October 2009 River Journal

Because there’s more to life than bad news

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A News MAGAZINE Worth Wading Through

Inside:

What about Walleye?

New residents are natives Getting the H1N1 jab Playing hoops with the Harlem Ambassadors

Join a Western Pleasure Boot Camp

October 2009

Michael White, Realtor

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

Harry Weerheim Sales Associate, R E S o R T

R E A LT Y

You will get more knowledge skills and service Óän°Ó ä°nx ÊUÊwww.nor thwestlandman.com

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

690 ACRES - borders the Clark Fork River & National Forest with paved county road access. VIews are spectacular in all directions, you can see to Lake Pend Oreille & Schweitzer Mtn. Property is 1/3 productive pasture lands & about 2/3 forest land. Power & phone on site, plus a little year-round creek. Easy to subdivide. $3,500,000

640 ACRES of SomE of thE moSt pRoduCtivE lAnd in North America!

240 acres of Palouse farm fields, 400 ac of prime timber land with a big year-around creek, awesome views, and wildlife galore. It even has an old farm house, well, electric, phone, new rocked road and paved access! This is the perfect property for farming and ranching, survival, family or corporate retreat. Bring Offers! Asking $1,700,000

240 ACRES of foREStEd lAnd With beautiful lake, mountain and valley views. Four contiguous parcels (two 80-acre and two 40-acre) borders USFS on multiple sides. $799,500

undER GRound houSE on 130 ACRES bordered by two big creeks & timber company land!

IncludeS well, electric plus solar and generator backups, two good log cabins, shop & greenhouse. New interior road system & county road access. Awesome views. Priced as vacant land, only $599,000!

thiS GEoRGEouS 85 ACRE property features deeded waterfront, borders public lands, and has river & mountain views. Located about 9 miles down Lakeshore Dr. from Sandpoint on county roads. This exceptional land is nicely forested, with plenty of usable land.Three parcels sold together or separately. Asking $925,000

40 ACRES with gorgeous lake views, county road frontage, less than one mile to Clark Fork, ID power and phone are in the road, property is flat on bottom and up on top for excellent building sites. Unparalleled views of Lake Pend Oreille, River, valley & mountains. $199,500

8 ACRES w/ 800’ of WAtERfRont, where the Pack River meets Lake Pend Oreille. adjacent to Idaho Club! Boatable into Lake Pend Oreille. Great road access, building pad in, perc tested and gorgeous views of river, lake, mountains & wildlife. Bring all offers $995,000

BEAutiful, old WoRld Monitor style Barn/ House, on 20 acres, just a few minutes to Sandpoint.

Property has lake views, pond, forest and meadows, with nice walking trails throughout and great views.

House is unfinished on inside,currently set up as shop & apt. Asking $425,000

20 ACRE piCtuRESquE fARm & RAnCh,.

Quaint & beautiful horse property with good home, barn & shop. Pproductive pasture, nice views, county maintained road, Easy access into public lands, town or lake. Asking $399,500

niCE Custom home on 15 ac bordering public land, 5Bd / 3Ba home has hydronic floor heat, master suite, 2nd kitch & laundry, two 40’ covered porches, hand built rock walls and matching barns. Beautiful, well managed forested grounds. Asking $479,500

niCE, WEll Built homE on 27 AC Located on a paved county road 10 min. north of Bonners Ferry. This 3 Bd/3Ba Super Good Cents Energy Home was built in 1996 to CA building codes & is quality throughout. Nice property, hike to public land & lakes, great views. Backup gen. elect. $324,900

Nice little, well built cabin on 5 acres with additional lake view bldg site. Sunny Side area, just a short walk to Lake Pend Oreille! Cabin has sleeping loft, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Road to building pad w/ lake view, septic and well on site. Asking $185,000

2008, niCE, nEW, WEll Built 3Bd/2Ba in Kootenai, ID just minutes to downtown Sandpoint.

This home features beautiful wood work, vaulted ceilings and great views. Nearly a half acre lot is biggest in subdivision and access is all on paved roads.

