard, but its roof had caved in one heavy snow year. I decided I would take it apart and use the foundation for the new coop. Of course, I also decided that if I were building a coop, I might as well build some storage into it as well, and the coop plans morphed into a chicken palace. For some reason it never occurs to me that I don’t have the capabilities to undertake whatever project it is I have in mind (which is how you’ve ended up holding this magazine in your hands, by the way), and the final coop plan included a gable roof (I thought it would be easier) 11 feet high on one side, to allow for a 6:12 roof pitch for shedding snow. Have I mentioned before that I’m scared of heights? Even 11-foot heights? Thank goodness no one ever gave me a reality show for television, because otherwise I’d be the laughingstock of the nation right now. Much of the coop was built by me with no other help and let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’re at the top of a ladder that’s placed in the back of a pick-up truck, trying to screw in place a ten-foot board that’s 11 feet off the ground. I never want to do this again.
The Scotchman Peaks Keep ‘em wild.
For our Families, For tomorrow. www.ScotchmanPeaks.org
Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness
Thankfully, my sonin-law Brian (who is a builder), came out and put on the roof rafters for me, and didn’t laugh too loudly at the structure I’d built, and my David spent several days helping me secure siding, insulation and roof tin on those areas more than five feet off the ground. Lesson number 2: There’s a number of reasons people hire professionals to build things and if you attempt to build a chicken palace all by yourself, you’re going to discover every one. While construction was ongoing, I built a small, temporary chicken run for the chicks so they could enjoy the weather outside, as well as do most of their daytime pooping someplace other than my bathroom. Lessons 3 and 4: chicks grow, and they grow big enough really quickly to decide there’s no reason why they have to stay inside a kid’s wading pool all the time; and chicks poop. A lot. They are poop machines, in fact. Lesson number 6 is that they call it chicken wire, but it’s not suitable for keeping chickens. If you have some, check out Pinterest for ideas on how to use it (unless you’re like me and you think you can do things you can’t, in which case your Pinterest project will never look like the original). I used chicken wire as the roof to a chicken tunnel made of concrete blocks, and when a visitor to the area brought their dog and let it loose, the dog had no problem tearing the chicken wire apart. He killed seven chickens before I could run him off, including all three of the original survivors. Yes, my chickens die in sevens. If you need to protect your chickens from critters (and yes, you do need to do this), don’t buy chicken wire. The fencing of choice is galvanized welded wire. If your chickens are small enough to get through the wire, you could reinforce it with chicken wire or with netting. At this point, the coop is finished and the three remaining girls are quite happy with their new digs. I am quite happy to have my bathroom back as well, and am building a brooder inside the coop for the new chicks I have on order. The summer is spread out before me, with enough time before school starts to fit in another project or two. But the next project wont’ be quite so tall.
June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page
The Game Trail Matt Haag
The recent temperatures sure make it feel like we kind of skipped spring and dove right into summer around these parts. I really enjoy watching people and families get out and enjoy all the outdoor opportunities we are blessed to have in North Idaho. Most people are really good stewards of the natural resources and leave the place better than they found it. Unfortunately, good weather also brings out mischievous activity as well. Over the last few years the amount of damage and litter on public lands has increased. It appears there is an overall lack of respect for anything that does not directly belong to people. I know most of these folks are of high school age or around that age and I understand that kids do goofy things and the decision process of the brain doesn’t always have the elevator going all the way up. I get it, I was a kid too. But, the level of destruction is over the top. In the past few weeks we have had signs and toilets shot up on our Sportsmen’s Access sites. We have gates shot, buildings and equipment shot, live trees cut down and large amounts of litter left behind. We have people using the woods as a shooting gallery with the new rage of shooting down live sapling trees. It’s a blatant disrespect for public property and complete lack of understanding of who pays for the up keep of that area. I look at the bullet holes in our sign at Johnson Creek Sportsmen Access and I’m dumbfounded. Who has the money to waste on bullets for activity like that, especially with the price of ammo these
Police Your Communities days? Parents, are you letting your kids have access to their or your guns unsupervised? If you are allowing your kids to just go out and “target practice” without an adult to guide their behavior then you are asking for trouble. As parents, do you know what your kids are doing at all times?Are you holding them accountable for their actions? The obvious impact of this activity is damage to the natural resource and loss of revenue given the dollars spent to repair these areas. The money used to fix the signs and toilets is coming out of a budget used to expand public access to waterways and public land. Folks in the community should be outraged when this kind of damage occurs because it costs all of us money and future opportunity. The hidden repercussion of this kind of activity is loss of opportunity for all the good folks out there. Not only does it financially prohibit future sites but it will limit opportunity on present sites. We are contemplating shutting down Johnson Creek access to camping and other activities outside of launching a boat if this destructive behavior continues. As many of you know, Avista Corporation owns some land around the Clark Fork River on which they allow public access for recreation purposes. Their land managers are frustrated as well with the destructive activity on their land and have made some major changes to their policies. One that will affect us all will be the camping closure on Antelope Lake. You heard me right, camping is now prohibited on Antelope Lake and I unfortunately had to ruin some families’ Memorial Day camping trip and
Spots of Fun
made them pack up and move out. This closure is a direct result of behavior that is destructive and disrespectful to not only the land but to the owners of the land. Avista’s land is not public, it’s private land they open up to the public for recreational enjoyment and some of us in society can’t handle that simple responsibility? Unfortunately, laws, rules and closures are all geared to the lowest common denominator in society and the good folks get punished. The answer is community policing; we as a community need to be the eyes and ears and make sure bad folks aren’t ruining the good things in life. With school getting out for the summer, let’s remind our kids to respect our special places as they head for the outdoors. Let’s keep an extra eye out for special places so the right people are punished for destructive behavior and the good folks don’t lose opportunity. If you see something that is not right, please call 911, your local game warden, or our Citizen’s Against Poaching Hotline at 800-632-5999. If anybody has any information on the latest damage done to Johnson Creek Sportsmen Access site please call the above number. There is a cash reward for any information leading to the arrest of these people and as always you can remain anonymous. Leave No Child Inside . . .and teach them to leave it better than they found it.
RON’S REPAIR Hope, Idaho 264-5529 Or 208-290-7487 Email r.repair43@gmail.com
Repair & Recycling
Lawn, Garden, Snow Equipment, Generators, Pumps and Older Outboards.
