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November 2011 Inside
3 Maintaining our rural roots 6 Here we go again - the Property Rights Council
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
8 Guns vs. Grizzlies - by Dave Smith
SALES
9 The case for bear spray
Call 208.255.6957 or email trish@riverjournal.com
10 The European starling - A Bird in Hand
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12 The Boy Scouts’ motto - The Game Trail
(Email only) to editorial@riverjournal.com
13 Impermanence - Gary’s Faith Walk 14 Management 102 - Say What? 15 A plan for Idaho’s Energy Needs - A Seat in the House 16 A few crazy ideas - The Scenic Route 18 Fried mashed potatoes - The Hawk’s Nest 20 Ecstasies of Philosophy - Surrealist Research Bureau 22 Downtown Sandpoint Event Calendar
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23 Veterans’ freebies and a broken government - Vets’ News
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24 Another look at horses - From the Mouth of the River
Scott Clawson; Sandy Compton; Marylyn Cork; Idaho Rep. George Eskridge; Lawrence Fury; Dustin Gannon; Matt Haag; Ernie Hawks; Marianne Love; Kathy Osborne; Gary Payton; Boots Reynolds; Lou Springer; Mike Turnlund;
26 Obituaries 30 Got water rights? by Scott Clawson
Cover photo by Barbara Tibbs of a young (and VERY photogenic) area resident who is a member of the Sagle Saddle Tramps.
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Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| November 2011
Maintaining Bonner County’s Rural Roots: Who should pay? by Trish Gannon We have a lot of different descriptions for Bonner County, depending on which aspect we’re trying to describe: it’s a tourist destination for some, and a desirable place to live for others. Politically it has tended to be a lighter shade of red—though not much lighter—than the rest of the state, and socially it always seems to have a lot going on. It’s been described in various publications as one of the nation’s “top art towns,” as one of the “most beautiful small towns” in America, the “cool Northwest’s hot property,” and, perhaps most famously, as “A Norman Rockwell meets Ansel Adams classic.” In all the talk about the beauty, the arts scene, the ski hill or the big lake, there is one quality which underlies all the rest: Bonner County is a rural county, with rural traditions. That is probably most evident during a week in late August when many county residents gather at the Fairgrounds to wrestle sometimes-recalcitrant livestock into the proper stance during a fit-and-show performance, show off their prized family dill pickle recipe, or display the meticulous craftsmanship in a logcabin quilt. It’s hard to say how many generations of residents have participated in the fair, or how many more have stopped by to partake in the bounty, bid on an animal, or just enjoy the hometown atmosphere.
But it’s fair to say it’s a lot, which is partly why residents are grumbling at the news that at least two of our three-member board of county commissioners aren’t sure that using tax dollars to support it is appropriate. And not just the fair; the question has been raised whether the entire fairgrounds program, along with county support of the Extension Service and its 4-H program, and even the local historical society and museum, are proper recipients of local tax dollars. The response has been a rousing chorus of, “What the $*%^&$?!” When the question first came up during this fall’s budget hearings, early outrage prompted the commissioners to continue to fund these programs for the current fiscal year, with the promise (some saw it as a threat) to consider this funding fully before the next budget hearings roll around. Then, in a mass of confusion, the local tea party, along with Bonner County’s new Property Rights Council (which many see as an arm of the local tea party) got dragged into the mix, and a hundred people or so showed up at a meeting of the Farm Bureau to give commissioner Mike Nielsen a piece of their minds about any funding threats to programs dear to the hearts of people who live here. “You need to go back to Alaska,” one resident
told Nielsen, receiving a rousing burst of applause for the statement. Nielsen and fellow commissioner Cornel Rasor are quick to say they support these programs, though not necessarily continued tax funding for them, while Pam Stout, Sandpoint tea party leader and now the “Paralegal Program Manager” for the county Property Rights Council, disavows any involvement in the controversy at all. “This is not currently on the agenda for the Property Rights Council,” she said, and added “the commissioners have not asked me,” to look into alternate funding methods for these programs although, she said, she will certainly do so if asked. After the Farm Bureau meeting, Nielsen quickly made a proposal to scrap plans for an ‘advisory ballot’ that was to go out with county tax statements, asking those who pay property tax whether funding for these programs should come from user fees instead of from the county tax base. What the ballot neglected to mention was that none of these programs are fully funded by property tax revenues; each, at different levels and in different ways, already charges fees to offset their costs.
The Bonner County Fairgrounds
Of these three, the county provides the greatest tax support to the county fairgrounds, because it pays the salaries and benefits for a fair manager, a groundskeeper/maintenance man and a part-time secretary, along with a number of temporary hires who help to set up and tear down the county fair each fall. It also provides about $20,000 that is used directly for fair premiums. In total, county taxpayers fund around $150,000 each year in support of the fairgrounds. For all other expenses—from heat and lights to building repair and construction to computer equipment and software—the fair (through its staff and a volunteer fair board) pays its own way. They provide their own vehicles and gasoline, plow the snow, pay their own phone bill and have undertaken several projects to improve the barns and buildings. The fair board has even developed part of the property into a campground facility
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Continued from previous page offering 33 dedicated sites complete with electric hook-ups (two have sewer hookups as well), a bathroom facility with four separate showers, and a covered pavilion, all paved, irrigated and ADA accessible. The biggest way the fairgrounds raises this money it provides toward its upkeep is in renting its facilities to the community— those user-fees so much in the favor of Nielsen and Rasor. The main exhibit hall is rented six months of the year for volleyball; Avalance, Striker and City Rec soccer rent fair facilities January through March. The Festival at Sandpoint, Lost in the 50s, the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, area veterans’ organizations, the Northwest Barrel Racing Association, and the Schweitzer Alpine Racing Club are just some of the organizations who rent the facilities to host shows, dinners, meetings, parties and fundraisers. Local residents rent space for weddings, reunions and other private events, while horse shows, rodeos, motocross and the demolition derby all pay to use the fairground’s facilities. In 2010, it’s estimated anywhere between 65,000 and 90,000 people attended some type of event at the Bonner County Fairgrounds; that in a county with a population of just over 40,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s figures for 2010. In addition to rental fees, fair employees have been active in writing grants to obtain funding for major projects (the campground improvements—now an asset of the county—were fully funded by grants) as well as organizing volunteer labor and supplies for other projects, like the revamping of the pig barn. The news that these programs were said to be under “a year’s reprieve” left fair manager Rhonda Livingstone with more than just a hint of despair. Livingstone, while hardly resting on her laurels, was, until this fall, proud of how far the fair has come since she first took the job. The
seven-page, five-year plan she developed in 2005 is full of ‘completed’ check marks for things she, her staff and other fair supporters have accomplished; projects like fencing, upgrading electricity, purchasing and installing energy efficient lighting, landscaping, painting and sound systems. And while there is continued focus on doing more with less, she can see no positive outcome if, come next fall, the fairgrounds has to pick up the expenses of salaries and benefits on top of all else that they do, especially given a mission statement that points to providing a “free educational opportunity for residents of Bonner County,” when it comes to traditional fair offerings. Although no official economic impact statement has been undertaken to show the dollar benefit the community as a whole receives from operation of the fairgrounds, it’s likely that amount is substantial. Consider just the week of fair itself. In a report drafted by Livingstone, she reported, “Fair-time concessionaires make significant expenditures (in) our local economy... they purchase the bulk of their food from local wholesalers and retailers. They also spend on motels, restaurants, cooking fuel and other needed supplies.” In addition, she says, “Commercial exhibitors purchase goods for resale, exhibit materials, hire local labor, stay in motels and eat in restaurants...” These dollars, of course, support local businesses that in turn hire area residents, pay taxes, and make further purchases that help to keep local dollars circulating.
The Bonner County Extension Service
And then there’s the 4-H program, which has garnered the lion’s share of attention, and its parent, so to speak, the county extension service, which has not. The extension program, of the three currently in the commissioner’s sights, is probably the one closest to a community’s
rural roots. Extension programs grew out of an 1862 promise by President Abraham Lincoln to extend the benefits of scientific research and education to the people themselves via the land-grant university system, of which the University of Idaho is a part. This program has proved itself nationally over and over again. Though most people have heard of World War II’s “victory gardens,” they might not be aware they were an Extension Service program—one that, at its height, involved 20 million American families and provided 40 percent of the fresh vegetables grown for consumption in 1943. It’s not just about vegetables grown almost 70 years ago, of course. Today’s Extension programs encompass timber management, water quality issues, leadership training, nutrition, child care, economic development and emergency response, among other things. And yes, 4‑H as well. In Idaho, the Extension program says they have “brought unbiased, locally relevant, research-based programs to help us stay globally competitive while also addressing local needs,” and have done so for over 100 years. At the state level, for example, the Extension service developed “the healthy diabetic plate,” in an effort to make it easier for diabetics to determine how to create a diet that helps to mitigate their disease. The healthy plate plan, conceived in Idaho, is now becoming a national phenomenon. Mike Bauer, the local Extension Educator, says that area funding for the Extension Service—including 4-H—is “a three-legged stool.” A portion of the budget comes from the USDA, and a portion comes from the state, via the University of Idaho. Less than a third of the budget— between 23 and 28 percent—is provided by the county. Those dollars, about $82,462 this year, provide for travel costs, paper, pens, the 4-H program and the salary of
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an administrative assistant. Replacing that funding through some type of ‘user fee’ is not that simple, he warns. “We have restrictions on charging user fees,” he explained. When it comes to the 4-H program, Bauer said, the question about future funding, “is like a dark grey cloud,” hanging over his head. So what does a county resident pay for all these services, including the 4-H program? “It’s about $2 per resident per year,” Bauer explained. “The bottom line is, it’s very small potatoes.”
The Bonner County Historical Society & Museum
That said, the smallest potato in the bushel would be the Bonner County Historical Society and Museum, which receives a mere $18,500 in funding each year from the county tax rolls, or less than .50 cents per person for the entire year. It is also a program that provides a direct benefit to the county itself, as the Historical Society serves as a local repository for county records. By statute, governmental entities in Idaho must keep available all records pertaining to county business. This is not just out of curiosity—there’s usually not a month goes by that doesn’t see someone, for some legal reason or other, poking through the minutes of commissioners meetings a century passed in order to make a determination about something today. The Idaho State Archives, located in Boise, was designed to hold those records but, as those of us who live here know all too well, Boise is not really a convenient destination when there’s something we need to look up. Our historical society, by holding at least some of the county records (currently they have only been asked to hold assessor’s records), is offering a needed service to county residents. That represents only a small piece of the local history the Historical Society holds in trust for the residents of Bonner County. They maintain archives of local newspapers from the 1890s through today (and, in fact, hold the only complete archive of the River Journal in existence), along with numerous artifacts, photographs and documents that tell the story of Bonner County from the time prior to its inception through today. The primary mission of the Historical Society is to maintain a museum, a goal of the community that began back in the 1950s. Through their own fundraising efforts, they constructed the building in Lakeview Park that now houses (to
overflowing) the museum’s varied collections, which opened its doors in 1980. All this is accomplished by a part time curator, Ann Ferguson, and an energetic (and volunteer) board of directors, along with other community volunteers who give their time to the preservation of the area’s history. All told, in fact, volunteers contribute approximately 5,000 hours a year to the Historical Society. Other than the minimal amount of money they receive from the county in return for housing records, their budget dollars are raised through admission fees, speakers fees, research fees, fundraisers, grants, gift shop sales, history books, memberships and donations, along with an endowment fund that earns interest dollars fed into the operating budget. It is hard to think of a way the Historical Society could raise additional dollars that they’ve not already undertaken.
The Tax Question
One commissioner, Lewis Rich, has said he not only supports all three of these programs, he also supports their funding in the county’s budget. Given their “historical presence dating back to the late 1800s, along with public sentiment, some tax fund support is definitely warranted,” he said. Rich is out-voted, however, by the two remaining commissioners, Cornel Rasor and Mike Nielsen, who have taken pains to point out their own beliefs in the value of these programs, while questioning whether they should properly be funded through property taxes. And it was Pam Stout, despite her lack of formal involvement in the debate, who put the issue into stark terms.
“To some extent, with certain programs, we are subsidizing the middleclass and wealthy,” she said. As an example, she cited the fair, and the current situation where people can attend at no charge. “If it was fee-based, people who don’t go wouldn’t be forced to pay.” That is the underlying issue—that taxes are an “involuntary taking” from the people. Taxes are only appropriate, she said, for “basic services and as a safety net for some people.” Regardless of how much of their funding these groups are already providing outside of the tax stream, she feels the county needs “to look at other ways to see if they can raise [even] more.” And there the issue sits for now, simmering much as program supporters are simmering, waiting to see what the commissioners will next throw into the pot. “We simply wanted to raise the discussion level,” Nielsen said to the audience at the Farm Bureau meeting. “Do we want to have these things and how do we pay for them.” When it comes to balancing the county budget, he said, “Essential functions have to be protected— “extras” have to go.” Still unanswered—and even unasked— is the question of whether residents of Bonner County consider these programs to be “extras” at all, and whether the indirect benefit to all county residents of having these programs should be ignored in favor of forcing only the direct user to bear their costs. Photos: Page 3- Bonner County Fairgrounds. Facing page- some of the county records held by the historical society. Below- an exhibit at the Bonner County Museum.
