The River Journal May 2009

Because there’s more to life than bad news

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A News MAGAZINE Worth Wading Through

Who’s afraid of the

Big, Bad Wolf?

Inside:

• What’s so scary about the flu?

• Sandpoint’s growing film scene • Real estate and the North Idaho economy • Support the troops - even when they come home • The scrumptious Dee-Dee Bar • Women of Wisdom named

May 2009

Michael White, Realtor

BS Forest Resources & Ecosystem Management For land, Ranches, and Homes with Acreage

Harry Weerheim Sales Associate, R E S O R T

R E A LT Y

You will get more knowledge skills and service Óän°Ó ä°nx ÊUÊwww.NorthwestLandman.com

690 ACRES - borders the Clark Fork River & National Forest with paved county road access. The views are spectacular in all directions, but from Castle Rock you can see all the way to Lake Pend Oreille & Schweitzer ski mtn. Property consists of about 1/3 good, productive pasture lands & about 2/3 forest land. Power & phone on site, plus a little year-round creek. Easy to subdivide. $3,500,000

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

Residential & Resort Specialist Captain & EMT, Schweitzer Mtn VFD Experienced Home Builder 208-610-6577

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

WHY LIST WITH MICHAEL?

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 River Journal - AMember News Magazine | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol.exposure.

18 No. 5 | May 2009 Farm & Ranch and more... of Worth Cd’AWading and Through Selkirk MLS, doubles your

May 2009 Delicious and delightful, make the acquaintance of Dub’s Dee Dee Bar. See story by Trish Gannon on page 2

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 Sandpoint is growing a film economy. See story by Kriss

Call 208.255.6957 or email trish@riverjournal.com

PRESS RELEASES

Perras Running Waters on page 3

(Email only) to editorial@riverjournal.com

STAFF Calm Center of Tranquility The market might be moribund nationally, but there’s signs of life for real estate locally. See story by Trish Gannon on page 5

Also...

Jody Forest dgree666@sandpoint.net Scott Clawson, Matt Davidson, Kriss Perras

Departments Editorial

Cover

Ministry of Truth and Propaganda Cartoonists

Preparing for pandemic, wolves get a bad rap, getting ready for the boating season, OMG! it’s better without sound & Women of Wisdom are named.

6..........Veterans 8..........Staccato Notes 10-18.....Outdoors 21.........Sports 22.........Education 24-25.....Food 26.........Faith 28-29.....Wellness 30-31.....Other Worlds 32-33.....Politics 38-39.....Obituaries 43-44.....Humor

Trish Gannon-trish@riverjournal.com

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

9 Politically Incorrect Breeding a Liberal 11 The Scenic Route BTW & OMG! “We are what we repeatedly 19 Currents do. Excellence, then, is not an The Heron Players act, but a habit.” Aristotle 23 Love Notes Women of Wisdom Proudly printed at Griffin Publishing in Spokane, Wash. 509.534.3625 27 The Hawk’s Nest Good-bye chicken coop Contents of the River Journal are copyright 2009.

Reproduction of any material, including original 35 Say What? artwork and advertising, is prohibited. The River The Heron Players Journal is published the first of each month and 44 From the Mouth of the approximately 8,000 copies are distributed in Sanders County, Montana, and Bonner, Boundary River and Kootenai counties in Idaho.

The River Journal is printed on Annual wildlife report

After thousands of years of vilification, does the wolf no longer get a fair shake? See story by Stephen Augustine on page 4. Cover photo by Quapaw.

40 percent recycled paper with soy-based ink. We appreciate your efforts to recycle.

by Trish Gannon

There used to be a time you could recognize a newcomer to the area when they said, “I wish there were a (Baskin Robbins, Dairy Queen, TCBY, fill in the blank) in town.” All-knowing locals would hide their smirks as they debated whether to share the secret of Dub’s Drive-In and the decadent Dee-Dee bar. After all, with close to a quarter pound of ice cream frozen on a stick and dipped (several times) into a hard chocolate sauce, who in their right mind would want anything else (thirty-one-derful flavors not withstanding)?

But that was then. I’m not sure how the topic came up but when talking with a group of high school students at Clark Fork last month I mentioned the Dee-Dee bar, only to be greeted by blank stares of incomprehension.

“A Dee-Dee bar. You know. You get ‘em at Dub’s?”

To my dismay not a one of the students present that day, most of whom were born right here in Bonner County, had any idea of what I was talking about. I didn’t think it was possible to grow up in this area without experiencing the delight of a Dee-Dee bar but, for those of you who have not yet had that experience, I am pleased to introduce you.

The Dee-Dee bar makes its home, as I indicated before, at Dub’s Drive-In, located at the intersection of Boyer and Hwy. 2 in Sandpoint. The name is a bit of a misnomer as there’s no drive-through window and there never was—instead, you drive up to the building, park, and walk inside. It’s an old, wooden building with little of the plastic and techno-glitz that mark most fast food places these days—it’s simple, unpretentious and gets the job done, much like the food that’s served inside.

The restaurant first opened going on 60 years ago and Dub Lewis, the then-owner, was the inventor of the Dee-Dee bar. Back in those days the restaurant was called the Dairy Delight, and it only sold ice cream. Mothers, according to today’s owner Marty Mire (that’s him on the left, holding a cherry-covered Dee-Dee bar), complained about ice cream melting, generally all over their precious youngsters who then transferred it to everything in sight, so Dub created the Dee-Dee bar—soft ice cream frozen into a round cake and skewered with a stick. Once frozen, the ice cream ‘cake’ is then dipped into a thick coating. Today, you can get your choice of chocolate, butterscotch or cherry as a topping, though the chocolate is by far the most popular.

Yes, Dairy Queen (now called DQ) does have a similar product—the dilly bar. DQ says the first dilly bar was made in 1955, probably right around the time that Dub came up with the Dee-Dee bar and no one knows whose idea it was first—though I like to think it was Dub’s. The dilly bar, however, is a pale imitation

Continued on page 36

by

Kriss Perras Running Waters

Sandpoint resident and veteran filmmaker Ted Parvin (Romancing the Stone, Psycho, Around The World in Eighty Days, Meteor) and costumer for noted directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Anderson.

Idaho’s Northwest Film

of Motion Picture Production, Directing, Cinematography, Screenwriting, Editing and Art Direction.

Parvin is also a member of the KNIFVES group, (Kootenai North Idaho Film and Video Entertainment Society), that hosts professional workshops and luncheons in Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane. The

Hollywood North?

Sandpoint’s Growing Film Scene

A

Institute is also Parvin’s brainchild. His vision was for peers to pass on their expertise to the next generation of filmmakers, maybe as the veterans of his filmmaking days did for him.

“The most important thing I learned from working with Mr. Hitchcock was the psychology behind the camera with regards to movement and placement in telling a story with pictures,” Parvin said.

Sandpoint filmmakers interested in expanding their skills can find a home at NFI in two-year disciplines in the fields

group boasts two Academy Award Winning documentary directors, and other members, like Parvin, who are actively involved with filmmaking. This is one of the main hubs for filmmaker involvement here.

“Four years ago, a film company from Los Angeles asked if I would be the Line Producer on an independent feature to be shot in the North Idaho. Through that experience, I came to discover that northern Idaho was teaming with top notch Continued on page 40

hhh, swimming pools. Movie stars.

The glitter and glam of the red carpet at the Academy Awards.

That’s Hollywood, right? Not quite.

That’s the Hollywood the camera lets the audience see. Behind the scenes, there’s some hard work happening there.

Most days, a filmmaker’s schedule runs seven days a week for three full months, or longer for a major summer blockbuster.

While Sandpoint hasn’t yet reached the major hub proportions of the Los Angeles film industry, there’s a strong and growing film scene in this sleepy little town.

“Experienced crews and creative disciplines like L.A. are lacking, but it’s moving forward all the time,” said

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page

The Bogeyman of the Woods

The feared wolf is less dangerous than dogs, rustlers and fairy tales

by Stephen Augustine

On March 6 of this year, former rancher turned U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar of the Obama administration, upheld the Bush administration’s eleventhhour delisting of gray wolves from the U.S. Endangered Species List. In Idaho our governor, Clement Otter, immediately chimed in, reiterating an earlier assertion that he wanted to be the first to get a wolf hunting tag. Governor Otter’s statement is the capstone of a concerted effort over the past few years, by a variety of “stakeholders,” to paint wolves as the ultimate bogeyman in the woods.

Bonner County’s Daily Bee, probably unwittingly, has been an instrument of this ongoing vilification campaign. Articles in the Daily Bee concerning wolves over the past year have ranged from utter non-stories to outright demonization. In December there were two wolf-related stories. The first one could be summarized entirely, with no other substance, as an Idaho Fish & Game supervisor offering his opinion that “we simply can’t keep piling wolves on top of each other.” The second story featured several paragraphs on a woman who heard noises in the wood, speculated that it was wolves killing a dog and therefore brought her dogs indoors.

This was reported as news despite the fact that no missing dogs were reported and that an IDFG officer could find no evidence of either wolves or a dead dog.

A January 25 article in the Bee featured one-liners from IDFG director Carl Groen, Senator Jim Risch, Rep. Walt Minnick, and Governor Otter about the pressing need to kill wolves. A February 13 story reports on a man who spotted a “big black thing” near his dog kennel and fired on it after concluding that it was a wolf.

The investigating IDFG officer could not confirm much of anything and was of the opinion that the reported behavior was “more dog-like than wolf-like.”

This ongoing history of wolf vilification is at least 5,000 years old. It began when humans first domesticated livestock.

Wolves, quite obviously, found the livestock to be easier prey than chasing down their wild cousins. Evidence of this human-wolf vendetta is readily seen in something as commonplace as children’s stories— stories such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, or Peter And The Wolf. This primal fear of wolves manifests itself in modern-day wolf “management” plans dictated primarily by

ranchers and secondarily by hunters. The irrational hatred of wolves is promulgated by the vitriol of modern-day anti-wolf prophets, such as Ron Gillette, who spout babble such as “wolves are the most cruel, vicious animal in North America... the only predator that eats its prey alive because they like the taste of warm blood!”

Incredibly, ranchers in states with wolves are either ignorant or misinformed of the relatively limited extent of wolf predation. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2005 only 0.11 percent of all cattle losses in the country were due to wolf predation in 2005.

In the same year attacks by domestic dogs and theft by rustlers were each responsible for five times as many cattle lost as those killed by wolves. In states with wolf populations, an average of less than

2.5 percent of sheep loss was due to predation by wolves. IDFG themselves state that in 2008 wolves were only responsible for killing 212 sheep in Idaho. This figure is a mere 2 percent of the 10,900 total sheep killed in Idaho 2004 (2008 sheep kill totals are unknown).

While wolves remained on the Endangered Species List ranchers anywhere in the United States who had losses due to wolf-predation were able to receive compensation from the Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust run by Defenders of Wildlife. In neighboring Montana, the Montana Department of Livestock has picked up the Defenders compensation program for losses in Montana. An identical program in Idaho would cost the state a pittance—but apparently not a pittance that the ranchercontrolled legislature wants to endorse.

The Idaho legislature, controlled both by ranchers and by people beholden to the interests of ranchers, has, instead, come up with a management plan whereby wolves will be arbitrarily maintained at levels of 500 to 700 wolves in the state. Sadly, IDFG as the enforcing organization is beholden to hunters who provide almost 98 percent of IDFG’s operating budget. It appears, based on what I heard at the Sandpoint public hearing last year, that most hunters view wolves both as competition and as yet another animal that they can shoot for “sport.”

IDFG’s wolf management plan is not based on an objective analysis of carrying capacity, nor of the role of wolves in the context of a balanced Continued on page 18

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

real estate

North Idaho is open for Business

The national real estate market may still be reeling from a series of blows, but the local market shows signs it’s already beginning to recover.

by Trish Gannon huge increase in supply plus tighter between what you sell for and what your

It’s no secret now that the national housing market took a nosedive and managed to drag a large part of the economy down with it. You can buy a house in Detroit for $1,000 (not down, that’s $1,000 total) and given the media coverage, the average American might assume that just about everybody and their neighbor is staring foreclosure in the face. As of April 2009 there were 6 million unemployed, Chrysler was hovering at the edge of bankruptcy, GM was planning to take a “summer off ” from building cars and the stock market only looks attractive to those whose only concern is to “buy low.” A trillion is the new million and the feds are printing money like there’s no tomorrow. It’s almost enough to make you give up your license to sell real estate.

But wait. The late Steve Van Horne, for decades a powerhouse in the local real estate market, used to say that bad news for the country is generally good news for the northern Idaho/western Montana real estate market, and recent trends suggest that might still hold true.

“It’s definitely a buyer’s market right now, but I’ve seen a big uptick in people looking for rural, alternative energy properties,” said Tom Renk, owner/broker of CM Brewster Real Estate in downtown Sandpoint and a 30-year veteran of the local real estate market. That’s because turmoil at the national level generally makes a place like North Idaho, with its abundant natural resources and relatively scattered population, look very attractive to residents of urban areas.

Carol Curtis, a Realtor with Century 21/Riverstone, says, “Unfortunately, in some ways, that’s probably true. For example, if what’s currently going on with swine flu gets worse, we’ll likely be writing a lot more closings.

“Over the last 6 to 9 months it looks like the median price is up,” she added.

“Could that be the start of a recovery?

That may well be. Most of the activity is in property under $200,000 with some at the top.”

North Idaho and western Montana didn’t contribute much to the issues that created problems nationally—a vicious cycle of high risk loans leading to property foreclosures, leading to a

lending standings which in turn leads back to both a higher foreclosure rate and therefore bigger supply—but the local market was impacted by what was happening nationally. A remarkable (and ultimately unsustainable) real estate ‘bubble’ grew quickly in the first years of the 21st century as out-of-the-area investors with access to ready money ‘discovered’ what the locals already knew—this is an attractive place to invest in real estate. Low prices and a desirable location quickly turned into high prices and a desirable location—prices so high that many long-term locals were driven out of the market.

“People were able to borrow money left and right,” Renk explained. “And we saw a lot of purchases of second and third homes, of investment properties that buyers planned to subdivide, and properties purchased just to ‘flip.’ [Short term purchases where buyers sell much higher than the purchase price.] We’re not seeing people do that now.” Though Renk says there’s still some interest from investment buyers (as opposed to buyers looking for a home to live in), “... they’re not looking in a high price range.”

What’s happened nationally is “hitting here pretty hard,” Renk said, because out-of-area buyers no longer have the same resources available to spend on property here, due to lost stock market investments, lower personal home values or even job losses. Still, Curtis points out, “we’ve seen a slowdown, but not a rejection (from buyers). A lot of people have postponed making a decision about buying property in order to see if the market has really bottomed out. In our office, we’ve already seen a pick up (in interest).”

In addition, Renk says, given what’s happened with the economy alongside a high local unemployment rate, there are “some foreclosures happening here,” along with “imminent danger sales— they’re not in foreclosure, but it’s close; in some cases, they’re trying to do short sales,” getting the mortgage holder to agree to a sale for lower than what’s owned on the home as a way to stave off foreclosure. (If you’re considering this, be aware that you’ll have to claim as income, for tax purposes, the difference

mortgage was.)

Which means there’s a lot of property available locally to buy. “Right now we have about 3,000 active listings in the MLS,” Renk stated, “which is high for this time of year.”

It also brings those prices down. “An appraisal on a house is based on what comparable houses are selling for,” explained Renk. “If foreclosures and short sales bring those prices down, then it’s going to bring down the appraisal on any comparable house.”

Add a high supply to lower prices and you get a buyer’s market. “Interest rates are low, and lenders are lending,” he said. “If you have good credit and aren’t in hock up to your eyeballs, it’s a great time to buy. Interest rates are at historic lows.” (With good credit you can expect an interest rate around 5 percent as we go to press.) And there’s deals to be made. “In some cases we’re seeing prices we haven’t seen in 15 to 20 years,” said Renk. “For example, there’s a property on ten acres with a 3,200 sq ft home and a shop, selling for $219,000. That’s an incredible price. You can’t build a 3,200 sq ft house for that.”

In the period from January 1 to March 15, the average sales price on a residential property last year (2008) was $315,590.

For that same period this year, the price is $259,659.

Of course, that amount still seems high to anyone who’s been here a while.

For example, Sandpoint Magazine’s “Marketwatch” for the summer of 1999, a period when Y2K worries made the Pacific Northwest particular attractive to out-ofarea buyers, listed the average sales price on a residential property as $106,359... and just $119,200 in Sandpoint proper.

(Adjusted for inflation, $120,000 in 1999 dollars would equal $153,675.57 today.)

“We weren’t hit as hard here as elsewhere,” Renk offered, “and as confidence returns, I believe we’ll be one of the first to benefit.” Renk said in the region, first-time homebuyers are driving a recovery in the market—that doesn’t have as much impact here because firsttime buyers are generally looking in the $150,000 range, and “there just isn’t a lot Continued on page 37

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page

Thompson Falls Farmer’s Market

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All needed repairs and maintenance have been done. All prices have been adjusted for mileage.

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Veterans’ News

Local Forget-Me-Not contributions help local disabled veterans The Forget Me Not is a cluster of tiny simple flowers that return each spring from the same roots. These soft blue flowers with yellow centers first became associated with the sacrifices of the fallen in World War I, then the fallen and disabled soldiers of all other battles. This pristine little flower grew into the symbol we use for Memorial Day and disabled vets, because of the difficult image burdening the memories of WWI soldiers who had seen them grow on the graves of comrades and allies killed in the fighting. It then became custom to honor the fallen by assisting the soldiers who came home bearing the scars of war through the first Forget Me Not drive for disabled vets on February 24, 1926. Our local Disabled American Veterans chapter carries on this tradition each year.

“There are 5200 veterans in Bonner County. Our goal is to help as many as we, the DAV, can,” Ross Jackman, Commander of the local DAV Chapter #15 here in Sandpoint, said in an interview.

By July 31, 1929, Argonne Day, (September 26) and Armistice Day (November 11) were officially designated Forget-Me-Not days. Argonne Day commemorates the last big decisive “push” of WWI in the Meuse-Argonne Forest. It was there the allies fought and won the great battle on September 26, 1918.

Like our DAV roots, we return each spring to the streets with these little blue flowers hoping for the custom of honoring the fallen by assisting those that survived.

“We have the local radio station, mayors, veterans, volunteers and editors of local newspapers and journals from all over Bonner County assisting with the forget-me-not drive,” Jackman said.

The DAV’s annual “Forget-Me-Not” sale says to everyone throughout the year, “Remember Me.” When we pass the flowers to eager hands on the street we’re saying, “Remember and forget me not. I am a Disabled American Veteran.”

The official number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq is 4,080 and in Afghanistan is 671. Officially, 31,193 more U.S. soldiers have been wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives.

An important medical concern for our U.S. service members of the both wars, and more so than the history of any other conflict, is the potential long-term effect of traumatic brain injury, or concussion,

by Kriss Perras Running Waters particularly from blast explosions. Over 320,000 U.S. soldiers returning home from both wars have received brain injuries, according to a 2008 study by the RAND Corporation. TBI occurring among soldiers deployed in Iraq is strongly associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and physical health problems three to four months after the soldiers return home, according to a recent Massachusetts Medical Society study. PTSD and depression are important mediators of the relationship between TBI and physical health problems, the society reports.

The war has cost U.S taxpayers more than $500 billion. Joseph E. Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning Columbia University economist, estimates the total cost of the war will ultimately exceed $3 trillion.

May 25, 2009, our local DAV Chapter will hold their annual Forget-Me-Not drive at Wal-Mart in Ponderay, and at Yoke’s Fresh Foods next to the Bonner Mall. Please support our local disabled veterans by accepting and wearing a little blue flower, and putting money into the donation can.

Volunteers will be out from 8 am to 6 pm.

“The DAV Van will be on display,” Jackman said, which is what the push for funds is about. The monies raised will go towards buying a new DAV van as this one ages to transport local veterans to and from their medical appointments.

Thanks to Sandpoint Mayor Hellar for helping out that day, as well as KPND’s Jonny Knight, and K102’s Derik Walker and Jeff McClean. Also in May, the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #890 will hold their annual spring cleanup at Milepost #24 outside of Dover on Saturday, May 9 at 9 am with a woodcutting party afterwards. For information, call Howard Bigelow, VVA President, at 263-9626. The VVA will also host in either late summer or early fall an art exhibition with internationally acclaimed artists with the funds also going towards the purchase of a new van. More information on this to come in later issues.

I’d like to extend a special thanks to Jody Forest and the VVA and DAV for passing the privilege of this column’s torch on to me. 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. 5 | May 2009

Prepare for the Worst, Hope for the Best Swine Flu is sweeping the news, and maybe the nation. Scientists don’t know whether we’re looking at 1918, when 21 million people died worldwide, or at 1976, when one case of swine flu led to a disastrous vaccine program. Here’s what you should know about swine flu, pandemics, staying healthy and funding for public health.

By Trish Gannon Editor’s Note: Covering an emerging story that can evolve even more rapidly than the virus it’s talking about is an impossibility for a monthly publication. This issue in your hands, after all, went to the printer a week prior to hitting the streets. Look for an updated version of this story online at www.RiverJournal.com. t’s 2009, and a flu virus that makes its home in pigs when not infecting humans (influenza virus A (H1N1) has demonstrated we are, indeed, a global village. Initially emerging in Mexico, it was identified by the CDC in April after cases appeared in California and Texas.

Viruses begin with some tremendous advantages: the first is takes us a while to figure out what’s there.

It was April 6 when local health officials reported a respiratory disease outbreak and

I

issued a health alert in La Gloria, Perote, Veracruz, Mexico. Sources there reported a health official had been seeking help for the town since February.