All Breed Open Horse Show
July 13 & 14
at the Bonner County Fairgrounds Presented by the North Idaho Appaloosa Club
Two doors west of the Hope Post Office
I Buy Batteries Ron Powell
I buy, sell and repair Auto, Truck, Marine & ATV batteries
Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6|June 2013
A Bird in Hand Michael Turnlund
I am glad that I live in a place so rich in hummingbirds. These are truly exciting birds to watch, with their small size combined with the unique ability to fly like little helicopters. Their boldness is appreciated, which makes them accessible in any backyard. And their intolerance for each other at the feeder makes for game little aerial dogfights every evening. But it is also easy to take these little rascals for granted because they are so easy to attract. All one has to do is place a nectar feeder up high and the action soon begins. Indeed, they are so lusty in their consumption of sugar water that they actually can require a bit of maintenance. Who would think that such little critters could eat so much? The Calliope hummingbird is the smallest bird you’ll find setting up home in our region; it is the also the smallest breeding bird in the United States and Canada. And small they are: they weigh about the same as a U.S. penny. Think about that for a moment. That, my friends, is tiny! Thus, it is hard to realize that this teeny winged wonder is also the smallest long-distance migration bird species in the world. The Calliope winters in central Mexico and then heads up the Pacific Coast in the spring. After reaching its breeding grounds in the mountain regions of the Pacific Northwest and the central Rocky Mountains, the birds mate and raise their broods. Afterwards, and while still summer, they head east and then south along the ridges of the Rocky Mountains to take advantage of late-season flowering plant species. They continue south back down into central Mexico, where they again spend the off season. Effectively, these are high-altitude birds that favor mountain regions. I often note in my bird columns that it is difficult to gauge the relative
Calliope Hummingbird: The wee-est of the wee
sizes of various species of birds for identification purposes. That is why such measures as “crow-sized” or “robinsized” are used. But what about the Calliope hummingbird; what should it be compared to? How about a large moth?! These fellows are so small that they intrude on the insects for relative size! Yes, the very fact that the Calliope hummingbird is so small can help in identifying it. They also appear to be almost tailless when perching. Otherwise, their coloration of greens above and white below are not that dissimilar to other familiar species of hummingbirds. The exception to this is the gorget of the male. The gorget is the shield of bright, often iridescent, colors that male hummingbirds sport on their chins. In the case of the Calliope, the gorget is more a collection of bright magenta strands on a white background than a solid, cohesive whole. And these strands of feathers in the gorget often extend out onto the chest and shoulders of the bird like an unruly beard. Like other hummingbird species, the male Calliope uses his gorget
to attract females and to threaten other males. The Calliope is obviously a nectar feeder, but even hummingbirds cannot live on sugar alone. They are also insectivores, catching their prey on the wing. They also visit the sap holes of sap suckers for a sweet snack. While they are among the earliest hummingbird species to reach our area in the spring, they are also among the first to leave. Specifically the males: the first to arrive and the first to leave. Typical with male hummingbirds in general, only the female Calliope raises the brood. But all of these birds leave the breeding grounds while still summer to ensure keeping up with their lifeline of mountain flowers on their trek back to Mexico. Calliopes are beautiful birds and I sure enjoy them. I am also glad that their boldness is disproportionate to their size, because they sure to bring a certain amount of “zing” to one’s backyard. We are all the richer for it. Keep your eyes peeled and your head ducked. Happy birding!
Proud to Provide Environmentally Conscientious Construction and Consultation Accepting Selected Projects Only
“The rumors of my retirement are greatly exaggerated.”
P.O. Box 118 • Hope, Idaho • 208.264.5621
Sandpoint Summer Sampler June 27 • Farmin Park • 5-8 pm Samples from $1 to $7
Taste the Flavor of Sandpoint! June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page
Kathy’s Faith Walk Kathy Osborne “In war, truth is the first casualty”. - Aeschylus (Greek tragic dramatist 525 - 456 B.C.) “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” - George Orwell “We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of the siren, til she transforms us into beasts.”— Patrick Henry “If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” -Adolf Hitler I have been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and praying lately. Truth, it seems, is taking quite a beating. For the last several weeks I have been talking to God quite a bit about the gay/lesbian/bi-sexual movement in this country to normalize these relationships and integrate them into mainstream culture: the establishment of legal gay and lesbian unions. I have also been continuing to process the issue of abortion. I know what the Bible says about these actions and I know what the culture is trying to say about them. The Bible condemns both. It condemns both because both acts defy the original plan God had for people in the realm of marriage and family. He made men
Bonner Community Food Bank 1707 Culver Dr., Sandpoint
Old Fashioned AllAmerican Fun Fair and Yard Sale Sale begins 8 am Fair begins 10 am -4 pm Dunk tank • bean bag toss • cake walk • fishing booth • hot dogs or corn dogs, plus a drink, for just $1. Entry to the event is a donation of one perishable food item per family; proceeds support the Bonner Community Food Bank.
The Truth Will Set You Free
and women in such a miraculous way that when joined together they have the most amazing gift of creating a new life between the two of them. They could create a family to grow and nurture. But the world does not view the value of human life the same way Christ Followers do. In this culture the creation of a stable family unit is not the focus. Sex, and all that goes with it, is. Sex, with whomever, whenever, and without responsibility cries out from all corners of the culture as the behavioral right to be won at all costs. And it has cost this nation a great deal. The world will continue to build a framework through advertising, situation comedy story lines, popular music, home décor magazines, sports heroes and actors/actresses “coming out,” and finally down to political pressure on lawmakers to protect those who engage in the acts of homosexuality and abortion. Culture must succeed in convincing the population that homosexuality and abortion are both normal and acceptable. Culture will focus on this until it neutralizes any opposing voice but it has not quite yet succeeded. In any culture, when the infallible absolute is missing it is difficult to
determine right from wrong. The next best thing is to base right and wrong on the arbitrary reasoning of fallible man. This choice always grinds down to a gray abyss of social behavior in which wrong becomes right and right becomes wrong until eventually there is no wrong at all. The blurred lines are difficult to redraw once culture has eradicated the opposition. This is where we as a people are headed. This is the truth our culture desires. This is what our culture calls freedom. Think Rome… . In order to believe what the Bible says is true about anything, one must believe that God is truth. If that conclusion is lacking, the only remedy is exposure to the Holy Spirit because he is the loving and patient part of God which deals in the extraordinary business of changing hearts. He makes hearts able to accept truth from God. But as with all things heart related, people have a choice. If we want to know the truth about anything, we have to get to know God. It is a choice. Truth is taking quite a beating in the cultural war of right and wrong. But knowing the truth is freedom.