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Here We Go Again
Is Bonner County government once again flirting with extreme political viewpoints? A look at the Property Rights Council
Political life in Bonner County is a curious, and sometimes dysfunctional process. Like permissive yet negligent parents, residents mostly ignore whatever their government is getting up to until they just can’t ignore it anymore, at which time they tend to come down hard on the miscreants. That may—or may not—be what’s happening now, as a suggestion to remove tax funding for some popular programs has served to spotlight other actions that are also causing some dismay, as residents are asking “What is this Property Rights Council, and why does the local tea party seem to be running it?” After years of gestation and a birth that went almost unnoticed, “Cornel’s baby,” as everyone seems to refer to it, burst into attention with its unveiling on the Bonner County government website in October, in a structure that Terry J. Harris, Executive Director of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, described on the group’s blog as, “elaborate and expansive, and borderline incoherent.” It’s an apt description for a government program that looks much like an amoeba; a program where even Rasor admits, “We might have overreached a bit,” (which he blames on the enthusiasm for getting government under control), and which seems to call for a sound track with The Who singing, “Ain’t the new boss just like the old boss?” It’s also a program that appears to have put the cart a few miles ahead of the horse. Back in May the commissioners drafted a resolution to create the Property Rights Council, named a group of mostly men to sit on its board, created a position for a program manager whose duties, in part, are tied to this program and began training the new members. By October they were ready to put the council to work examining the county’s watershed ordinance and whether there are “free market” alternatives to it; on a consideration to “interpose” themselves in a dispute between Priest River residents Jack and Jill Barron and the EPA; examining user fees in lieu of taxes in regard to the sheriff’s office; and, at some point, drafting and adopting the mission statement and bylaws that will actually structure what they will do and how they will do it. All those documents, along with the information on their webpage on the county’s website, are “in flux,” according
to Pam Stout, the newly hired Paralegal Program Manager and “a work in progress,” according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Bauer, who is the person responsible for drafting the documents and is one of two attorneys (of the seven total) from the Prosecutor’s office who spend their time providing legal advice to the county. That’s a good thing given the documents are riddled with typographical errors, confusing language and potential illegalities. An opinion from Brian Kane, Assistant Chief Deputy in Idaho’s Attorney General’s Office, pointed out some of the problems: for example, a “members only” section to the website, a violation of Idaho’s Public Meeting Law; unavailable documents, a violation of Idaho’s Public Records Law; and language comparable to “loyalty oaths” language Bauer now says was only intended to serve as “placeholders,” with promises they will be amended. That opinion, by the way, was requested by Idaho Senator Shawn Keough in response to community concerns with the structure described in all that paperwork. It’s difficult to separate what the Property Rights Council will do from who it is that’s doing it. There’s Rasor, a county commissioner known for his strong, libertarian beliefs. There’s also his fellow commissioner and supporter on the council Mike Nielsen, whom many in the county are now looking at with jaundiced eyes. There’s the tea party leader with no legal background being paid a stunning salary to train volunteers as paralegals. There’s that young attorney from the prosecutor’s office who appears to work night and day on developing this program. And there’s the council itself, many of whom are known in the community for their proclivity for anti-government, antitax beliefs. As for what it will do, the council is designed to promote an economic-cumpolitical science idea from the far right side of the political spectrum called “Public Choice Theory” when it comes to the county’s business. Public Choice Theory says that those within the political marketplace — voters, government employees and politicians—base all their actions and decisions on self interest. “I have seen a continued erosion of personal property rights in my 35 years in Bonner County,” said Rasor. “I was
trying to figure out a way to get a different perspective.” That’s right. Because they believe government can’t be trusted to consider your property rights, they’re setting up an arm of the government that will do just that. Yes, it’s confusing. And it only gets worse. Consider Pam Stout. Her family, she says, calls her “Grammy Pammy,” and if you sit down to talk with her you’ll note she radiates a calm, grandmotherly kindness that’s reflected in her gentle speech patterns. Yet in the tradition of the Red Queen, our local tea party leader—and new employee of Bonner County government—appears to have no trouble with “believing six impossible things before breakfast,” and, at least in her political beliefs, epitomizes the word “paradox.” Stout says she believes in limited government but is comfortable with her new role as the Paralegal Program Manager for Bonner County’s new Property Rights Council, which adds a few extra layers of bureaucracy to county government. She believes taxes should only be levied for ‘essential services’ yet has no problem with her own $23,000, tax-funded yearly wage for a part-time position. She doesn’t believe that the ends justify the means; except, of course, when she does, as when she says the unwieldy new bureaucracy of which she’s a part is acceptable as it will ultimately “limit government.” Stout has been hired to preside over a program to train various levels of volunteers who will work in support of the goals of the Property Rights Council, as well training paralegals to assist county departments with legal research. The published paperwork regarding training for these volunteers focuses heavily on the aforementioned Public Choice Theory. She says the Property Rights Council will “increase public participation” in government despite the fact there are some significant barriers to that participation— if you don’t believe in “free markets” and “private property rights,” in the way that far-right, conservative think tanks consider those issues, you’re not going to be welcomed into the club. And she hopes that Scott Bauer will have time to train her as a paralegal, before she has to teach those skills to others. Does your head hurt yet? Stout stands on more solid ground
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when it comes to the part of her job where she promotes free market policies via the training of paralegals and other volunteers in some time-intensive programs: the highest level of volunteer, along with the PRC members appointed to the council, must undergo 780 hours of this training (a little over 97 eight-hour days—people with real jobs probably should not apply). Stout’s background includes quite a bit of time working for the government in Salinas, Calif., where she’s from, along with seven years of running her own business. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics. Stout says her dissatisfaction with the way government is currently being run caused her to join the nascent group of people who ultimately comprised the Sandpoint tea party; she even nominated herself as its president. She is also said to have joined a group called Friends of Liberty, and thus was ripe for the picking when a job she feels promotes her strongly held political beliefs came along. She is quite comfortable in explaining why she believes user fees are a better option than taxes, or how we’re destroying people by helping them too much. The Property Rights Council and its offshoot Paralegal program rely heavily for their information on the State Policy Network, a California-based organization which, on its own website, states its purpose as “fighting to limit government and advance market-friendly public policy at the state and local levels.” Its mission is to develop various think tanks throughout the states to promote deeply conservative political opinions. (Liberals need not apply.) These think tanks are generally hostile to public education and to unions, and want to see most government services privatized (i.e. ‘user fees’). The State Policy Network’s think tank resource in Idaho is Wayne Hoffman’s Idaho Freedom Foundation, a strong supporter of the “Luna Laws” that angered many Idaho residents earlier this year. (Those were the ones that, for example, require online education for high school students.) This new Paralegal Program will train volunteers how to do legal research on various issues that confront Bonner County government as a whole, and the Property Rights Council in particular. Although the program manager (Stout) is an employee of the commissioners, she is supervised by the Prosecutor’s Office— because it’s the Prosecutor’s Office that is responsible under Idaho law for providing commissioners with legal advice. All legal research done by the volunteers will go through Stout, and then go through Bauer, who must sign off on any legal
recommendations to county officials. The controversy over this program has caught the attention of Louis Marshall, the county’s elected Prosecuting Attorney, who is keeping a close eye on how these programs develop in order to ensure his office is adequately meeting its advisory role. “I have requested Mr. Bauer to give me regular updates on the progress of the PRC,” he said, “and have asked to be kept aware of any projects the PRC is working on.” Apart from those 97-days of training, volunteers who choose to participate at this level will also have to learn how to actually do the legal research that is the purpose of their existence. In Idaho, there is no certification process for a paralegal, though when utilized by attorneys there are guidelines developed by the American Bar Association as to what they can and cannot do. Most specifically, a paralegal cannot be used in such a way that they’re engaging in the “unauthorized practice of law.” Those who want to go the college route to become a paralegal will end up with an Associates degree in Applied Science. The Bonner County route to becoming a paralegal is less rigorous; in addition to the training in political theory, volunteers will be given passwords to two websites, Lexis/ Nexis and Westlaw, and an 800-number that will connect them to an attorney who will help them craft the appropriate search terms to pull up cases of interest. Left unexplained is who it is that will develop an opinion or recommendation based on the results of those searches, and what skills they will be trained in to do so; what is very clear, however, is that the Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for that output. This perceived need for greater legal research in Bonner County suggests an increase in the workload of the two attorneys already working full time advising the county; a troublesome thought given that Bonner County’s current need for legal advice, which consumes almost 30 percent of the resources of the Prosecutor’s office is, Louis Marshall concedes, “higher than average” for counties in Idaho. So who has been tapped to serve on this Property Rights Council? Current membership is weighted heavily toward receding hairlines, white skin and Y chromosomes (there is only one female member). That might seem reflective of our community at large—in Bonner County there’s a preponderance of skin of various shades of white, and our kids tend to hightail it out of the area soon after high school in search of jobs or further education—but women traditionally make a greater appearance when it comes to
government. Currently our two sitting state senators are women, as are two of our three resident judges. Sandpoint, the county seat, features a female mayor and several women on the council and, while there have only been two women elected as commissioners in the last 20 years (Susan MacCloud and Marcia Phillips), three of the county’s elected department heads are female, and seven more (including Stout) have been appointed to oversee departments. The committee members include Tom Cleveland, Sage Dixon, Susan Fray, Don Smith, Harold Hilton and Roger Daar, with Louis Kins as a first alternate and Tom Clark as the committee chairman. Clark, by the way, has twice run for the position of county commissioner and twice has not been able to gain the support of a majority of voters. He got his greatest support in ‘98, when he was unopposed in the Republican primary and garnered 5,108 votes, losing by only 435 votes to Democrat Dale Van Stone in the general election. Two years later he tried again, but came in last in a three-way primary race to Bill Stevens and Jerry Clemons. This is the group charged with examining Bonner County issues and funding through the lens of personal property rights and ensuring those rights get the priority the commissioners feel is needed; to intercede, if need be, when various laws are impeding those rights and to figure out a way to bring free market principles into the governance of the county. All their findings will then be delivered to the county commissioners, on whose shoulders any decisions will rest. Unless, of course, they end up doing anything but, given that exactly what they will do and how they will do it is in that aforementioned “state of flux.” What is sure is that county commissioners have the right to get advice from anyone they choose, and the right to make any decision they want based on that advice, as long as it doesn’t contravene existing law. Whether the creation of a council to receive only a certain flavor of advice turns out to be beneficial, or just another layer of bureaucracy in the process, is a conclusion that could also be said to be in a state of flux. Commissioners are encouraging local educators to give students official credit if they become involved in this program which, according to the PRC pages on the Bonner County government website, will “help immunize students from academic biases favoring government intervention.” Given the confusion already present in the process, it should also give those students a first-hand look at just how messy our democratic republic can be.