It was ten days later, April 16, when atypical pneumonia cases were reported in Oaxaca. It was almost another four days before CDC identified swine influenza A (H1N1); and it was identified in California and possibly Texas. By early May it has spread to 20 countries worldwide.

On April 22 Canada issued an ‘alert’ for all travelers returning from Mexico, and that’s the second advantage viruses hold— the amount of time it takes to determine whether or not a particular virus is going to turn into a major threat. Does the virus cause death? If it does, does death occur in previously healthy patients, or only those whose immune systems were somehow compromised? How quickly does the virus

progress to death? Are secondary infections involved? What is the incubation period, the amount of time it takes to develop symptoms after exposure (the amount of time a patient is unknowingly spreading virus)? Does a prior flu shot offer any protection? Is the virus susceptible to treatment? It’s the answers to these questions that determine whether a particular virus has the ability to become a pandemic (causing serious illness and/or death to people throughout the globe) and these questions can only be answered with data... data which comes from infected patients. (As this goes to press, these questions are still not answered.)

Testifying in 1982 at a congressional hearing on AIDS, Dr. Richard Krause of the U.S. National Institutes of Health noted, “Nothing new has happened. Plagues are as certain as death and taxes.”

Continued on page 33

Please contribute! This Memorial Day, May 25, get your forget-me-not at Wal-Mart in Ponderay from 8 am to 6 pm or at Yoke’s Fresh Market next to the Bonner Mall also from 8 am to 6 pm May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page

STACCATO NOTES Music

May 9—Unity Concert. Casting the Vision presents the Unity Concert at 7 pm (doors open at 6 pm) at First Christian Church, 201 N. Division St. in Sandpoint. This concert brings together churches of the greater Sandpoint area to worship, and Broken Together will perform with special guests Nick Higgins and Justin Cordle, lead singer of We As Human.

Tickets are $5 each or $20 for families and are available at First Christian Church, Hidden Valley Worship Center, Casting the Vision, or at the door on the night of the concert. For more information, visit BrokenTogether.com or call 208-265-5978.

May 12—Jackie Greene Concert. The Panida Theater hosts a Jackie Greene concert at 7 pm (doors open at 6 pm). Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door, available at The Loading Dock and Three Glasses. To order online, visit the Sandpoint Online General Store (www.SandpointGeneralStore.com).

May 14—Lost in the ‘50s Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven.

Kick off the Lost in the ‘50s festivities with Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven, a night to remember at the Panida Theater. The show starts at 7 pm and is filled with great entertainment including Elvis, Richie Valens and Jerry Lee Lewis impersonators. Tickets are $28 each; for more information on how to purchase tickets, visit the Lost in the ‘50s website (http://sandpoint. org/lostin50s). 208-263-9321 May 19—Classical concert. Sanders County Arts Council in partnership with The Piatigorsky Foundation and Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort are bringing a program of light classical music to Plains, Montana. Tuesday, May 19, soprano Raquela Sheeran and pianist David Shimoni will be in concert at 7 pm at the Plains United Methodist Church, 201 W. Meany Street. The program will feature music from Irving Berlin to Tchaikovsky. There is no charge, but an offering of $5 is suggested to help defray costs.

For more information, contact 406-826-3600.

June 4—SHS Spring Fling. Sandpoint’s Panida Theater hosts the Sandpoint High School Choir in this annual event at 6 pm. 263-9191 June 10—Saffire, The Uppity Blues Women Concert. KPBX Spokane Public Radio presents Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women Concert for their “Thank You” show, beginning at 7:30 pm in the Panida Theater. To learn more about this acoustic blues trio, visit UppityBluesWomen. com. Tickets are $25 each. 208-263-9191

each night in the Panida Theater. 208-2639191 May 7-9 and May 21-23—Beauty and the Beast. The Sandpoint High School drama department presents the Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast, playing at 7 pm each night in the SHS auditorium. Starring Matt Geiger as the Beast, Rachel Kennedy as Belle, and Mike Richardson as Gaston. Tickets are $10, available at Eve’s Leaves, Larson’s, at the SHS bookkeeping window, and from cast and crew. 208-946-7722 May 13—Hansel and Gretel, and The Toymaker.

Sandpoint Charter School presents Hansel and Gretel, and The Toymaker, beginning at 7 pm in the Panida Theater. 208-263-9191 May 21-23—Coraline. As part of the Global Cinema Cafe film series, the delightfully dark animated fairy tale Coraline will play in the Panida Theater at 7:30 pm each night. 208263-9191 May 29—Lords of Nature. The Selkirk Conservation Alliance and the Northern Rockies Wolf Group are sponsoring a premiere of the movie “Lords of Nature: Life In A Land of Great Predators” on May 29 at the Sandpoint Community Hall. Detailed information is available on the Selkirk Conservation Alliance website www.scawild.org June 7—Dance Recital. Studio One’s annual spring dance concert, The Lion King, will be held at 6:30 pm in the Panida Theater. 208263-9191

Events

THE AREA’S FREE EVENTS PLUS EVENTS HOSTED BY NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Cellars, 302 N. 1st Ave., Sandpoint, hosts a Search Dog North Idaho fundraiser. The event kicks off at 3 pm with search dog demonstrations, followed by games and interactive activities including a “Dog Kissing Booth” from 5 pm to 7 pm. Enjoy live music from 7 pm to 8 pm, with silent auction results from 8 pm to 8:30 pm, and more live music from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm 208-265-8116 May 15—Lost in the ‘50s Car Parade and Street Dance. Don’t miss these great annual events happening in downtown Sandpoint.

The vintage car parade starts at 6 pm. The Street Dance, sponsored by 106.7 The Point, takes place following the parade on Main Street by the Jeff Jones Town Square. To learn more, visit http://sandpoint.org/lostin50s.

208-263-9321 May 15 & 16—Lost in the ‘50s Dance and Show. This annual show at the Bonner County Fairgrounds features The Crystals, Johnny Thunder, and perennial favorite Rocky and the Rollers. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and the show begins at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $28 each; to learn more, visit http://sandpoint.org/ lostin50s. 208-263-9321 May 16—Lost in the ‘50s Downtown Car Show. Get lost in the nostalgia during the 24th annual Lost in the ‘50s Car Show, happening from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm in downtown Sandpoint. Streets will be blocked off on First and Cedar, Main, Second and Third. An awards presentation will follow in front of Cedar Street Bridge. 208263-9321 May 17—Aspirin Rally Run. The Lost in the ‘50s Weekend wraps up festivities with the 20th annual Aspirin Rally Run beginning at 10 am at Second Avenue Pizza. Co-sponsored by the Cardio Junkies (Sandpoint’s running club), this event seems to get crazier each year. The 5K fun-run includes a car rally, food, crazydressed people and more. A car rally follows at 11:20 am. 208-263-9321 May 29—Ancient Peoples and Artifacts of Southern Idaho. Sponsored by the Idaho Humanities Council, Hope’s Memorial Community Center hosts a free presentation

by Jim Woods, on “Ancient Peoples and Artifacts of Southern Idaho. It takes place at 7 pm, and dessert and coffee will be served. Call 208-264-5481 May 30—Spring for the Garden. The annual fundraiser for Bonner General Hospital’s Healing Garden will be held Saturday, May 30, and will feature the dedication of the Children’s Garden. The plant sale begins at 9 am, children’s events at 10 am, and the official ribbon-cutting will be at 11 am. The Children’s Garden honors Hazel Hall, and she and Sandpoint Mayor Gretchen Haller will be on hand for the ceremony. Hot dogs and ice cream will be sold during the event.

May 8—Art Opening Reception. Stage Right Cellars, 302 N. 1st Ave., Sandpoint hosts an Art Opening Reception for Yola Bitler and June Johnson from 5:30 pm to 8 pm. The reception includes a special Lost in the ‘50s theme along with free live music with Max, a New Age and instrumental musician. Meet the artists, plus enjoy complimentary beverages and snacks.

208-265-8116 May 8-10 Huckleberry Blush and L’Oeuvre Your Mother Event. In honor of Mother’s Day Weekend, Pend d’Oreille Winery in downtown Sandpoint hosts a Huckleberry Blush and L’Oeuvre Your Mother event on Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 7 pm, and Sunday from noon to 6 pm. Enjoy wine and merchandise specials all weekend long, plus the women in your group will receive a complimentary rose.

Live music Friday and Saturday nights from 5 pm to 7 pm POWine.com. 208-265-8545 May 8—Figure 8 Dancers. Three Glasses, 202½ 1st Ave., Sandpoint hosts the Figure 8 Dancers. Come be entertained by this modern May 7 & 8—A Christmas Tale. As part of the dance movement along with DJ Mercury. 208Global Cinema Cafe film series, the French 946-6804 movie A Christmas Tale will play at 7:30 pm May 9—Search Dog Fundraiser. Stage Right Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Theater

Politically Incorrect TRISH GANNON | www.riverjournal.com | trish@riverjournal.com

A Liberal Tradition John Haynes was born in 1594 to an old, wealthy family who lived at Copford Hall in Hertford, England. He was an admirer of Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan religious leader who advocated for voting rights, religious tolerance (though only toward Christian sects) and government that must answer to the people. Haynes sailed with Hooker on the Griffin to the New World, where they founded Hartford, Connecticut and the Connecticut Colony.

Haynes was a governor of Massachuset ts, and then, on April 11, 1639, became the first Governor of Connecticut. He was one of five men who drafted Connecticut’s constitution.

John Haynes was my 14th great-grandfather.

Colonel Jonathan Fitch, born in 1727, was the son of another Connecticut Governor (Thomas Fitch IV). He graduated Yale College in 1748 and served as its steward for several years. He was High Sheriff and Naval Officer at New Haven and, at the time of the Revolutionary War, became a Colonel of the 2nd Connecticut Militia. Jonathan’s brother (Thomas V) is said to have been the original “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” about whom the song was written.

Col. Fitch was my 10th greatgrandfather.

Alexander Kerr was born in 1694 in Scotland, the second son of the Laird of Graden. In 1715 he participated in the First Jacobite Uprising (the Fifteenth) in an effort to return James VII to the throne—he was captured at Chester and convicted of treason and, as a result, was transported to the Colony of Virginia in 1716. His son (also an Alexander) was a patriot of the Revolutionary War. Alexander Kerr was another 10th great-grandfather.

Samuel Newberry was the son of an Irish stowaway who became a member

of the Virginia Colonial Militia in the Revolutionary War. Samuel II was a Methodist minister who fathered ten children, all of whom were “given an education above the average.”

Samuel Newberry II was my 7th greatgrandfather.

It’s said that a political conservative is a person who

Of course I’m a liberal. After all, I grew up in a liberal family, going back to the late 1500s and my 14th greatgrandfather, John Haynes. defends the status quo, and who wants change, if change must come, only slowly and in moderation. A political liberal, therefore, would be one for whom the status quo is not always sufficient—a person who continues to push the boundaries and for whom change is an accepted part of life.

Obviously, I did not become a liberal by chance—instead, I find that my blood has been steeped in liberalism for hundreds of years and, as a liberal, I express what more than a dozen of my forefathers expressed before me.

Early settlers in Colonial America, those who arrived in the 1600s as did so many of my own ancestors, came because they did not accept the status quo— they believed that life could not only be different from what was currently lived, but that by that difference, it could also be better—if not for themselves, then at least for their descendants.

The Slades, the Hightowers, the Coxes… the Saltonsalls and Byrds… the Braswells, Vaughns, Reynolds, Walkers and Fords, Barnetts, McNeelys, Strouds, Lesters, Fields and Dillons, all arrived in America prior to the Revolution and

all served their country in the ultimate battle for liberalism, for change—for a new country where “all men are created equal,” and are blessed with “certain inalienable rights.”

And their descendents carried those liberal beliefs into the future. As America’s boundaries grew southward and westward, so these families followed, and often surpassed, its borders. The Barnetts arrived in Alabama not long after it became a state in 1819; the Fords were in Georgia at least a decade before it gained statehood; and the Newberrys arrived in Texas as soon as it was opened for settlement while the Williamses were there a few years before. The Langfords, Gordons and Futrells all made their way into the “West”—Tennessee—while it was still a settlement for pioneers.

Literally dozens of my ancestors packed up family and belongings when given the opportunity to change their circumstances in the hope of something better. And yes, while a few found themselves wearing the blue in 1861, the majority took up arms in defense of their homes and fought in what they referred to as “the War of Northern Aggression;” not, from what I can tell, as avid defenders of slavery (few of them owned slaves), but as liberals who believed it was better to go to war than to submit to an overbearing government. They believed, in the words of Jefferson himself, government derived its “just powers from the consent of the governed,” and that, “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…”

In this first decade of the 21st century it appears that “liberal” has become a dirty word, and that people have forgotten the true strength of this country was derived from the compromises achieved by those who disagreed. Yet without liberals, conservatives would not today be concerned about their right to “keep and bear arms,” not just because there would be no Constitution offering them that right but because they would not Continued on page 18

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page

Ride Right Clinic and Weed Workshop

The Bonner County 4-H Horse Leaders will be hosting a Ride Right Clinic with certified Coach Joyce MorganWimpfheimer on Saturday, May 16 at the Sandpoint Church of the Nazarene. Anyone who rides a horse always wants to do it correctly for their

beloved animal. Joyce Morgan is no exception to that rule. Joyce was handpicked by former United States Equestrian Team trainer, Daniel Stewart, to become one of the first individuals to become a Ride-Right Certified Coach. As a Ride-Right Certified Specialist, Joyce has helped riders of all levels improve their ability.

Whether you are a weekend warrior or a professional training and showing in any English or Western discipline, the Ride-Right program will help you diagnose and improve your riding abilities and eventually make your horse more comfortable and achieve a higher level of performance.

Clinics offered will be Sport Psychology Seminar – a very humorous approach to riderpsychology teaching stress management, positive thinking, visualization and goal-setting techniques. And Symmetry and Balance Workshop – an unmounted workshop to

teach rider-specific exercises using a special balance board developed especially for equestrians. This workshop will help you identify and solve imperfections with your balance, symmetry, posture, body-awareness and suppleness. For more information about these clinics, go to www.riderightnow.com.

Also presenting will be Brad Bluemer, Bonner County Weed Supervisor. He will be speaking on common weeds in our area that are toxic to horses, how to identify them and ways to eradicate them.

Joyce will begin her workshops at 10 am and Brad Bluemer will hold his workshop after lunch at 1 pm. Lunch is on your own.

The clinics will be held at the Sandpoint Church of the Nazarene, north of Sandpoint on Highway 95. While both of these workshops are open to the public, there is a fee for the morning workshop of $20 per person. For more information or to register, call the Bonner County Extension Office at 263-8511

Wanna ride with the griz? The Forest Service wants to know.

The Kootenai, Lolo, and Idaho Panhandle National Forests are issuing a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to amend their respective Forest Plans and the standards that address wheeled motorized vehicle access management within the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones in northern Idaho and northwestern Montana. In this DSEIS, Alternative E as updated, is identified as the Preferred Alternative.

This DSEIS examines the effects of setting predetermined levels of human (wheeled motorized) access within grizzly bear recovery zones on the Kootenai, Lolo, and Idaho Panhandle National Forests. The DSEIS is programmatic; hence, site-specific decisions on individual roads or trails will be addressed in project-level planning on the three Forests. Proposals for site-specific actions will be developed through the National Environmental Policy Act process, which includes public involvement.

In 2002, the three Forests completed a Final EIS for their Forest Plan amendments. The 2002 FEIS included alternatives that proposed varying levels of wheeled motorized access management on each Forest, and were related to the 1998 Interim Access Management Rule Set issued by the Selkirk/Cabinet Yaak Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

At that time, Alternative E was identified as the agency’s Selected Alternative in its 2004 Record of Decision.

Litigation in 2006 resulted in the U.S. District Court of Montana “setting aside” the 2002 FEIS and 2004 ROD and directed the Forest Service to prepare a new environmental analysis. As such, the Draft SEIS addresses the Court’s ruling by supplementing information in the 2002 FEIS and 2004 ROD by incorporating new information on grizzly bear populations, the latest research, and associated analysis. In the Draft SEIS, Alternative E has been updated and is identified as the agency’s Preferred Alternative. Additionally, Alternative D has been modified and analyzed in detail to respond to the best science for the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones.

Publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register for the Draft SEIS, anticipated by May 8, 2009, initiates a 45-day public comment period. Written comments must be received or postmarked by June 22, 2009. Please send comments to: Ranotta McNair, Forest Supervisor, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, 3815 Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815 or you can send them

via email to: comments-northern-idpanhandle@ fs.fed.us. The subject line must contain the name of the project for which you are submitting comments, in this case: Forest Plan Amendments for Motorized Access Management DSEIS. To be most useful, comments should be clear, concise, and relevant to the analysis, including specific merits of alternatives discussed and the adequacy of the analysis and disclosure of effects.

Copies of the Draft SEIS are available at:www.fs.fed.us/r1/kootenai/projects/ planning/documents/forest_plan/ amendments/index.shtml or http://www. igbconline.org/html/selkirk.html. In addition, they are available for review at public libraries in the Idaho communities of Priest River, Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, and Coeur For use in Sanders d’Alene; and in the Montana communities of County Montana.

Troy and Libby.

All offers will be For more information on the Draft SEIS considered. Please call or for a CD of the Draft SEIS, please contact Karl Dekome, Team Leader, Idaho Panhandle Dennis Varga for info.

National Forests Supervisor’s Office at (208) 765-7479 or John Gubel, Kootenai National 406-847-0033 or Forest Supervisor’s Office at (406) 283253-720-4311 7774.

Page 10 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

All Beverage Liquor License for Sale

The Scenic Route SANDY COMPTON | www.sandycompton.com | mrcomptonjr@hotmail.com

OMG! with the sound off It stands for—in case you’ve been asleep for the past 10 years —Oh, my God! It’s one of the standard acronyms that have evolved with e-mail and texting (which, by the way (BTW), Microsoft Word sez ain’t a word), along with LOL, LOLTIFD and a bunch of others that I can never remember the meaning of. IRS is not one of these, BTW. The OMG! of the week on this week in April (old news, by the time this gets printed) is that Perez Hilton attacked Miss California—live, on television (TV), for gosh sakes! I know this because I saw the headlines on the Internet on my way to get my e-mail. Also, that paragon of journalistic truth and responsibility (PJTR), Cable News Network (CNN), did 20 minutes on this highly serious news item (HSNI) one morning. Luckily, I was watching the news where I most often watch TV—sweating aboard an elliptical trainer at Sandpoint West Athletic Club (SWAC)—and the sound was off. But, I could tell by the serious expressions on the several faces of CNN talking heads as they discussed this HSNI and the serious manner in which Perez Hilton held the microphone as he assailed (verbally) a seriously upset Miss California that this HSNI was a very serious thing, indeed. It must be more serious than the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and along our border with Mexico, because I saw nothing of those events in the entire 24 minutes that I was forced to... uh, I mean... got to watch CNN. Personal side note: I would love to turn on a TV before 8 am and only have a choice of Captain Kangaroo, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show or Wallaby Jack.

OK. Back to the serious stuff. I didn’t get Fox News Network’s take on the Perez Hilton/Miss California affair (now, there’s an interesting potential headline, don’t you think), which, as far as I’m concerned, is all for the best, because I am sure that it would have upset me greatly, so great is my respect for Fox as a PJTR. Besides, watching Fox—even with the sound off— elevates my blood pressure past the point at which Dr. Lawrence likes to see it.

I was watching Fox—again, thank God, with the sound off—not so long ago on a day when Bill O’Reilly and a couple of conservative woman correspondents (CWC) were discussing Caroline Kennedy’s

stand on abortion rights. Talk about OMG! I don’t have a clue who the CWC were— fine by me—but they were adamant, expressive and entirely attentive (AEEA) to Mr. O’Reilly, AEEA to the point of seeming devotion. They wore expectant, awe-filled expressions on their CWC faces and enough make-up to make Miss California look as if she had forgotten hers, which she hadn’t.

(How do the thousands of attractive women seen on TV as models, actresses and PJTR spokeswomen get their eyebrows to stay up all the time like that?)

Anyway, with the closed-captioning (CC) person (who must have very fast fingers) blasting along with them, these three were verbally assaulting Ms. Kennedy and President Obama, all the while looking very serious, which was laughable because, with the sound off, it was like watching two female clowns (think soaring eyebrows, perfectly smooth foreheads; exquisitely painted cheeks; pouty, glistening red lips; and wide, black-lined eyes) pay homage to Archie Bunker on steroids as he tiraded along. The only thing that might have made higher comedy is a cut-away to a web cam interview with Rush Limbaugh so that the CC person could also try to communicate Mr. Limbaugh’s verbal assault on Ms. Kennedy and President Obama. Before I ran out of time on the elliptical machine, I was LOL, and the amusing thought was “How can these people expect us to take them seriously?”

If you want to be taken seriously, PJTR talking heads, take off the makeup and mess up your hair while tagging along with

young American men and women patrolling a deadly Iraqi neighborhood, or trekking with 60-pound packs and rifles through some Afghanistan highland. Go live with a family losing their home because some greedy bastard wouldn’t use restraint or compassion when it came to acquiring more wealth. Investigate the effects on the poor folk caught in the middle of the struggle for power between drug gangs along the Mexican border.

If news TV is a mirror of our culture, then we are a bunch of clowns wearing too much makeup and taking ourselves way too seriously—even when we don’t know what we are talking about.

OMG!, indeed. Turn off the TV, or at least, turn the sound off. If you do, BTW, you might find it easier to LOL. Sandy Compton lost his TV in a 1980 divorce and never replaced it. His 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.

MOM Mother’s Day ~ Sunday May 10th

Delight Mom with an item from Petal Talk’s unique selection of Indoor and Outdoor Plants, Fresh Cut Flowers, Specialty Orchids and Fabulous Gifts!