Annual Tailgate/Vendor Sale! Saturday, June 15 • 8 am to 2 pm
At the Memorial Community Center in Hope, Idaho 9th Annual Pancake Breakfast hosted by Sam Owen Fire District Saturday, July 13 8 to 11 am
Adults $5/Kids under 12 $2.50 At the Sam Owen Fire Station just off Hwy. 200 across from the Sam Owen Peninsula.
Page 10 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6|June 2013
The Hawk’s Nest Ernie Hawks
I like surprises, especially when they are places that turn out to be fantastic to me. That is exactly what happened on my last trip to see our kids. Until a few weeks ago I had never given much thought to traveling to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In fact, I knew very little about the area. But while planning a trip to see kids in Virginia, the idea surfaced. It is less than two hours from their place, so plans were made. I fly as a way to travel; I have never had any strong attachment to flying or its history. To travel that way is simply a utility to me, nothing more. This mode of transportation has taken me across the country several times, to Europe a couple times and to Hawaii. I appreciate its speed but had never given it much thought other than that. That is how I found my first surprise: Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, where beaches are spectacular and the community is designed for tourists. Kill Devil Hill, which we could see from the back deck of our condo, is a low knob on the sand about one hundred feet high and is the most prominent landmark around. Kill Devil Hill is also where the Wright brothers experimented with gliders as they perfected their controls for a powered airplane. A 60 foot tall memorial stands on it now, making it even more prominent. The next town north is Kitty Hawk, and on the flat just below the hill is where the first flight happened. My second surprise was not that it was there—I knew that—but how it sparked my interest. We perused the Wright Brothers Memorial Museum. It is set on the field
Surprises in Kill Devil Hills
where they first flew and is fascinating. It is a must stop for anyone with any interests is aviation, engineering, history, or personal perseverance. These guys were not just a couple bicycle repairmen, but that is how they financed the experiments they practiced. However, the basic discoveries of many of their controls are still used on modern planes. As for that history-making flight there is a stone set at the takeoff point and one set for each of the four landings they made on that December day in 1903. The first one was 120 feet, second 175, third 200 and the forth 852 feet from takeoff to landing. I wondered why someone from Ohio would go to the beaches of North Carolina to fly. It meant a land trip of several days and a ferry crossing to get to the Outer Banks. The trip was made because they needed the isolation, high dunes, strong wind, and sand for soft landings; Kitty Hawk offered it all. I decided not to complain about my hour and a half drive to the airport. In addition to the memorial and the beaches, we found a lot of history on Roanoke Island. This is where the first European colony was established in North America; it later became known as the Lost Colony. We also had dinner is the only wind powered brewpub and restaurant in the United States. The beers are good as well as the food and service. A wind turbine is on a 93-foot tower behind the pub. To get a feel for the topography, that tower can be seen from a bridge 15 miles away.
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A minor surprise, as I flew home, somewhere between Norfolk and Detroit I saw a field shaped like the state of Idaho. I thought it interesting so looked for other fields shaped like states. I found several that looked like Wyoming but nothing else stood out to me. During the three flights that brought me back to Idaho, I thought about ships landing, bringing colonists who would be the start of the discovery of this land by Europeans. How, in a day, I can cross it while a day’s travel to them was only a few miles. I thought about the brothers whose curiosity made powered flight possible. I also thought about how surprised I am when I get to a new, to me, place or when I “discover” something I had always taken for granted. I was surprised at how surprised I was.
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A Seat in the House
Rep. George Eskridge
I am writing this article at the conclusion of our Memorial Day Holiday that we have celebrated in remembrance of those members of our military who gave their lives in service to our country. The activities of the day brought to mind legislation that the Idaho legislature has enacted in support of our veterans. This session the legislature passed three different pieces of legislation that continue our history of legislative support. The bills enacted this session were Senate Bill 1043, House Bill 222 and House Bill 333. Jim Livingston, a Sandpoint resident and Marine veteran, has been asking me for a couple of years to pursue getting the Idaho Transportation Department to offer veterans the option to have the word “veteran” or similar designation on their driver’s license. Such a designation has significant benefits to one who has served his country in the military. In part because the Idaho Transportation Dept. is undergoing changes in their driver’s license process, we were able to accomplish this request of Jim’s this session. The value of the designation honors veterans in several ways. It formally recognizes their service with the special designation. It enhances the ability to identify veterans who might not know they are eligible for VA benefits, and by doing so could potentially reduce the need for state-funded benefits for these veterans, particularly for Medicaid. The designation also helps identify veterans to first responders and law enforcement personnel to assist in identifying health concerns such as posttraumatic stress syndrome.
Legislature Addresses Issues for Veterans The designation provides a convenient way to provide proof of veteran status and ensure veterans receive specialized services that might be offered, such as employment opportunities and merchant discounts that many businesses offer to those who have served in the military. As indicated above, the Idaho Transportation Department is currently undergoing revision of their driver’s license process to accommodate the designation but because of problems with programming the changes in procedures, they won’t be able to accommodate the VA designation until next year, when they expect the changes in programming to be implemented. House Bill 222 provides for creation of a Veterans Recognition Fund that responds to a concern with the Idaho Division of Veterans Services having accumulated a cash reserve in excess of 20 million dollars. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs makes a daily per diem payment to state veteran’s homes for each veteran resident; however, the Idaho Division of Veterans Service has accumulated a cash reserve because per diem payments for residents in our state veteran’s homes have not been matched with similar increases to the Division’s authorized expenditures. In accordance with Public Law 108422, the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 2004, per diem payments cannot be offset or reduced by any other payments, such as Medicare and Medicaid, since the federal daily per diem payment is an extra payment to ensure veterans receive the highest quality of care possible in state veteran’s homes. Some cash reserves are desirable to avoid cash flow problems, but given the
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size of the current reserve, the Division was directed by the legislature to prepare a “long-range proposal to maximize the use of existing fund balances for the support of all veterans as appropriate.” The Division conducted an outreach effort with stakeholders resulting in a unanimous agreement that the best way to ensure that the state properly serves the greatest number of veterans was to use the bulk of the cash surplus to establish an endowment type fund that would provide sustainability of programs and services to veterans. House Bill 222 meets that recommendation by creating a landing point to transfer an amount from the cash balance to secure the fund for the benefit of veterans and secondly, to establish an income fund to receive the interest earnings from the Veterans Recognition Fund. The interest earnings are to be used only to benefit veterans in Idaho, with priority given to activities that serve disabled veterans. Only the interest received from the Veteran’s Recognition fund can be used for veterans benefits, thus keeping the Recognition fund in a permanent, revenue generating condition. House Bill 333 was the formal appropriations legislation that transferred 20 million dollars from the Idaho Division of Veterans Services cash balance to the newly legislated Veterans Recognition Fund. The above legislation continues Idaho’s support for its veterans and this Memorial Day Holiday seemed to be an appropriate subject for this issue of the River Journal as an additional reminder of the debt we owe to those who gave their lives in service to our country. Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with issues of concern or questions relating to legislative activities. I can be reached by mail at P.O. B0X 112, Dover, Idaho 83825, by phone at (208) 265-0123 or by e mail at: geskridge(at)coldreams.com George
Congratulations to all our area’s graduating Seniors!