November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page
Guns vs. Grizzlies:
How to survive a worst-case scenario by Dave Smith
State and federal agencies provide big game hunters in grizzly country with solid information on how to avoid conflicts with bears, but there’s scant advice on how to handle a dangerous encounter with a nearby bear or a charging grizzly. Here are 12 tips that will help hunters survive a worst-case scenario with a grizzly. Bring enough gun. Lots of people hunt deer with a .243 Winchester, but would you want to face a charging grizzly with a .243? In 1983, the Tongass National Forest in Alaska did comprehensive review of firearms meant purely for self-defense against bears. The recommendation was a .338 Winchester Magnum, a .375 HandH Magnum, or a 12-gauge shotgun with slugs. As an aside, the report mentioned that big game hunters in grizzly country should carry at least a 30/06 using stout bullets. It’s unfortunate that wildlife agencies haven’t done a thorough test of firearms more recently for the benefit of sportsmen. Be aware that most charges are triggered by startling a grizzly at a distance of 50 yards or less. People accidentally encroach on a bear’s personal space, which forces the animal to make a hasty decision: fight or flee? You don’t have to get between a sow and her cubs to provoke a charge; you just have to get close enough. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publication on close encounters with bears states that a grizzly can “run 50 yards in three seconds, or up to 40 mph.” Hunters need to be acutely aware that during a surprise encounter with a grizzly, time is of the essence. To bring your rifle into action quickly, it’s best to use the two-hand safe carry. It takes much longer to get off a shot if you sling your rifle over a shoulder. Time yourself. Go out with a friend and tack a paper plate on a tree. See how long it takes to get a shot on target using each of the six proper carries for long guns. Keep a round in the chamber, safety on. If you don’t have a round in the chamber when you
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startle a grizzly, it’s unlikely you’ll have time to get off a shot, especially with a bolt-action rifle. Firing a warning shot at a charging grizzly or a nearby bear is a bad idea. If your warning doesn’t have the desired effect, you probably won’t have time to chamber another round for a second shot. Speaking of warnings, if you’re having a standoff with a nearby grizzly, don’t expect the bear to growl, raise its hackles, or somehow warn you before charging. Sometimes bears show signs of stress and anxiety, sometimes they don’t. They just charge. If you’re dangerously close to a grizzly, ready your weapon. That sounds obvious, but there have been cases when a hunter spotted a grizzly 35 yards away and failed to shoulder his weapon. Then the bear charged and the hunter only had time for a wild shot. How close is too close? The U.S. Geological Survey trains employees to shoot when a grizzly within 50 feet shows “aggressive traits.” If a grizzly that’s aware of you is facing you—frontal orientation— that’s the most aggressive posture for a bear. Shoot. Even if the bear is stationary, shoot. When facing a charging grizzly, never hold fire based on the assumption the bear might be bluffing. Some people claim you can tell when a grizzly is making a bluff charge because its head and ears will be up. Could be, but it only takes the bear a nanosecond to lower its head, flatten its ears, and knock you on your butt. If you stand your ground, a charging grizzly might stop short of making contact because your body language tells the bear, “I’m ready to defend myself. Touch me, and it will cost you.” So when should you shoot? Some people expect hunters to wait until the last second so a grizzly doesn’t die “needlessly.” Those people aren’t the ones facing the bear. If a grizzly charges you, shoot when the bear is
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at a distance of 100 feet or less. That’s the distance recommended by renowned biologist Stephen Hererro in “Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance.” Even a zealous federal prosecutor eager to convict a hunter for illegally taking a threatened species would have a tough time convincing people the hunter didn’t give the bear a fair chance. A Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks brochure on “How to hunt safely in grizzly country” says you should attempt to knock down a charging grizzly by “hitting major bones in the front shoulders.” Things often happen so fast that all a hunter can really do is point and shoot at the “center of mass.” What about bear spray? In a September 29, 2011 article titled “Spray... then pray,” Center For Wildlife Information director Chuck Bartlebaugh told the Coeur d’Alene Press, a can of bear spray “must be held with two hands so it doesn’t tilt upwards.” That rules out bear spray for a hunter carrying a rifle when a grizzly charges him or her. Even when a rifle is slung over one shoulder, a hunter is supposed to keep a hand on the sling to prevent the rifle from slipping off the shoulder. Bear spray advocates unfamiliar with firearms claim hunters could fire bear spray one-handed from a hip-holster or chest harness. That’s not a stunt a hunter should attempt while facing a charging grizzly. A right-handed hunter using the shoulder carry for his rifle would have to operate bear spray left-handed. Hunters using the cradle carry or the two-hand safe carry would have to let go of their rifle with one hand and try to operate bear spray with their free hand. Forget the juggling act. Hunters should follow their instincts—point their rifle at the charging grizzly and shoot. Wildlife officials stress that bear attacks are rare, which is true. But it’s best to be prepared. Dave Smith is the author of “Don’t Get Eaten” and “Backcountry Bear Basics.” He worked as a fire lookout in Plains, Mont. Photo by Jean-Pierre Lavoie.
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page
The Case for Bear Spray The other side of the debate
“Some experts discourage people from depending on a handgun unless they are in law enforcement or frequently train for highpressure situations,” writes Zimo, in the “Ask Zimo” column for the Idaho Statesman. “Most people just aren’t going to be poised or accurate enough under pressure to make a lethal shot from a handgun during a bear or cougar attack.” Local outdoors writer and photographer Tim Christie would agree. “I’ve interviewed several people for articles who have been attacked and almost to a person they’ve all said that the emotional reactions were overwhelming. Some shot the bear and killed it... a couple of them were carrying a shotgun, a much better weapon than a rifle, most using double ought buck shot, which is three or four large pellets which spread out, increasing the odds of making a killing shot.” He has some personal experience to back that up as well, from a grizzly bear encounter at Glacier National Park. “First, your emotional reaction to a bear attack is similar to being in a car accident,” he said. “You see it coming and yet your mind/body in many cases can’t react because it’s so overwhelming.” Deadly lethal with a rifle himself, he says, “Could I have shot the bear that attacked me in Glacier? Hell no. I was so overwhelmed I was just lucky to think clear enough to climb a tree. Plus putting a killing shot into a bear that is not running straight on, that may be weaving, moving from side to side, yet coming with contact in mind... it’s not an easy challenge. Certainly killing bear with a big bullet is possible, but bear spray is a shotgun-like blast that, according to what I’ve read, is 85 percent effective in deterring an attack. You’ve got to be able to pull off the safety, direct it, etc., but likely that’s more effective than trying to lethally shoot a charging bear. Small
target, moving fast, and you’ve got to be one cool customer.” And a prepared one. “You need to keep that pepper spray accessible,” he added, pointing out it won’t do you much good if it’s buried in your pack. This viewpoint is backed up by statistics from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fact sheet #8 of Living with Grizzlies, called “Bear Spray vs. Bullets,” reports “Law enforcement agents for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have experience that supports this reality—based on their investigations of humanbear encounters since 1992, persons encountering grizzlies and defending themselves with firearms suffer injury about 50 percent of the time. During the same period, persons defending themselves with pepper spray escaped injury most of the time, and those that were injured experienced shorter duration attacks and less severe injuries. Canadian bear biologist Dr. Stephen Herrero reached similar conclusions based on his own research—a person’s chance of incurring serious injury from a charging grizzly doubles when bullets are fired versus when bear spray is used.” (You can read the entire report on our website.) And they’re not the only ones. Brigham Young University bear biologist Thomas Smith Smith “analyzed 20 years worth of incidents in Alaska, and found that the wilderness equivalent of pepper spray effectively deterred bears 92 percent of the time, whereas guns only did the trick one-third less often,” it was reported. It is worth noting that in a hunter/bear encounter that took place in October, the man being attacked was accidentally—and fatally—shot by his hunting partner. The emotions triggered by a bear attack, and their effect on your own reactions, are
almost impossible to practice for. Alex Robinson, writing in “Newshound,” pointed out that choosing between bear spray or a bullet to protect yourself from a bear is sometimes going to depend on your given situation. “For example on an extremely windy day, bear spray could be useless. As far as firearms go, the caliber of the gun will make a huge difference in how effective it will be in stopping a charging bear. Also, a person’s ability to use their tool of choice will have a large impact on the outcome.” Traditional advice on avoiding bears when you’re in their territory doesn’t offer much to the hunter in the woods. A hiker may well be able to make a lot of noise and do other things to make himself more noticeable (giving bears the opportunity to give you a wide berth), but hunters are operating differently. Their goal is to move silently and unnoticed through the woods and, even worse, are often attempting to appear as something a bear might think is mighty tasty for dinner. Not to mention when gutting, cutting and hauling meat that a bear knows is a good dinner. For hunters, typical advice in bear country is to hunt with a partner; avoid areas where you see fresh bear scat; retrieve game animals as quickly as possible and be extra alert while processing; avoid “dark timber” during the middle of the day as this can be a favored location for bears to bed; if not removing the carcass immediately, separate the carcass from the gut pile, and leave it in an area where it can safely be observed from a distance. And, of course—if a bear claims your kill, don’t argue about it. Just leave. It seems this year as if the news has been filled with stories of human/bear encounters and, following close behind, the never-ending debate regarding the best way to protect yourself when you’re out in the woods. If you find yourself in a situation where neither gun nor spray is an option, remember that your best bet is generally to “drop and protect”—fall flat on the ground, linking your hands behind your neck. This can be especially effective if you’re wearing a pack. Regardless of the method you choose, preparation and practice are key. If you’re going out in the woods to hunt or hike, you must plan ahead of time for how you will react if a bear objects to your presence.
November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page
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The European Starling: During the year of 1890 in New York City’s Central Park a group of Shakespeare enthusiasts released about one hundred European Starlings into the air. Their hope was to establish in North America every species of bird mentioned in the works of Shakespeare, which,
unfortunately, included the starling. From this humble beginning, all the starlings present on the continent today can trace their origins back to these original birds. All two hundred million of them. Sigh. The European starling was not the first nor the last foreign bird to be released in North America. But many such imports could not compete with the native birds and soon disappeared. Not so the starling. It could not only compete with the natives, it could out-compete with them—even with one wing tied behind its back—and in time spread from New England to Alaska and all the way down to northern Mexico, and, of course, from sea to shining sea. The only other species of bird that is as common as the European starling is another immigrant, the English House Sparrow. It is ironic that two of the most common birds in North America, especially in urban centers, are both non-native species. But then, I guess, most of us are descendents of immigrants, too. People often confuse the native Brewer’s blackbird with starlings since they often flock together. With careful observation it is easy to tell the difference. While they are similar in
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Invasive species or not? color and size, both dominantly black and smaller and less rotund than the ubiquitous robin, they are also quite different. During the fall starlings sport a distinctive covering of white spots— “stars,” hence starling—that help to distinguish this bird from the blackbird. The starling also has a much shorter tail, often appearing to be practically tailless when tromping across your yard. Blackbirds have a much longer and more noticeable tail. Lastly, the starlings sport short, pointed, triangular-shaped little wings that seem barely up to the task of keeping the bird airborne, hence their frantic flailing. The Brewer’s blackbirds seem much better proportioned and appear far more leisurely when in the air. The male Brewer also has that distinctive yellow eye; starling’s eyes are black. Both species migrate elsewhere if the winter is particularly cold or snowy. Blackbirds and starlings also exploit the same ecological niche. They both tend to congregate in large flocks and both are willing to raid farm lands in search of grains and insects. Consequently the two species have been subject to population-control measures in order to protect crops. Similarly, both species are omnivores, meaning that they’ll include insects in their diet; indeed the starlings
actually preferring bugs over anything else. But part of the starling’s success is their willingness to eat almost anything. Specialists they are not! Another reason why the European starling is the bane of the North American birding world is that, similar to the English House Sparrow, they are aggressive breeders and frequently displace native birds from preferred nesting areas. Thus their numbers have increased while native numbers have declined. That being said, both of these invasive species have probably reached their natural balance in our part of the world, which explains why they are so common in cities. I suppose that is a virtue, because if house sparrows and starlings did not live in these urban jungles, nothing else probably would. I detest the English House sparrow, but I don’t mind starlings— but then, I’m not a farmer. And starling flocking maneuvers during the minutes before sunset can be quite spectacular. They wheel about in a large, amorphous, but coherent form,
by Michael Turnlund like a giant airborne amoeba, until the flock settles on a tree or two for the night. What can you do? Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re not going anywhere. So we might as well learn to appreciate them. The European starling is probably more like us than we’ll want to admit; common, noisy, and seemingly everywhere. But also just trying to make a living. Just don’t confuse them with the blackbirds. That would be bad form. Happy birding! Photos: One of these things is not like the other. At left, the European Starling (photo by Stuart Fisher). At right, the English House Sparrow (photo by Swannie.) Both photos licensed under Creative Commons.
Mike Turnlund is a teacher and an avid birder who has written two books, available at local booksellers or online at Amazon.com. You can reach him at mturnlund@gmail.com
A Sanders County History through the lens of the local jail, “Jailhouse Grub,” the twelfth regional history written by Fredi Perry Pargeter, talks about the sheriffs, the inmates, and the food they ate (complete with photographs and recipes) through the first half of the 20th century. The book will be available beginning with the Sanders County Historical Society’s annual gingerbread contest and open house from noon to 8 pm on Saturday, Dec. 3 at the Old Jail Museum. The book may also be ordered by sending a check ($10 plus $2 shipping and handling) to Sanders County Historical Society, PO Box 774, Thompson Falls, MT 59873
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 11
The Boy Scout’s Motto Still Works With late fall and winter hunting season approaching we need to start thinking about an increased level of safety in the woods. I just put some survival things in my pack and in my truck in the case that I get stuck out somewhere, and thought I would share some ideas with you. My “Go Bag” has everything I need for a few nights in the woods and is always packed and ready to go in an instant. Over the years I’ve learned some great safety ideas from fellow hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Unfortunately, every year I see or read about hunters or hikers who were gravely injured or died from not being prepared for the elements. Here are a few things to think about when preparing for your hunt or adventure in the woods. Wear appropriate clothing for the weather, dressing in layers and stay away from cotton during wet and cold conditions. Every year I see some folks with jeans, sneakers and cotton hoodie sweatshirt tromping through the woods, only to get lost or turned around. Usually they claim they were just leaving the truck for a quick hunt and can’t believe how
fast they got lost. If you like to hunt in those clothes please explain to your family how you may be a future candidate for the Darwin Award. Take a fully charged cell phone and/or a two-way radio with back up batteries. Today’s technology is changing quickly; embrace it because it may save your
life. Even when you have a weak signal that won’t allow a phone call, typically you can use the SMS or text service to send a message for help. It’s really amazing how many
Matt Haag is a conservation officer with the Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game. Learn more about the department online at IDFG.gov. You can reach Matt at mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov.