Gift Certificates also available! We Deliver!

120 W. Cedar Street ~ Sandpoint, Idaho ~ www.petaltalk.com ~ 208-265-7900

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 11

Fresh water is needed to

“Survive and Thrive”

The importance of vegetative buffers Life on the lake is hard to beat. Living in a place that boasts one of the deepest lakes in the continent is one thing, and living on that lake is in a whole other category of cool. Though the thought of it makes most of us non-lake habitants intensely jealous, living on the lake also comes with some very vital responsibilities.

Fresh water is one of those critical resources that everybody depends on.

People need fresh water to survive and thrive, but so do many other species. The number of people living near and using our waters is at an all time high. The use of land adjacent to a lake largely determines the quality of its water in the nearshore areas, especially for large lakes like Pend Oreille.

Consider the land uses in our watershed, the area that drains or “sheds” its water to the lake.

Though we all live in a watershed and as such, have a responsibility to protect it, those that live directly on the water can be considered the last line of defense for limiting what makes it to the water.

There are many things for shoreline homeowners to consider when managing their properties—probably more than anyone else even. Some of these factors include protecting the lake from stormwater runoff, holding the soil in place to protect the property, and even providing habitat for the likes of deer, elk, birds, and butterflies.

One way to accomplish many of these objectives is to retain or plant a vegetative buffer strip between the shoreline and the structures on the property. A vegetative buffer acts as the bridge between two very different worlds—that of our terrestrial existence which includes humans and our homes, roads, and cars, as well as the animals that live on the land, and that of the aquatic world. This aquatic world is an ecosystem that interacts with the terrestrial world, but can also be adversely affected by it. The aquatic world is sensitive to

the terrestrial world; the balance is what makes it work.

The shallow margin of our lakes is an integral part of an aquatic ecosystem.

In fact, approximately 90 percent of the living things in our water are found in the “littoral zone,” (from shoreline to as deep as sunlight penetrates).

“The littoral zone is where you find most aquatic life,” explains Dr. Frank Wilhelm, Assistant Professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Idaho. “In Lake Pend Oreille, the open waters are largely an abyss. There might be some lake trout, zooplankton and phytoplankton, but compared to the nearshore, the offshore is a desert.”

Not only does a vegetative buffer protect important species in the water, it also presents the most natural view from the water’s edge, protects the integrity of shoreland habitat, and helps screen adjacent properties and protect privacy.

“Obvious benefits include such things as aesthetics and reduced erosion,” says Dr. Wilhelm. “Mature buffer strips that are fairly large can make it feel like you’re the only one on the lake—not in an urban setting even if you are.”

Wilhelm also cites buffers as very important for their role in providing wildlife corridors for movement around a lake as well as from the lake to upland habitat. Buffers can keep nuisance geese and biting insects from becoming a problem on shoreland property. Predators can hide in taller vegetation, so geese are less inclined to wander through the buffer to get to a lawn.

Fish in streams love vegetative buffers, too. The shade provided by vegetation helps to keep the water cool. Good water quality and reduced runoff can increase fish numbers quickly. Clean and productive tributaries to lakes are a key component to healthy fish habitat.

“Fish benefit from overhanging root systems that provide shade and cover,” says Mike Miller, Coordinator for the Lower Clark Fork Watershed Group. “Also, large woody debris that falls into the stream helps to create pools and cover for fish.”

When choosing plant species for a vegetative buffer, there are many factors to consider, such as drought and flood tolerance, proximity to water, view-lane

by Kate Wilson maintenance, and providing good habitat for local critters. A great resource for landowners is your local Conservation District; in Bonner County this would be the Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District (www.icehouse.net/ksswcd/ bonner/index.htm), in Sanders County, the Green Mountain Conservation District (www.greenmountaincd.org).

“Species that are low-growing with components of grasses, perennials, and woody plants are ideal for maintaining a view lane,” suggests Greg Becker, District Conservationist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service. “You can also plant trees in clumps instead of a uniform pattern to leave open views. That’s really how things grow in nature anyway.”

Many advocate native species for vegetative buffers as they are suited for the area, require no fertilizers or extra water, and are low maintenance species.

“Native plant species are preferred,” says Miller. “In the lower Clark Fork shrub species would include alder, red-osier dogwood, willow, snowberry, serviceberry, hawthorn, Woods rose and chokecherry.

Tree species would include western red cedar, western larch, Englemann spruce, western white pine, Douglas-fir, and black cottonwood.”

If you love your lawn, whether you live on the lake or not, there are some things that you can do to better protect water quality, fish, and wildlife. If you currently use fertilizer to keep a green lawn, a good thing to do is conduct a simple soil test.

These tests are inexpensive and easy to use; they are available at the University of Idaho extension offices.

Dr. Wilhelm explains that there are usually enough nutrients in your soil already to sustain turf grasses—and they don’t take up any more than they need.

Excessive nutrients that aren’t being taken up by plants run off of them—down to the storm drain, the ditch, the stream, the lake.

Dr. Wilhelm suggests cutting turf grasses long (three inches or more) in order to: 1) prevent weeds from getting sunlight, 2) promote good root growth, and 3) keep moisture in the grass.

The taller the vegetation and the deeper the roots in your vegetative buffer, the more the lake is protected from runoff.

Fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides can run right off a lawn to the water, impacting

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

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more than just a little patch of green grass. In addition, the Lake Pend Oreille Management Plan discourages the use of pesticides and fertilizers within 20 feet of surface waters (www.tristatecouncil.org/ reports.html).

If you are considering purchasing shoreline property and there is an existing vegetative buffer, the best thing to do is retain it, as long as the species present are not a problem. Invasive species have gotten an edge over natives partly due to people not knowing what will happen

when exotic species are released locally.

For this reason, Bonner County now requires that shoreline landowners plant only “beneficial species,” for which there is a list available at the planning website, along with the Land Use Codes relating to buffers (www.co.bonner.id.us/planning/ index.html).

For all new construction on Lake Pend Oreille, the Pend Oreille River, or the Clark Fork River, a 40 foot vegetative buffer must be maintained. For new construction on other rivers and streams in Bonner County, there is a 75 foot setback, of which the first 40 feet need to be a vegetative buffer.

In Sanders County, there is no set ordinance in place, but the County Planner can recommend setbacks. Any streamside work must have approval of a 310 Permit, which can be obtained from the Green Mountain Conservation District.

Avista Utilities owns the majority of the shoreline associated with Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge dams on the lower Clark Fork River. Avista, along with the signatories of the Clark Fork Settlement

Agreement have developed and implement a Land Use Management Plan that provides guidance as to what activities can occur on Avista lands.

“The focus is to maintain the native vegetation along the shoreline as much as possible, while still allowing for public use,” says Nate Hall, Terrestrial Program Leader for Avista. “This is done for a multitude of reasons including providing important fish and wildlife habitat, preventing erosion, preventing the runoff of lawn chemicals from reaching the reservoirs in surface

runoff, and also to maintain the rural and rustic character of the shorelines.”

Another great local resource is the “Lake*A*Syst” program, a voluntary educational program aimed at assisting shoreline property owners in making well informed decisions for the management of their lakefront property.

The new Lake*A*Syst Coordinator Molly McCahon is working hard to inform folks about how they can protect water quality.

She sees the new Bonner County Land Use Codes as a step towards better buffers and a more informed populace.

“I am developing a plant list, derived from the counties beneficial plant list, which will list the native plants available at our local nurseries,” says McCahon.

“Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for landowners to purchase native plants, as well as encourage nurseries to carry a diverse selection.”

McCahon recently took over the Lake*A*Syst program and is anxious to get started working with landowners this Continued on page 34

DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE DARK!

The weather here is unpredictable, and your connection to power can be too.

We can help you keep the lights on. Call today to learn more.

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May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 13

The Turkey Vulture Are you earth friendly?

Is your favorite color green? Do you recycle your cans, compost your vegetable trimmings, and avoid buying plastics? If so, in your next life you just might find yourself a member of the Cathartes Aura Club. This is an exclusive society of avian recyclers, who believe that anything with fin, fur, or feather – and no pulse – should never go to waste. And like many human earthloving zealots, they are opposed to fast food. In fact, to put it simply, they like slow food. Very slow food. Dead slow.

Well dead. Dead dead! Cathartes Aura club members prefer nothing else.

Spring has sprung and the warm days are back and nothing proves this more than the return of cathartes aura to our area, better known to most of us as the Turkey Vulture. Those big, brownishblack birds that soar just above the tree tops in that characteristic tottering flight are hard to miss. Ugly up close, beautiful from a distance, the Turkey Vulture is one cool bird. And animals of all sorts are just dying to meet them.

So why do they come just now? Why don’t Turkey Vultures spend the winters here? It is surely not because of a lack of food. How many dead deer did you count this winter? Instead, it is those warm summer days. 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-forthe-summer teenager. Perhaps they really suffer from avian delayed adolescents.

The Turkey Vulture is a large bird that is hard to miss, but surprisingly difficult for many to positively identify.

People often mistake them for juvenile eagles or large hawks; raptors that they might resemble, but with whom they are not closely related. Vultures are genetically closest to the storks. Nonetheless, there are certain field marks you can look for to help you definitively identify this bird and add it to your life list.

Mike Turnlund is a teacher at Clark Fork High School. Reach him at miketurnlund@gmail.com

First, look for the dihedral in the wings.

A dihedral is a slight bend noticeable in the spread wings. Eagles and hawks hold their wings perfectly level. Turkey vultures have an elegant upward curve where their wrists would be, if they had them. Even more distinctive is the white, almost translucent appearance of the primary wing feathers.

This distinctive pattern almost gives them the appearance of having arms. In addition, the large feathers at the tips of the wings are spread out like fingers.

If you are fortunate enough to see a Turkey Vulture perched on a carcass or in a tree, get as close as you can to observe

by Mike Turnlund it. There are few animal sights as unusual in our area as the bare, red fleshed head of the Turkey Vulture. Quite hideous actually!

The bird’s skull is apparent under the taut featherless skin. The beak is huge and framed by two large, bony nostrils. And these nostrils play an important role in the life of the Turkey Vulture as it is one of the few birds in the world that can detect odors. I suppose that is a useful feature when your only source of food stinks.

Literally, stinks. Dead things tend to do so after a day or two in the summer. Perhaps this is another reason the Turkey Vulture prefers warm weather.

Do me a favor. Have you seen any Turkey Vultures raising a brood? It is unsure if they breed in our area, though we have large numbers of them as summer visitors.

But if you believe you might know where a mated pair has a nest (actually, just a piece of bare earth on a rock outcropping), drop me a line. It would be fun to solve this riddle.

Turkey vultures are harmless. Unlike their Black Vulture cousins in the Eastern United States, they do not kill animals.

They feed strictly on carrion. And they play an important role as recyclers in mother nature’s economy. Though they might not be particularly photogenic, they are scrupulously green – as in earthloving, resource-saving, small carbonfootprint green. And they’ll go the extra mile. Especially if there is something dead waiting for them. Happy birding!

Photo by Cheryl Empey

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Page 14 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

The Game Trail

by Matt Haag“this should be an interesting

As I type this article, the sun is shining and the thermometer is approaching 70 degrees, the likes of which we haven’t felt since September 2008. I took the opportunity to work on the garden and some landscaping around the house. I hope you all had the chance to enjoy the weather as well! While I was planting my cool season vegetables a topic for The Game Trail hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ll share some ideas with you that may help keep deer out of your garden and landscaping.

Anybody that has had a garden in North Idaho knows that whitetail deer can make pretty quick work of a garden, leaving you with nothing but high blood pressure and the desire for a spring hunting season. Like bears, once they have found that free lunch, whitetail deer will come running, jumping fences, ignoring scare tactics, and bowling you over to get a taste of your scrumptious garden delights.

I received a call last spring about a “rabid deer”. I thought to myself as I dialed the caller’s number,

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conversation because deer don’t get rabies.” It turns out this lady was madder than a hornet that a deer was eating her lettuce in the middle of the day and was not running from the repeated crack of a .243 over its head.

“Darn thing must be rabid” she stated. I explained to the angered gardener that her lettuce was just that good.

The best whitetail deer deterrent is to not let them get to the garden or landscaping, they will go away once the “free lunch” is denied. Unfortunately that involves building a fence, which some folks are understandably against. If you’ve had enough with the deer and want to be done with those overgrown rabbits once and for all, build a fence. Not any old fence though.

Deer can easily clear any fence under eight feet so you either have to build higher than 8 feet or be clever with your fence construction. Deer can jump high, but can’t cover much distance in the process, so think in the terms of height and width during fence construction. For example a six foot fence would work if it were slanted out on a 45 degree angle. Typically the deer will try to go under the fence and meet resistance. Or you can plant thorny shrubs in front of the fence requiring a wider jump. If you already have an existing four or five foot fence built, try building a similar fence four feet from the existing one. The deer won’t be able to negotiate both fences. Another way to deer proof an existing fence is add extenders to the fence posts to make the fence 8 to 10 feet high.

Then stretch wire from post to post and hang flagging in the wire so the deer can see the top wire at 10 feet and know that you mean business.

A lot of people I talk with are not willing to build fences so they have to come up with alternative methods to keeping the deer away. Here are few methods that I have seen over the years, some work better than others. First, be selective about what kind of vegetation you are planting around the house. Remember, if you set the dinner table for bears and deer with fruit trees and don’t have a fence, expect them to arrive as guests. There are many resources around the county to help in your selective of plantings such Master Gardeners, garden centers, and the Idaho Fish & Game Department. Other methods would include scaring the deer with movement and or sound devices. In my experience these devices work for a short amount of time and then the deer become used to the devices and continue browsing

on your landscaping or garden.

There are many deer repellents available, some commercially made others you can make at home. Some of the home made repellents include obtaining human hair from a barber, place them in a nylon sock and hang near the plants you want protected.

Tinfoil, old CDs or DVDS, or mirrors tied to string and allowed to flutter in the wind sometimes works at keeping deer at bay.

In my experience you might want to move the location of the flashy objects every few weeks or so. Human urine is another scent deterrent that frankly I think doesn’t works at all, some folks swear by it. It’s as simple as urinating around the garden area. A few things to think about, including how are the neighbors going to feel when they catch you with your pants down in the garden? Also, I think it works quite the opposite, while camping I have seen deer lick the ground where humans have urinated. If all those ideas fail, there are the commercially made products that you can find in any gardening section of most stores. I haven’t used these products but people have shared their results with me and it varies depending on the application and the brand.

If you have any other ideas that are working to keep the deer out of the gardens please share those with me so I can help other folks!

On the topic of deer, our does are going to be giving birth pretty soon and we’ll have the delight of seeing newborn deer running around. As a friendly reminder, please do not pick up the fawns because you haven’t seen mom around in while.

The chances that mom has abandon the fawn are slim to none, so give that fawn a chance by leaving it alone. You may not see mom for days, but see the fawn in your field bawling and appearing desperate for mom. This is normal; mom doesn’t want you to see her with her fawn.

Remember, If you Care, Leave it There.

Spring is here, enjoy all that we have in North Idaho, we are truly blessed.

Be responsible with our resources, and please get those kids outside.

See you out there!

Leave No Child Inside

Matt Haag is an Idaho Fish & Game Conservation Officer.Reach him at mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 15

BOAT SAFELY

Idaho boaters may find themselves in a hurry to get on the lake before it manages to snow again, but a little boat safety refresher course will make enjoying our various water opportunities safer for all.

A free training program is offered online at www. boat-ed.com/id/index. htm. Take the class at you’re leisure then, when you’re ready, pay just $15 for the online test and get your Idaho boater certification card. Although not required by the state, this card can not only represent your knowledge of boating safety rules, but may also qualify you for less expensive boat insurance.

In addition, “Boat Idaho” courses are available through the Sheriff ’s Department’s Marine Division: call 208263-8417.

Some things to bear in mind: your boat must be registered with the state; if not the state of Idaho, then the state were it is principally used. Make sure you have those life jackets— Idaho law states if boating on a vessel that is 19 feet in length or less, children 14 years of age and younger must wear an approved PFD while the vessel is underway and every person on board a personal watercraft and any person being towed behind a vessel must wear a Coast Guard approved Type I, II, III or V PFD. Ski belts do not meet this requirement and should be carried aboard as excess equipment only.

Although a boat license is not required to pilot a boat in Idaho waters, the law requires a boater “to exercise the degree of care necessary to prevent endangering life, limb, or property.”

Weevils get a chance to

Do Their Thing A new tool for fighting Eurasian watermilfoil will be introduced this summer in Lake Pend Oreille following a successful fundraising campaign by the Partners for Milfoil Control.

The Partners announced Wednesday, Earth Day, that more than $175,000 has been raised from private foundations, government grant programs, businesses, in-kind donations, and individual contributions from the community to implement a control and research project using tiny native insects that feed on milfoil.

Members of the partnership expressed appreciation for the support of the community and grantors. More than $13,000 was raised in the past three months from individual contributions alone, helping to make the project possible for this summer.

“It’s really great to see such broadbased support for finding alternatives to the application of herbicides in our beautiful Lake,” said Diane Williams of the Tri-State Water Quality Council. “Now that the funding goal of this ambitious project has been met, we will turn our attention to research design and project implementation.”

Tri-State is the fiscal sponsor for the project, and secured grants from Avista Corp., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and local private foundations. Partners for Milfoil Control also includes the Selkirk Conservation Alliance, Panhandle Environmental League, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, Sandpoint Mothers for Safe Water, and the Idaho Conservation League.

The project also benefits from inkind contributions from EnviroScience, a Midwestern-based company that specializes in stocking weevils to fight milfoil, and from Dr. Michelle Marko of Concordia College, who will be conducting independent research on the efficacy of the weevils to control Eurasian milfoil.

The Partners are working with members of the Bonner County Aquatic Invasive Species Task Force to assist with decisions such as stocking and control locations. EnviroScience will be collecting, propagating and stocking the weevils.

The Tri-State Council will form a technical advisory committee to oversee the

design and implementation of the two-year research component that aims to produce credible, scientific data and a published, peerreviewed research paper on the project results.

Coordination is necessary to make sure that herbicide treatments planned for the summer do not overlap with weevil stocking or control areas. The county estimates that 700 to 1,000 acres of milfoil are still in Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River.

State funding the last three years has been primarily directed toward herbicides, with a small portion going toward diver hand-pulling and bottom barriers. The state funding could be in its last year, however, leaving the county and others wondering how to continue the milfoil control program.

Community concern over the potential effects of applying hundreds of thousands of gallons of herbicides into the Lake Pend Oreille watershed was the primary catalyst for the weevil project.

The weevil is a biological control tool that could provide ongoing milfoil management in some areas of the lake at a lesser cost than other options. Plans are now being made to collect native weevils and rear them in aquariums. The plan is to release approximately 50,000 weevils among three to five lake locations yet to be determined.

“There’s been so much interest in weevils as a management tool,” said Susan Drumheller of the Idaho Conservation League. “It’s about time we gave them a chance to do their thing.”

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 16

LAND MANAGEMENT

by Michael White

a greenhouse is also a very prudent idea which can greatly increase the growing property, most notably to hold the season and help compensate for less than high ground, have clear visibility of perfect farming land.

Water is, of course, of utmost approach routes and if possible a means importance and while I do believe that of preventing wheeled vehicles from entering your property (but let’s face it, fresh, fishable water is the best to have as individuals or a small group, we can on your property, it is not a necessity. A not actually protect a property from a good producing spring, which can gravity real military force with say tanks, aircraft, feed to your dwelling, would be second best but a good well with a hand pump Because of my background in natural etc…). Realistically one could only hope for backup will work too. to protect against civil unrest, i.e. roving resources and land management, as a I think it very important to be real estate agent, I specialize in land, groups who want to steal resources or bordering or in walking distance to the ranches and homes with acreage. I have a majority of the population who find vast areas of public lands which our area several alternative energy properties themselves unprepared and then may boasts. The private lands would quickly vote to go collect the resources of others listed and one has a huge become hunted out, if the underground house on it. general population were to So, because of these things, need to live off of the land.

I have seen a marked Therefore, the ability to be able increase in clients who to go out on regular hunting are looking for “survival trips, on foot, would become of properties.” Perhaps they paramount importance, given want to prepare for a that motorized transportation collapse of the financial may no longer be available. infrastructure, a collapse It would be important that of energy infrastructure, or the land you choose have areas a collapse of governmental which would be suitable for institutions. Some want raising livestock too, which to prepare for the “end does not necessarily mean you days” as prophesied need plowable pastures, even in their religion, some for horses, but rather some want to be prepared for larger areas of relatively flat a world war which may or gently slopped land which affect the continent or just the animals could live on, and You might not find a piece of property with everything you want, be prepared for natural hopefully do some seasonal but if you’re looking for ‘survival property,’ there’s a number of disasters such as meteor foraging on. Open forest is fine impacts, polar shift, things to look for that are readily available locally. for all types of stock, including massive volcanic eruption, who are prepared, for the “benefit” of horses and cattle, but especially goats earthquakes, global warming, global the whole… but I will leave further and sheep which can live most anywhere cooling, or all of the above. discussions of that for the experts in this but do require a source of food during the Their reasons are varied, but they all area, which I am not one. winter months, which goes back to your share a desire to be self-sustainable and Good sun exposure is of great gardening capabilities. not have to rely on the infrastructure of importance for being able to grow your Overall the land you choose, or have, the modern world, as much as is possible, own produce, as is land with good flat should have reliable water, an area of good or have a place to retreat to and live areas to put your garden on, hopefully sun exposure which can be made into a off the land if needed. Some think this with some decent topsoil. Generally, most garden area and be within a reasonable mentality is eccentric or plain crazy but forest soils can be converted into garden distance to large areas of public lands. others think it wise while most remain land with clearing, and adding alkaline to There are many alternative energy options indifferent. I believe it is simply a great make the soil less acidic, but most any soil too, but these are not absolutely necessary. country lifestyle which brings a certain can be made better with added manure, It would be prudent, however, to be peace of mind on many levels. compost, etc… It is important and not prepared to be able to cook and heat with But what is a “survival” property and widely known that adding wood chips and a good, old-fashioned wood fire which, what are the elements one looks for in or bark to gardens can induce nutrient in the long run, may be the only reliable choosing or even developing this type of deficiencies and should be avoided. source of energy we have available. property? It does depend to some degree I believe it is important not so much to For more extensive information on what your idea of how the need for such choose a property which has perfect soil this topic contact me through my web property will unfold. Specifically do you for gardening, as it is to make sure the site and I can offer much more specific believe you will need to protect the property has a place which can be made information or direct you to several good property by force of arms? If so, there are into a good garden. Building or buying sources for survival preparedness. added components of defensibility of the May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 17

Wolves- Continued from page ecosystem, nor on an objective poll of the general populace’s attitudes towards wolves. What hunters’ desire is what IDFG strives to provide. It is revealing that, this fall, IDFG is going to open an unheard of seven-month hunting season on wolves— this for an animal fresh off the endangered species list. In the Lolo Pass area alone, IDFG is planning to virtually exterminate wolves with a plan to kill 100 wolves— supposedly to protect elk. It is readily apparent, as writer George Wuerthner observes, that “state wildlife agencies are not the objective, scientific, wildlife managers that they claim to be” and that they “only tolerate predators as long as they are not permitted to play a meaningful ecological role.”