Page 12 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6|June 2013
The Scenic Route Sandy Compton
It’s Memorial Day afternoon. The sun bejewels the world, glinting on newlyarrived raindrops arrayed like strands of diamonds along the stems of golden thread and wild roses. Wild strawberries are blooming. New candles on the firs shine lime green in the aqueous light. The rain began an hour ago with a pitter-patter and evolved into a roaring downpour I’m sure negated two hours of careful and deliberate weed spraying I have debated the wisdom of for five years and finished 30 seconds before the pitter began to patter. The sun now shines cheerfully, as if trying to make amends. I tell it to go jump in the lake, happy damned thing that it is. All it has to do is keep shining. Come down here and be a human for a while. See what it’s like, you glowing, grinning idiot. Not that I’m angry, you understand. Last Thursday, for the last time, I tried unsuccessfully to start our recalcitrant riding lawnmower. I thought I might mow the lawn—before it got as high as an elephant’s eye. As has often been the case in the past decade, the lawnmower declined to crank over, and this time, something snapped in me. I resolved I was done fighting with that piece of—ummm— junk, and that I would replace it at first opportunity. Opportunity arrived right soon. The local riding lawnmower outlet offered $500 off and no interest for a year. I purchased a brand-new, never-beendriven, virgin, shiny, freshly-oiled, readyto-rock, bright red riding lawnmower. The lawnmower store delivered. They even took the old one away. I was so excited, I read the owner’s
When the World Turns Against You
manual. No, really. I checked the oil, which was clear as water. I put in the proper type of fuel, making sure it was fresh fuel, as recommended. I started the new mower and did the preliminary steps listed in the manual as necessary to building a successful relationship with said machine, a relationship I crave after fighting with the other for ten years. I finally engaged the mower blades and joyfully went about beheading dandelions and guillotining hawkweed. I mowed my mom’s lawn. I was very pleased with the new mower. I parked and went off to other endeavors, saving the experience of mowing of my own lawn—non-angstridden—for later in the day. When I returned, I climbed confidently aboard, made sure that everything was just right (seated, with the brake on, in neutral, with the mower blades disengaged) and turned the key. “CLICK!” I reassessed the requirements. All systems go. “CLICK!” “CLICK!” “CLICK!” My heart sank. I’d just saved $500 to have the very same experience I could have had without saving $500. Precious hours, several phone calls and an assortment of expletives later, it was concluded that a.) the new mower was broken; b.) it (probably) wasn’t my fault; and c.) someone would bring me another new mower—in the morning. Somehow, the joy of a new lawnmower was gone. The weekend was like that. Smacked myself in the shin with a hammer. Hard. Next it was my thumb. Misplaced my keys
Why drive to town when there’s better things to do?
and spent two hours looking for them. Discovered that the building material I thought I had plenty of is not near enough. Finally talked myself into nuking the hawkweed I’ve been fighting by hand for years, only to have it rain like it was time to lift the Ark the minute I finished hours of cautious application in perfect weather. I could go on. This sort of experience kicks the living enthusiasm out of me. It is as if the Universe has lined up the cogs of coincidence in such a manner that when they begin to mesh they pinch me where it hurts most. I find myself going slower and slower and finally grinding to a halt, afraid to move for fear of setting the next set of cogs into motion. The only thing significant accomplished on the home front this Memorial Day weekend is survival. Everything I’ve turned my hand to seems to have turned against me. That, of course, is not completely true. It just seems like it is right now. Sometime in the next twenty-five years I will realize I was mistaken to feel that way. The sun is shining, after all. Temporarily. I’m sorry for calling it an idiot, not that it cares one whit what I think of it. Tomorrow, I will go to town and find out my friends still love me. And, in the next few days the hawkweed will begin shriveling up, for which I am grateful and somewhat guilty. I can release the brake and let the crazy, continuing set of circumstances that my life seems to be some days start rolling again. Look out world.
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June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page 13
The
Valley of Shadows
Paddling the Pend Oreille
“Sea Waves are green and wet, but up from where they die, rise others vaster yet, and those are brown and dry.” Robert Frost I know that Jody Forest got the jump on this topic before I began doing this column, but the Pend Oreille Paddler does have a Valley of Shadows twist. A beast lurking in the depths of Lake Pend Oreille: fact or imagination? From most accounts, sightings of this supposed lake creature (I hate to use the term ‘monster’) if it exists, here or elsewhere around the world, are likely nothing more than animals we, in all our wisdom are simply unfamiliar with as of yet, or animals we thought had gone extinct millions of years ago. Two examples in recent decades are the two new species of deer discovered in the jungles of Southeast Asia, one of which appears to have gill-like slits on each side of its muzzle. The early 1940s was when the Navy began using Bayview as a submarine research installation. This is when reports of large objects that witnesses caught glimpses of as they moved quickly and silently through the water, became more prevalent. Although, there had been sightings much earlier.