Large two car attached garage $234,500

GOOD 3 BEDROOM STARTER HOME. Just 7 blocks from downtown Sandpoint, big yard equals three lots, zoned for a triplex and excellent long term, stable renter for the investment minded. Asking $199,500

20.6 ACRES IN THE KELSO LAKE AREA At the end of Sunset Road... sits about 7 ac of good, usable land with nice forest and great views, plus an additional 13ac area of subirrigated pasture / wetland/ shallow pond with farming or grazing potential.. Owner Financing $59,900

17 ACRES w/ SAnd CREEK fRontAGE beaver pond, nice forest,good- usable land, power & phone,and cabin. Less than 10 ml to Sandpoint, 1 mile off paved co. rd, 3 parcels sold together for $125,500

Very Nice 15ac property with one big pond, one little pond, beautiful views, good usable land with nice mature trees, forest and meadows. Well built,3 story, Alternative energy house, with passive solar design is about 90% “ dried in” and ready to finish your way.

Owner financing available, Asking $179,000

GOOD ACREAGE, GREAT PRICE 10 Ac w/ well, driveway, bldg pad, private, views... located good views, nice trees. Convienently located between Sandpoint, CDA and Spokane in Clagstone area.

Asking two good fishing lakes nearby.$75,000

REAdY to Go Five acres in Sagle just off of county maintained road. Water,septic and power are all there, the only thing missing is your house. Property is mostly flat with trees to one side, the rest is covered with grass and ready to be pasture. $89,000 BRING ALL OFFERS!

WHY LIST WITH MICHAEL? Consistently ranked top in sales. Your listing advertised in Page |Estate The River Journal - A&News Magazine | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 10| October The Real Book, Homes Land, Coeur d’Worth AleneWading Mag., Through Sandpoint Mag, The River Journal, Farm18&No. Ranch Mag., 2009 22+ websites and more... Member of Cd’A and Selkirk MLS, doubles your exposure.

October 2009

Western Pleasure “boot camps” for riders. See story by Desi Aguirre on page 3

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

What will Walleye do in Lake Pend Oreille? See story by Ralph Bartholdt on page 10

P.O. Box 151•Clark Fork, ID 83811 www.RiverJournal.com•208.255.6957

SALES Call 208.255.6957 or email trish@riverjournal.com

PRESS RELEASES Hoops action as your hometown heroes take on the Harlem Ambassadors. See Trish Gannon’s story on page 4

To jab or not to jab? Decisions about the H1N1 vaccine. See story by Trish Gannon on page 12

Also...

Trish Gannon-trish@riverjournal.com

Ministry of Truth and Propaganda Jody Forest dgree666@sandpoint.net Scott Clawson, Matt Davidson, Kriss Perras

Departments Editorial

Cover

STAFF Calm Center of Tranquility

Cartoonists

Coming back home again, stress in the workplace, hunter ethics, Idaho still struggling with lack of funds and the weirdest of weird tales.

14-15.....Outdoors 16.........Politics 18.........Education 20........Veterans’ News 22.........Food 25.........Faith 25.........Lite Lit 26-27.....Other Worlds 28.........Wellness 30-31.....Obituaries 32.........Staccato Notes 33-35.....Humor

(Email only) to editorial@riverjournal.com

6 Love Notes Coming home Aaain 17 Say What?

Remember what?

19 The Hawk’s Nest GOT happens 21 Politically Incorrect A numbers game 23 Currents Moony gardening 29 The Scenic Route Getting trail time 36 From the Mouth of the River Coon dogs

Western Pleasure Guest Ranch is all about fun on horseback. See story on page 3. Photo of wrangler Erin Bradatich by Janice Schoonover

Regular Contributors

Desire Aguirre; Jinx Beshears; Laura Bry; Scott Clawson; Sandy Compton; Marylyn Cork; Dick Cvitanich; Duke Diercks; Mont. Sen. Jim Elliott; Idaho Rep. George Eskridge; Lawrence Fury; Dustin Gannon; Shaina Gustafson; Matt Haag; Ernie Hawks; Hanna Hurt; Herb Huseland; Emily Levine; Marianne Love; Thomas McMahon; Clint Nicholson; Kathy Osborne; Gary Payton; Angela Potts; Paul Rechnitzer; Boots Reynolds; Kriss Perras Running Waters; Sandpoint Wellness Council; Rhoda Sanford; Lou Springer; Mike Turnlund; Tess Vogel; Michael White; and Pat Williams

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle Proudly printed at Griffin Publishing in Spokane, Wash. 509.534.3625 Contents of the River Journal are copyright 2009.

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

The River Journal is printed on 40 percent recycled paper with soy-based ink. We appreciate your efforts to recycle.

Fall Colors train rides with the North Pend Oreille Valley Lions Club and the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad.