According to the US Fish & Wildlife Service (and IDFG) the current population of about 5,500 gray wolves in the continental U.S. is “healthy.” Apparently an increase in the numbers of wolves will result both in dramatic reductions in populations of elk, deer and moose and harm the overall health of wolves themselves. It is worth observing that estimates of the pre-Columbus gray wolf population in the U.S. range from one million to 1.5 million. A “healthy” 5,500 wolves is a mere 0.4 percent of that original population. By contrast the preColumbus population of white tailed deer is estimated to have been about 30 million and today at about 25 million (83 percent).

The pre-Columbus population of elk was estimated at 10 million and today at one million (10 percent).

In his superb book, Where The Wild Things

Liberals—Cont’d from page likely be in a position where they could afford to purchase one. (Remember, one of the biggest challenges to the liberal revolutionaries in 1775 (and before) was obtaining weapons for a populace too poor to own them.) Without liberals, evangelical Christians would not be able to argue their agenda, because they would all be members of the Church of England, submitting to what their clergy and their King told them to believe. Without liberals, conservatives would be less concerned with what others do in the bedroom than with what they do themselves; for example, their high divorce rates. I suggest it’s worth remembering that we all have something of value to bring to the table.

I am proud that in the 400 years since my ancestors first set foot on the American continent their descendents have maintained a spirit of liberalism, of adventure, and of believing that we can do better. It seems that both nature and nurture suggest I can do no less.

Were: Life, Death, And Ecological Wreckage In A Landscape of Vanishing Predators, science writer William Stolzenburg lays out 100 years of painstaking scientific observations that convincingly demonstrate how crucial top predators, such as wolves, are to the complete well-being of ecosystems— including healthy populations of deer, elk, and moose. Famed ecologist Aldo Leopold poetically wrote “just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer.” Leopold’s words are borne true as observations at Yellowstone National Park demonstrate that the diversity of species and the overall health of the flora and fauna in the Park has dramatically increased since the reintroduction of wolves over ten years ago. It should seem glaringly obvious that IDFG’s, or indeed, any state wildlife management agency’s predator management plan, is a very poor substitute for of millions of years of co-evolution.

Finally, it is worth noting that in the past 300 years there have been a sum total of four possible wolf-related human fatalities in the United States—all of them prior to 1911. By comparison there are 4.7 million dog bite victims annually in the U.S. with 33 fatalities in 2007 and 23 in 2008.

It is also worth noting that despite 5,000 years of demonization about 60 percent of Americans do not perceive wolves as the ultimate bogeyman in the woods and are in favor of rational wolf recovery. Sadly, the opinions of those 60 percent are hardly ever heard because they are neither hunters nor ranchers, but just ordinary people.

To learn more about wolves visit the International Wolf Center at www.wolf. org which provides objective educational programs on wolves.

Stephen Augustine is a member of the Northern Rockies Wolf Group. Wolf photos

by Quapaw (cover) Michael Lorenzo (page 4) and John Mason (above right), used with permission.

Wolves Locally

Calder Mountain (ID)—There were no radio collars associated with this pack in 2008. This pack was a documented border pack tallied by Idaho and likely spends some time in Montana.

Biologist documented the presence of wolves in June and August. Public observations of up to 5 wolves were reported. This pack was not implicated in any livestock depredations.

There were no wolf mortalities documented for this pack. The minimum number of wolves for this pack was not verified, reproduction was not verified and the pack was not counted as a breeding pair for 2008.

Game Management Unit (GMU) 2—This wolf group was newly documented in 2008. There were no radio collars associated with this group in 2008. Recurring reports from the public of 2 or 3 wolves in 2008 and an observation of 2 adult wolves by an IDFG employee indicate that this wolf group exists in the northern portion of GMU 2. This group was not implicated in any livestock depredations. There were no wolf mortalities documented for this group. The minimum number of wolves for this group was estimated at 2.

Cutoff Peak (ID)—northeast of Bonners Ferry.

This pack was newly documented in 2008. There were no radio collars associated with this pack in 2008. This pack was a documented border pack tallied by Idaho and likely spends some time in Canada. IDFG personnel established the minimum pack size of 9 wolves, including 4 pups. Analysis of further information warranted a retroactive classification of documented pack for 2007. Trapping efforts were unsuccessful, in part due to the requirements of trapping wolves in grizzly bear country. This pack was discovered in the vicinity of cattle on a U.S. Forest Service grazing allotment although the pack was not implicated in any livestock depredations. There were no wolf mortalities documented for this pack. This pack was counted as a breeding pair for 2008.

DI LUNA’S PRESENTS

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May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 18

Currents LOU SPRINGER| nox5594@blackfoot.net The dinner tables are cleared, the mysterious bumps and bulges in the closed red plush curtains have ceased and the Heron Players begin to clap in cadence and sing: “We’re the Heron Players, the misery slayers, You know we’re gonna’ take on the world one day.

Got makeup on our face—ain’t no disgrace.

Spreading laughter all over the place.

We will, we will rock you, rock you We will, we will rock you, rock you So you came to watch a play, I just want to say, That we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Got make up on our face, ain’t no disgrace.

We will, we will rock you, rock you We will, we will rock you. Rock You!” The audience feels a surge of excitement.

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The curtain opens and a world of cornpone floods forth. Maturing from the brainchild of Kathy Hale in 1995, the Heron Players produce two wildly entertaining plays each year to raise funds for the Heron Community Center.

In 1993, the Noxon School Board suggested selling the Heron school property; four acres, one small rental house, a converted teacherage holding the privately-funded Laurie Hill Library, a brick building containing four classrooms, and a large, wooden 100-year old building housing a gym and lunch room. The school and gym had been boarded shut for nearly ten years after the school mill levy had failed, for the third time, to pass. Most people in the community were still angry at each other over this contentious choice.

It was one of those nasty, cut-off-yourown-nose-to-spite your-face battles and the community was still shattered. Only a common threat could reunite the small town, and the threat of forever losing the resource energized the local population.

They organized, secured a 301 nonprofit status, attended endless, sometimes contentious school board meetings, and followed the vision of Stella Sellmer. She had faith that the school board would give the property to Heron.

February 1994 brought a victorious crowd, armed with crowbars to reopen the buildings. Folks soon realized that the battle had just begun. It takes a lot of money to maintain old buildings, to create a kitchen that follows state food safety standards, to pay insurance. Volunteer labor only goes so far. While local guys could replace the roof, materials had to be purchased.

Enter Kathy Hale with her brainchild: present a play and charge admission.

That first play, Flora’s Flower Shop, was received so well a group of shameless showoffs organized themselves as the Heron Players. Realizing that serving food would bring in more money, the Players found themselves in the kitchen. Members were creating sets, cooking pot roasts, serving patrons, and learning lines. Since some of the best cooks, such as Jo McLinden, were also the best actresses, the cooking chores were eventually turned over to local caterers.

The Heron Players have presented 26 Dinner Theaters. Every October and every

April five performances of the home grown cornpone is served up to audiences. Each play is written by the actors, and often rewritten as practices continue. Every play demonstrates the Heron connection: gangsters stranded when a mud slide wrecks a train at Heron in the 20s; Kings of the Heron realm joust, characters congregate at the Heron Diner and graduates connect at the Heron High School Reunion.

The audience is not expected to merely observe, often the audience is part of the show. In the USS Heron, some of the audience was encouraged by Helga, the authoritarian activities officer, “Ve haff our ways,” to do the limbo. In Speakeasy, Don’t Mumble patrons had to show their identification to faux FBI agents. October plays have held costume contests with prizes for the winners.

The gags are hilarious; my favorite occurred in medieval Heron when the town idiot, always carrying a headless, plucked rubber chicken, suddenly threw it at jousting kings, yelling,” Foul Play!” A close second would have to be when the hillbilly cruise winner enters stage right wearing a toilet seat protector around her neck. “There’s plenty of lobster bibs in the bathroom.”

With half the money raised going directly to the Heron Community Center, the rest has gone into remodeling the old gym to create a welcoming theater. Gone are the mesh screens across the dirty windows, the water-stained ceiling tiles, and the mildewed bathrooms. A balcony supports the lighting technicians, sound and video equipment. A permanent stage, floor length drapes and good lighting has created not only a pleasant theater; the building serves Senior Citizen events, reunions, parties, dances and retreats. During a train wreck, volunteers provided meals and cots in the building for emergency workers. It has become the heart of Heron.

The Spring Dinner Theater, The Regina Travelogues, demonstrated a mature and talented cast performing at their best.

The sets, created by Debbie Lyman, were the most sophisticated yet. A plane wreck, denoted by lights, sounds and shadow, and a sinking boat proved that the crew has full control of fantasy.

The Heron Players are like Iowa farmers checking their crop: Outstanding in their field of corn.

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 19

FESTIVAL at SANDPOINT The

Join us by the tent for the Festival at Sandpoint’s 27th Annual Summer Concert Series August 6-16, 2009 This year’s stellar lineup will be announced on Friday, May 15.

Visit our website at www.FestivalAtSandpoint.com to learn who will be singing under the stars this year!

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Early Bird Season Passes Only $169 (plus tax and city parks fee) for all eight nights of music!

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Page 20 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Spilled Milk & Skinned Knees

By Dustin Gannon

It’s been over a month since I last wrote for this newsmagazine which can only mean one thing—I am way past my deadline once again. Mostly because I’m lazy, and partly because it’s extremely hard to find something worth taking the time to write about. Had the Steelers not won the Superbowl the NFL Draft might have been a little more exciting for me. However, it was full of enthusiasm nonetheless.

A good friend that I went to high school with, Clayton Hewitt, was being considered by several NFL teams on draft day. In the first round the obvious pick was drafted first and Matthew Stafford went to the Lions. The Lions don’t really have much of a supporting cast for Stafford to work with, so to say he is the key to that team would be a stretch. I do, however, think that he can be a foundation for the team to build from.

Another pick that I thought was really good for a team was Michael Crabtree to the ‘Niners. My roommate Mikey is a solid San Fran Fan so it kills me to say that I like a player on that team, but Crabtree is an outstanding athlete. The ‘Niners have drafted someone that looked a lot like Crabtree and that player was named Owens. This receiver will play a lot like T.O. and I can only hope that the fiascoes don’t come along with it because this guy is legit.

Another interesting pick is Mark Sanchez to the Jets. I have no beef with the Jets but they really screwed up here. Matt Leinhart was a good quarterback when he was at USC. He won a championship, the Heisman and the hearts of southern Californians. However, he has been a total bust in the NFL. Some players are just better in college. Sanchez, on the other hand, has not won the hearts of the people, he hasn’t won a championship, and heand did increase nutrients, such as nitrogen

This septic pilot project is being Lightning Creek introduced in order to comply with water quality standards as Park determined& by the Trailer Federal Clean Water Act. Designated to Storage protectMini water quality, the plan, known as • Mobile Home Spaces a “Total Maximum Daily Load” for Lake • Boat and RV Storage Pend Oreille, addresses nutrient issues

• Large and Small Storage 5x10 • 8x10 • many 10x10 •lakeshore 8x16 In addition, homeowners participated in a survey 10x20 • 10x30 in 2007 concerning a variety of water 208-266-1574 quality issues. As is turns out, their

not win the Heisman. When he played for the Trojans—key word, Trojans—he started less than 20 games in his career.

Back to my key word, he played for USC. They send virtually every position into the draft every year. He was completely surrounded by talent which helped him win the games that he did. I’m saying it right now, Mark Sanchez will be nothing but a good backup quarterback in the NFL. The Broncos surprised me this year when they drafted Terrell Davis again. He’s about 15 years younger now and changed his name to Knowshon Moreno. Moreno is a fast back with enough size that defenses won’t underestimate him. I wish the Steelers would’ve been able to draft Brian Orakpo. He’s a defensive end but I think he would be perfect in the 3-4 defense playing as an outside linebacker. Good thing the Redskins use a 3-4 because he can be utilized in several positions there.

The Raiders picked up Darius HeywardBay and I think he is an explosive receiver, but the Raiders have absolutely nobody to throw to him. I think they messed up by letting Josh Freeman slip to the Buccaneers. All Tampa needed was a quarterback they could believe in and Jeff Garcia is just the guy that can fill in the blanks here and there.

I also like the Eagles pick in Jeremy Maclin. He’ll be perfect playing the slot next to DeSean Jackson and they will be a huge threat for defenses around the league. Another wide receiver that will be good for his team is Percy Harvin to the Vikings. They have a freak of a running back and now all they need is a reliable quarterback. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the Vikings had a deep playoff run this year.

Well, there’s my take on the draft this yearwebsite and I think we’ll be seeing a lot Council at tristatecouncil.org.

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of standout rookie receivers this year.

My pick for rookie of the year is going to be Knowshon Moreno. The Broncos have always been a good running team and without Cutler in the lineup they’ll be turning to the legs of Moreno to win games.

So now that the draft is over I noticed that the familiar name of Clayton Hewitt had not come up. I was sad at this because all of us here have so much faith in Clayton and we are so proud of him. I don’t think he realizes how much the kids that go to Clark Fork High School look up to him for what he has done, even the kids that were in his class, including myself. We all look up to Clay because he is such a hard worker and a perfect example that if you work hard for what you want in life, you really can get it no matter what it is.

Clayton didn’t get picked in the draft, but neither did Willie Parker and he’s starting for the best team in the league.

The last time I talked to Clay he said he’s talking with teams to try and get an invite to their spring training camps so he can show them what he’s made of. He’s got the size and speed he needs to play in the NFL, it’s just one thing that he has more than anybody I know. Something that the NFL coaches and scouts have a hard time noticing but I’m sure they will notice it in Clay. He’s got heart, and in life, that’s all you need.

Worth Wading | www.RiverJournal.com Vol 17 No. 18 |Wading November 2008| |www.RiverJournal.com Page 5 MayThrough 2009| The River Journal - A News| Magazine Worth Through | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 21

FOCUS ON EDUCATION

Ready! 4 Kindergarten Making a Difference I’ll be the first to admit it; I love rituals and the rites of passage that accompany them. I will never forget receiving my Bobcat Pin at my first Cub Scout meeting at Mont Downing Elementary School. With my hat neatly hugging my head and the golden hued pin on my chest, I felt like a hero despite doing nothing other than donning the blue uniform and learning the Cub Scout Code....Buc Tuocs Edocs for those of you who missed this rite of passage!

This pinning rivals my first day of kindergarten on the Excite-O-Meter. I can still recall that first day of school; the smell of the lunchroom, my nap space, milk bottles, and the glory of snack time are all etched into my senses. I can still smell the lunchroom and see my Steve Canyon lunch box. Little did I know that as I grew older other rites of passage would occur that were mostly glorious events, with a few difficult moments thrown in simply to help me keep life in perspective. Count my first date, the initial solo trip in the family car, the first wreck in the family car shortly thereafter, religious ceremonies, voting in my first Presidential election, and my first job, as significant rites of passage that seem as if they happened yesterday. My guess is that as you read this article some of your memories found their way to the front of your brain. Smile and recognize that most of us have gone through these rites given our place and time of birth, heritage, and society.

Sharing a common heritage/culture allows us to appreciate some of the memories mentioned above. It is a thread that ties us together in a society that, at times, appears to be bent on everyone “doing their own thing”. Rituals and rites o f passage change over time and they reflect our changing society. Beyond that, we have grown into a country of many diverse groups. With these groups comes a richness in the fabric of our society, but at the

same time a shift in which activities seem important. However, as our society evolves, one event continues to be a constant across our nation that allows millions of people to share a common memory. That event is high school graduation.

One could travel from Idaho to Florida, and all places in between, and ask people about their high school graduation from both public and private schools. The stories would be strikingly similar with some minor variations on a theme. Some that immediately come to mind are: seniors doing their best to finish final projects, another senior just coasting who is not allowed to graduate much to the dismay of classmates, one faculty speaker who is funny, one who is predictably boring, a great speech by a somewhat uninhibited senior that is loved by the students but manages to offend all parents, aunts and uncles who have traveled from Chicago and those who judge these types of events, receiving a diploma and a sweaty handshake simultaneously, switching the tassel (Which way does that go, anyway?), someone telling you that “high school is the best time of your life”... I hope not... and walking out with your best friend... girlfriend... or boyfriend. What a time to remember!

The beauty of high school graduation is that it doesn’t matter which part of our country you call home. It looks much the same in Texas as it does in New York. It doesn’t matter if you moved to the US from another nation and learned English in your last few years of high school. You could have spent 10 years in a Somali refugee camp before coming to our country, studying and then graduating. The event doesn’t care if you are rich, poor, or somewhere in between. It makes no difference if you live in the city or the country. To graduate high school triggers a common, cultural memory.

In our country, it is one of a disappearing number of commonly shared memories that transcend place and time. It is a commonly shared event for literally millions of Continued on page 37

By Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent

Dick Cvitanich | 208.263.2184 ext 218 | dick.cvitanich@lposd.org Page 22 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Love Notes

MARIANNE LOVE | www.slightdetour. blogspot.com | billmar@dishmail.net

Women of Wisdom

Five more area women have received public notification of their wisdom. This is the eleventh year that a local committee known as Women Honoring Women has sought nominations for the Women of Wisdom Life Achievement honor.

I’ve been present several times over the years when the winners were chosen from among a field of nominees, and I can tell you it’s no easy task. Recently, after sifting through more than a dozen nominations, many with multiple letters, the committee chose Helen Williams-Baker, Betty Faletto, Bobbie Huguenin, Ginny Jensen and Lois Miller.

A festive luncheon at the Tango Cafe at Panhandle State Bank, Saturday, June 13 will serve as the venue for the women to be formally introduced and to officially receive their hand-crafted WOW pin, along with other mementos and kudos. Families, friends, past WOW honorees and committee members will gather at the luncheon to celebrate each honoree. To obtain tickets on a first come, first-serve basis, call Diane Stockton at 208-290-6362.

Each year virtually everyone in attendance comes away from the WOW event both moved and inspired by yet another class of honorees who have performed monumental, selfless, sometimes very public or sometimes

behind-the-scenes works to make this community a better place and to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.

I did not participate in voting the first year when Marsha Olgilvie and her friends started the program, which has since become a much-anticipated annual affair each June in Sandpoint. That year, the committee invited me to be their guest speaker when they honored ten women, both living and deceased.

My task was very fulfilling on that occasion because, while preparing my speech, I could find a way where several honorees, like Pat Venishnick, Mary Parker, Jean Brown, Ann Cordes etc., had played a positive role in my life.

Since then, I’ve been a committee member several times, and like other WHW members, have been blown away by the achievements of each year’s honorees.

I have a feeling that this year will be no exception, especially after reading the nomination letters.

It’s fun to consider what really constitutes and fosters wisdom in any human being, and I would dare to say that the WOW women do not have a monopoly on the market, nor do women, in general.

I’ve known a lot of wise men too. I would also suggest that most human beings acquire and replenish their supplies of wisdom simply by living life and learning how to cope in any environment beyond their immediate control.

Sandpoint’s contingent of Women of Wisdom gain their honor through a few institutional rules and by sharing many common traits. First, they must be at least 65. They must be nominated, and their contributions must have had an impact locally. Finally, they must be selected by the WHW committee who pore over the many poignant letters and discuss the qualities of each candidate, eventually having to choose.

Throughout the years, I have observed that those selected not only have a “resume,” filled with remarkable public achievements, but they also share innate qualities that inspire respect, love, admiration and even the acronym for the honor itself, i.e., a “WOW” factor.

Women of Wisdom, like 81-year-old Lois Miller, who’s best known for her work with Panhandle Special Needs, Inc. and a recipient

of the most recent Chamber of Commerce “Citizen of the Year,” possess impressive “can do” approaches to challenges. In one of Lois’ nomination letters, the “I can do this,” approach reverberated throughout many trials and tragedies within her life.

“Through it all, she always pulls herself up, brushes herself off and says, ‘O.K. I can do this!’” writes Erin Renstschler. “And she does it with enthusiasm, strength and a get-it-done attitude, but most of all with love.”

Ginny Jensen, long known for her tireless efforts as executive director of Pend Oreille Arts Council, reflects other WOW women as a leader who starts from scratch, uses her organizational skills, gathers a team of workers and builds something from nothing.