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locations have a cell signal these days. Bring water and a way to purify water in an emergency. I carry a water filter but an easier method is to carry iodine tablets. Also, I carry a small stove with a can of fuel that takes up little space and almost no weight. In a pinch, I can boil water or snow to purify water. You can expect to have decreased body function and even death in just a few days without water; however you can survive without food for extended periods of time, even up to a month. Fire is not only a mood changer it could save your life by providing warmth and can be the source of an SOS signal. There are many different methods to start a fire, but whether you’re going to use a lighter, matches, or flint and steel, you must practice with it and carry it so the weather does not affect its performance. I
The Game Trail
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 12
use a weatherproof lighter, and flint and steel as a backup. I also make char cloth every summer to keep in my fire starter kit. Another great fire starter is cotton balls soaked in Vaseline. Practice your fire making skills in all seasons to see where your limitations are, and determine what can be improved. I often think of the Jack London story, To Build a Fire; it has haunted me since I was kid and has motivated me to take fire building seriously. Another obvious, but overlooked, item is a headlamp or a source of light. Bring multiple types of flashlights, and backup power sources for the lights. Be sure to put fresh batteries in the flashlights before you head out and give the lamps a quick test. Every year I have someone who has “hiked all their lives in these here mountains” but gets turned around and can’t find their way out. It’s happened to me, and if it hasn’t happened to you yet... it will. Be prepared by having a map and
compass or GPS unit. I carry a GPS unit but also carry a compass in case the electronics fail or the batteries die. You have to learn to use both properly or it’s just dead weight in your pack. Just a few days ago a hunter in Montana took a tumble down a rock slide and injured himself badly enough that he couldn’t hike out. He had a cell phone on him and was able to make a call to his hunting partner, who in turn called for search and rescue. They asked if he had a GPS unit, and luckily he had one on him; unfortunately he didn’t know how to use it. The search and rescue crew were able to talk him through the directions and get coordinates of his location. Food is another item that can make a difference but you can sure live without it for some time. Like I stated earlier, I carry a small stove that I can use to heat up foods, including freeze dried foods. Freeze dried foods are light in the pack, easy to make, and provide all the nourishment you need.
A first aid kit and signaling equipment are other items I throw in the pack as well. Be simple but thorough with the first aid kit—it needs to stop your red stuff from leaking out at an alarming rate, stop yucky things from getting in, and hold loose body parts tight. As far as signaling equipment I carry a loud whistle and use my mirror from my compass to redirect light. If you don’t have a compass or mirror, simply use an old DVD or CD. Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a safe hunting season. Don’t forget it’s your duty as a citizen and a hunter to help protect our natural resources. Please make the call if you see poaching activity. You may not think it’s anything but it could be the missing piece of the puzzle for us as investigators. You can call our Citizens Against Poaching Hotline 800632-5999, your Sheriff’s Office Dispatch center, or local Conservation Officer. Leave No Child Inside.
Impermanence The red roof of the Church of St. John in the Wilderness peaked through the dense pine, deodar cedar, and rhododendron forest just outside McLeod Ganj, a hill town above Dharamsala, India. It was a little over a mile away, and the heat of the day had not yet risen to our altitude. Watching for rhesus monkeys in the trees, I walked to church beneath the vista of the 18,000 foot peaks of the Dhauladhar Range. October is the best time to be in Dharamsala. The drenching monsoon rains have passed. The worst of the year’s heat is behind. And the winter cold and snow has yet to descend from the mountains. Drawn by the plight of Tibetan exiles, we filled our days with interviewing former Tibetan prisoners of conscience, many of whom were tortured for their faith by their Chinese captors; teaching English language conversation classes; and attending lectures by the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Amidst hillsides festooned with Buddhist prayer flags moving in the wind and nearby Hindu temples, the Church of St. John recalls another temporary era. Built in 1852, this former Church of England sanctuary was the center of church life
for countless members of the British Raj (diplomats, soldiers, businessmen, and families) for almost one hundred years. Worship this recent October Sunday was lively and heartfelt, even as the small congregation was surrounded by plaques and headstones of the past. Major Calvin Fredrick Birch, 1st Gurkha Rifles, died age 41. Elizabeth Anne Blackwell, born Isle of Man 1822, died Dharamsala 1871. “Officers who fell in the Great War 1914-1919: France, Mesopotamia, and Palestine.” And many more, eroded by the annual rains and spreading green moss. We are a nation whose commercial and military “empire” surrounds the world. The signs are everywhere if one choses to look: Exxon Mobile; Microsoft; Bank of America; Halliburton; Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; facilities in Columbia; Guantanamo, Cuba and hundreds more examples. It has been our modern history to help shape the world through our institutions, governmental and nongovernmental. So, as my faith walk continues, it is meaningful to visit a place like India. Today’s Indian population is 1.2 billion. (The U.S. population is about 312 million.) Its Indus Valley history dates to the Bronze
Gary’s Faith Walk
Age of 5,000 years ago. And, while the presence of London’s East India Company and the British Raj was profound in its impact, the sweep of time moves on. The drenching monsoon rains, the heat, the mountain cold and snow come and go. Walking amongst the decaying crosses and moss-covered tombs of St. John’s cemetery, once a part of Britain’s vast global empire, I am struck by a powerful sense of impermanence. Moss and lichens eat away at the once sharp corners of graves. Names and dates erode and become nearly invisible. Weather, time, and human inattention tumble markers soon covered by dirt, leaves, and pine needles. With each passing year, this piece of the British Empire recedes further and further into memory and from relevance. As written in Genesis 3:19, the Lord God said to Adam “…you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The monkeys still clamor in the trees outside McLeod Ganj. The peaks of the Himalayas inch slowly higher each year as the Indian tectonic plate grinds northward into the Eurasia plate. And I return home to our North Country holding less tightly to the objects around me and the institutions with which I have been associated.
GARY PAYTON Gary Payton can be reached at gdp.sandpoint@gmail.com
November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 13
Management 102
A few years ago International Business Machines (IBM to the youngsters) came up with a slogan they plastered on all their walls. It was just one word, a devilish word, because it is so easy to dismiss but yet defines who we are. The word is: THINK Now don’t start laughing to yourself because we know that we all think, but do we really? The idea IBM was trying to get across was that we need to give more thought to what we do and especially to what we say about our existence. Look at it this way... The past few decades have made it easy to be a manager despite the fact fewer people really care to engage in meaningful work. Success has come to many businesses because of a growing economy. Great expectation abounded to those educating themselves (or so they thought) to become fatter cats merely because they had great intentions or were led to believe their studies confirmed their destiny. Unfortunately, when the bubble burst, there went the dreams that were in reality hallucinations There just isn’t a substitute for getting your hands dirty. You shouldn’t even be considered capable of managing a burger joint if you have not turned over more than a few patties.
Say What?
Years ago I participated in a program launched by a Dr Louis Sullivan called Opportunities Industralization, where we were trying to get more minorities in the Denver area to be part of the work force. For my part I could offer almost unlimited opportunities in the service station business (as it was then) without anyone leaving home but there was one requirement, and that was each participant started at the bottom. But all my prospects wanted to start as Managers. An entry level job was degrading. Hard on the manhood. In public life we have the same problem. One day you are a candidate for a position that has no job requirements, and if elected you become a manager or as some have called them, manglers. The result is we have lots of OJT (On the Job Training) at the taxpayers’ expense. When I was trying to help Cliff Chapin with county personnel problems it was evident that few, if any, elected officials knew the first thing about managing people. A proposed manual would only be a guide and then it had to first be read (FIRST problem) The same goes for this latest caper of generating ideas for running the county by setting up a committee. No matter how well intended that idea may be leadership isn’t found in a committee report. The
PAUL RECHNITZER
County Commissioners should generate their own ideas for, after all, they are the elected and responsible. There isn’t anyone on any committee that is accountable to anyone. The so called Think Tank mentality is like offering to hold a guy’s coat while he fights someone. Or as my Okie friends used to say, “They don’t have a dog in this fight.” You campaigned for the job, you spent money (hopefully lots of yours) to get the job. It is incumbent on you to do the homework. If it is burdensome you should not have worked so hard to get the job. And you can’t run on your past. You bring to the job certain skill sets that hopefully are not geographically oriented. To have a vested interest in what you believe, you should do the work yourself. Outside stimulation never is quite the same as what you tell yourself. The committees’ report will always be just that with ownership optional. Admittedly change can be difficult. But change is as certain as death and taxes. The best way anyone can navigate through life is to do what IBM said so long ago... THINK. Think about what you are doing and when you have done then do it over again You are not going to over do it if you are the one digging and scratching for solutions. After all, that is your job.
Paul Rechnitzer is a local conservative and author, and a practiced curmudgeon. You can reach him at pushhard@nctv.com
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 14
A Plan for Idaho’s Energy Needs In a previous article I reported that the Interim Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology was going to review and provide recommendations for changes in the 2007 Idaho Energy Plan for the legislature to consider in the upcoming session to keep the plan current with present day energy issues. We requested the assistance of the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance to assist in this review and provide recommendations for changes in the plan for the committee to consider. The Alliance presented a draft document for the committee to consider in a committee meeting held in Boise on October 6. In the draft the Alliance stated: “Idaho’s existing energy resource base has resulted in some of the lowest electricity and natural gas prices in the nation, providing enormous benefit to Idaho consumers. However, new energy resources are becoming increasingly costly, and there is considerable policy, technology, and resource uncertainty in national energy markets in general.” Given these realities the Alliance suggested it was the Committee’s and Legislature’s responsibility to obtain a broad and comprehensive knowledge related to energy issues and opportunities and to support a “concerted effort between government and private sectors to capture energy-related economic development opportunities to reach energy objectives aimed at keeping our energy costs as low as possible while achieving environmental and economic objectives.” The Alliance presented the following policies to be considered in revising the current energy plan that would assist in meeting the above objectives: • Enable robust development of a broad range of power generation and energy efficiency resources within environmentally sound parameters that are cost-effective. • Establish cost-effective conservation, energy efficiency and demand response as a priority electricity resource for Idaho.