The Navy denied it ever used manned subs in the lake, but then, in 1965, one of its contractors, the nternational Submarne Engineering Group” out of Canada, sad it used a mini-sub to train personnel in torpedo recovery in ‘some’ U.S. lakes. Just over a decade ago, the Navy finally admitted it has been testing models of submarines in the lake for years. “Small Subs Provide Big Payoffs for Submarine Stealth.”) Did the Navy create the story of the Paddler for cover of the submarine test program? Perhaps in the same way the government might have encouraged and then debunked reports of UFOs to mask its own test aircraft? Lake Pend Oreille is much larger and deeper than Loch Ness, which is supposed to support a large family of creatures, whether you believe there are Loch Ness Monsters or not. In the mid-80s, James MacLeod (my English instructor at North Idaho College for two years) headed a study of the lake and the Pend Oreille Paddler. It concluded that, discounting the submarine theory, the Paddler might be a minimal-sized population of large, prehistoric sturgeon that inhabit or occassionally visit the lake.
Lawrence Fury
Now let’s consider the view of some local, common, everyday shore dweller/fisherman. Maybe the sturgeon story has some merit, but that doesn’t fully explain why a friend of my father’s, from the depths of the ‘30s, told stories while fishing for white fish for the tables of fancy, Spokane eateries, claiming to have seen ripples and humps and what appeared to be a head in the water fifty yards away from his boat. Doesn’t sound like a sturgeon, though it may sound like a tall tale. There has been, over the decades, speculation that an underwater passage exists between Pend Oreille and Preist Lake—who knows what may dwell down there. There have been enough questions that at least challenge the Navy sub theory to warrant a continued open mind for the Pend Oreille Paddler. On another matter... does anyone recall seeing the house floating down the river about 30-some-odd years ago that got caught in the train bridge? I was relatively young and would like to know some details if any of our readers has more information.
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Saturday, June 29 June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page 14
FROM THE FILES OF THE RIVER JOURNAL’S
Surrealist Research Bureau
Jody Forest
Machinery of the Gods
Out of the many marvels mechanism working model.” in our wondrous world From China comes the Third Century today one of the most mysterious is “South Pointing Carriage,” at first the unknown source behind the deus glance a primitive form of compass, ex machina, or machinery of the Gods. using not magnetism but what’s known I’m not speaking of ancient astronauts today as differential gears and but built or UFOs, but of real, down-to-earth with such astounding precision, as Dr. questions concerning our very real, notJoseph Needham stated, that when so-primitive ancestors. reconstructing the device in the 1980s, Consider the temple complex at as error of less than 1 percent in any one Baalbek in Lebanon composed of giant of the myriad gears would lead to the stone blocks over a thousand tons in “compass” being wildly off after only a weight and 70 feet long (still the largest few miles. (A replica is on display at the hewn stones on the face of the earth). London Science Museum.) They were cut and transported how? The Among these ancient “Machinery of technology to move so massive an object the Gods” I think its time we include the still does not exist a full 2,000 years later. so-called Lost Ark of the Covenant. Why? The ancients left us no clue, so we can The Old Testament gives very detailed, only marvel. precise instructions for not only creating, Then there’s the so-called Baghdad but maintaining the object (Exodus 25: 10Batteries, circa 250 B.C. At first considered 22). The two cherubin figures could well increase nutrients, such as terminals, nitrogen and a freakish anomaly, many other similar be the positive and negative “batteries” have since been rediscovered as on a car battery. The gold gilding of in the Middle East, now that archeologists theThis Ark made it apilot primary conductor for septic project is being know what to look for. A simple addition electronics. The “Priests” in charge of introduced in order to comply with water of vinegar or wine and presto! You’d have quality it wore what can only described as standards as be determined by the enough current to light a bulb or drive a protective clothing and when the Ark Federal Clean Water Act. Designated to small electric motor. Though there’s been was briefly captured by the Philistines, protect water quality, the plan, known as speculation they were used as a crude who did not wear the protective clothing, Maximum Load” for Lake form of electroplating, even today no one aan“Total epidemic of lethalDaily tumors occurred, Pend Oreille, addresses nutrient knows their exact purpose. forcing the terrified Philistines to issues Again, there’s the 2,000 year old unceremoniously dump the Ark back at Antikythera computer, dredged up Israel’s In border. addition, many lakeshore by a sponge diver from the seacoast Only space forbids my drawing homeowners participated in a survey off Greece. A 1957 study of the badly further analogies to the Ark as a deus in 2007 concerning a variety of water damaged and corroded device by Yale ex machina. Whence its origin? I think it quality issues. As iscubic turns out, oftheir University determined it to be a hideously curious that the Ark’s capacity complex analog computer replicating 71,282 cubic inches is almost precisely The the River Journal - of A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com movements the heavens, including (71,290) the capacity of the empty stone | eclipses. In 2008, this ‘oldest computer’ vessel in the Great Pyramid known as was rebuilt by museum curator Michael the “empty sarcophagus.” A replica Ark, Wright. See its functions by visiting built to Biblical specifications in 1955 You Tube and searching “Antikythera by Dr. Alfred Rutherford of Illinois, fit
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inside the granite sarcophagus with remarkable precision. A uniform 1/2 inch gap surrounded the facsimile on all sides. Once again, only space forbids further analogies other than pointing out the fact that both Daniel and Solomon were highranking Egyptian Priests as well as leaders and prophets of Israel. What eventually became of the Ark? No one knows. When the Babylonians took Jerusalem and razed the temple to the ground they meticulously documented the booty they’d won, down to the number of shovels, pots and pans, but the Ark was conspicuous only by its absence, lost in the murky mists of History and buried in the silent dreaming sands. ‘til next time, keep spreading the word: Soylent Green is People! All Homage to Xena!
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June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page 15
Get Growing!