Take “Art for the Soul” at Bonner General Hospital, for example, where hallway walls and rooms throughout the facility have been adorned with 400 pieces of art, mainly local. And, how about the monumental Centennial project for Sandpoint? With help from talented community volunteers, Ginny coordinated and spearheaded the film documentary of Sandpoint history known as “Bridging the Century.”

Women of Wisdom are often known for their creative enthusiasm. This year, several writers noted Betty Faletto’s highenergy and often light-hearted approach to creating unforgettable, unique venues for special events, even weddings.

“When I got married and had a reception at Hidden Lakes, she had all my friends dress as bag-lady bridesmaids, much to my husband’s chagrin and my delight,” writes Diane Stewart, who refers to Betty as a Chick in Charge. “We had to enter through a mass of crossed golf clubs, moose heads, etc., just like they do in the military (my husband was a Marine).”

Often Women of Wisdom are appreciated for the day-to-day random acts of thoughtfulness they routinely perform which just plain make a person’s day but never appear on a resume.

I can vouch for that with Community Assistance League shaker and doer, Helen Williams-Baker. She’s my neighbor out Continued on page 34

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 23

Local Food of the

Inland Northwest

Farmers’ Market

by Emily LeVine Season

In the last 10 years, the number of farmer’s markets around the country has nearly DOUBLED. May is the month of the Farmers’ Market in the Northwest. Dozens of markets re-open for the season, and we remember our joy associated with the bright colors, lively sounds, and local products offered each summer.

Farmers’ markets are the most direct, convenient, and personal way to purchase local vegetables, fruits, crafts, and baked goods. They offer the opportunity to meet the growers and ask them exactly what their practices entail.

Farmers’ Markets have become a staple in the Northwest, and are growing and evolving to include more products, events, family fun, and educational opportunities. Some markets host cooking demonstrations or workshops, horse-drawn wagon rides, arts and crafts, and bake sales for local charities. Also this year, some markets may be introducing the use of food stamps and/or credit cards to make farm fresh produce even more accessible than ever.

Of course, produce is seasonal, and you’re not about to find garden-fresh tomatoes at the market this month.

What you will find will vary by town, but most likely will include: Plant starts Salad greens Spinach Kale Swiss Chard Carrots Potatoes Parsnips Jerusalem Artichokes Crafts

Baked goods

......and more! Happy Shopping!

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

(Kootenai County Continued...)

Highway 95 & Prairie Wednsdays 4 pm-7pm 5th & Sherman, downtown CDA (208) 772-2290 www.kootenaicountyfarmers market.com Thompson Falls Market Opening Day: June 27th Saturdays 9:00am-1:00pm Lincoln Street & Maiden Lane (not the community garden site) (406) 827-3107 www.thompsonfallsmarket.com

Here are the stats on area markets: Farmers’ Market at Sandpoint Opening Day: May 2 Saturdays t 9:oo-1:oopm Wednesdays 3:oo-5:30pm Farmin Park & Jeff Jones Square Downtown Sandpoint (208) 597.3355 sandpointfarmersmarket.com Bonner’s Ferry Farmers Market Opening Day: April 25 Saturdays 8:00-1:00pm Vistor’s Center parking lot, Hwy 95.

(208) 267-7987 bonnersferryfarmersmarket.org

Hope Farmer’s Market Opens in June Fridays 3:00-6:00pm Hope Community Center Highway 200 & Centennial (208) 263-1352 Clark Fork Farmer’s Market Saturdays 9:00-2:00pm Clark Fork, ID Hwy 200, Mile Marker 54 208-266-1245 Clark Fork River Market Missoula, MT Opening Day: May 2 Saturdays 8:00- 1:00pm Under Higgins Ave. Bridge www.clarkforkrivermarket.com/

Kootenai County Farmer’s Market Opening Day: May 9 Saturdays 8:00am-1:00pm

Local Food of the Month: ASPARAGUS

Reaching skyward after a long winter’s sleep, asparagus is nature’s springtime vegetable gift.

If you’ve never had a shoot snapped straight from the ground, don’t yet declare your distaste for asparagus to the world. Instead, try this: Get to your local farmers’ market early (see above).

Buy a bunch of fresh picked asparagus. Like corn, this vegetable’s sugars break down quickly after harvest, so ask your farmer when they picked, and try to get some from today or yesterday.

Bring it home, smother it in olive oil, dash it with salt, and roast it in a hot oven until it’s bright and soft on the outside and crunchy on the inside.

NOW tell me you don’t like asparagus.

Page 24 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Duke’s

FOOD OBSESSION Sous-Vide Porterhouse—an embarassment of riches Sous-vide porterhouse. Those words together give me the chills.

Okay, that’s a bit much, but then again, that’s my life. I have come relatively late to the sous-vide banquet. Already much has been written about the technique, and the cookbooks are starting to come.

But first, what is sous-vide?

Sous-vide, or “under vacuum” in French, was developed in France

by Georges Pralus as a method for cooking foie gras. Pralus found that by vacuum-sealing and gently poaching the liver, he achieved an amazing product and also lessened very costly waste. Now, sous-vide most often entails placing the food a plastic bag, adding seasonings, vacuuming the air out and cooking the food very gently in a sometimes very low temperature water bath until it is done.

Many chefs in the U.S. have jumped on the bandwagon, most notably Thomas Keller of the French Laundry who has just published a book on the subject.

The technique offers many superlatives: tender texture, great flavor, targeted cooking temperature, as well as the aforementioned less shrinkage and waste.

Also, with cooking sous-vide, you use less seasoning and added fat so the product is healthier. For the professional, the technique gives the ability to reheat a perfectly cooked product at a later date.

The thought of a steak prepared sousvide intrigued me. It is clearly an excellent choice for fish, and items like chicken breast that are prone to overcooking and drying out. But steak? It is intriguing in that you cook to the exact temperature that you like your beef. And, with proper temperature control, you can hold it for some time, and not overcook it!

by Duke Diercks

Also, it would be meltingly tender. And, don’t forget, it would be taking a nice warm bath surrounded by seasonings.

About the only negative that I have read about with meat prepared sous-vide is that the exterior of the meat will come out grey. Not the maillard effect of browning and caramelizing.

But that’s nothing that a very hot cast-iron skillet or grill wouldn’t fix.

The star of my show was a lovely 32oz, 2” thick, 21day dry-aged porterhouse.

(The thickness with sousvide is very important: under sous-vide the thickness determines the cooking time.

For a very interesting read on this subject, check out www.egullet.com On one of the discussions, Nathan Myrhvold, the former CTO of Microsoft, posted a table of cooking times and tips. Also, there are discussions of anaerobic bacteria growth, etc.—too much for our purposes here.)

To the steak, I added approximately 2 Tb. butter, 1 tsp Kosher salt and black pepper. I sealed this in a food saver bag and submerged my beefy beauty in 130 degree water, as this was the end temperature that I wanted—a perfect medium rare.

The sous-vide porterhouse cooked for about 2 hours and 10 minutes. In most cases, a water circulator is used and highly recommended to maintain such low and constant temperatures, but I double stacked pans and finally set the water bath in those pans to allow the heat to diffuse. I used a thermometer to monitor the water temperature. For a temperature this high, it worked well.

After two hours the meat did indeed come out grey. I plopped it down on a waiting very hot grill for a 45 second sear on each side.

The end result? The inside of the porterhouse was a solid medium-rare red. All the way through. In fact, my wife commented that it was weird to have a steak without a varying degree of doneness when you cut it. The texture was butter tender.

About the only downside to this method is the lack of grill or pan-seared flavor. But, that’s something I can live with...

If you would like to see photos of my experiment, visit my blog at www. bbq-recipes-for-foodies.com/sous-videporterhouse.html.

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May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 25

Gary Payton’s

Faith Walk

Our North Country is at last alive with the bursting of spring! Moose nibble on the supple red shoots of mountain maple.

Swallows dart here and there in a frenzy of nest building. Frogs along the creek banks are alive in a chorus of croaking and, well, reproduction. Mosquitoes again buzz around our ears on evening walks.

And, the delicate umbrellas of early lupine foretell of beautiful blossoms which will delight us with color in a few short weeks.

Some human behavior even suggests spring-like renewal! A new protected wilderness area, Idaho’s Owyhee Canyonlands, was signed into law in a March White House ceremony. With a return to science-based decisions, the EPA has declared carbon dioxide and other green house gases, indeed, to be a danger to public health. And, Earth Day activities across our region again heightened awareness of ways to live more gently on the planet.

My enthusiasm for this year’s spring is encouraged by a new bible. Last year, Harper Collins released “The Green Bible,” a new imprint of the New Revised Standard Version. Old and New Testament verses dealing with God’s creation (the earth, sea, and sky, animals, and flowers, etc.) are accented in green ink. In addition to this visual emphasis, the bible is accompanied by essays from authors like St. Francis of Assisi, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, and quotes from Rev. Billy Graham, Rev. Rick Warren, even Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and more.

Alternately reading bible verses and essays, a little piece by Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Tailor grabbed my attention. So what does that “dominion” verse in Genesis really mean to me today?

The text is familiar, “And God said, ‘Let the

earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’…And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:24-26) Seems to me that one interpretation of that “dominion” word has gotten us into a whole lot of trouble over the centuries! To “better” ourselves, we and our ancestors have regularly engaged in behaviors that made species extinct, pillaged the land, polluted air and water, and generally placed our long term survival at risk. One writer suggested this interpretation of “dominion” taught people to view themselves as “superior to nature, contemptuous of it, willing to use it for our slightest whim.”

Pretty damning stuff, in my view.

Things have softened a bit in the last few decades. Now, we regularly employ an interpretation that uses the word “stewardship.”

“Stewardship” implies caring for God’s creation, protecting natural resources that are on loan to us.

All this is certainly a gentler approach, but it still suggests to me that nature and all its abundance are primarily for our use.

What then, as Taylor writes in her essay, if we understand dominion to mean “being in relationship to creation in the same way God is in relationship to creation?” In my faith walk, she shares a new idea, “…we are here to preside over the dominion of love.

Made in the divine image, we are here to love as God loves.” So, in this season of the earth’s renewal I’m looking a lot kinder on the moose, swallows, frogs, and flowers with whom I share this place. Mosquitoes?

That’s tougher to handle, but I’m working on it!

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Page 26 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

The Hawk’s Nest ERNIE HAWKS | www.photosbyhawks.com | ernie@photosbyhawks.com

Good-bye Chicken Coop

For the first time this year I’m set up outside to work. It’s a perfect spring day for taking the laptop outside, putting my feet up on a stool and letting the breeze blow through my hair. Okay the breeze is blowing over my bald head.

I love this kind of day. I enjoyed winter also, but now with spring, I’m ready to put away snow gear, equipment, skis and snowshoes. I have said winter is one of my four favorite seasons. Well, spring is another.

Last winter we were outside listening to a noiseless morning during a heavy fresh snow. It was evident we were already snowed in, not going anywhere until the roads were opened. Bundled up and sitting, protected, on our covered porch, hot coffee in hand, we were guessing it was about five feet deep in the front yard, and still falling, but not willing to dive in and get a measurement. It seemed even that small disturbance would be a violation of the serenity.

From behind us suddenly came the sound of wood cracking under stress. Logs snapping, steel twisting and tearing, and then utter silence, another loud crack, followed by nothing, wood sliding, rubbing on wood and metal, then the hush of the fresh snow morning.

We were quite sure what had happened, so headed through the house and out the back door onto the deck, with snow up to our waist. Sure enough, the old chicken

Ron’s Repair

coop at the edge of the woods had leaned hard against a couple of big firs, still swaying from the hit. All the snow was off their branches now and adding to the burden of the already overloaded roof on the ancient, unused shed.

Our reaction was: how had it lasted this long? Every fall we have wondered if it would be there in the spring.

It wasn’t completely unused, as no shelter ever is; we had a few things inside that didn’t have much value and we didn’t want in our view. There was also the squirrel condo that our cat loved to visit.

All the cat really did was terrorize the little critters. I never saw any evidence of it causing real harm. I wonder how the squirrels liked the rocking and rolling of their place collapsing.

We had talked of taking it down but had nostalgic feelings about it. It was a visual memory of the place we had purchased several years ago, the last of the old log buildings, all of which were past their prime—really past their prime. The only other one left is the house we spent two years working on and now live in. Because of that two years it is no longer the same kind of visual memory, thank God. So now it’s spring, new growth is all around on the ends and tops of the trees, grass is starting to green up around the house and new shoots are on all plants in the woods. I am sitting in the sun on the deck working.

When I look at the coop, still leaning against those trees, I think about the day, years ago this very month, when we closed

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on our home in the woods. We knew it needed some work but nothing we couldn’t handle.

We had found our log cabin, away from civilization but still close enough to infrastructure to fit into our lives. We thought we would spend the summer camping on the property and working on the house; romantic, right? At that time, my wife, Linda, had several weeks off each summer so we figured when she went back to work we would be in the house. Naïve, people said, nah…

It was a good summer, only our second together; we worked hard but loved being in “wilds” on our own place. Progress did not happen as we planned but we didn’t waiver from our plan. Friends would stop in and say “Wow, you have a lot of work to do.” Or, “Boy this is a big job you’ve taken on.”

Finally it was time for Linda to go back to work and we were still camping. Our plan, now, was to get enough done and closed up so we could live in part of it.

A couple weeks after she went back to work we got up one morning in the tent. It was 28 degrees. Fixing coffee on a camp stove at 4:30 am, Linda announced we were going to stop work on the house and focus on the outbuilding that would someday be our shop. It had a stove, and with a few days of work, could be a rather primitive home—primitive but not a tent.

It became a passable home for two years.

Naïve? Romantic?

That was many years ago. We now live in the log cabin, even got married a few years back and are starting another year on our little paradise.

The last of the old look needs to become firewood. I’ll kind of miss it but there isn’t any choice now. With the snow gone we can get to the coop so I’m trying to figure the best way to finish the job the snows of last winter, and time, started.

One thought, I bet you have already had it, is hook a chain to it and drive away. That would do it, but I’m hoping for a little more controlled dismantling that would finish what time began. I don’t think that is naïve or romantic, but it will be gone and we will have a clear view into the woods.

Nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be.

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 27

A Holistic Approach to Irritable Bowel Syndrome by the Sandpoint Wellness Council www.SandpointWellnessCouncil.com

A Chiropractic Approach Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common disorders that doctors see in practice. One in 5 Americans experiences this disorder, yet it is not talked about very often because of embarrassing signs and symptoms. These may include abdominal cramping, bloating and gas, diarrhea and constipation or both. Irritable bowel syndrome does not cause inflammation in the bowel, changes in bowel tissue, or an increase in colorectal cancer but it really affects activities of daily living.

Irritable bowel syndrome is not a disease. It is defined as a functional disorder, meaning the bowel is not functioning properly. The muscles and nerves in the bowel act extra sensitive in those individuals with IBS. After eating, the muscles of the bowel may contract too much leading to cramping and diarrhea. Also, when the bowel stretches due to food moving through it, the extra sensitive nerves lead to pain and cramping.

Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome usually includes dietary modifications, stress relief, and medication.

Another factor that could possibly cause or affect IBS is spinal dysfunction.

If the spinal nerves that supply the bowel are being irritated from spinal dysfunction at those levels, this could potentially lead to extra sensitive nerves as well as muscle spasms in the bowel itself. Chiropractors described these spinal dysfunctions

as vertebral subluxations. Vertebral subluxations occur when the joints of the spine are misaligned, get stuck, or don’t move right. This leads to irritation of the surrounding spinal nerves which can affect any of the tissues these nerves supply. The nerves that supply the bowel come off the spine from the thoracic 11 to lumbar 3 levels in the middle to lower back. Therefore, a vertebral subluxation at any of these levels could potentially cause irritable bowel type symptoms. Chiropractors treat these vertebral subluxations with adjustments to the spine at the level of the misaligned vertebra. The adjustment is a controlled force done by hand or instrument into the stuck joint to restore its normal motion.

Restoring this motion removes the irritation of the surrounding spinal nerves and returns balance to the nervous system and the tissues being supplied.

Dr. Will Mihin, Chiropractor owns The North Idaho Spine Clinic in Sandpoint (208)265-2225.

A Homeopathic Approach Six homeopathic remedies should be considered for irritable bowel syndrome.

1. Argentium Nitricum (silver nitrate) for the impulsive, claustrophobic individual with an anxiety about their health. 2.

Colocynthis (cucumber) when abdominal pains improve with pressure and/or bending over but is gets worse when one is angry or easy to anger, frustrated, or indignant. 3.

Lilium Tigrinum (Tiger-lily) for the hurried person with great irritability or rage who experiences diarrhea in the morning upon waking. 4. Lycopodium (club moss) for the person with a sense of inferiority they constantly try to overcome, with strong sweet cravings, who have loud rumblings in the abdomen, and who become bloated or feel worse after eating even a small amount of food. 5. Natrum Carbonicum (carbonate of sodium) for gentle refined people whose symptoms of indigestion become worse from exposure to the sun, have weak digestion, and who experience stomach pains from drinking milk. 6. Nux Vomica (poison nut) for the workaholic, irritable and impatient person that craves spicy foods, fat, alcohol, coffee and tobacco. Their cramping sharp stomach pains become worse from anger, tight clothes, warmth to the body, and warm drinks. As always consult your homeopath for the best prescription.

Chris Rinehart, Homeopath, can be reached at (208) 610-0868 A CranioSacral Therapy Approach Irritable bowel syndrome can be one of the most painful and potentially dangerous chronic conditions to experience. Over the years it can become increasingly worse, may cause degeneration to the colon if left unaddressed , and sometimes leads to the removal of part of the intestines.

CranioSacral therapy can by no means cure this condition, but it can alleviate some of its symptoms. By utilizing gentle tissue release techniques, the CS practitioner can help the intestines, pelvic bowl, and abdominal muscles to relax. This gives much needed relief from the constant churning and cramping clients experience with this health issue. Some experts say that IBS can be caused or worsened by emotional stress. CranioSacral therapy helps with calming the nervous system, thus allowing for deep rest. As a result, many clients experience lower stress levels and feel more relaxed in their bodies.

Ilani Kopiecki, CMT, Certified CranioSacral Therapist, (208) 6102005 A Rolfing Approach Over the years, many of the clients who saw me for musculo-skeletal problems also reported having Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In every case, these clients’ abdomens were tenser than the norm. Up to 50% of gastroenterology referrals are related to this syndrome.

As a Rolfer, I view the body as parts that are all interconnected. Systemic tension and misalignment throughout the body can cause gut tension. The converse is also true; your gut tension will produce strain in your musculo-skeletal system, as my study Continued on next page

Page 28 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

of visceral manipulation (releasing tension specific to organs) showed me. It’s as if each organ is a balloon attached to other balloons that are attached to the inner abdominal wall. The tension of the body can affect the structure and positioning of one of these organ balloons, pulling

Often the biggest hurdle I have with my clients getting well is having them relax their stomachs so they breathe deeper, giving their organs more room and getting their deep back muscles to relax. I also tell them not to do sits-ups or crunches until they master breathing with their bellies.

them out of position, which will affect the organ’s function.

What does stress do?

Beyond structural stress, any emotional or physiological stress compounds the problem. Emotional stress builds up in your soft tissue–and your guts are all soft tissue. They can become an emotional reservoir for chronic stress. If you hold onto your feelings, you hold your guts tense. Since the colon is partly controlled by the autonomic nervous system (the survival, or fight-or-flight, nervous system) we are inescapably tied to storing chronic stress in our gut. This constant irritation creates inflammation, which produces an immune response, which many researchers tie to IBS. Trauma, both physical and emotional, can set up IBS. The physical trauma of an injury or surgery can create structural strain that affects the colon. Emotional trauma can produce post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that continually produces tension for the brain-gut axis.

What is the solution?

If structural or emotional stress is part of the cause of your IBS, you need to release that stress to achieve sustainable results. Creating a relaxed stomach is part of this. I know what you’re thinking: we’re supposed to have a tight stomach, right?

What about rock-hard abs? Six-packs? But a tight, hard gut is not healthy. Babies and animals don’t have tense stomachs; adults do because of stress and aesthetics.

When I had my clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, where we ran our Mindfulness Stress Reduction courses, we got a lot of students with IBS. By learning to relax—particularly, relax their stomachs—their conditions would improve or disappear.

Physical manipulation, such as Rolfing, is the short cut to getting your stomach to relax and stay relaxed, thereby allowing your bowel to heal. No part of your body can fully heal if it is under stress. Its resources are going to what it experiences as survival, not to healing.

Take a deep breath, breathe into your abdomen, relax your stomach … you are now on the road to healing your IBS. Owen Marcus, Rolfer, (208) 265-8440 A Physical Therapy Approach Although you may not think of Physical Therapy and irritable bowel syndrome, you may find relief with Visceral Manipulation.

This is a type of very specialized treatment that involves soft but often deep pressures to release facial restrictions around the organs. The fascia wraps our organs and muscles like a mummy and often becomes restricted following trauma, surgeries, or infection.

For more information about Visceral Manipulation, call Mary Boyd, MS, PT and owner of Mountain View Physical Therapy at 290-5575 or www.

BarralInstitute.com .

A Nutritional Approach The importance of proper diagnosis for

IBS cannot be understated, as addressing many contributing factors and finding effective solutions will bring the greatest relief to this syndrome.

From a nutritional approach, increasing dietary fiber in the diet and addressing any allergic responses, food intolerances, and sensitivities to food or chemical toxins has proven to help. Increasing natural fibers found in fruits and vegetables is a healthy way to improve symptoms. Oftentimes people choose to add wheat bran and wheat products as their fiber choices. This must be closely monitored for results, as wheat is often an allergen for many people.