• The Idaho Public Utility Commission and Idaho’s municipal and cooperative utilities should ensure that their orders and actions are consistent with the policies and objectives listed in the Idaho Energy Plan. • It is Idaho policy to encourage the most effective use of natural gas and ensure that Idaho consumers have access to a reliable supply from diverse and varied resources. • It is Idaho policy to support responsible exploration and production of natural gas supplies and the expansion of the transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure. • It is Idaho policy to promote the production and use of cost-effective and environmentally sound alternative fuels. • It is Idaho policy to promote conservation and efficiency as a means of reducing the burden of transportation fuel expenditures, improving the reliability and cost of Idaho’s transportation fuel supply, and reducing transportation-related emissions. • It is Idaho policy to support responsible exploration and production of petroleum supplies and the expansion of transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure benefiting Idaho. • The Committee reiterates the recommendation from the 2007 Plan that Idaho state agencies play a role in providing technical assistance to support local energy facility siting decisions and that local jurisdictions make a reasonable effort to hear testimony about the impact of proposed energy facilities from citizens and businesses in neighboring jurisdictions. • Pursue regional energy dialogue with neighboring states, with the goals of pursuing common energy market economic development interests and managing energy-related policy risk. • Continue to provide energy-related jobs and career opportunities for Idaho citizens. • Idaho should raise the awareness of energy challenges and opportunities in
A Seat in the House GEORGE ESKRIDGE
Idaho through education and outreach. The Alliance also provided recommended actions that would be helpful in implementing the policies summarized above. The full draft of the Alliance’s energy plan presented to the Committee is available on the Idaho Legislative website at: www.legislature. idaho.gov under the Interim Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology heading. Concurrent with the release of the draft recommendations provided by the Alliance the Interim Committee also opened the review process for public comment related to the 2007 Plan revision. The comment period ends on November 4. Additionally the Committee is scheduled to meet in Boise on November 2nd and 3rd to receive oral comments related to revising the 2007 Plan. Following the comment period the Interim Committee will consider all input into recommended changes to the 2007 Plan and then draft a 2012 Idaho Energy Plan for consideration in the 2012 legislative session. As the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance stated in their draft recommendations: “Energy issues are a foundational part of lives, and will continue to increase in importance, touching almost every aspect of our lives, and for which our State has a great deal of regulatory responsibility”. Recognizing this, it is important that Idaho’s 2007 Energy Plan be updated to insure that our state has an energy policy that addresses current energy issues to help insure that our citizens continue to have access to a firm and economical energy supply. Thanks for reading and as always continue to contact me with issues of interest. I can be reached by phone at (208) 265-0123 or by mail at P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho 83825. George
George Eskridge, Idaho Rep. for House District 1B. Reach him at 208-265-0123 or P.O. Box 112, Dover, ID 83825
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 15
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What to do, what to do? That’s the question facing Americans, and it’s not anything to do with the staggering number of social opportunities we face every day and night. No, we need to decide what to do about the state of the nation, and start asking—no, telling—our elected representatives to do it. Let’s start with the economy, which is not a small subject. Maybe the first thing Congress needs to do is admit that they don’t deserve raises in this, or, for that matter, any economy. As a group, they’re not doing a great job. In 2006, the average congressional salary was $165,200. Today, the average is $174,000—plus health insurance and retirement—paid for by us. That 5 percent raise, admittedly, doesn’t come close to the real increase in costs, particularly in petroleum and anything attached to it— everything delivered anywhere. But, the national average wage is about $40,000, and four times the average is plenty fair. Even though the savings of Congress reverting to a 2006 wage scale is a drop in the $15 trillion national debt bucket, it would still be a step in the right direction. Someone has to take the first step. Why not our leaders? That’s just a suggestion. And maybe I would suggest term limits at the same time. A dozen years in elective government is plenty of time, don’t you think? In the year 2000, our national debt was “only” $5.5 trillion, and we had a
budget surplus of $220 billion, with a projected national surplus of at least a trillion bucks by 2010. We were gaining on it. Mr. Bush cut taxes and increased “defense” spending by invading a couple of countries to protect our (petroleum) interests from terrorists. The economy tanked on fraudulent banking practices and panicked investors—which we paid for at least twice. Today, we have a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion, and we are not gaining on it. Iraq and Afghanistan have cost 5,600 (and counting) American lives and seriously messed with another 40 to 100 thousand, depending on whether you count just the seriously injured or include the “superficially” wounded and psychologically damaged. Then there are the quarter of a million others who have died in our “nation building” exercise. On top of that, depending on how who’s counting, there has been between $1.4 trillion and $2.7 trillion dropped into those two theaters, and another $1.3 trillion coming due soon. That’s $4 trillion, over a quarter of our national debt. If we had left our soldiers at home repairing and securing our nation, we might not have a national debt. Fixing roads and public facilities may not be as glamorous as getting shot and blown up, but it could be a better use of our soldiers’ time. And, the 5,600 dead would still be with us. Just a crazy idea.
The Scenic Route
SANDY COMPTON
The Scotchman Peaks Keep ‘em wild.
For our Families, For tomorrow. www.ScotchmanPeaks.org
Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 16
It’s complicated figuring. I don’t have all the answers, but it seems that “nation building” isn’t good for the economy, with a few exceptions—military contractors, particularly arms manufacturers, love it. In year 2000, the defense budget was $267 billion. In 2010, it was $680 billion, and there’s not much direct benefit to local economies unless you work for Colt or Northrop Grumman. It’s hard to gain financially in the long term from things that get used up in killing each other. Maybe we should quit selling (or giving away) arms to the world and start selling (or giving away) food. Our going-broke farmers like that idea. Plus, there might be a lot less chance of getting killed in certain places in the world, including here at home. Colt and Northrop Grumman, being the nimble companies that they are, will find something else to do (Ha ha ha ha ha! God, that’s funny.). Just a thought. It’s not just the government who is sending lots of money overseas. Our trade deficit with China in 2010 was $273 billion, nearly $2 trillion over the last 10 years; with Japan, $780 billion since 2000; and $430 billion with Germany since 2000. That’s over $3 trillion dollars (20-some percent of the national debt) that went overseas without a chance of going through the local multiplier. This doesn’t count the huge number of jobs sent overseas for corporate profit. Are you figuring it out yet? Maybe “Made in China,” means “I don’t need it.” And, if Big Three auto-makers start making cars as safe and efficient as those made in Germany and Japan, we can sell
some to those countries, Detroit won’t be a ghost town, and we won’t have to spend a few billion bucks bailing GM and Chrysler out of their own—ummmm—stuff. They too, being nimble companies, should be able to figure it out (that is hilarious!). (To GM’s credit, my 2006 Cobalt gets better mileage than the new Toyota Scion.) A few more oddball ideas that might be useful: What if a company incorporated in the United States, and enjoying all the protections of our laws, was required by such laws to see that their work force, board of directors and manufacturing facilities are in the greater majority— let’s just pick a random number like 80 per cent—living in or located within the boundaries of said country? What if the owner of a vehicle under a certain age that gets 15 miles to the gallon pays twice as much for gas as the owner of a similarly-aged vehicle that gets 30 miles to the gallon? What if there was a $1 per gallon tax on recreational gasoline; gas that goes into a boat, ATV, mud bogger, demo derby car, NASCAR racer? What if we had a law that, if it hasn’t run for five years, a vehicle has to be recycled? What if we “mined” our back yards and roadsides for metals? Hell, between home and Missoula alone, there is probably enough steel and aluminum to build next year’s models. What if there was a rule that a bank couldn’t be any bigger than the building that housed it? What if the law treated bankers who
steal the same as is does an unemployed person who steals? What if we legalized all drugs and put half the money we are spending on a really nasty and terribly inefficient job of enforcement and incarceration into drug education and the other half into jobs for the inner city poor? What if a welfare or unemployment recipient, after their first six weeks in the system, was given a really good physical, and then, if found fit, required to spend 20 hours a week working as a gardener, street sweeper, garbage cleaner-upper, bridge painter, window washer, floor scrubber... got any other ideas? Okay. So some of these ideas are a bit, shall we say, extreme. But, extreme times call for extreme measures, and extreme creativity trumps extreme conservatism. Mr. Einstein defined insanity as continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result. Mr. Jobs said, “Think different.” It’s time to think different. We can continue to send our money to other continents in the form of nation building and jobs and manufacturing or we can say, “No, we don’t want to do that any more.” We can look at the bottom of that thing we are taking off the shelf at Walmart and see where it was made and make a decision about whether we really need it or not. We can speak very loudly with our paltry $40,000 a year by deciding consciously where to spend it, and telling Congress with our voices and votes what to do with the part we send them.
Sandy Compton is the author of several books, instigator of “The Storytelling Company,” and owner of Blue Creek Press. Learn more at www.SandyCompton.com. Reach him at mrcomptonjr@hotmail.com
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 17
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www.lpoic.org Eugene Ballet’s
The Nutcracker
Fried Mashed Potatoes Well it looks like another holiday season is on us. I know you are saying, “Wait, Halloween was just here.” Well, you are right, but let me tell you about what happened at the Hawk’s Nest this year. Back on a Saturday in the middle of October was the only day several of us relatives could get together. Of course, we didn’t pass up the chance to be family so we decided to have Thanksgiving. Someone once said in addition to celebrating Thanksgiving we should also practice Thanks-living. It looks like this way there will be two Thanksgivings this year at the Hawks Nest with a lot of thanks-living in between and after. I bet by now you know why this piece is titled “Fried Mashed Potatoes.” A byproduct of any holiday meal is leftovers, and one of my favorites is mashed potatoes. As usual during the mashing process, if I’m allowed in the kitchen, there is a discussion concerning the right amount of butter used. I hear one teaspoon or one tablespoon or a half a cube. I have a very simple solution. There isn’t enough butter in the spuds until there isn’t any left in the house. In my humble opinion (okay I’ve never had a humble opinion in my life; many opinions but
never a humble one) mashed potatoes are supposed to be yellow. If somehow the proper amount of butter (yes, butter) is not used in the preparation, it can be corrected at the table. That is, if the cholesterol cops can be distracted long enough to allow me to clean up the butter dish and put it all on my helping of potatoes. Holiday meals were never intended to be healthy—another of my humble opinions. I read a headline the other day saying eight glasses of water will detoxify you. So eat what you want and drink eight glasses a day. It’s sounds like it works kind of like confession. I didn’t read the article of course, but I liked the headline. Back to our meal. Somehow the bowl of white fluffy was just that—white. I fixed it at the table. Our wonderful niece from Montana, Wendy, wanted to learn how to make turkey stuffing. Ana said she would make her popular stuffing. Wendy brought some gluten-free bread and wondered if it could be used in the dish. This sounded really scary to me, but it was close to Halloween. A little background now. I was raised by a Swedish mother who grew up on a Midwest farm. My father’s family farmed in the Midwest for several generations, and also learned to eat what they grew: meat and potatoes. I grew up in the Inland Northwest in a town surrounded
ERNIE HAWKS
Cooler Corn
December 2 • 7 pm
Sandpoint’s Panida Theater www.Panida.org • 208-263-9191
Most forwarded emails drive me a little nuts but, every now and then, one comes through that’s a gem. This little tidbit reached me from Boots, who got it from Cliff, who got it from who knows who but it looks like it originated on the pages of Bon Appetit with an author named Scott DeSimon. The question: how do you cook corn on the cob for a mighty crowd? The answer: Shuck your ears of corn, place corn in plastic bags, place bags in a regular (large) cooler. Boil water, and pour it over the corn in the cooler—I would guess enough water to cover the ears. Then shut the lid on the cooler until it’s time to eat. There’s only one possible response to this idea: Why didn’t I think of this? Or maybe two—I’m bringing corn on the cob to the next potluck! The photo, above (along with the idea) is courtesy Bon Appetit and Scott DeSimon. Learn more at www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2011/09/cooler-corn.html.
November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 18
by wheat and cattle ranches. My dad worked in agribusiness. In other words, I was an adult before I ever heard the word “gluten,” so couldn’t possibly know what gluten-free was, or that it was good. You can imagine my concern when our lovely relative showed up and suggested we make something as traditional as turkey stuffing gluten free. I was sure it was sacrilege, and Thanksgiving is practically a religious holiday. Another tradition is the turkey stuffing is supposed to be delicious; this is very important. Guess what? (Boy this is hard to say.) That gluten-free stuffing was absolutely delicious. After the white (turned yellow at the table) potatoes and the turkey and stuffing were gone, Wendy then announced she had brought regular and gluten-free pumpkin pie. Now this was pushing it a bit far. I started by trying a piece of the traditional one. After a good-sized sample, which was great, I tried the gluten free. I’m not much into conspiracies but something is up here. It tasted great, too. I’m telling you
my father and mother are shaking their ashes in the niche where they forever are. There was, of course, whipped cream for the pies. Now, that is another necessary conversation. How much sugar goes in the whipped cream? Do you want another one of my humble opinions? When there is no more sugar in the kitchen you almost have enough. That doesn’t just go for whipped cream. My voice may as well have been shouting in the wilderness when I shared that thought. You may be shaking your head and saying, “poor man is surly going to die
The Hawk’s Nest DiLuna’s Presents
young.” Well at each physical I have every spring my blood pressure is perfect, my cholesterol is better than that of most vegetarians and my blood sugar is right on. I don’t know why. Maybe I didn’t know enough to worry about. Now we get to the leftovers, and fried mashed potatoes, I’ll give you my famous secret recipe. Heat a griddle or frying pan. Put lots of butter in it. Make sure that measurement is lots. Make the potatoes into a cake about the size of you hand. Add salt and maybe onions and fry until dark brown on each side. Serve with a large spoonful of butter melting on top. Of course, that’s just my humble opinion. Joy and laughter filled our first Thanksgiving this year. It was the first one for ten-month-old Alice. Around the table was a mix of young adults to grandparents. The food featured both traditional recipes and new ones used for the first time. Every part of the day seemed to be a blend of old and new. I think that is what a family holiday is supposed to be. I’ll give thanks for that. Happy Thanksgiving from the Hawk’s Nest.