October 3, 10, & 17 Call 1-877--525-5226 or visit www.lionstrainrides.com

HELLO HOPE!

Touchstone Massage Therapies

Need reliable, high-speed Internet service? Call for a free site survey today!

Intermax serves many areas of Bonner County from Dover to Hope.

208.762.8065 - Coeur d’Alene 208.265.3533 - Sandpoint www.IntermaxNetworks.com

CLEAN UP

At Stepping Stones Wellness Center Oncology • Sports Medical • Energy Stress Relief Krystle Shapiro, LMT

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Boot Camp?

Western Pleasure offers more than riding to area horse-lovers

by Desire Aguirre The barn at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch smelled like horses and fresh mowed hay. Outside, a soft drizzle announced the end of summer and a kaleidoscope of colors burst from the trees: sienna, crimson, umber, yellow and green. The horses, saddled and ready to ride, stood patient in idle mode, while the riders received last minute directions from Vicky Fuller, equestrian instructor.

Western Pleasure Guest Ranch has a rich history. On February 13, 1939, Riley and Gladys Wood moved into their dream cabin complete with 960 acres on Gold Creek. A bright moon reflected off three feet of snow that stood between them and their new front door.

Jim Wood purchased the ranch from his father, Riley, in 1957, and acquired a second ranch in 1978. In 1990, Jim’s daughter, Janice, and her husband, Roley Schoonover, fresh out of college, wanted to follow the Wood family tradition, living on the ranch and going into business. That summer they started taking people on horseback rides.

“We took 60 people out that first summer,” said Janice Schoonover. “People were amazed. They were all so taken by the beauty.”

Western Pleasure Guest Ranch has evolved into one of Idaho’s premiere guest ranches. They have over 40 horses and astounding trails that cover their property.

Best of all, the Schoonover family loves

what they do, and it shows.

Danielle Schoonover Otis studies recreational management at NIC. She married her fiancée, Landon, at the ranch August 2008. Danielle plans to bring her knowledge to the ranch to continue in the family legacy. She loves to ride, play fiddle, and hang out with her new husband. Her favorite job at the ranch is wrangler.

Isaac Schoonover, 17, also entertains the guests with a mean fiddle. When he’s not making music, Isaac helps his dad train the young horses. He has a real talent, and trains outside horses as well.

WPGR, actively involved in 4-H, runs kid horse camps in the summer. Vicky Fuller and Janice decided to start an adult horsemanship clinic six years ago, mainly in response to the parents of the children in kids camp.

“A lot of the parents wanted to attend the kids camp,” Janice said, “so Vicky and I put our heads together and started the adult horsemanship clinic.”

This year, the clinic was full with 12 riders from Michigan, Washington, Kentucky, Coeur d’Alene, and Sandpoint.

“We marketed it a little differently this year,” Vicky said. “This year, five locals have brought their own horses to camp. We said no to the mule and the green Tennessee Walker.”

Vicky Fuller has ridden all her life. She works with 4-H and gives individual riding

lessons at her ranch in Sagle. Vicky said that safety is always a top concern, and every spring Vicky and WPGR wranglers and horses participate in the Pat Wyss clinic to train and tune up horses.

“The better you ride,” Vicky said with a smile, “the better you can dance.”

Sally Paquin, Coeur d’Alene, said that three years ago, she had never ridden a horse.

“I was scared to death of horses,” Sally said. “Someone challenged me to do equine massage, so I decided to conquer my fears.”

Sally brought her Icelandic pony, Miss Blue, to the adult horse clinic. She said she gets more training every year, and was exhilarated to take Miss Blue on their first trail ride.

“I’ve already signed up for next year,” Sally said, “and I’m bringing my husband.”

Eventually, Sally plans on running a horse clinic to help battered women gain confidence and heal.

“Horses are so therapeutic,” Sally said.

Christine Kendell, Bellingham Wash., said she rode horses when she was 12 to 14 years old.

“I started riding again a couple years ago,” Christine said, “and when I found Western Pleasure on the Internet, I thought it would be a great way to become a better rider. And I hit the jackpot. This is a fantastic place and my husband and I hope to come back again next year.”

The riders at the camp ranged from around 40 to around 60. When they weren’t on their horses, they cheered the other riders on, clapping and encouraging. The rain stopped, and they smiled, eager for their afternoon trail ride.

Vicky said that at this time, almost all the riders have signed up for the clinic next fall and that WPGR hopes to conduct two separate adult camps next year.