As well, in certain cases of diarrhea, fiber can make things worse. Gently cooking vegetables at first may be a solution for those with diarrhea.

According to Michael Murray in his Textbook of Natural Medicine, he reports the high association with food allergies in studies undertaken on IBS since the 1990s. “Foods rich in carbohydrates, . . . fatty foods, coffee, alcohol, [refined sugars], and hot spices are most frequently reported to cause symptoms.” He further reports that many people are also sensitive to dairy and grains. By undertaking an elimination diet, where one food at a time is completely removed from one’s diet, and then noting any symptom relief begins the process of understanding, finding specific sensitivities, and eliminating them as causes of IBS. Krystle Shapiro, LMT, Touchstone Massage Therapies, (208) 290-6760 For more information, visit these resources on the web: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Irritable_bowel_syndrome; www. mothernature.com / Librar y/ Bookshelf/ Books/21/143.cfm; www.nlm.nih.gov/ medlineplus/irritablebowelsy ndrome. html; www.aboutibs.org; www. positivehealth.com /ar ticle-list. php?subjectid=64

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 29

The Green Fire

“They cannot scare me with their empty spaces, between stars... on stars, where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home, to scare myself in my own desert places.” - Robert Frost

In ThE

Valley of

ShadowS

Summer, 1965, I was nine, in the third grade, three years before my experience at with Lawrence Fury the Jones’ house as related in the very first “Valley of Shadows” (aka “Bump in the Night brother and a good friend, he still was friendly... alien.

- Feb. 08). Three years earlier, I may have understandably lonely most of the time The following night, a Sunday, James had witnessed the beginning of a phenomenon without his wife. So James, as he would do just put the kids to bed and went to watch that could very well have continued for over many nights for several months, called up his some TV before hitting the sack himself.

30 years. best friend Dennis, just to talk and hear his Only the glow from the TV illuminated Dad had barbecued one of his famous, voice. the room. It was ten and the old movie he huge sirloin steaks he usually got at the meat It was just after one of these calls was watching had ended when a bright light market on the corner of Forest and Pine in January, around 11 pm, that the first suddenly appeared on the drawn curtains of St. (It’s now a rather rundown apartment unusual... happening happened. His son, his south-facing picture window. Someone building.)

Shawn, called out, “Dad?” James walked into was playing a prank, shining a flashlight We sat out under our new open-roof the boy’s bedroom to find his son sitting up from outside. But it wasn’t a round light with entrance to our garage—Dad’s idea of chic— and pointing down at the floor grate that indistinct borders, it was a sharply defined feasting on steak, Mom’s potato salad, corn circulated electric heat into his room. square. on the cob and sliced, fresh tomatoes from There was a green glow coming from Going to the door, he stepped outside Grandma’s garden. the 8- by 10-inch opening. James cautiously onto the small, wooden steps. Nothing; a After Dad cleaned the old round barbeque, approached, but there was nothing there and dark, gloomy, chilled overcast January night. we then adjourned to the front porch as the the glow rapidly faded away.

No lights, nothing but the sigh of the wind stars began coming out, guzzling Mom’s iced A few days later, some of James’ friends through distant trees. tea. got together to celebrate his independence Apprehensive, especially after the Within an hour, it was nearly full dark. and thirty-fourth birthday, though James was previous night’s experience, James backed Summer was getting long in the tooth. Mom not in a celebratory mood. into the house, locked and this time chained went in to wash dishes, Dad disappeared into But his brother Ted, best friend Dennis, the door. He may have been thirty-four, but the garage and my younger brother was in and several other friends finally talked him he had always been cursed with an overactive our room, doing whatever a six-year-old did. out to the rear of the house where the group imagination.

I sat out on the front steps, looking at had built a large bonfire. There was a midNothing more happened and the the stars and the frequent meteors. It was January thaw, the temperature was in the mysterious occurrences faded away with the probably one of the famous, annual late- thirties, the air calm. Something reminded winter as March brought balmier weather. summer showers, but at nine, I hadn’t a clue. him of his Hollywood honeymoon six years It was now warm enough that James could Anyway, one in the east/southeast caught earlier. There was the promise of better ride his bike the three miles to his job at the my attention as it wasn’t shooting across the weather over the horizon. sawmill even though it was still fairly dark in sky, but instead seemed to be coming straight Roasting hot dogs and drinking a couple the mornings, with just the beginning of a down, getting bigger and bigger. And it was of beers finally got James in a better mood. sunrise. green. I thought it was going to crash into He was divorced, but he still had family Bike light on, he was halfway to the mill my grandma’s house across the street, but and friends who cared. He actually started when something drew his attention to the of course it was miles away and came down smiling as he watched his brother and best upper right. There, about 50 feet up a row back of Contest Point in the Bottle Bay area, friend horsing around. of cedar and jack pines was a bright, square or so it appeared.

The smile, though, turned into an light about ten feet in diameter. Just like the As I watched in amazement, there was no expression of puzzlement at what he saw smaller one that had shone on his curtains sound of a crash, no big mushroom cloud, no... amid the trees about fifty feet into the two months earlier, the light had sharp nothing. The night remained quiet except for woods—a dim, green glow roughly the defined edges. the whistle of an approaching freight train on dimensions of a person, but no features. It James looked to the left to find the the tracks that once paralleled Fifth Avenue. could best be described as an LCD-like light source, but there was only the dim, predawn Nothing, supposedly, was ever found. that looked like a giant cat’s eye. landscape punctuated by the airport light No impact crater or debris, although I later He quickly called the other’s attention beacon. Could that have been it? No, the heard an unsubstantiated story that it was a to it. All turned and looked silently. One beacon’s light was diffused, aimed high into Soviet satellite. But what was with the green of his friends, Jeff, started towards it. The the sky and turned at a good clip. It couldn’t color? others called him back but he called them have been the source of the stationary square We jump to 1998. A young family here in all a bunch of chicken----s. Taking only a light 30 feet off the ground.

Sandpoint unfortunately was breaking up— few steps forward, the apparition glided James hurried the last mile to work with divorce. The mother had decided to leave for backwards with each step that Jeff took. no further incident and to this writer’s a more... challenging life on the East Coast Finally the others started forward, but the knowledge, 11 years later, has not been with someone she had met on the Internet. eerie phenomenon just continued retreating haunted by strange square lights or green Her husband James, somewhat older, but all deeper into the trees until it finally faded phantoms. If you or someone you know has in all a good guy, had retained custody of his out. a similar story, I’d appreciate hearing from son and daughter, Shawn and Drew.

They all looked at each other. “What the you. Email me at fury_larry@yahoo.com.

Living in a manufactured home west hell?” James’ brother said for all of them.

“There were ghosts that returned to earth of town, James made a comfortable life for No one had an answer except James, who to hear his phrases. They were those from the them, and as normal as possible with his then remembered the green glow from the heat wilderness of stars that had expected more.” stable job at a local sawmill. grate several nights earlier. The party mood Wallace Stevens.

Even with his two children, parents, was over, and the night now felt colder, less Page 30 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

From ThE

Files

Of The River Journal’s

SurrealisT Research BureaU Some Favorite Weird Tales of the Northwest

Occasionally in this column I like to relate to you some of my favorite “weird” news stories from our neck of the woods so here goes; The first, though not from the Northwest, I feel compelled to include solely due to its pathos and irony. M. Contena, a pastor from Sardinia, spent 30 years in prison for murder, continually protesting his innocence but to no avail.

This year the real killers were caught, confessed, and a judge ordered Contena’s release, only 12 hours before his 30-year sentence was to end and he was scheduled to be released anyway. (reported in Dublin Metro, Nov. 2008)

In other bizarre true stories from around the Northwest a police undercover agent testifying against two prostitutes in Portland, Ore., under cross examination, admitted he was given enough police department money to procure masturbation services at least six times from the A-1 Massage Parlor (from The Oregonian).

In Salmon, Ore., Baptist Minister Joe Lutz withdrew his candidacy for the US Senate when it was revealed the “family values” candidate had left his wife to live with his mistress and was thousands of dollars behind in child support. In Ashland, the teacher of the year was arrested for marijuana cultivation and in Redmond Danielle Andersen, 18, a devoutly Christian abstinence counselor, gave birth to the baby of a short-term boyfriend. Meanwhile, another perhaps too fervent Christian died of starvation over a 9-week period trapped in his car in a heavy snow in the Klamath mountains. Despite the fact he could see a busy, snow-plowed highway just 100 yards away, his diary entries reveal that DeWitt Finley, 56, had refused to leave his car because he was certain that God would send a tow truck to save him. Two boy scouts picking up roadside litter found the stalled car with Finley’s body inside still clutching his diary and Bible.

A Seattle man told a judge that he lured

his wife blindfolded to their garage by telling her he’d built a haunted h o u s e in it for Halloween.

by Jody Forest Once there he put a noose around her neck and hung her. “It seemed so much easier than getting a divorce,” he explained.

When newspaper editor Glen Sorlie died at his home in Belgrade, Mont. of natural causes late last year his wife failed to notify anyone for five days so his obituary would be published first in his own weekly newspaper the High County Press. If she had reported the death to anyone earlier his wife said, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle would have reported it first. Said Mrs. Sorlie, “He wouldn’t have wanted to be scooped on his own death.”

And finally, not a weird story but a weird inquiry. Jerome Clark, a fellow devotee of the bizarre has reported in the latest Fortean Times of his efforts to trace an old folk song. The late historian Mari Sandoz (best known for writing John Ford’s epic film “Cheyenne Autumn”) wrote her memoirs in 1966 (“Love Song to the Plains”) and in it reported hearing a ballad sung in the 30s of an early northwestern UFO sighting by a large group of railroad builders. She cited no sources, but quoted the following lyrics: “Twas a dark night in sixty-six/ When we was layin’ steel/ We seen a flyin’ engine come/ Without no wing or wheel./ It come a-roarin’ in the sky/ with lights along the side…/And scaled like a serpents hide.” If anyone recognizes this old folk song I’d appreciate the info and will forward it to Jerome.

Finally; To the Powers that be in the world today, A Warning! But to the Schools of Buddha: A letter of Admiration, and to the Dalai Lama an address of willing submission. Surrealism will burst the fetters of the mind, if need be with real hammers!

The I in illness is isolation, and the crucial letters in wellness are we.

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May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 31

A Seat in the House

by George Eskridge

211 Cedar St. Sandpoint, Idaho

208-263-3167

cmbrewster.com • cmb@netw.com BEAUTIFUL 160 WOODED ACRES WITH PRIVATE SETTING

$689,000 • Tom Renk MLS# 20900954

Level to rolling land with sunny southern exposure and tremendous views of surrounding mountains. Good building sites with super solar potential. Lots of wildlife. Borders large timber company holding. Less than half a mile off paved county road and less than 30 minutes to Sandpoint.

BEAUTIFUL 40 ACRES IN THE HEART OF THE SELLE VALLEY

$399,000•Tom Renk MLS# 20805821 Beautiful 40 acres in the heart of the Selle Valley, on little-traveled county road. Mostly level land is half fields and half wooded, with wide views of Cabinet and Selkirk mountains and Schweitzer Basin. Private, quiet setting with good access to town. Old farmstead has small frame house in disrepair.

LARGE, HARD-TOFIND ACREAGE ABOVE BAYVIEW

$375,000•Tom Renk MLS# 2081129 Great views over Scenic Bay, Lake Pend Oreille, and surrounding mountains! 37 acre piece includes beautiful forest with large trees, several potential building sites, drilled well. Both power and phone are on adjacent properties. Easy access, less than ten minutes to the lake at Bayview.

LONG ESTABLISHED HEATING & COOLING BUSINESS

$249,000 Tom Renk MLS# 20900277

Many loyal customers over the years. Includes approx. $25-30,000 in inventory, 2 vans, custom pipe trailer, and all machinery and equipment. Seller will consider short-term lease of 3300 sq. ft. building and will provide assistance to new owner to ensure a smooth transition. Lots of possibilities for expanding the business.

CUTE AND COMFORTABLE MODULAR HOME

$239,500•Tom Renk MLS# 20900350 Great floor plan & bright, cheery interior. House has fireplace, vaulted ceilings, lots of kitchen cabinets, and nice deck with hot tub. Lovely views of Lake Pend Oreille from house and deck.

Private setting with nice trees. Less than 10 minutes to Sandpoint and less than 1 mile to public waterfront access at Springy Point

In my last River Journal article I assumed that the legislature would be adjourned and members would be back home before the next issue of the Journal was published; unfortunately that was not to be. As I write this article we are in the 106th day of the sixtieth legislature; at this time the second longest session in Idaho history and getting close to making it the longest session ever.

Two major issues have kept us here longer than usual; disagreement between the House, Senate and Governor on how to accomplish personnel cost reductions to compensate for decreased revenues and the need to increase funding for maintenance of our state’s road and bridge system.

All three entities were in agreement on the need to reduce state spending for fiscal year 2010 that begins July 1 of this year, including a need to reduce personnel costs by at least 5 percent. The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee voted for an “across the board” salary reduction of 3 percent accompanied by flexibility for the Governor and his agencies to use whatever means they deemed necessary to accomplish the remaining 2 percent.

The Governor wanted a full 5 percent flexibility in accomplishing the reductions without a mandated salary reduction.

There was also a proposal to reduce personnel costs by 3 percent and fund the other 2 percent by using federal stimulus money. The Senate appeared to support the proposal but the House was opposed and the proposal was defeated.

The three entities finally agreed to the full 5 percent cut without use of the stimulus money. In addition the Governor was afforded full flexibility to administer the 5 percent cut and authorization to offset 2 percent of that decrease with budget stabilization (our state savings account) funds in December if the economy stabilizes and our economic outlook improves.

Transportation funding is the remaining issue resulting in the legislature still being in session. Last year the legislature, when confronted with the Governor’s request to raise road maintenance funding, refused to raise revenues significantly but did authorize an audit of the Idaho Transportation Department to determine how efficiently the department was being operated and to identify the actual condition of our state’s highway system.

The audit identified several measures that would increase efficiencies within the Department, several of which the Department has implemented or started to implement. The audit also indicated that we have a 300 million dollar deferred maintenance problem.

Because of this maintenance backlog Governor Otter has continued advocating an increase in the state’s gasoline tax and registration fees for cars and trucks. The Governor’s position is that the state and its taxpayers will save money in the long run because it “costs more to replace a road than to repair it.” ITD states that “without maintenance, a road may need to be reconstructed every 12 to 15 years, with proper maintenance it can last for 40 years. Reconstruction is six times more expensive than maintenance”.

Any tax legislation has to originate in the House and even though many members recognize the need to increase funding for highway maintenance, the House has refused to pass any increase in the gas tax to provide additional maintenance funding for this year.

The Governor, in an attempt to get support for his position, vetoed a number of appropriation bills in an effort to have House members reconsider their position and pass at least some minimum funding that would provide a guaranteed funding mechanism to allow ITD to do long term maintenance planning.

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

Continued on page 36

Swine Flu- Continued from page

Other good news? Eat all the sausage, Especially plagues of influenza. Global bacon and pork chops you want (or that your flu pandemics, affecting millions of people doctor will allow). Swine flu is not transmitted throughout the world, occurred in 1732, by eating pork. But consider buying it from 1781, 1830, 1833, 1889, 1918-1919, 1946, a local producer, like Woods Meat, as large1957, 1968-1970 and 1977. It’s believed that scale Controlled Animal Feeding Operations deadly pandemics potentially have occurred have been implicated in the creation and spread of harmful viruses and bacteria. at least once every generation.

The bad news? Flu viruses mutate rapidly.

Although it might be easy to assume that “it’s better safe than sorry,” in responding to The swine influenza A (H1N1) in the news the threat of a potential pandemic, the U.S. today is technically not a swine flu, or not was burned by that philosophy in 1976 when just that, as it contains genetic material from a young, previously healthy soldier at Fort pigs, birds and humans—as Pulitzer PrizeDix, New Jersey died just a few hours after winning health author Laurie Garrett points being hospitalized with what turned out to out, it could just as easily be called avian be swine flu—specifically swine influenza flu or human flu. Influenza is “a microbial A/New Jersey/H1N1. The government’s chameleon that [has] thrived over millennia response led to a massive and disastrous by rigorously adhering to a single maxim: immunization program—disastrous because adapt or die,” Garret wrote in “The Coming that version of swine flu never made it off the Plague.” This current virus is a brand new army base and never killed another person, entity on the virus scene, and we don’t yet yet 4,181 people sued the government (who know its tendency to mutate. That could be had agreed to be legally liable for vaccines a problem if this particular flu ends up in a manufactured in the face of a potential host also infected with the human influenza epidemic) after receiving the flu vaccine and (H1N1) that is resistant to the antiviral drug then developing Guillain-Barre syndrome. Tamiflu, and picks up that resistance, which it currently does not have. Garrett says she is Twenty-five died.

Dr. Harvey Fineberg, Dean of the Harvard “very, very worried,” that this might happen.

In addition, borders are simply imaginary School of Public Health, explained the government’s response to the influenza lines on a map that viruses don’t recognize. outbreak at Fort Dix: “... it’s hard to separate We have already seen that it took only ten likelihoods from consequences,” and days for swine flu cases to be reported suggested in 1976 that policy makers were throughout the world. Containment is not “overwhelmed by the consequences of being really an option. “The world really is just one village,” said premiere virologist Joshua wrong.”

Those consequences are illustrated Lederberg in the late 90s. “Our tolerance of by the 1918-1919 flu epidemic. Over one disease in any place in the world is at our billion people worldwide were made ill and own peril.” Americans tend to grumble at 21 million died—including half a million in providing foreign aid for health care (and the U.S. alone. Although no tissue and blood provide it in paltry amounts because of samples were kept from the patients of that that), yet what this virus might illustrate epidemic, tests in 1932 showed that people is that helping Mexico with health care, alive during 1918-1919 had antibodies to for example, ultimately helps us. And it swine flu, while those born in 1920 did not. goes without saying that helping our own The virus suspected for causing the worst flu poor with health care can protect the rest outbreak in American history was a swine of us—viruses don’t check to see if there’s influenza A (H1N1), a virus so virulent there money or a health insurance card in your were reports of people dying within 45 wallet before invading your body. (Editor’s note: the assumption is that this virus began minutes of first feeling ill.

But this is not 1918, which offers good in Mexico, yet there is some evidence that U.S. cases in California and Texas may have news and bad to the American public.

First, the good news. The swine flu virus occurred before the Mexican outbreak. In currently circulating can be identified by a addition, in many ways Mexico has a better blood test. Although it now takes a couple public health infrastructure than we do.)

More bad news can be found in current of days for tests to confirm the presence of swine flu, scientists in Hong Kong are headlines: in today’s world the global working to develop a test that can drop that market, already reeling, is ill-prepared to face time to hours. They expect to have it ready further threats. The peso is in the basement, soon. An accurate test prevents not only oil futures are falling, stock markets are patients receiving inappropriate medication, dropping... risk aversion is not going to improve our economy, yet fearful investors but can also prevent panic.

In addition, the swine flu circulating is may find themselves crawling under the bed currently susceptible to two established to hide along with their money. And by the antiviral treatments (it is resistant to the way—it generally takes a year or more for other two available). In 1918, there were no a flu pandemic to work its way through the populace, so recovery could take a while. treatments available for those infected.

There is other bad news tied to money, And while there are flu deaths reported in Mexico, to date not one confirmed swine flu and that concerns the ability of the federal case in the U.S. or elsewhere has progressed government to provide needed help to the to death. (The child who died in Texas states in the event this epidemic grows. traveled here from Mexico for treatment.)

Continued on page 43 May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 33

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We know what to grow!

Wisdom—Continued from page 23 here in Selle. Helen was also the first person to arrive in our driveway in July, 2006, to welcome us to the neighborhood.

She’s also a guardian angel to neighborhood animals, even goats, especially if they appear to be lost. Helen will ask around to find their owner or take them home and care for them indefinitely until someone comes to claim them.

Some Women of Wisdom have a long history in the community, and that history is dotted with continued generosity, leadership, genuine care and contributions aimed toward others. This year, such a Woman of Wisdom, Sandpoint native Bobbie Huguenin, is the first-ever second-generation WOW honored. As I mentioned earlier, her mother, the late Jean Brown, was a member of that first group of honorees in 1998.

A collective letter submitted in her behalf by family members and friends sums up Bobbie best. “She is a woman of courage,” the letter states, “and she has dedicated her life to God, family, friends and her beloved Sandpoint.”

That’s just a small insight into the women who will be honored this year at the WOW luncheon, and I can assure you that a full accounting of the endless contributions of these deserving honorees would make just about anyone go “Wow!” Once again, we in the Sandpoint community, are blessed to have these women to honor and to be the beneficiaries of their good works. We also look forward to an upcoming opportunity to tap from their collective wisdom.

Congratulations and many thanks to each of them and to all who stand as shining examples for us to emulate.

Buffers—Continued from page 13 spring. She has lots of ideas on how to promote good land use practices.

“I would also like to organize a Vegetative Buffer Tour—it would be a fun and effective way to give landowners ideas for developing their own quality buffer.”

If you or someone you know has a shoreline vegetative buffer that successfully retains soil and filters nutrients, call McCahon (208-263-5310).

Whether you live on the water or just love to look at it, everyone plays an important role in protecting their watershed.

Vegetation is a massively important factor in defending the sparkling water that trickles from the snow-capped mountains, through the trees, the berry bushes, the ferns, and the sedges, all the way to the lake.

If you do live on the lake, be proud of your buffer! Help us protect fresh water, for the benefit of humanity now and for the future, for the wildlife, for the fish, for the good quality that brought us all here in the first place. A clean lake, after all, begins at your doorstep.