Nancy Hastings
Bugs: The Good, the Bad... The Ugly! It is well into the summer-like weather, and with it comes the hatching of a lot of not-so-friendly insects that cut into our enjoyment of the great outdoors. SWAT! Let’s start with those pesky mosquitos. Although they do not harm our landscapes much, they are irritating companions in the garden or on the deck at dinner. Mosquitos hatch and multiply in standing water pockets. Try to water your lawn early in the morning, not late at night, empty bird baths and cattle troughs often to fill with fresh water and, if you have a rain barrel for conservation, make sure it has a tight mesh screen over your openings. Bacillus thuringiensis, commonly called simply BT is a certified organic, naturally occurring bacterial agent effective against many pests. If you have creeks, ponds or ditches of water, these slow release bricks or floating donuts of BT israelensis are placed into the standing water to kill the critters as soon as they hatch. BT israelensis also helps keep down the black fly and fungus gnat populations in your yard, and can be sprayed on lawns and tall grass areas before a big BBQ. BT has an extended family of biological controls that are ugly bug specific without harming good bugs like pollinating bees. The other member of the BT family is BT kurstaki—for lots of those ugly tent caterpillars, leaf rollers, cabbage worms and even the spruce and pine budworms. Because these critters must ingest the BT in order to die, drenching the tree/shrub/ plant is necessary. Adding a powdered spreader-sticking agent to the spray reduces run off and is very helpful for longer, more complete coverage. There is never anything more gross than biting into a beautiful, red cherry and spitting out a wormy maggot. Now is the time, as the cherries are still green and pea-size, to get out there and give them (and you) an organic shield against the fruit moth that flies in and lays its eggs and then develops into a worm. Cherry orchards have researched this problem for years, and thank heavens they found an alternative to malathion and diazanon with a Certified Organic bacteria Spinosad in the soil of a rum distillery that is effective and yet safe. Because of its organic nature, weekly
If you have cherry trees, then the presence of this Western Red Cherry fruit fly can pretty much guarantee one of the worst experiences of your life. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons. spraying while the moths are out is recommended; hang a yellow sticky trap in your trees and look for small flies with stripes on their wings. This is toxic to bees when wet, but relatively safe for them once it dries. Therefore, it should be used in late evening when pollinators are not out. Remember, if you don’t get ahead of this problem, those cherries that fall to the ground will release the maggots into your soil and then the ground under your cherries will become a new “home” for these critters to spend the winter and begin the ugly cycle next spring. If you have had many years of these maggots, as we did after moving into our house, we found that a well
timed application of organic, beneficial nematodes sprayed into moist soil in mid-May and again in September stops their life cycle in your soil. Nematodes are extremely safe, and humans and animals can roam the lawn freely after drenching. Beneficial nematodes also kill fleas that effect your pets, cutworms and webworms that affect your radishes, carrots and potatoes and even weevils that chew up your rhododendrons. The good news is these are non-toxic, effective and safe with well timed and sometimes repeated use. The bad news is we all must be a lot more patient and shed the 24-hour “Roundup Ready” mentality to create the most healthy growing and home habitat. Since many of these more organic biological approaches to bug control do not kill rapidly, users may incorrectly assume that it is ineffective a day or two after treatment. You need to look at this “attack” as a long term ground game, because most insects eat little or nothing before they die and still remain curled in the leaf etc. and the damage remains. In three to four weeks a hard water spray, light pruning, and burning or off-site dumpster cleanup of leafs and branches can shape up and regenerate new foliage of a bugged tree. Nancy Hastings grew up on a 300+ acre farm and now is co-owner of All Seasons Garden & Floral in Sandpoint, She and her husband John have been cultivating community gardens and growing for 16 years in North Idaho. You can reach them with garden questions or sign up for classes at allseasonsgardenandfloral@gmail. com.
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Page 16 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6|June 2013
Veterans’ News
Gil Beyer
By the time this hits the stands Memorial Day will have come and gone. The rains that invariably take at least two days out of every Memorial Day holiday weekend will have passed and the sun will have returned to North Idaho. Our annual fundraiser to support the local DAV van will have been completed. We will once again learn that the people of this area are very generous and truly appreciate the sacrifices made by our regional veterans. I tip my cap to all of those volunteers who stood in front of local supermarkets and ‘shook their cans’ so that our veterans could avail themselves of the services offered at the VA Medical Center in Spokane. Without the van that drives area veterans into Spokane, many of our local vets would not be able to receive these services. Thanks to all who donated on Monday, the 27th. Your area veterans are thankful for your support. A couple of small things have crossed my desk in the past few days. One was a picture from the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. Suspended 24 feet above the main floor are over 58,000 dog tags engraved with the names of all of those who perished in that conflict. Small air currents in this large, open atrium area cause these dog tags to act like wind chimes. I’ve not heard them but it has to be a hauntingly eerie sound that fills the building. The 10-by-40-foot sculpture, entitled ‘Above & Beyond’, was designed by Ned Broderick and Richard Stein. The work was installed for Veteran’s Day in November 2010. I find the work very moving and on par with my involvement when the ‘Moving Wall’ visited Sandpoint way back in July of 2001. A docent with a laser pointer can point out the dog tag of any name of those 58,000 plus individuals. The second item that crossed my PC screen was a small email that has made the rounds several times over the years prior to almost every Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, but it never fails to make me proud to have served my country. “We remember those who will not be in church or synagogue this weekend so that we may worship in the manner we choose... “We remember those who no longer have a say in government so that we may make our selections every November...
Those Who Served “We remember those who will never again spend another moment with their families so that we may enjoy freedom with those we love.” Let us honor in our thoughts and prayers and by our words and actions those who did not go gently into their final good night so that we may continue to sleep and rise under the blanket of freedom.” Another item that came to my attention was this note from the VA. It talks about co-payments for those of us receiving our medications through the VA and Express Scripts. The following is a quote from that document. “This document adopts as a final rule, without change, an interim final rule amending the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical regulations to freeze the copayments required for certain medications provided by VA until December 31, 2013. Under that rule, the copayment amounts for all enrolled veterans were maintained at the same rates as they were in 2012, which were $8 for veterans in priority groups 2-6 and $9 for veterans in priority groups 7 and 8.” After plowing through the verbiage I believe it means that for the rest of 2013 there will be no increase in the co-pays for drugs. I hope I’ve interpreted this correctly as every dollar counts. Since this is the post-Memorial Day holiday article, I think it is imperative that we briefly touch upon the most recent generation of veterans. The less than 3 percent of the U.S. population who have ever worn the uniform of our Armed Forces are owed a tremendous debt by the other 97 percent who never have. Our elected leaders —at every level—seem to have trouble remembering this fact. Our current crop of the best and brightest have, for the past 12 years, made sacrifices that most of the rest of the country can’t even imagine. These young men and women have endured hardships that all but a very few of their fellow countrymen will ever face. What is the reward these American heroes receive? Months—even years—of delays in the VA’s processing of their claims and benefits. We have a U.S. Congress that insists on spending money like drunken sailors on the weapons of war but balk at paying the bills for wounds and injuries resulting from the use of those weapons. Our parsimonious Congress would rather
spend huge amounts of money on newer, unnecessary, weapons systems than build medical facilities for the results of the wars we’ve been fighting for 12 years. From May 20 to May 24 this year the House has been holding hearings on a new VA proposal designed to clear a large part of the backlog by the end of June. It may be a long, slow process but apparently some progress is being made. Anyone interested in seeing a video of these hearings can go to the following link: http://veteransaffairs.edgeboss.net/ wmedia/veteransaffairs/2013/130522. wvx. We can but hope that things will get better over the short term for our newest generation of veterans. I am somewhat heartened to see attempts being made to rectify what I think is a national embarrassment. It is about time. These same bunch of venal, selfabsorbed, elected representatives refuse to make Americans safer at home by making it more difficult to obtain a gun in this country than those checks that determine who can carry a gun in defense of this country. Fact: the background checks conducted to be allowed to carry a rifle in the military are more rigorous than those that can allow a felon to buy a gun at a gun show or online. It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me that we are more concerned about who we send overseas to carry out national policy than we are about children and college students here at home. When more than 85 percent of the nation’s population—including a large majority of gun owners and sportsmen— support a broadening of background checks to gun shows and online sales that seems it should outweigh the opinion of the 15 percent who think that this is an infringement of their constitutional rights. My hope is that over the next months the Background Check bill that was defeated by the troglodytes comes back to either the House or the Senate and that the GOP finally realizes that they are completely out of step with the majority of the American people. We can but hope. Until next month take a minute or two to think about the freedoms you have and remember those who sacrificed so much so that you can enjoy them.