Ernie Hawks is a writer, photographer and motivational speaker. See his photos online at PhotosbyHawks.org. Reach him at michalhawks@gmail.com
Jazz for Cats
Three cool jazz pianists with different licks for all those cool cats and kittens! Tickets $10 in advance. Proceeds to benefit the Feral Cats fund
11-11-11
Doors open 5:30 • Music at 7:30 220 Cedar St. Sandpoint 208.263.0846 November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 19
R
Friends Receive Grant to Study Wolverines In a public vote held by Zoo Boise that ended Friday, October 28, a wolverine study grant proposal written by Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness executive director Phil Hough was not only chosen as one of four to be funded, but won “going away.” The proposal to help fund an expanded Idaho Fish and Game wolverine study in northern Idaho and western Montana received the most votes of any of the eight proposals that made the final list of contenders for the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund grants. “I was amazed by our vote total,” said Hough. “We were up against stiff competition, and we were also the smallest organization in the running.” The other seven proposals were from the International Rhino Foundation, the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Orangutan Foundation International, American Bird Conservancy the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville Texas, Endangered Species International and Cheetah Conservation Botswana. The other good news for FSWP, which is based in Sandpoint, Idaho and Heron, Montana, is that they received the full amount they applied for, a total of $29,700. With the grant, FSPW will not only provide two dozen new Reconix remote cameras to the study, but they will hire a halftime project coordinator for the study. The project will be conducted by IDFG in cooperation with Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Idaho Conservation League, Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education, Selkirk Conservation Alliance and other community volunteers. “This is a continuation of a project we got involved in with IDFG last year,” says FSPW program coordinator Sandy Compton. “We were amazed by how much interest it generated from our volunteers and the general public, and we’re alerting our volunteers about the upcoming opportunity now.” The original project, initiated by IDFG biologists Michael Lucid and Lacy Robinson, attracted dozens of volunteerdays from groups and individuals during the 2010-11 winter, as well as captured pictures at remote-camera bait stations of a variety of mustelids that include martins, fishers and wolverines. With the Zoo Boise
ecalling my college days in the turbulent yet tranquil 1970s Santa Barbara only one teacher stands out to me. I was a justreturned Viet Nam vet going to school on the GI Bill and, like many others, felt those strange rumbling stirrings of a spiritual quest. Philosophy and Comparative World Religions seemed a good way to start and an unknown Professor, Dr. Timothy Fetler, taught the courses. Every other week Dr. Fetler would bring in guest lecturers, Tibetan mystics, Apocalyptic Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Sufi saints who’d try and explain to us their various worldviews. Dr. Fetler would occasionally regale us with tales of his own spiritual journey and there’s one in particular I’d like to relate. In the late 1950s a duo came to campus from an unnamed government agency (the CIA, it later came to light) and gathered together separate groups of the area’s religious leaders, philosophers, Jesuit scholars and poets to try the effects of a new drug called LSD-25. The subjects were given a dose and left to wander the grounds of a scenic mansion in the sylvan hills behind Santa Barbara. Dr. Fetler related they moved all day, molasses-slow, through a wonderland of never-before-seen colors, heartbreakingly
Jody Forest can be reached at Joe@riverjournal.com Conservation Fund grant, FSPW will help expand the hunt. “Last year,” says Robinson, “we worked on a 10 kilometer grid. This year, we will be able to get lots more information with a 5-k grid.” Lucid and Robinson will also have at their disposal a number of portable wolverine traps that can be moved relatively quickly into an area when one of the remote cameras has spotted a wolverine. The hope is to capture and collar females and so better identify how many are in the Scotchman Peaks and American Selkirks. The information gathered will be useful in helping the Forest Service develop winter travel plans as well as monitoring the population of mustelids. A half-day winter awareness training
for wolverine volunteers is scheduled for Saturday, December 3, at the USFS Sandpoint Ranger District offices at 1602 Ontario in Sandpoint. USFS avalanche expert Kevin Davis will lead the class beginning at 12:30. Volunteers will also meet the newly hired project coordinator. FSPW is accepting applications for the project coordinator’s position now, which will be filled by midNovember. A job description, as well as contact information, can be downloaded at http://www.scotchmanpeaks.org/pdfs/ Wolverine_Program_Job_Description.pdf You can also learn more about the this year’s and last year’s projects by visiting www.scotchmanpeaks.org and searching on “wolverine.”
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Ecstasies of Philosopy OR The Snark as Symbol of Self beautiful bird songs, and Mozart playing softly on a hi-fi in the mansion. His soul filled with ecstasy and in a flash the secret, hidden meaning of life revealed itself to him. He pulled out a pen and hurriedly wrote down the secret on the back of a dollar bill from his wallet, afraid he’d forget it in the midst of that transcendent day’s wonders. And forget it he did; it wasn’t ‘til nearly a week later that he came across that bill while paying for gas and in a rush it all came back to him: the incredible day, the ecstatic raptures of his winged soul and the secret of life he’d written that day on the dollar bill: “It’s not whether you win or lose it’s how you play the game.” Now at the time of my own classes, I was no stranger to exotic, mind-altering substances and my grades suffered. I was more interested in helping out a fledgling group of like-minded Viet Nam vets in campaigning to end the war and bring our brothers home. Dr. Fetler first helped bail us out in 1970 when we were arrested for trying to march in a Veterans Day Parade. He told me though I was failing his class he suggested he’d pass me with extra credit if I’d submit an essay on the Search for Self. In between skipping classes and traveling
to veterans’ groups and demonstrations (and the never-ending search for true love) my own Search for the Self had led me to the works of surrealism, Lautreamont, and to the creations of Lewis Carroll, especially “The Hunting of the Snark,” which in yet another vision through magic mushrooms I came, like Dr. Fetler’s insight written on a dollar bill, to find secrets revealed to initiates and holy madmen alone in the mystical. Revelations abounded in every line: “The bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes,” seemed to refer to the to halves of the brain or the animus and anima, ever separate, not communicating and worse, the helmsman (or soul) cannot mediate, knows it’s wrong but alas, like Catch 22, Rule 42 of the Naval Code states: “No one shall speak to the man at the helm and the man at the helm shall speak to no one.” And some snarks are not snarks at all but boojums... now, lest the bakers among you faint dead away: “But oh beamish readers, beware the day—If your snark be a boojum for then—You will softly and suddenly vanish away—and never be met with again!” That seemed to refer to the legend which holds that the Self (or snark or grail) when found at last will cause your
self/ego to dissipate and the real “boojum” self will take its true place, transformed alchemically through the search process. The different crewmen on the Snark hunt seemed to refer to parts of the self, ego, or character traits—The Banker, the Butcher, the Baker, the Lawyer. A mathematics lesson is given in the fifth stanza and a mapmaking treatise in the third. Yet at the end, as all searchers after Self discover, “In the midst of the word he was trying to say—In the midst of his laughter and glee—He had softly and suddenly vanished away—for the snark was a boojum you see!” Rest in Peace, Dr. Fetler. and All Homage to Xena! A note to readers: “The Hunting of the Snark,” by Lewis Carroll, while not as wildly popular as the Alice books, can be found in almost any library. The early CIA experiments with LSD, while not widely known, gave rise to one remarkable account, “The Good Friday Miracle at Harvard,” in which 20 divinity students were given the drug in church and fully 80 percent felt they’d communed with God.
FROM THE FILES OF THE RIVER JOURNAL’S
Surrealist Research Bureau
by Jody Forest
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November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 21
Nov. 25 at 5:00
Downtown Christmas Tree Lighting, Santa & more!
DOWNTOWN SANDPOINT EVENTS SANDPOINT EVENTS
November
7 Holiday Craft Fair, Bonner Gen. Hospital, 9 am to 4 pm 10 Popovich Comedy Pet Theater 7:30 pm, Panida Theater 208-2639191 11 Spirit of Freedom, honoring veterans at Bird Aviation Museum. www.BirdAviationMuseum.com 11 Team Laughing Dog silent auction and sip n’ shop at Pend d’Oreille Winery, 208-265-8545 11 Jazz for Cats at DiLuna’s, doors at 5:30, show at 7:30 208-263-0846 11-13 Holiday Arts, Crafts & Collectibles at the Bonner Mall 12 SARS Ski Swap, 9am-2pm Bonner County Fairgrounds. 12 SHS MUN fall fundraiser, Tango Cafe, 6-9 pm. 208-946-7736 12 Songwriter’s Circle Concert 7:30 pm, Panida Theater, 208-610-1671 17-19 Turkey Bingo, Bonner Mall 18 Bash for Cash benefit, Panida Theater 7 pm. 208-263-9191 18-19 Holiday Festival of Fair Trade, 10-6 and 9-3 Sandpoint Comm. Hall 19 Holly Eve, Sandpoint Events Center, 6 pm 25 through Jan 1 - HOLIDAYS IN SANDPOINT! Tree lighting kickoff with Santa at Town Square.
December
Experience
Downtown Sandpoint!
Visit www.DowntownSandpoint.com for a complete calendar of events
1-3 Kinderhaven Festival of Trees, Sandpoint Events Center 208-6102208 2 Nutcracker, Panida Theater, 208263-9191 3 Christmas Fair at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, 9-4 4 Solitaire (film), Panida Theater, 208-263-9191 9-10 It’s a Wonderful Life, radiostyle presentation, Panida Theater. Matinees 1 pm, evening show 7:30
PLUS:
Winery Music - Live music every Friday night at Pend d’Oreille Winery Pub Music with Truck Mills Blues Jam every Monday night at Eichardt’s Trivia every Tuesday night at MickDuff’s. Tuesdays with Mike, Trinity at City Beach, 5 to 8 pm. Sunday Open Mic, 6:30 to 10 pm every Sunday at the Long Bridge Grill.
Page 22 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| November 2011
Veterans Day Freebies and a Broken Government Last month I took a vacation from my usual topics and reported on a reunion I attended in Milwaukee, Wisc. Well, this month I’m going to return to my normal style. So, to borrow the punch line from a very old joke, “Okay, break is over—back on your heads!” Some of you may know the joke and understand. Others won’t have a clue but may get a glimmer after I get into the piece. Please bear with me. First, with Veterans Day close upon us I’d like to make mention of some freebies that are out there for those of us who have served. Below are some national chains that annually thank us for our service. Applebee’s - All veterans and active duty military eat free from a limited menu at Applebee’s on Veterans Day. Chili’s — Veterans and active duty dine for free from a special limited six item menu on Veterans Day. Golden Corral — Golden Corral Restaurants’ Military Appreciation Monday free dinner will be available on November 15, from 5 pm to 9 pm. Military retirees, veterans, active duty, National Guard and Reserves are all welcome. Hooters — All Veterans and active duty eat free. The free entrees must be selected from a special Veterans Day menu. Krispy Kreme – All active-duty, retirees and veterans get a free doughnut on Veterans Day. Be sure to call ahead to verify your local Krispy Kreme is participating. Outback Steakhouse — Veterans and active-duty military get a complimentary Bloomin’ Onion and non-alcoholic beverage on Veterans Day. Texas Roadhouse – Free meal from opening until 4 pm on Veterans Day. Call ahead to your local restaurant for more information. T.G.I. Friday’s – Veterans and service members buy one get one free from November 11 through 14. Contact your nearest location for more details on their Veterans Day BOGO offer. On the local front The Sub Shoppe in Kootenai on Hwy 200 is going all out this year. Since November 10 is the 236th birthday of the formation of the U.S. Marine Corps the Sub Shoppe will be giving all veterans their choice of sandwich and beverage for three days this year. The hours are: Thursday, 11/10, from 8 am to 4 pm; Friday, 11/11 from 8 am to 4 pm also; and, on Saturday, 11/12 from 8 am to 3 pm. These good folks – Barb
Veterans’ News
and LeAnna Porath, Dave and Laurie Wall and Jim and Marti Ashford – deserve our heartfelt thanks and year around support for all they do for area veterans. Not to be outdone, Stacy’s Restaurant on Hwy. 95 south of the Long Bridge in Sagle is also showing their support for our servicemen and women by giving all veterans a free breakfast, lunch or dinner on November 11 from 6 am to 9 pm. And, don’t forget Papa Murphy’s in Ponderay. They give a discount to every service member or veteran—with proper ID—all year round. There are many patriotic businesses in our area that support our veterans and I will try to recognize them all as I learn of them. I’m assuming that all the regular events will be held on the 11th but, as of this writing, I do not have a complete schedule nor calendar of the when and where. Check with the local veteran’s organization and also watch the daily newspapers. The Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center in Sagle will be hosting The Spirit of Freedom on November 11 beginning at 9:30 am. A complimentary lunch will be provided to all active duty military and veterans. Guest speakers include Voyager pilot and Medal of Honor winner Dick Rutan, along with Director of Idaho Homeland Security Brigadier Gen. William Shawver Jr. A surprise event will be held at 11:11 am on this special day of 11/11/11. Visit www.BirdAviationMuseum. com for more information. Now, I’ll get back to my regular targets— the 112th Congress and Washington, DC. But first I have to take a passing swipe at the Bonner County Commissioners. They have given me two areas of concern over the past month or so. First, they created an ‘advisory council’ to find ‘free market solutions’ to conflicts with regulatory agencies (whatever that means?). After I attended a meeting of this PRC (Property Rights Council) I ascertained that their intent was to advise Bonner County residents who have had conflicts with state and federal regulatory agencies. So, the PRC is to be a sort of Ombudsman with a specific agenda? The question that comes immediately to mind is: “Who’s paying for this?” The answer, as I see it, is the taxpayers. The Commissioners have hired—at approximately $22K for a 19-hours-per-week job—a non-county resident to head this ‘advisory council’. The second thing is the necessity
GIL BEYER
of the Board of Commissioners having to hire a ‘mediator’ because two of the commissioners can’t play well together. One would think that with nothing but Republicans on the Board they’d be able to make the compromises required to govern. Is it possible that one of the three is so intent on having his own way that he won’t compromise? Sounds like Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia to me. Regardless of the final outcome in these events there is one thing that is certain—the taxpayers of Bonner County will be the losers. Meanwhile, inside the ‘Beltway’ things seem to have gone from bad to worse. Not only will the House not even consider any portion of the President’s plans or proposals, the Senate—with its Democratic majority—has been unable to move anything forward due to the GOP’s continual use of the filibuster. Actually, all it takes is for the GOP to ‘threaten’ a filibuster. Once again the arcane rules of the Senate have thwarted the desire and will of a majority. Is it any wonder that the majority—75 percent at last count—of American people feel that the system is broken? I’ve almost given up trying to find any successes in the area of legislative action in support of veterans. Of the 3,163 House and 1,681 Senate bills introduced in the 112th Congress as of 12 October I have found ONE that does anything for veterans that has been passed by both houses and signed into law by the President and that is a ‘temporary’ fix. I, as a citizen and voter, find this to be entirely unacceptable. We have well over 50 million Americans either underemployed or looking for work and those jerks inside the Beltway are more focused on politics than governance. We are paying them at least $154K annually to do NOTHING of benefit for the American people. This has to stop! Any elected representative who fails to listen to his or her constituents needs to be replaced at the earliest opportunity. The American people were sold a bill of goods in November of 2010. A protest movement was underhandedly co-opted by the Far Right—aided and abetted by a deluge of Karl Rove and Koch brothers’ money—resulting in ‘Astroturf’ candidates being elected. Hopefully, the average voter now sees the error of their ways and will do a better job in November of 2012. One can but hope.