Illustration provided courtesy of University of Montana, photo by Darlene Carboneau.

EarthBox™ easy doorstep gardening

20% OFF! Page 34 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Say What?

PAUL RECHNITZER| pushhard@nctv.com

Lessons from Texas In this age where everyone seems to be a world traveler, any sort of ‘report’ on the outside may seem to be really a yawn.

Despite having been to Texas many times each visit generates a new understanding and some wonder about life down there.

Without regard for the many sights, unending housing developments and the politics I find there are many unique things on which to comment.

First. I am assuming you all know that the old football shrine called the Cotton Bowl is no longer considered suitable by the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, namely one Jerry Jones. So a new BIG bowl is nearing completion. The problem is they can’t come up with a suitable name for it.

As you know, these days the rights to name anything that’s public can be purchased.

So far no company has been willing to buy that right, which is sort of embarrassing to Jones. Some guys thought that Tom Landry should be honored but since Jones fired him once that isn’t likely. What a horrible dilemma in a football mad country.

Spokane isn’t at the top of the list for the hush-up game.

In Ft Worth, the police stopped a second grade teacher who, being late for school, had the pressed the metal a bit too hard. When stopped she created a scene inappropriate for a school teacher.

The school board had the coverage blocked but eventually the dash camera record came to light. What I liked was she used the ‘North Idaho defense.’

“I only had a couple of beers last night,

officer, that’s all.” Bad example for the kids. School board doesn’t look too good either Those of us who have watched the Seasons condos being built, sold and resold should feel good about the values, considering the view. In downtown Dallas you can have great a great view of the metroplex from the new Ritz-Carlton condos, all 23 floors. The peddlers concede the economy isn’t too good but are pleased that the mid-priced units are doing well at 1.5 million bucks!

January car sales were down... just 18,829 vehicles. With all the car lots it wasn’t very obvious that either sales are less than expected or that there are any shortages of new anything. There are lots of Lexuses and Accuras. Nothing new to you folks who winter in down there. , There was genuine concern for the many vacant buildings everywhere. The various Business Section reporters expanded on the consequential crime scenes. Between 1987 and 2004 Wal-Mart closed 107 stores in Texas, of which 30 were empty at the end of the reporting period. Harold Hunt, a research economist for Texas A&M, even wrote a book about what happens around an empty box.

It follows that there is also a lot of unused office space, sort of like Sandpoint except the scale is different. Last year it was estimated there were 21 million square feet of space for desks and cubicles. I am not certain how many Memorial Fields that converts, but it amounts to a bunch.

As one who feels strongly about accountability, or rather the lack of it in both private and public lives, it was interesting to note that the presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will have to explain herself. Seems on the very day a man scheduled for execution didn’t get his appeal in before “Killer Keller” closed her court room promptly at 5 pm... even though she knew the appeal was coming. He paid but she didn’t... yet. Sort of like the Post Office hours.

Joggers can jog or do marathons anytime. Between February 22 and March 1 there were at least 11 events. On the other side of the Oklahoma line there was both a 50K and a 25K event. There is a

lot or running. Whew! One group called themselves the “Gay (Happy)” Joggers.

I started to get homesick so I looked for the nearest Coldwater Creek store.

I was getting tired of walking past the Litehouse Dressing displays at the grocery store. The CC store was in Preston Park Village. Very nice location and I am happy to report it was busy. Hoping to bond with a clerk I mentioned I was from Sandpoint.

Unfortunately she asked where that was.

I should have known that most Texans’ knowledge of geography stops at the Oklahoma line What’s the NW? And lastly, if you are somewhat offended that the Ponderay Wal-Mart has reserved parking spaces for police cars you will love this. Wal-Marts and other shopping center parking lots have a reserved area in the middle for an elevated police observation post. They are mobile and can be relocated. The windows are heavily tinted so that no one really knows if anyone is watching. The locals assume they are unoccupied. The day my wife’s daughter had her purse snatched while waiting at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy counter she found the post vacant and so was the manager of the store, although present.

Traveling is broadening, they say.

PS: The Delta-Northworst merger has it problems. There are some marked differences in how the passengers are treated. On NWA operated planes they sell snacks rather than dole out peanuts.

Cabin attendants are still the same ol’ grumps. The flight from DFW to SLC had 115kt headwinds they said. I think they didn’t push it just to show the passengers who was in charge. Sort of like the idiot in Great Britian who wants to charge for using the loo on his planes. The word to all passengers should be to brown bag the trip and remember, they do take a credit card for the 15 bucks a bag you are charged at check-in. And you wonder why they are flying smaller planes.

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 35

Dee-Dee bar--Cont’d from page of the Dee-Dee bar. Weighing in at 100ml (or 85g) the dilly is close to the Dee-Dee bar’s weight, but I think our local treat gets a lot more coating than its competition.

I describe the Dee-Dee bar as ice cream, by the way, because that’s easy, but the soft serve ingredient under the Dee-Dee coating is actually a specialty non-dairy product that’s lactose free—which means you can eat several without any guilt or worry. And by the way, you can afford to eat it as well.

One of these little beauties will only set you back a mere 70 cents (plus tax, of course).

And at less than a dollar a pop, there was nothing for it but to buy up a dozen and head back to Clark Fork to introduce those poor, deprived children to the Dee-Dee bar.

I’m not sure how the word got out about what I was doing, but there were ten kids present in the class of eight when I arrived.

(Claire Christie ate her ice cream and ran before the picture, below, was taken.) All but three of those students, by the way, were born and raised right here in our neck of the woods.

“I live a very sheltered life,” laughed Daniel Kennerly, one of the trio of nonnative students present who had never had a Dee-Dee bar, as he scarfed down his treat.

Nate Christensen, though new to the DeeDee bar, was not a stranger to Dub’s—he’s just never made it past the humongous,

House- Continued from page 32

At the time of writing this article no compromise has been reached, but I still have hopes that we will reach a reasonable agreement on how to solve the transportation funding and we can adjourn “Sine Die” without establishing a new record for the legislature being in session!

However, the conflict on transportation should not receive all the blame for this legislative session being the second longest in history; the federal stimulus program

soft-serve, dipped cones. “You can hardly eat the whole thing there’s so much of it!” he said admiringly, while making short work of his ice cream on a stick.

Kandice Daniels and David Meadows both said they used to go to Dub’s “all the time,” though they haven’t been in a while.

And despite already being aware of the joys of the Dee-Dee bar (or maybe because they were) they grabbed their treats with alacrity. And David wasn’t even a member of the class. “Of course,” David pointed out, “Dub’s has the best ice cream in town.”

Mo Becker is another Dub’s Drive-in fan—her recommendation for the perfect lunch is an Oreo milkshake and french fries.

I’m sure she meant to include a salad in there as well.

Chris Garlin, notoriously camera shy, said the treat “is really very good,” and even Jason Parting, who has made ‘contrary’ his motto for life, finished his in record time.

Tyler Henderson summed up the reason why so few students had come across the Dee-Dee bar before: “We just don’t go downtown much,” he said.

Vince Thompson, first-time Dee-Dee bar eater, was the first to finish his bar, and Kandice the last. But not even Kandice had to worry about the ice cream melting down her arm before she could eat the last bite, proving that Dub Lewis had a pretty good idea almost six decades ago.

As for those extra bars I brought—well,

therein lies a tale.

Two extra bars and I had promised one to the school secretary because, as a 23-year veteran parent of the public school system, I know exactly where it pays off to spread a little bribe every now and then. But Sherry Witcraft, the secretary in question, had gone to check the mail. I gave the final bar to Clark Fork’s principal, Phil Kemink, and entrusted Sherry’s bar to him as well.

He gave it away to someone else and, when Sherry returned, gave her the empty bag that wraps this delicious, delectable treat.

So now I owe Sherry a Dee-Dee bar, and Phil owes her at least a dozen or so. I heard from several other students in the school as well, who questioned why they weren’t in the class that received the treat, and why was I playing favorites?

Ah well. They’re only 70 cents each.

Dub’s opens on Mondays through Fridays at 6 am, on Saturdays at 10 am, and at 11 am on Sundays. It stays open seven nights a week until 8 pm, and until 9 pm in the summertime.

The menu features a full breakfast every day except Saturday and Sunday (eggs and meat, french toast, pancakes, breakfast burritos, sandwiches and more), and a full complement of lunch and dinner choices ranging from traditional fast food fare (burgers and fries) to Philly steak sandwiches, salads and a whole list of other things—along with “the best ice cream in town” for dessert.

had a far greater impact on length of the session than any other issue. Because of the need to wait until we knew all of the ramifications and parameters of the stimulus funds in establishing next year’s budget (FY 2010), we could not finalize our FY 2010 appropriations. The need to wait until we could incorporate the federal stimulus dollars in our appropriations process added about forty days to this legislative session. We could very well have been adjourned in March, even with the major issues of transportation funding and

personnel cuts to be decided.

So again, as in the last issue of the River Journal, it is my expectation that my next article will be written after the legislature adjourns and can be devoted to a summary of what the legislature did and did not do this session Thanks for reading and as always feel free to contact me with issues of concern.

My home telephone is 265-0123 and my home mailing address is P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho 83825. George

Page 36 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Graduation-Cont’d from page 22

Americans. These shared events tie us together and strengthen us as a people. In a time when society appears divisive and fragmented it is reassuring to know there is something we can all gather around and recognize as significant. For that reason alone, it is an important event.

And so, I am very proud to present the Class of 2009 to our community. Students at Clark Fork High School, Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School, and Sandpoint High School are wonderful young adults, scholars, and citizens. They have brought honor to their families, school, and community. They are not perfect, but rather a work in progress, as are all of us.

We are proud of them now, but I suspect as they grow, we will be more impressed by the kind of people they will become. They will be our civic leaders, EMTs, teachers, builders, and business owners. Some will surprise us with their accomplishments because of chance, a hidden skill that went untapped in high school, or perseverance.

In short they are like you, me and the countless others who have come before them.

Parents and guardians, I congratulate you as well for a job well done. I know you will be celebrating this significant event with your student and family members.

Community members, I invite you to drop by and take a seat. You will see some things that may cause you to scratch your head and others that you recognize immediately as an old friend. It is a great opportunity for all of us to share in a celebration of learning and who we are as a nation. What a great event!

Real Estate-Cont’d from page 37 available at that price,” right now. But “the $8,000 tax credit is helping some people to buy.”

Part of the spring stimulus package, Washington is allowing first-time home buyers and those home purchasers who have not owned a home in the last three years a ten percent tax credit on their 2009 tax bill (or on 2008 if they have not yet filed). A credit is fully refundable, so it either comes off the amount you would owe, or if you don’t owe (or don’t owe that much), it’s returned to you as cash. Three caveats— you must purchase a home by November 30 this year, the credit is limited to ten percent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $8,000, and you must live in the house at least three years or pay the money back.

In addition, there are income limits.

You must make less than $75,000 per year (single) or $150,000 for a couple; higher income purchasers may get a partial credit.

Renk’s gut feeling, which he hastens to add is neither scientifically nor statistically supported, is that “this year will be better than the last two. There is a lot of pent up buying energy and much to chose from.”

And as Will Rogers said when he encouraged people to “buy land... they’re not making any more of it.”

Read more about the market—and some tips on purchasing “survival property”—in Michael White’s “Land Management” column on page 17.

On Hwy. 200 in Clark Fork Open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch & dinner

Monday - Saturday 8 am to 7 pm Open Sunday 8 am to 3 pm Call ahead for takeout!

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$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 $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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Sci-Fi & paranormal books, back issues of Weird tales, Fortean Times, cult movies & CDs, Art,couch, $20 bed $50 dresser $20, lots more crap too! Be there or be square. Chicks in hot pants half off! I’m almost givin’ this stuff away, Help me out here kids, I’m Jonesin’ and Jim, I needs me some scag!

CAROL CURTIS 315 N. Second Sandpoint

208-255-2244 888-923-8484

Coffelt Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.CoffeltFuneral.com

Benton

Ronald B. Benton, 57, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Thursday, April 16. Memorial services were conducted in the Sandpoint Faith Evangelical Free Church, on Boyer Avenue. Pastor Harvey Riffle officiated.

Ron was born May 19, 1951 to Bernard and Eva Benton in Newman, Georgia. In 1956 they moved to San Diego, Calif. where Ron attended San Diego schools and graduated from high school. After high school he worked for a public school district as a landscaper in San Diego.

Ron then moved to Sandpoint in 1980 and worked as a pizza cook and for a tree surgeon.

He loved to go camping and fishing and raising flowers, especially roses. He was a member of the Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Ron is survived by his mother Eva Nelson, two brothers Richard Benton and Roger Benton, nieces and nephews and other relatives and many, many friends. He is preceded in death by his father and two brothers, James and Dennis.

Allen

Lloyd H. Allen, 85, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Saturday, April 18 at Life Care Center from complications of pneumonia and diabetes II. Masonic memorial services were conducted in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel, with fraternal rites conducted by Lakeside Lodge #42 AF and AM. Military honors were under the direction of the American Legion.

Lloyd was the third child born to Lee and Josephine Allen on February 11, 1924 in Louisville, Colo. At the age of three the family moved to California. He attended school at Rough & Ready as well as New Town. During his teen years he worked in the Idaho Maryland and the Brunswick Gold Mines in Grass Valley, Calif.

Lloyd joined the Army Air Corp during WWII. His tour of duty was mostly served in the China, Burma, India Theatre in the Assam Valley and driving the Burma Road. His family had moved to Idaho during the war and upon his discharge he joined them in Sandpoint. His working years were with Pack River Lumber Co; The Bremerton Shipyards and for 26 years with the City of Sandpoint and the Sandpoint Highway Dist#1 from which he retired as Highway District Superintendent.

In 1946 he married Ruth Slette and in 1966 the marriage ended in a divorce. Three daughters were born of this marriage. On August 11, 1967 he married Wilma McArthur and acquired two stepdaughters and two stepsons.

Lloyd’s fraternal organizations include the Fraternal Order of Eagles #589; the American Legion; Lakeside Masonic Lodge #42 AF&AM; Martha Chapter #34 OES of which he was a past patron. Lloyd enjoyed the outdoors—fishing, huckleberrying, traveling and gardening. His yard

reflected the love of growing things and he was adept at the canning of the vegetable gardens that were grown.

Lloyd is survived by his wife, daughters, stepdaughters and stepsons along with numerous grandchildren; great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren both biological and step. He is also survived by his brothers, Bill (Nettie) Allen and Everett (Betty) Allen, sister-in-law Lucille Allen, Twila Allen and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Robert, Ronald (infant), Leroy; one sister, Jessie Richards and one grandson.

The family would like to thank the staff of Sandpoint Life Care and his doctors for the care he has received this past year. Memorials may be made to Shriners Hospital for children; Hospice or charity of your choice.

Kulzer

Marion Rose Kulzer, 75, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Sunday, April 19. Family memorial services were held in Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Sandpoint. Pastor Steve Nickodemus was the officiant.

Marion was born in South Dakota on November 26, 1933, the daughter of Michael and Mary Rose O’Brien. She graduated from high school in Havana, North Dakota and married Roman Kulzer in August of 1958.

Marion lived in the Bay area of California, working for Bank of America. She retired, as a loan officer, in 1990 and moved to Cocolalla, Idaho in February 1995.

She enjoyed the bible studies sponsored by Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church and was a member of the American Business Women’s Association. She enjoyed her family and her Lord.

Marion is survived by her daughter Carmen (and Marc) Bucalo; her son Michael (and Terri) Kulzer; two grandsons, a granddaughter, three brothers; and three sisters. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and a sister.

Johnston

Sandra Lee Johnston, 68, passed away in Spokane, Wash. on Thursday, April 23. Memorial services will be conducted at 12 noon (Mountain Daylight Savings Time) on Saturday, May 9 in the Noxon Community Methodist Church. Pastor Mark Wendle will officiate.

Sandra was born in Spokane on March 4, 1941, the daughter of Kenneth and Mary Miller.

She graduated from high school in Thompson Falls, Mont. in 1959. In August 1959 she married Jack C. Benson and they were later divorced.

She graduated, with high honors, from Eastern Washington College in 1972, receiving her Bachelor’s Degree. On July 29, 1978 she and John Johnston were married in Renton, Wash. She worked as a receptionist for the Coors Brewing Company in Spokane and for the Washington Department of Employment in Auburn, Wash.

Sandra was a lifetime member of the Order of Eastern Star in Thompson Falls. She loved her life and her family and enjoyed knitting, reading, and jewelry making.

She is survived by her husband, of 31 years, John Johnston; three children Melinda L. Warner, COL Kirk C. Benson and Breanna L. Johnston of and a granddaughter, Lillian Warner. She was preceded in death by her parents Kenneth and Mary Miller.

Mulligan

Lew Allen Mulligan, 78, passed away at his home in Kootenai, Idaho on Monday, April 27.

Lew was born the second child to George and Florence Mulligan on Feb 5, 1931 in Table Grove, Ill. His parents then had 9 more children, making him the second of 11 children. His parents traveled out west to Grass Valley, Calif.

Lew joined the U.S. Navy in 1948 and served two years. He then traveled across the country before returning to Grass Valley. In 1964 he met and married Marcella Winchell. Lew and Marcella decided to travel north in 1972, with a 4-year-old and a two-year-old in a self-built motor home. They reached Bonner County and decided to stay a few years. In 1974 their third daughter was born and in 1977, Lew became a father for the fourth and final time.

In 1976 he was elected to the Kootenai City Council and served as the city Mayor from 1984 to 1988. He was a Jack-of-all-Trades; he worked as a logger and built roads. He worked security and winterized homes then just maintenance for BN. He received training in locksmithing and writing.

Since his retirement he had enjoyed woodworking, gardening, hunting and had published two books with a third to be out soon.

Lew is preceded in death by his parents, four brothers and one sister. He is survived by his wife Marcella; daughters Angela (Curt)Ryckman; Sarah; Marvella (Dale Larson) Bjorkquist and Dusteena (Paul Yelton) Mulligan; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; one brother Pat Mulligan; sisters Judy, Bonnie, Mel and Minnie.

Family memorial services will be held later.

He wishes for everyone to forget him and just be happy. Everyone, I’m sure will be happy thinking of all the good times spent with Lew, which no one will forget.

Eagan

Joe G. Eagan, 74, passed away Tuesday, April 28, at Valley Vista Care Center in Sandpoint, Idaho after complications with cancer.

Joe was born May 20, 1934 in Sandpoint, the son of Fitz and Eva Eagan. He was raised at Trestle Creek near Hope in his early years, and then the family moved to Clarkston, Wash. where he graduated from high school in 1952. He was an electrician at Potlatch, Idaho until his retirement.

Joe is survived by his daughter and her husband, Dawneen and Tom Banicki; grandchildren Amber (Steve) Dickinson, Cameo (Talia) Banicki, Ward (Anna) Christopher; great-grandchildren Chance and Travis Dickinson, Luke and Daniel Christopher; his sister and brother-in-law Mary and Dan France. He was preceded in death by his wife Lou and his parents.

The caregivers at Valley Vista Care Center filled Joe’s final years with warm memories, and became his extended family. He will be missed by so many.

Job

Linda Joane Job, 65, passed away in Portland, Ore. on Thursday, March 30. Memorial services will be scheduled in Portland, with interment later in Pinecrest Memorial Park.

Linda was born on March 9, 1944 in Newport, Ore. the daughter of Ross and Patricia Bowles.

She lived in Eugene, Ore. where she graduated from high school and then attended the University of Oregon for one year. She married Jim Wright, in Eugene, on April 19, 1964 and they were divorced in 1985.

She earned her Associate of Nursing degree from Clackamas Community College in 1982. In 1996 she received her Bachelor of Science nursing degree from Walla Walla School of Nursing and worked, as a nurse, in doctor’s offices.

Linda married Ross J. Job on Sept 2, 1989 in

Page 38 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Vancouver, Wash. Ross died from injuries received in an automobile accident, in Sandpoint, Idaho on November 27, 1992.

Linda was a member of the Beaverton Women’s Club, Phi Beta Sigma, and the Elk’s Auxiliary. She enjoyed sewing, crewl, painting with water colors, writing, the internet, camping, and fishing.

She is survived by her son David (and Maurine) Wright; her daughter Julie Anne (and Derek) Wright; four granddaughters; two sisters, Caroline Geiger and Patricia Ann Johnson; and a brother David Ross Bowles.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Ross, and a sister Judith A. Bowles.

Bayless

Orville A. Bayless, 91, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Saturday, May 2. Memorial services were conducted in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel.

Orville was born in Garvin, Okla. on October 1, 1917, the son of Joe and Nancy Ellen Bayless. He graduated from high school in Oklahoma in 1935.

During WW II he worked construction building airplane hangers for the government.

In 1948 he moved to Grangeville, Idaho working as a logger, cement contractor, and home builder.

He was a member of the Carpenters’ Union. He retired in 1980 and moved to Sandpoint in April of 2008.

Orville enjoyed fishing, horseback riding, and hunting.

He is survived by two sons Orville A. (and Sharon) Bayless, Jr.; Kenneth L “Butch” (and Cha) Bayless; two grandchildren, four greatgrandchildren and one great-great-grandchild; and two sisters, Lydia Towles and Hazel Kuffle. He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers Bud and Leon; a sister Leonal Williams, and a grandson Denny.

Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.LakeviewFuneral.org

Fredstrom

Mary Frances Fredstrom, 97, passed away on Tuesday, March 31, in Kootenai, Idaho. Funeral services were held at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint with Pastor Dave Olsen of the First Lutheran Church officiating.

Frances was born on January 21, 1912 in Priest River, Idaho to Paul and Jane Redmond.