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

HOMETOWN 211 Cedar St. Sandpoint, Idaho

208-263-3167

cmbrewster.com • cmb@netw.com BEAUTIFUL 160 ACRES WITH GOOD TIMBER

$499,000 • Tom Renk MLS# 20900954 Mostly level to gently sloping land with sunny southern exposure and tremendous views of surrounding mountains. Good building sites with super solar potential. Lots of wildlife. Borders large timber company holding. Approx. half mile off paved county road and less than 30 minutes to Sandpoint.

TRI-LEVEL WITH ACREAGE AND CREEKS

$299,000•Tom Renk MLS# 20901433 End-of-the-road privacy with amazing views from contemporary tri-level frame home. 3BD, 2BA home has great room, separate office, large country kitchen with tile counters, custom cedar and pine interior, 2-car garage/shop, orchard, garden, and 2 seasonal creeks. Wooded 6.9± acres adjoins public lands with miles of trails for hiking/biking

COZY LOG CABIN ON 14 WOODED ACRES

$234,500•Tom Renk MLS# 20901528 Cozy log cabin on 14 wooded acres includes many custom wood and stone details on interior. Great room has vaulted ceiling and large windows. Rustic 1700 square foot home has wooded setting with excellent year-round access, just off paved county road. Most of the land is level and usable.

LAKE VIEWS FROM COZY HOME CLOSE TO SANDPOINT

$219,000•Tom Renk MLS# 20900350 Cute and comfortable modular home has great floor plan, bright and cheery interior, fireplace, vaulted ceilings, lots of kitchen cabinets, and deck with hot tub. Private setting on 1.6 wooded acres. Less than one mile to public waterfront access at Springy Point.

SECONDARY WATERFRONT

$159,900•Tom Renk MLS# 2080659 Community access with dock on Pend Oreille River! Private, peaceful 1.5 acres has small mobile home with cute interior.

It’s hidden in beautiful gardens and landscaping, surrounded by a wide variety of trees, meadow, and mountain views. This is a great vacation retreat!

STARS to shine at SHS

Clark Fork’s Bob Hays was the first one to say yes, which won’t surprise anyone who knows him, because Bob Hays has a hard time saying ‘no’ to a good cause. And Wishing Star, by any measure, is a good cause. Established in 1983, Wishing Star has just one purpose—to grant wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. The Sandpoint chapter, established 21 years ago, has helped dreams come true for 20 children since their inception, and to further that goal, they decided on a unique fundraiser that offers something a little bit different to a community with a lot of good causes to donate to. This year, Wishing Star’s Sandpoint chapter is bringing the Harlem Ambassadors to town, for a little hoops action against our Hometown Heroes. Bob Hays, of course, is one of them.

Bob is no stranger to basketball; a former coach at Clark Fork, he’s a main force behind the school’s annual Alumni Tournament, where hundreds of Clark Fork graduates and friends turn out each March for basketball and volleyball. At 72, he not only still plays the game, but is a tough opponent on the court. Even up against the semi-pros on the Harlem Ambassadors team, Clark Fork’s “Hazey-Bob” has a few tricks up his sleeve. “I’ll just throw a Missouri hook shot on ‘em,” he laughed.

Eric Plummer, sports writer for the Daily Bee, is the team’s reluctant second recruit.

He appreciates the work of Wishing Star, but is not as thrilled with putting his basketball skills, which he refers to as “rusty,” to the test. “Of course, they’re just a bunch of exNBA and college players,” he laughed, and added, “We’ll be the Washington Generals.”

The Washington Generals, of course, were the exhibition basketball team given the dubious honor of spectacularly losing in games against the Harlem Globetrotters.

Eric, who said he “used to play a ton” of basketball, admitted that his recent forays onto the court have resulted in some sprained ankles; he’ll share that weakness with Ambassador’s star Lade Majik, who played collegiately for University of Missouri and played pro ball in Israel. Lade, called “the Queen of show basketball,” was out most of last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

Eric expects backup, however, from his brother “Jake, the Snake,” of NFL fame.

“He’ll be great,” Eric promised, though admitted that “like all of us,” retirement may have dampened Jake’s skills a bit.