Gil Beyer, ETC USN Ret. can be reached at vintage40@frontier.com
November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 23
TU General Meeting
The Panhandle Chapter of Trout Unlimited will hold a general meeting on Wednesday, November 16 at Di Lunas Restaurant in Sandpoint, Idaho. The program will feature chapter president, Don Childress on “How to fish Alaska, self guided.” The presentation will feature making arrangements for a float trip, necessary gear and provisions, and a float down two of Alaska’s premier trout/ salmon rivers Doors open at 5:30 for socializing and the program will start at 7:30. You can order dinner off the menu. There will be door prizes and a reel raffle. For further information contact Richard Andrewsen via email at richarda@televar.com or by phone at 208-290-2302.
RAAM: Team Laughing Dog
Silent Auction & Sip n’ Shop at Pend d’Oreille Winery 220 Cedar St. • Sandpoint
November 11 5-8:30 pm Live Music Food • Wine Raising awareness for autism
You’ll Never Think of a Horse the Same Way AGain “Horse feathers!” you say. I know you have heard the expression and thought it meant some kind of a nugatory response to someone’s silly statement. But really, it’s the long hair that is attached to a horse’s legs, starting just above the ankle on the front leg and just below the hock on the hind leg. ( I had an aunt who had hair like that on her legs; seems she stopped shaving when she got married and now she sounds like she’s wearing corduroy when she walks.) This long hair helps protect the horse’s foot and ankle from heel flies, dirt balls and other amenities getting stuck between the ankle joint and the heel of the horse. Whether or not horse feathers have anything to do with what I just said is beyond me. However, horse feathers make a proud draft horse look impressive when he is prancing about in black and shiny harness—I know you’ve seen the Budweiser Clydesdales on their Christmas commercials flaunting their leg feathers. A lot of saddle horses have leg feathers as well but most are trimmed back. After the movies My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead were released back in the 50s, then came Smoky the Cow Horse by Will James and girls just went nuts over horses. Their dreams were to ride off into the sunset with some handsome cowboy riding a shiny, black stallion. In fact, he and the horse were
both called stud—in the minds of the young women, of course. Along about this time families started moving out into the suburbs. With a small tract of land now available, the girls could have a horse to ride and love. After tiring of plaiting the horse’s mane and tail hair they discovered barrel racing, where three barrels were set up in a triangle shape and the rider raced around them. It was about this time the girls discovered that Old Blaze was too old and too slow to compete with their friends’ horses. “Well, Daddy dearest, that just won’t do. I need a faster and shinier horse.” As a tourist driving through America you start to notice these five acre tracts outside of all towns; some are raked and smoothed over on a daily basis while others are all grown up with sunflowers and weeds, as well as with turned over barrels. The latter ones belonged to girls whose father couldn’t afford a faster horse so they ran off with a ‘horse’ surely named Stud who convinced them that horses had frogs in their feet, and that’s why they could jump so high. “Your horse’s frogs have died, that’s why his feet smell so bad. What you need is a faster horse.” It was about this time in America when things were turning to shit, everything was rationed, and meat was sent to our fighting men overseas, which left us a little
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Page 24 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| November 2011
short of protein; that is, until the Indian agency in Anadarko, Oklahoma noticed the Indians were having a feast featuring big chunks of fat meat on their plates and wide smiles on the faces. When invited to sit in on the feast, he joined them and was delighted to find the meat was tasty, With just a little sweet taste, it blended well with the potatoes and onions. Curious, he asked the chef what kind of meat he was serving that was so delicious. The chef lifted his hands to the sky and with a tear running down his cheek he said, “Old Blaze.” The Indian agent sent word to Washington DC of his findings and the ban on the sale of horse meat was lifted, except for one restriction: any establishment selling horse meat must advertise such meat was being sold there. A piece of paper stuck to a window stating “We sell horse meat” was all it took to make it legal. It was about this time when Japan got its comeuppance and the bombs were dropped, bringing the war to an end. My Dad and I were the only two civilians on a Greyhound bus from Denver to Oklahoma City because all service men had priority on all modes of transportation; we just lucked out that there was room for us. Stopping in Raton, N.M. for lunch we waited in line to eat as there were only so many seats in the small bus stop café. I was only eight years old but I remember seeing the sign in the window that read “We serve horse meat.”
BOOTS REYNOLDS
I remember a Marine sitting on the last bar stool at the counter because he was just in front of me and a Sailor sat beside him; both were wolfing down big bowls of stew. Just then the waitress came by filling coffee cups. When she stopped in front of the Marine, he held his hand up and, smiling, he said, “Wow,” at which time the Sailor had just swallowed a chunk of horse meat and Old Blaze stopped in middle of his throat. Bug eyed and choking, the Sailor slumped over the counter, at which point the Marine jumped up and yelled, “Get Up!” and the horse meat moved down his throat. The Marine didn’t even have to use the hind lick maneuver. However, it didn’t stop the housewives, now backed by the Texas Cattlemen’s Association, from getting horse meat off the American market. “Okay, how about dog food? We’ll make dog food out of Old Blaze.” “No way, were not feeding Old Blaze to little Fufu, that’s just inhuman!” “Okay, then how about soap? We’ll make soap out of all them old horses.” “No, it’ll make my underwear smell like horses’ feet.” “I’m not sure that’s from the soap! I know, we’ll sell ’em to Canada, they can sell horse meat all over the world.” But they can’t sell raw horse meat back to us. That’s the law. However, nothing was said about processed horse meat, like the polish sausages you find in truck stops and gas stations.
For the uneducated, horse meat is a little coarser than beef, more like moose meat, only sweeter. Now, before you get all choked up, the state of Wyoming has approved processing plants for horse meat… whoo boy! Women like their horses neat and trimmed, unlike their men, as a three- or four-day-old beard seems to be the style. I guess that’s supposed to make the men look more virile or masculine. However, I can’t believe a lovely young lady would want her face, neck, breast and other parts of her body all skinned up by a sandpaper face like our new TV heroes are displaying. On the other hand, women like their horses slick and shiny; they even go as far as to dress them up in dresses, like big dolls. Okay, okay, they’re called horse blankets, but they still dress them up, even in the summer.
Boots Reynolds, the world-renown cowboy artist, can be reached at rplace@directv.net. He is a favored artist of Leanin’ Tree Greeting Cards. Find those at http://tinyurl.com/3rbfquf.
’Tis the (storytelling) season!
A new season begins
featuring singer/songwriter Holly McGarry 6:30 • Saturday, November 26th Little Panida • Downtown Sandpoint Find The Storytelling Company on Facebook and like us! November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 25
Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.
Get complete obituaries online at
www.LakeviewFuneral.org JEAN OLIVINE JOHNSON ZIMMERMAN November 13, 1918 - September 24, 2011. Born Chelsea, Okla. Degree in Speech from Oklahoma College for Women. Married Klar Zimmerman in 1940. Moved to Thompson Falls, Mont. and then Hope, Idaho. Moved to Sandpoint in ‘97. Enjoyed skiing; member of Prime timers at Schweitzer. Mother of two. DARLENE LENORE DINGLEY PONACK April 23, 1928 - September 28, 2011. Born Wallace, Idaho. Moved to Hope at an early age and lived there all her life. SHS graduate class of ‘46. Married Nikolas Ponack in ‘46. Mother of five. An avid gardener with a wonderful personality. E. PAUL KELLY May 24, 1937 - October 10, 2011. Born Sandpoint, Idaho. SHS graduate class of ‘55. Degree in architecture from Univ. of California Berkeley. Married Joanne Pennington. Made his mark as an established church architect. Model husband and father of four, and a devoted Catholic. VERNON ROY JONES September 12, 1915 - October 11, 2011. Born Coryell Co., Texas. Served in the Army Air Corp. until his retirement in 1965. Married Margaret Catlett 1944. Bought property in Bottle Bay in 1958. Enjoyed life and was always happy and easy-going. Father of one. SHERYL ANN HOLLAND April 10, 1952 - October 24, 2011. Born Chandler, Okla. Grew up in Costa Mesa, Calif. and along the Trinity River. Moved to Sandpoint in 1998. Enjoyed horses and her Cherokee genealogy; will be remembered as “the rose lady.” Mother of one.
Coffelt Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.
Get complete obituaries online at
www.CoffeltFuneral.com
KENNETH RAY BUTLER March 28, 1947 - October 9, 2011. Born Sandpoint, Idaho. Clark Fork High School graduate class of ‘65. Business degree from U of I. Worked in logging, owned and operated Porthill Tavern, worked for Ruen Drilling and Lippert Construction. Retired 2007. 40+ year member of Clark Fork Fighting Cocks basketball. A never-ending source of humor and entertainment. JOHN JOSEPH WHITE II March 13, 1968 - October 12, 2011. Born Riverside, Calif. Spent most of his life in western Washington. Moved to Sandpoint in 2007. Fished in Alaska - his crew was first one filmed by “The Deadliest Catch’ television show. Father of one. ELSIE OLIVIA JORGENSON HALL MARKS December 18, 1920 - October 14, 2011. Born Salt Lake City, Utah. Adopted by John & Edna Hall. Married Blaine Marks 1939. Moved to Sandpoint in ‘51. Owned and operated A&W in Ponderay from ‘62 to ‘72. Active LDS and Kootenai PTA. Mother of 11, grandmother of 64, great-grandmother to 174, great-great grandma to 12. EVELYN L RIDLEY BURT February 26, 1925 - October 14, 2011. Born Sandpoint, Idaho. SHS graduate class of ‘43. Worked at Farragut Naval Station and for Boeing in Seattle. Married Ralph Burt 1947. Enjoyed gardening and baking; member of Eagles Lodge Auxiliary. Mother of two. ROBERT PAUL ZIMPEL February 26, 1925 - October 14, 2011. Born Centralia, Wash. Served in the US Army ‘67 to 70. Moved to Sandpoint in ‘82. Worked horse logging and spent 20 years installing heating systems. Married Mary Ziegler (42 years). Father of one. RONALD KEN THOMPSON December 16, 1936 - October 16, 2011. Born Santa Maria, Calif. Married Beverly Compton in 1956. Father of four. Served in the U.S. Navy ‘55 to ‘59, then worked at Vandenberg Air Force Base for Avco and later for Tectron. Retired in 1986 and moved to Sandpoint. Enjoyed geology, hiking and music.
ROBERT A BOB GREEN August 4, 1924 - October 2, 2011. Born Colburn, Idaho. SHS graduate, married Ruth Oliver in 1942. Served US Army Air Corps World War II. Moved to Thompson Falls, Mont. and worked as a logger; also maintenance man for Colburn Water Asso. (ret. 2007). Member of the Eagles and VRW. Father of two.