She grew up and attended schools in Priest River, graduating from Priest River High School. Frances went on to be a school teacher. She taught for years in Kootenai and Sandpoint, but will be best remembered for teaching 2nd-6th grades at Lincoln School.

Frances married Arby Fredstrom in Sandpoint on June 7, 1940. The couple adopted one daughter, Karen; she was the love of their life.

She is a member of the First Lutheran Church in Sandpoint, P.E.O., Eastern Star, and Alpha Phi Sorority at the University of Idaho. She enjoyed crafting, quilting, gardening, reading, sewing,

knitting, and crocheting.

She is survived by her nephew Bruce Fredstrom, niece Rose Fredstrom and her family Pamela Crawford, Nancy Savage, Dennis Belanger, and Gloria Savage.

Frances will be laid to rest in the Lakeview Cemetery next to her beloved husband Arby and daughter Karen; she was also preceded in death by her parents, sister Florence Johnson, brother Paul Redmond, and nephew Darell Fredstrom.

Calvert

Lloyd Marvin Calvert, 73, passed away on Sunday, April 5, at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho surrounded by his family. Private Family services have been held. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date. Lloyd was buried in Pinecrest Cemetery next to his wife, Janice.

Lloyd was born in Sandpoint, Idaho on July 11, 1935, the son of Henry Thomas and Mabel Elizabeth (Hollenbeck) Calvert. He worked at several woodworking mills in the area and worked for Bill’s Mobil and Honda for 16 years. After retirement, he made specialty parts for Timbersleds Custom snow machines.

He also spent many years exploring the mountains of northern Idaho on snow machines and motorcycles. He enjoyed fishing the mountain streams and hunting adventures in the surrounding mountains.

He collected and researched guns and woodworking antiques. He spent many hours in his wood shop making furniture, fixtures and toys for his grandchildren. He always had a project, fixing cars, motorcycles, snow machines or other machinery. If it did not work Lloyd would figure out how to fix it, his eye for detail and perfection was one of a kind.

He enjoyed a cold beer on a hot day, a good joke, and hugs from his grandchildren. He loved to play guitar, spending many hours playing with his son Marvin and grandson Nicholas. Holidays were always filled with music as the trio would turn up the amps and play many old country songs together.

He was deeply loved, and will be sorely missed. His advice cherished and remembered, and his dry sense of humor will always put a smile on our faces. Lloyd is survived by his son Marvin (Susan) Calvert, his daughter Debora (Robert) Gill, grandchildren Madelyne and Nicholas Gill, many nieces, nephews, life long friends and neighbors.

He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 42 years, Janice (Syth) Calvert, his mother and father Henry and Mabel (Hollenbeck) Calvert, his sisters, Martha Oliver and Verna Marie Buck.

The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Kladar, and all the wonderful professionals at Kootenai Medical Center for working so hard to save his life. A special thank you to all the nurses in CICU, your incredible care and compassion is so appreciated. Our heartfelt appreciation to Lakeview Funeral Home for their kind and compassionate council. In lieu of flowers donation may be made to the Bonner County Food Bank, 921 N. Fifth Ave, Sandpoint, ID 83864; or to a local charity of your choice.

Craig

Virginia Mary Craig, 84, passed away at her home in Clark Fork, Idaho on Monday, April 6.

Graveside services were held at the Clark Fork Cemetery with Pastor Bob Nale of the Clark Fork Lutheran Church officiating.

Virginia was born February 14, 1925 at home (the pink house) in Clark Fork, to Frank and May Vogel. She grew up and attended school in Clark Fork where she played basketball, and loved to ride horses in the summer months. She had Indian friends that camped along Lightning Creek across

from her father’s ranch. She would spend time with them eating meals and riding their ponies.

Virginia married Ray Craig on March 26, 1940 in Thompson Falls, Mont. She was an excellent cook, and cooked for her father’s hay and branding crews. In 1959 Raymond finished his work at the Cabinet Gorge Dam, and the family moved to Ione, Wash. In 1970 the family moved back to Clark Fork.

She enjoyed fishing, camping, dancing, country music and spending time with her many wonderful friends.

She is survived by six children who dearly loved their mother and will miss her very much, Sharon (Dewey), Maureen “Sissy” Snider, Steve Craig, Dennis Craig, Neil (Jeanette) Craig, and Kathy (Mike) Ponack. She is also survived by 14 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Ray (1991), and one brother James Vogel (1990).

Virginia’s family wishes sincere blessings and gives thanks to all who supported and surrounded us and shared in our grief for our beloved mother, grandmother, and friend. We would also like to thank Janie, Keana, Susie and Hospice for taking such wonderful care of our mother and for keeping her at home.

Malloy

Edwin Thomas Malloy, 81, resident of East Hope, passed away on Saturday, April 11 in Sandpoint, Idaho. No services were held.

Ed was born on October 17, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Penn. to Thomas and Mae Malloy. He grew up and attended schools in Bellevue, Penn. Ed was a 20year Navy veteran with service during World War II, Korean Conflict, and Vietnam.

Ed married Charlotte Parker on May 27, 1950 in Yuma, Ariz. After Ed’s Navy career he went to work as a computer analyst for the Pacific Missile Range at the Naval Airstation in Point Mugu, Calif, later retiring in 1973.

Ed and Charlotte began to travel in their R.V. and discovered Hope in 1974. For 21 years they summered in Hope and wintered in Yuma, before settling in Hope full time.

Ed was a member of the Fleet Reserve Association, Disabled American Veterans, and the Clark Fork V.F.W. Post No. 10320. He enjoyed fishing, reading, computers, and traveling.

He is survived by his loving wife, Charlotte Malloy; two sons, Gary Malloy and Bruce (Sherry) Malloy; three grandchildren, Kevin (Lydia) Malloy, Christopher Malloy and Melissa Van Dyke; greatgrandson, Tanner Van Dyke; and sister, Mildred Wood. He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister Grace Eide, and one brother Wilson Malloy.

Baird

Francis Edgar “Frank” Baird, 78, passed away on Sunday, April 19 in Spokane, Wash. Private family services have been held.

Frank was born on September 14, 1930 in Spokane to Gardner and Fern Baird. He grew up and attended schools in Spokane. Frank served his country in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955. He then went to work as an engineer for Boeing. He moved to Sandpoint in 1993.

He enjoyed work at the Sandpoint Arboretum, attending spiritual studies, building homes and cars, and working on his land. He also enjoyed climbing mountains, hiking, and skiing.

He is survived by son Michael Baird, daughter Susy (Carlo) Desimonen, daughter Diane (Jay) Gingrich, and son Thomas (T.J.) Baird.

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 39

Film-—Cont’d from page

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film and video professionals,” W.J. Lazerus, Founder and President of KNIFVES, said in an interview.

“In January of 2006, I decided to call up a few of these professionals for a lunch, so we could get together and swap production stories in a relaxed atmosphere. There were only four of us at that first lunch,” Lazerus said.

The next meeting grew to eight and the third to 16. By the fourth meeting there were over 50 members. Today there are nearly 80 KNIFVES members. In November of 2008, the IRS accepted the group’s notfor-profit designation. One of the group’s main goals also is to pass on skills to the next generation of filmmakers.

“Topics for our monthly meetings have included the Idaho Film Incentive Legislative efforts, the economic and social impact of filming in our area, the business of film producing and financing, film and video capabilities and equipment in Northern Idaho, acting talent for stage and screen, Special Industry speakers from Hollywood, Northern Idaho Film Festivals and special performances by regional theatrical groups,” Lazerus said.

“As a part of KNIFVES, we have established four special interest groups: production, writing, acting and women in media,” Lazerus said. “These groups meet every other month and help in training and resources for members interested in those career paths. We also host seminars taught by industry leaders as part of the KNIFVES KNOWledge Series to help train our local workforce.”

Three upcoming KNIFVES seminars are “Production Assistant’s Workshop,” “Production Scheduling” and “Production Budgeting.”

KNIFVES is currently holding a screenwriting contest for short film script entries. KNIFVES members will produce the short project this summer. Top movie professionals in the group act as mentors during the film productions.

Lazerus is also one of five board members of the state sponsored Idaho Film Advisory Committee and is on the Executive Board of Idaho Media Professionals.

Parvin got involved in film here on a much different level than in Hollywood’s golden days.

“After teaching a class on film production, I was asked to help on a short film that Mitchell Fullerton wanted to make,” Parvin said. Fullerton is Sandpoint Films’ coordinator and stage manager and one of the people behind the Lakedance International Film Festival held locally since 2006.

The Lakedance International Film Festival was founded by Fred and Trevor Greenfield, a father-son team, as the Idaho Panhandle International Film Festival, and was

originally a three-day event at Schweitzer Mountain and the historic Panida Theater.

Since, the event has grown to a seven-day full blown festival and was renamed to its current marquee. The festival is dedicated to screening international independent films including 50 or more dramas, comedies, documentaries and thrillers. Special categories include students, Northwest USA, Idaho, experimental, and music videos.

Another venue for filmmakers is the Panida Theatre. Karen Bowers, the theatre’s director, has a longstanding Hollywood acting career. She has dedicated the screen there to a first-rate sense of taste in arthouse cinema, a creative line of films that tend to be more culturally and cult-following oriented. This little gem of a theatre, on the National Register of Historic Places, opened as a Vaudeville stage in 1927. Its name is constructed from just as unique a connection of letters: PANhandle of IDAho, or Panida.

Local documentary director and producer Karla Petermann and local screenwriter Mary Wolkosz started a film screening series at the library this last spring. With the help of the library’s screening license, that group grew to about 30 members over the course of the series and screened and commented on a number of very popular films from female directors like Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), currently directing the Johnny Depp film Shantaram in India, and Mongolian and Academy Award nominated director Byambasuren Davaa (Cave of the Yellow Dog).

“The film series was actually very easy to launch, mostly as a result of the library’s support,” Wolkosz said in an interview.

“They were as excited as we were, providing assistance in every way we asked and then some. The library provided the room and technical equipment, produced our marketing flyer and photocopies of our weekly handouts, ordered and reserved films we selected for the film series. They even provided us with popcorn and snacks to create a theatre-like environment for participants. This would not have happened Continued on page 42

Page 40 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

by Scott Clawson Mother’s Day is upon us now, and how it gets me to reminiscing ‘bout all the good ol’ days gone by that I’m bound to always be missing.

Here’s to you, oh mom of mine, fer always bein’ supportive and fer backin’ me up since I was a pup, no matter what my motive.

For the only way kids seem to learn about life and the pursuit of what makes ‘em happy is to learn by experience from their own ideas, whether good ones or those that’re crappy.

It’s pretty much a Darwinian concept called ‘Survival of Life’s Little Choices’ whether you follow up on yer parents’ ideas or listen only to yer own inner voices.

Moms, it seems, have a conditional sense of leavin’ ya to your own devices to learn by mistakes, ‘cause that’s what it takes to appreciate their prices.

Moms are like that, moms are sweet, just skin yer knee and she’ll give you a treat.

And if you stumble over an embarrassing bumble, she’ll help you to keep it discreet.

I remember how she’d always say, “Your happiness is all that matters.

You’ll learn best by doin’, especially if it’s gruelin’ and leaves yer butt in tatters.”

She’d send me out to play in my own particular way to act out my childhood dreams, knowin’ in her heart I’d eventually get smart and avoid those blood curdlin’ screams.

I was lucky to live through it, as kids often are.

It’s about choices and chances, some don’t get very far.

But one thing I do know, she allowed me to grow and loves me no matter what.

Our love ain’t just vernal, but ferever eternal, even though I’m some kinda nut!

Here’s to all you dirty muthas who’ve created such a mess.

Whose regular need of deception and greed has put is squarely in distress.

As you fly around in private jets with your bonuses and riches, how can you even smile like that when we think yer sons a’ bitches?

Here’s to all the fat cat leaders of those brilliant institutions who think their crap don’t stink and deserve such restitutions.

That put ‘em up on pedestals so high, they can’t even hear their victims cry over dreams that’re shattered and with logic tattered, we can only wonder why.

And so it goes, we’ve been here before when others decided to loot the store.

Leaving millions of folks to put on their yokes and join the already poor.

It’s a method by which some people get rich, unconcerned with all the rest.

They’ll never let go of their ol’ status quo, to bein’ greedy they’ve never confessed.

There’s a rhythm of sorts if you study the graphs of the Dow Jones Industrials just fer laughs.

How those snobs get richer and grab more control through loopholes bored by lawyers they stole.

From a system geared toward upward expansions designed primarily by those up in mansions lookin’ down on the po’ folk who no longer have the means to invest in much other than assorted dry beans.

May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 41

Film-—Cont’d from page 40 without the Sandpoint library. They have incredible staff and a fabulous film collection.”

Wolkosz came to Sandpoint from the Seattle area and is interested in film as a global story-telling and myth-making medium, and the role that women play in that.

A second film screening series will be announced for Fall. Watch the library’s events calendar for more information.

Petermann has been so involved in film in Sandpoint there is hardly a group here that does not have some of her handiwork on its structure or operating arrangements.

“In 2005, I met Ted Parvin when he held a two-day film class at the library in Sandpoint,” Petermann said in an interview.

“Subsequently Ted and I, along with several other interested filmmakers, began collaborating on film projects in North Idaho. Up to that point, I wasn’t aware of anyone else interested in or even working in filmmaking in or out of Idaho.”

The Sandpoint film scene has grown significantly over the last few years.

Petermann attributes that to a few local sources for that growth.

“It has grown in the sense that working filmmakers have moved to Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and other local areas,” Petermann said. “I have seen more novice filmmakers become involved, which is largely due to the efforts of Sandpoint Films and the film program taught by Jeannie Hunter at Sandpoint High School.”

But this new growth is in a rickety

position due to lack of state funding.

“New pros are moving here, but they still have to leave the state to work since the Idaho Congress did not fund the film incentive bill passed last year,” Petermann said. “If that doesn’t change, these pros might be forced to relocate out of state.

I know of a couple people who have left Sandpoint because of that.”

In another effort to promote film in this area, Petermann was part of the original Sandpoint Films group.

“After working on a film called Sandpoint Punchline with Ted Parvin and several others, a few of those folks decided to put together a local film production company,” Petermann said. “In the spring of 2006, myself, Janice Jarzabek, Pat Ficek, Mitchell Fullerton and Rick Sierra formed Sandpoint Films, a not-for-profit filmmaking company.

We held several workshops and shot

several film shorts in a workshop capacity to offer apprentice positions for local novice filmmakers to learn the mechanics of filmmaking.”

Petermann is currently producing and directing a documentary with Pat Ficek.

The working title is Sandpoint Wonder Pets, a film about Sandpoint businesses and locals and their relationships with their pets.

For more information, visit these sites on the web: www.KNIFVES.org; www. Lakedance.com; www.Panida.org and www.nwfilm.org Photos: (p.4) Pat Ficek and Eric Howell on the set of “Return to Sender.” Photo courtesy Mitchell Fullerton (p.40) Pat Ficek films Karla Petermann for their new documentary “Wonder Pets,” while Dave Gunter takes photos. This page, shooting on location at the Sandpoint Cemetery in November 2007 of Petermann’s film “Return to Sender,” which was accepted into the Lakedance Film Festival. Photos courtesy of Karla Petermann.

Page 42 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

Swine Flu- continued from page 33 Testing kits and treatment drugs cost money, as do the personnel and equipment necessary to identify, track and respond to public health threats. Yet public health has been slowly strangled almost to death through lack of funding over the last few decades. Take a minute to feel sorry for poor Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who just two months ago led the GOP insistence on stripping all state and local pandemic preparedness dollars out of the stimulus bill, “What does that have to do with an economic stimulus package?” she asked. We can only hope we’re not getting ready to have that question answered.

So what can you do? First, look for credible information on what’s going on.

News today tends to sensationalize—check for updated reports with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc. gov), and at www.pandemicflu.gov and for local information with Idaho’s Panhandle

Fully Catalogued

Health Department (/www.phd1.idaho.gov/ emergency/emergencyindex.cfm) and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services at www.dphhs.mt.gov/.

You can also practice basic hygiene— wash your hands frequently and if you must sneeze, do so into your arm, not your hands (which, even with tissue, only spreads any virus you might harbor). By the way, you need to wash your hands long enough to sing the Alphabet Song in order to remove harmful bacteria and viruses.

Finally, we should take note of a statement

by Univ. of Chicago historian William McNeill: “We are caught in the food chain, whether we like it or not, eating and being eaten.”

Perhaps the best consequence of the spread of swine flu would be its existence leading to greater support for public health.

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May 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5| Page 43

From the Mouth of the River

Well it’s time again for my annual wildlife report. As you may know I live in the wildlife wintering grounds here where Trestle Creek intersects Highway 200. We have about three miles of low ridges, and creek bottom land along both sides of Trestle Creek. A saddle separates Trout Creek from Trestle Creek behind our home and is a main thoroughfare for migrating game.

When winter sets in and the snow starts to deepen it pushes the big game down out of the high country and their competition for winter food starts to heighten. As winter progresses the food diminishes and the game animals start to use up their stored fat. This is an annual event. The depth of the snow determines how high up the slopes deer and elk can find feed. The winter of 07/08 we had heavy snow. This forced strong competition for food and depleted our winter supply in the lower wintering grounds. Deer had it the hardest because the elk could move about in deeper snow, and therefore could feed on higher branches. However, the mortality on both species was significant.

And most of the elk aborted their fawns early in the winter.

Out of the 30 cow elk that showed up in the winter grounds this winter, there were only five last year’s calves, and out of those there was only one bull calf. This winter (08/ 09) has been even harder on the game animals here. It will affect the birth rate for this year’s crop as well. Most of these cow elk are empty of calves.

While there are more White tail and Mule deer than there are elk, they’re not doing all that great ether.

For both last winter and this, it’s been the carnivores that has profited from these bad winters. Two new coyote packs have been added to our wintering grounds, which may mean the cougar population is down. And the wolf pair that was seen in the upper regions of Trestle Creek last year has not explored our area. Any time a wolf pack moves in the coyotes thin out.

The winter of 06 and 07 we had a single wolf travel through our wintering grounds and make a deer kill each time.

We have a lot of cougar on our side of the lake—in fact, the state record was taken just across the creek from Bear Paw camp grounds.

The Idaho Fish and Game Dept., whose job it is to regulate the hunting seasons, are unable to regulate either the weather or the hunters. After a bad winter it would seem fewer tags would be issued due to winter kill. Yet the hunters are getting so fat and lazy they only road hunt or ride around on their four-wheelers, hoping a game animal will cross the road and stop so they can shoot it. There’s even talk of taking road hunting laws off the books so at least some animals can be taken.

We have cow elk here that are older than most of the hunters. Bow hunters need to shoot at a spot on an animal, not at the whole animal. Having gut shot game animals walking around with arrows sticking out of their bodies doesn’t do much for your sport—it creates an agonizing death that sometimes takes days.

I will give the hunters of today credit for one thing. They’re no longer the slobs of the roads and their camps. It’s taken a long time to convince them to clean up after themselves. Now it’s the snowmobilers who use our roads and outback for their personal dumping grounds. It takes less room to haul it back than it did to haul it out there.

With the onslaught of development, our wildlife is being pushed farther back and up in the high country; they can no longer travel their migratory routes from their winter grounds to summer calving and feeding grounds without passing through someone’s private property.

We here on Trestle Creek are making an effort to protect these wintering grounds along with the cooperation of the Game and Fish Dept.

Here’s what I propose should be done as far as hunting regulations goes for the fall of 2009: Open hunting season from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1. If you can’t find time

Boots Reynolds

enough to get your game in two months, you’re just not a hunter in the first place.

One hunting license, (tags) two doe, one buck (Mule deer or White tail) and two elk, one Bull and one cow. Draw for moose tags each year. Turkeys, just one gobbler but twenty-nine hens. Bears, if you need one, take it. Grouse, whatever you can run over while road hunting. Surely, you can kill something in two months, even road hunting.

As for the netting of Rainbow and lake trout in Pend Oreille, it has brought up the question as to what happens to the protected Bull Trout when they’re netted.

The word is, (and I would like clarification on this) the netters poke holes in the fish’s air sack before they toss it back into the lake. This sends the fish to the bottom of the lake. It can’t regulate its flotation sack until it heals up. How long does that take?

As long as the fish is on the bottom of the lake, who knows if it lives or dies? It’s on the bottom of the lake!

The world famous K&K Derby has fallen on hard times, the once highly publicized and renowned fishing Derby of the past has been reduced to three days. You ask why? “We figure we can catch all the fish left in this lake in three days,” says a fisherman from Clark Fork. “Besides, there are no more Kokanee or Kamloops left in this lake.” There is a rumor floating around about a new fishing Derby that does not involve sport fishing but would do the lake more good than any other event taking place at this time—”The Pike Minnow Extravaganza.” Because most of the world doesn’t have a clue what a Pike Minnow is, it could be sold as a new sports fish of the Northwest. The netters have netted over three thousand lake trout since the first of the year and the White fish are knee deep all over the lake. Which raises the question, why do we (the public) need a fishing license to fish Pend Oreille?

It should be free fishing for everyone until all the fish are caught; after all we are being paid to catch them, thanks to the rise in my electric bill!

Trying to get Fish and Game to cough up information is like trying to get a Republican to vote for a bill Obama comes up with. But the cat is sneaking out of the hole in the bag. It seems there are certain sections of our lake that have Walleye in good numbers as well as size; this in turn panics the Rainbow fisherman saying, there goes the neighbor hood while others are dancing in their canoes. I don’t know how many of you have eaten Walleye but if you like any kind fish, even salmon, you’ll slap your Momma to get the last piece of Walleye.

I personally feel it’s the Fish and Game’s job to regulate the seasons and the licenses and let Mother Nature regulate the wildlife. So far, every time we try to influence the outcome it backfires .

Page 44 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 5 | May 2009

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