June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page 17
PASSAGES •
Brent Lamar LOCKHART December 10, 1967 - May 4, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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John Douglas “Jack” TODD November 1, 1945 - May 6, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com Veteran, U.S. Navy
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Robert L. “Bud” VETTER April 11, 1924 - May 14, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com Veteran, U.S. Air Force
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Irene Rea HAWKINS July 8, 1924 - May 14, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com
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Neil McAdam SNODDY November 22, 1944 - May 20, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com Veteran, U.S. Army
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Melodye Ann Allen JONES December 31, 1954 - May 11, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Frances Weaver Cuthrell BLACKWELL June 29, 1933 - May 12, 2013 • www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Joyce Rae Eaton FRANTZ September 9, 1949 - May 27, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Michael William TARRATS April 15, 1951 - May 30, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Enger Marie HERMANN November 28, 1922 - June 1, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Mary Ella Eugenia PICK August 15, 1919 - June 4, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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JoAnn LaMoreaux SISSON July 5, 1930 - May 10, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com
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George Smith ROBERSON November 3, 1924 - May 12, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com Veteran, U.S. Army
Alice H. Sankovich DEXTER March 31, 1930 - May 20, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com Rockie Lynn STEWART August 28, 1960 - May 21, 2013 And they don’t have to—after all, don’t www.CoffeltFuneral.com
we Americans believe if it’s ours, it’s ours Ralph Lewis POSS and we can do with it what we want? Or October 31, 1924 - May 23, is 2013 and we want it, then www.CoffeltFuneral.com youVeteran, have toU.S. giveArmy it to Air us Corps and if you don’t, then you sponsor terrorism and we’ll • Vera Louise Reeves STEWART December 8, 1924 - June 1, 2013 www.CoffeltFuneral.com By the way, China wants that oil as
Main and Second • Clark Fork
Sunday School............9:45 am Morning Worship............11 am Evening Service...............6 pm Wednesday Service.........7 pm Call 266-0405 for transportation
Bible Preaching and Traditional Music They have ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ and ‘touch the face of God.’
Remember China?PELLEGRINO The people who • well. Doris Mae Bessette loaned us 1925 all that money? May 30, - June 2, 2013 China’s oil www.CoffeltFuneral.com consumption is around 6.5 billion barrels
growing at 7 percent every • a year, Gary and Lee is MOSER JulyIt26, 1951 - June 2013 year. produces about2,3.6 billion barrels www.CoffeltFuneral.com every year. Does this math look good to Veteran,Can U.S.anyone Army other than Sarah anyone? • Palin Harry andA SCHUAL George Bush believe we can 10, of 1913 June 4, 2013 drillSeptember our way out this- problem? Anyone www.CoffeltFuneral.com who doesn’t think we better hit the ground
running to figure out how to fuel what we want fueled with something other than oil probably deserves to go back to an
THE BEST PART OF REACHING THE TOP IS THE VIEW. WE CAN HELP YOU GET THERE. : I could
go on forever, but you’ll quit reading. So one final discussion for the American public. First, let’s have a true, independent analysis of what happened on September 11, 2001. The official explanation simply doesn’t hold water. This is one of those “who knew what, when” questions that must be answered—and people/institutions must
Speaking of accountability, you might be surprised to learn that I would not support an effort to impeach President Bush after the November elections. First, because that’s too late, and second, because more than Bush have been involved in crimes against the American What I would like to see are Michigan, people. Sandpoint charges (at the least, charges of treason) brought against Bush, Cheney, et al. Bring the charges and let’s let the evidence of
• Personal • Corporate • Partnerships • Trusts 1211
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Coffelt Funeral Service helping those who are left behind. P.O. Box 949 • Sandpoint, Idaho
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www.CoffeltFuneral.com Moon Chapel Pinecrest Cemetery Member by invitation only Moon Crematory
Page 18 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6|June 2013
From the Mouth of the River
Look for Boots in our next issue
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https://sites.google.com/site/wahsumkaisland/home June 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6| Page 19
Scott Clawson
acresnpains@dishmail.net Normally it doesn’t take me very long to spill out a thousand words or so, given plenty of elbow room—say, around lunchtime at a construction site where there’s a captive audience of grazers. Knowing this, I figured I could procrastinate further than usual last month and wait until after shoulder surgery to tackle that very same topic for this column—a post-surgical script and scribble. The one thing (among many) that I hadn’t considered through beforehand (er shoulder), was the fog bank I found myself in afterwards. The veil not entirely dissipated, I’m not even sure what all went into me, the fog being that thick. It lay down with me as I dozed, sat with me as I half-dozed and followed me to the bathroom for entertainment. It had a sidekick as well, a satchel dispensing a nerve blocker into my neck via tubing and electronics, designed to keep me inactive and carefree for a long weekend nap. After ten days, I’m still seeing a few traces of vapor wafting through. But deadline for this is today and I haven’t even started a cartoon to go with it, unable to draw one out of the fog, so to speak! The one flicker of hope seems to be that I am able to get about twenty words a minute with only two or three fingers and their opposing thumb! Which just so happens is an improvement over my old style. Now if I can get my brain to work this fast. Here comes another waft. It seems to be asking or at least promoting the question, why is it I can fall asleep within the first twenty minutes of any new ‘action’ movie,