MAXINE LOUISE KAPLAN RUHL August 1, 1938 - October 17, 2011. Born Brooklyn, NY. Married Joseph Michaud III in 1959. Married Joseph Ruhl in 1989. Mother of four. Worked a variety of jobs including at Hughes Aircraft. Became a private chef in ‘93; retired in 2006. Moved to Cocolalla in 2006.
JERRY JAY FLESHER October 8, 1967 - October 3, 2011. Born Sandpoint, Idaho. SHS graduate class of ‘86. Involved with family business, Flesher Furnace & Roofing. Married Jamie Shobe 2008. Enjoyed the outdoors. Stepfather of two.
BARBARA ANNE LOCKMAN BRISTOW November 1, 1950 - October 18, 2011. Born Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Married Steve Stangel (div); lived in Minnesota 12 years. Returned to Bonners Ferry. Married Rob Bristow. Mother and stepmother of six. Devoted countless hours to family and friends.
GERALD VERN DULL July 10, 1935 - October 4, 2011. Born Portland, Ore. Married June Petit. Moved to Sandpoint in 1961. Owned a service station, then worked for P&E Woodworking. In the same complex, operated J&B Enterprises, worked for Pack River Lumber and Nature Crest. Retired in ‘97 and traveled. Member of Northside Fire Dept. Father of four. ANNABELLE BURNS RIFFLE April 24, 1922 - October 5, 2011. Born Denton, Mont. Moved to Sandpoint; SHS graduate class of 1940. Married Raymond Riffle 1942. Worked at a local bakery, Sandpoint Manor and Edgewater Resort; retired 1987. Loved gardening, crochet, painting and drawing. Longtime member Seventh Day Adventist Church. Mother of three. EDNA MAE POELSTRA LINDSTROM August 19, 1932 - October 7, 2011. Born Farmington, S.D. Moved to Bonner County in ‘45; 1950 SHS graduate. Married Edgar Remsburg (div) in ‘51. Raised seven children. Married Willie Lindstrom. Managed several local businesses. Enjoyed gardening, canning, karaokee and adopting strays.
MABELL MARGARET JENSEN HERVALL November 25, 1927 - October 19, 2011. Born Arlington, S.D. Moved to Kootenai, Idaho as a child. SHS graduate class of ‘46. Married Bob Hernvall 1946; moved to Priest Lake. Moved to Kennewick, Wash. in ‘72 and returned in ‘77. A violin player, she was a loving, gentle lady who exuded kindness. Mother of three. BETTY JENE SORENSON JOHNSON May 23, 1926 - October 23, 2011. Born Page, Neb. Moved to Idaho in 1939 and Cocolalla in ‘43. Married Clarence Johnson in 1951. Worked at Farragut, Southside School and The View restaurant. An extraordinarily hard worker, and mother of three. EVELYN JEAN HOFFMAN GRIFFIN July 24, 1941 - October 23, 2011 Evelyn Jean Hoffman Griffin, 70, of Sandpoint, passed away at her home. A complete obituary will appear in the Daily Bee. LARRY B CHENEY September 22, 1954 - October 25, 2011. Larry B. Cheney, 57, of Sandpoint, passed away Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at his home.
BESSIE MARGARET CALLEN SANNER June 9, 1912 - October 26, 2011. Born Trail, Okla. Moved to Westmond, Idaho in 1914. Married Lewis Scanner in 1933. Lived in Oregon and traveled most of the U.S. Returned to Westmond in ‘72. MARY EMMA DeHUFF MILLER March 28, 1925 - October 26, 2011. Born Midland, Penn. She worked as a registered nurse in a zinc mill, was widowed and lived in Trout Creek, Montana. Mother of two. HATTIE ELIZABETH CORK LONG February 3, 1929 - October 26, 2011. Born Lewiston, Idaho. Married Glen Long in 1948. Lived in Sagle their entire married life. Celebrated 50 years together in 1998. Volunteered for the Sagle Thrift Store and loved the outdoors. Mother of two. FREDERICK DANIEL HARTMAN November 10, 1930 - October 26, 2011. Born Lucile, Idaho. Served in the U.S. Army 19491953. Married Shirley Tucker (div) in ‘54. Married Marge in 1969. Started Sandpoint Ambulance in ‘64; added a towing service in ‘66. Retired in 2010. Father and stepfather of ten. VERNON EDWARD SHADEL February 26, 1923 - October 27, 2011. Born in Kansas, moved to Idaho when 10 mos. old. SHS graduate class of ‘42. Worked at Farragut Naval Station and farmed. Married Harriet Wood in ‘45. Worked as a carpenter and owned Shadel Lumber Co. Worked for Ruen Farms and Ruen Core Drilling. LDS member and father of five. KATHERINE LOUISE HAYWORTH YOUNG December 8, 1923 - October 28, 2011. Born Jackson, Mich. Married Alec Young; resided in Heron, Mont. TALLULAH RUBY WATT October 28, 2011 - October 28, 2011. Tallulah Ruby Watt, infant daughter of Thomas E Watt and Taylor E Stewart, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. The family lives in Priest River, Idaho DALENE JANICE CARLSON February 22, 1988 - August 27, 2011. Born French Camp, Calif. Sandpoint High School graduate class of 2007. Worked in local restaurants and for Quality Inn. Recently moved to Stockton, Calif. WAUNETA HAZEL PERRY ZANTOW April 27, 1932 - October 30, 2011. Born Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Moved to Dover at age 5. Married Art Zantow in 1951; together 43 years. Mother of five. Worked for Sandpoint Manor in ‘79; retired in 1992. A radiant beauty with a caring heart. GENVIEVE PATRICIA POWERS KLATT March 3, 1921 - October 31, 2011. Born Fargo, N.D. Graduate St. Benedicts College; taught high school English. Moved to Hawaii in ‘45, worked as a libriarian and for the U.S. Navy. Married Robert Klatt in 1947. Moved to Sandpoint in ‘56. Mother of ten. Active member of St. Joseph’s Parish, and Sagle PTA. LAURA JANE ‘JERRI’ JENKINS TRULOCK February 19, 1920 - November 1, 2011. Born Mount Vernon, N.Y. 1942 graduate St. Lawrence Univ. Married Thomas Trulock in 1945. Moved to Connecticutt; moved to Sandpoint in 2003. Worked as an athletic director and college counselor; also as an agent for Page-Taft Real Estate. Mother of three, known for her zest for life and sense of humor. ROSA M TUSTY DAVIS September 13, 1930 - November 3, 2011. Born Gwynne, Alberta, Canada; moved to Edmonds, Wash. age 12. Married Charles Davis in 1951. Moved to Sandpoint in 1969. Mother of two.
Page 26 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| November 2011
(PART I)
by Scott Clawson This is probably going seem irrelevant to a lot of you readers but there’s a tiny band of us ‘southerners’ down here at the bottom end of Lake Pend Oreille to whom it pertains. It’s about water rights so you might want to read this anyway. Historically, this right has been a cherished possession sold and handed down with pride, fought and died over and stolen. Life sucks wind without water! Thirty years ago, my wife and I looked for land and water was our first criteria, followed by access, southern slope, good trees, power and phone availability, and above all, daisies and deer beans. We scored on all counts. Our well is 275 feet deep and the water is so good even our goldfish think they’ve died and gone to heaven. I tend to take advantage of this precious resource by wasting some of it on flower beds and vehicles. But lately I’ve been washing’ my truck in Sandpoint, peein’ on our posies and instructing any visitors to do the same. So far it’s been working quite well.
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Generally, life out here is pretty mellow and serene. If I stay home, not much screws with my mood other’n most bugs, some weeds, a few critters, and free-range hunters with big trucks and old maps showing even older ‘jeep trails’ who can’t fathom the phrase “private road.” Another draw of this lifestyle would be the background buffet of chain saws, cows, dirt bikes with tuned exhaust, semiautomatic artillery and the occasional ‘black powder’ enthusiasm. The ‘Village’ is here, we’re just scattered through the trees like moose poop. We’ll talk about these some other time; right now I’m all about water. “Life is water and water is life.” This saying is as old as ‘us’ itself and it weighs heavy on my mind when I get an official looking letter concerning my ability to use it. When I got said letter on one Saturday mornin’ dump run in September, I was in too good of a mood to even open it, so I saved it for late Monday when my resilience would be built up by natural causes. This worked pretty good until I got all the way down to the third line which basically said (in red letters) that my failure to take action WILL mean my water right would no longer exist. This meant only one thing: time for a beer. My rationality restored, I grabbed a handful of highlighters and went line for line through this six page notice using yellow for concern, orange for whenever my eyebrows went up, blue for puckered cheeks and hot pink for sudden gas or spilled beer. Now my official notice looks like it’s been laying on a kindergarten activity table for a few weeks. With line two mentioning a filing deadline of November 4th and page five’s last line ending with “… you may consult your attorney,” I unanimously designated the month of October to be a fine time to give this matter its due and hit my procrastination button so hard I had to go buy a new one. By the time October rolled around, I still didn’t feel like lookin’ up words such as adjudication, so I drew this month’s cartoon instead. This recharged my demeanor and gave me courage to push on, especially when I got permission from Julie at Tribune Media Services to use the image of Russell Myers’ Broom-Hilda! Now, my little dictionary describes adjudication thusly: to hear, determine and settle (a case) by judicial procedure. My tenpounder said pretty much the same thing only with more
Continued on next page
Broom-Hilda © and ®2011, Tribune Media Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.
November 2011| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| Page 27
Water Rights- Cont’d from page 29
syllables. Hmm, case? I checked out a few sites on the web and discovered that a while back, permission was requested (and denied) to build two more gas-fired, water-fed power generators east of the state line near where one already exists. These, it turns out, caused a great deal of concern and, given the nature and scope of this magnificent underground treasure, a general adjudication of all water rights within the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane River Basin water system in Idaho was ordered. This will result in a decree determining all water rights within this system, inventoried to assure proper delivery of water in times of shortage and provide certainty to property owners. That last part was back lit in blue, pink and a beer stain. If there’s one thing I’ve gathered in the last 59-plus years it’s that uncertainty is the only thing that is certain. I surveyed some of my closest neighbors and of course I got mixed reactions. One hocked a loogie, said, “That’s nice,” and drove off. Another said, “What notice?” Two more said they’d already done their homework and insinuated I was some sorta lowly procrastinator or something even more ridiculous. Eager to peel that label off, I opened a 16oz. bottle of ‘woopass’, went back to
the computer, downloaded the forms (six pages) and instructions (twelve pages) and try as I might to concentrate, the two sides of my brain started wrestlin’ with meanings, descriptions, interpretations and old grudges until my wife set off the smoke alarm, signaling dinner. No worries, I still had 29 days to file. Taking stock of the progress I’d made up to that point got me to see the humor in all this paperwork, so I called Idaho Department of Water Resources to see if I could come down there and share some of it. I had a nice visit with a true gentleman named Ken who helped me fill out the claim forms, answered my questions and eased my mood a great deal. It took my legal description, autograph, twenty minutes and only twenty-five dollars to complete the process! A darn good deal in any government building. Now I await the director’s recommendations concerning my claim via another official-looking letter probably on some blissful Saturday morning dump run where this will start all over again. Meanwhile, I will continue to look over my key pad at anything that pops up on my screen concerning the lake under our feet that we draw our life from. One site I found gave an estimated volume of the
aquifer at ten trillion gallons with roughly half a million straws tapped into it—some of which are rather large—so it’s a fairly big subject. Even in the driest of years, we’ve never had low water and I pray that doesn’t ever change. I don’t mind springing for a new pump every decade or so, but I’m opposed to having to go deeper. WSU did a study recently concerning recharging the aquifer for higher latesummer flows in the Little Spokane River by pumping Lake Pend Oreille water in springtime over to Garwood and injecting it under the western edge of the Rathdrum prairie. I ran this notion past my local think tank and even though we were three noggins short of a legal quorum, the response was an overwhelming “Ppfffftt.” Two beers slipped their grip and hit the floor causing the closest thing to a shower some of us had seen in a week. There was more, I just can’t repeat it. Part two of this topic will come along after the director does his thing and lets me know what it is. Stay tuned and do a little research of your own.
Scott Clawson
acresnpains@dishmail.net
MINE ROCK LAKE? First there was the Rock massive mining project, the for beneath the Cabinet destructive mine is set to damage to Rock Lake, St. Bull River, and Rock Creek.
Creek Mine. Now a second Montanore Mine, is proposed Mountains Wilderness. This cause drastic and permanent Paul Lake, the East Fork of
Rock Lake
TIM CADY
ROCK LAKE NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Find out what you can do, contact: info@saveourcabinets.org
www.saveourcabinets.org
Page 28 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 20 No. 11| November 2011
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