but under a mandate to actually sleep there to keep my shoulder from getting into a disposition, my recliner seems to be no more oriented toward slumber than a saw horse is to go for a gallop? And that’s not the only thing having your arm in a sling will have an effect on. Try reading a newspaper one-handed while laid back in an easy chair and not move your shoulder enough to warrant a yelp. To be sure, your lips, tongue and eyebrows will do things normally reserved for quite different activities. I noted, though, that soy-based ink tastes nothing at all like my sweetheart’s soy-based spaghetti! Not only that, but my right hand has suddenly been indentured to fill in for the right hand’s duties regarding itches and twitches in far to reach locations, a fair excuse on its own to keep one from appearing in public places. Afraid of seizing up like the ‘tin man’ I’ve become from bunion to trunnion, I tried going mobile a few times just for practice. The first attempt coincided with a particularly thick patch of vapor where I forgot I’d bought slip-ons for this occasion and entertained myself for over two hours with the fine art of one-handed shoe tying, leading me to do some half-fast research into just how valuable this newly found ability might be worth on the open market, near the end of which I finally noticed all the pop-up ads for slip-on footwear available online. With a big red smudge on my forehead from a vengeful right palm, I went for an ego bolstering session of dish washing, as this is but only one simple and clean way
to say “I Love You” and “Thank you for feeding me the way you do.” There wasn’t that much, just a few things left over from the morning mayhem and several snack attacks since. With the surprising clatter associated with cast iron sinks and one-handed dishwashing registering in my ears, I started briskly in on the coffee mugs and juice glasses until I started seeing my own juices flowing down the drain. The rest of that afternoon flew by while I studied yet another fine art: that of one-handed bandage application and the clean-up that goes along with it—there again the lips being essential partners. If I were better at yoga, some toes might have wiggled in as well. The next morning and still fogged in, I tried once more to be a good boy by taking out the trash, reminding me of that old saying we used to use as kids about things we could do with at least one arm tied behind our backs and the cocky attitude that brought that possibility up whenever boasting made it necessary. Maybe that frame of mind has an age limit or maybe it was just too foggy out (in) for me to remember all the rules to abide by. I likely was doing fine until it came down to spinning the bag and applying the twisty around its important little neck, whereupon my lips said enough was enough and went into lockdown. Afraid to set the bag down lest it disgorge half its innards while I let go to open the front door, my inner child spoke up suggesting an old favorite. Finagling my right shoe off, tucking the
Page 20 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 6|June 2013
big toe that came out of it under my left heel, I removed the sock as deftly as if I was twelve again. Startled and oddly pumped by this sudden bravado, the rest of me could only watch as my right foot, lightly sweaty, reared up, grasped and rotated the knob, then swung the door in as pretty as you please. I was actually very pleased even if I did look like a stork doing chores in a pair of sweat pants. The fog actually lifted momentarily from this flashback goin’ on, revealing the bandages on my fingers oddly smiling (or seeming to for a split second anyway) as I stood there stork-like, then the wrinkles undid themselves from my fingers, peeling off alongside the abbreviated neck of an untied cornucopia of refuse and odiferous tidbits determined to fill out the rest of my morning. By mid-afternoon and after a fair dose of ammonia-based cleaners, I could barely tell anything had happened at all. “Good boy!” I thought, but decided against applying later for any accolades, settling instead for a large piece of humble pie now and a long nap after. By the middle of the next morning, and once again alone and dangerous, I couldn’t stand (or sit) it any longer. I had to find out, foggy or not, if I could still do any fishin’ with all this damnable hindrance about me. I headed outside for some fresh air and a reality check in slip-ons and sweats and a Hawaiian shirt buttoned once over my wounded wing so that none of our resident eagles might mistake me for a lame turkey scratching for nibbles out in the driveway and fertilizing my dandelions. Out of shop with pole in hand, I wandered over to my truck and perched myself on the tailgate where I often go for deep inspiration or a cold beer. I knew the hard part wouldn’t be in the casting but in the retrieval, especially if there happened to be anything attracted to my night crawlers other than driftwood and Eurasian milfoil. That’s when it hit me right between the eyes. Not inspiration, just one of those big grey metallic looking beetles that sound much like an airborne power substation right before it finds the target drawn on your frontal lobe by its instinctive imagination. Why remains a scientific mystery to this day. A thought did find its way in, however, when I eyed our boat and remembered the pole holders on board. I fetched one out and, with the aid of four bungee cords, a set of nail bag suspenders and what truly represented ten rounds of one-armed wrestling with myself, by late afternoon, had it tightly harnessed around my midsection more puckered than a pair of newlyweds, quite proud and surprisingly uncomfortable.
Taking up my rod-n-reel and setting the bail with my thumb, gripping simultaneously the line with a free finger, I wound up and cast into the wind and down the driveway toward some distant thunder approaching from the direction of the county road. “So far, so good,” as I tripped the bail and set the rod in its stunningly positioned holder. Reeling in, of course, caught the attention of our ever-playful cat, Kirby (the shop-vac of mice and kibble), causing quite a bit of hip action in the both of us once I set the drag! I still can’t find the adjectives banked away that would do justice to what our UPS driver had to interpret as he rounded the corner and trundled up our normally bucolic hill, but the impression he gathered as he passed my sun glassed salute and rumbled toward the neighbors’ place is probably still burning in the back of his mind. I hope we both have a full and speedy recovery.
Pacific Calcium organic fertilizer products provide various plant nutrients the soil needs, including the King of Nutrients Calcium, and it provides them from natural sources. * Granulated Gypsum * Calpril * 7-2-4 * Feathermeal * Rock Phosphate * Fish Bonemeal
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Their music has been called anything from “North Idaho Ethnic” to Geezer Rock with a Twist, but it “Doesn’t Matter What You Call It.” Available at Flatpick Earl’s at 113 N. First in Sandpoint, The Long Ear at 2405 N. 4th in Couer ‘d Alene, The Naples General Store in beautiful downtown Naples, Far North Deli and Mugsy’s Tavern in Bonners Ferry as well as Northwest Music / the Hot Club in Troy, Montana.
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