Clark Fork High School Athletic Director

Brian Arthun, a basketball monster at alumni games, has declined to play himself, concerned about scouts. “You know, if I go in there with my A game, there’s a problem with the scouts,” he offered. Almost a cockily arrogant is Melvin Speelmon, boys’ varsity basketball coach at Clark Fork, who is stepping up to play. All 5 feet, 6 inches of him. He has no worries, not even if the Ambassadors play 6’8” center Daytona Burch, or 6’9” center Dan Jean. “I can hold my own,” Melvin promised. “I’ve been small my whole life, so I’ve played tall guys before.” A former high school and college player who’s managed to keep a hand on the ball pretty much since graduation, Melvin says he’ll bring “speed and ball handling,” to the team. “We’re gonna have fun,” he promised. “This is for a great cause.”

America’s sports authority, as named

by KPND deejay Jonny Knight, is Chris Chapburn, Program Director and number one sports guy for KPND and 106.7 local radio. Chris is also the JV girls’ basketball coach at Sandpoint High, and assistant coach to the varsity team. He’s no Lady Bulldog, though, as he’s quick to point out.

“My number one goal is to get through this game uninjured,” he said, and asks that no one judge his coaching ability by what they see on the court in November.

“I like to shoot,” he offered, and while he doesn’t classify himself as a threepoint specialist, he acknowledges that his size (5’10”) leads him to prefer shooting from the outside. Given that none of the Hometown team has any height to speak of, that might make for an entire team of outside shooters. “Well, we’re not exactly overflowing here with giants,” he laughed, but Coach Chris has confidence that Bonner County can show Harlem a thing or two about basketball.

And if they can’t... he doesn’t mind humiliating himself for a good cause.

A star for the hometown team might well be Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Dick Cvitanich, who’s hoping he can hit the boards wearing his lucky, Adult Spelling Bee costume—Mr. Incredible.

“I’m a lousy ball handler,” he admits, “but I bring a gritty defense and persistence to my team.” He said his main objective on the floor will be to “get in their way.” Not his own team’s way—the Ambassadors’ way.

Dick said he agreed to play not just because he believes in the mission of Wishing Star, although he does believe in

N vs HARLEM benefit for Wishing Star it, but says he’s still trying to make up for getting cut from his junior high basketball team. He’d prefer it if that information, however, “stayed on the QT.” “I learned in playing donkey basketball to always look forward,” he said, and also

who have seen their wishes come true. Like 9-year-old Alex. They write, “On Thursday, June 12 Alex lost his 9 year battle with neurofibromatosis. Alex’s wishes were simple. He wanted to meet his grandfather, or go to a petting zoo or listen to a country and western concert. The family traveled to Modesto, Calif. to see grandpa. They were guests of Modesto and Merced. Those communities opened their arms and hearts while granting the other two wishes.

So many people took part in the granting of Alex’s wish.”

Ambassadors only play in small communities, and all proceeds from ticket sales go directly to the charity that brings them in. The host has to provide lodging for the team, and Verna says La Quinta stepped right up and donated rooms. They have to provide water and sports drinks, and Safeway took on that role. And they have to provide a dinner; volunteers are taking care of that aspect. (If you’d like to sit in and eat with the teams, call Verna to reserve a space—cost is $250.)

This year the Sandpoint Chapter of Wishing Star is looking to send a 7-year-old boy with cancer to the Oregon Coast, where he’d like to go crab fishing. Proceeds from this event will help make that wish come true. That’s what it’s all about for each of the Hometown players, none of whom expect to come out of this game looking like a basketball star.

Tickets to the game are available in Sandpoint at the Bonner County Daily Bee offices, at the Meriwether Inn in Clark Fork, or at Sandpoint Sports in Ponderay. Cost is $5 for seniors and students $7 for adults.

Or you can wait ‘til game day, and buy your tickets for $10 at the door.

The Ambassadors all sign a complimentary basketball that will be available for raffle, and Wishing Star gets a percentage of any of their promotional materials (photos, etc) that are sold at the game.

To help cover the $3,300 cost of bringing the team in, Verna is looking for business and individual sponsorships for the game.

There are three sponsorship levels: $500, $250 and $100, but anyone can make a donation of any amount to help make this happen. Donations can be mailed to 2206 Aspen Way, Sandpoint, ID 83864. Anyone interested in sponsoring can call Verna at 263-7638, or Sandi Hoge at 255-5347.

“We’re not exactly overflowing here with giants...” learned that sometimes the laughter of the crowd is the greatest reward for playing.

And he’s hoping he has a secret weapon on the court—his assistant in the LPOSD office, Doug Olin, a member of the Idaho state Hall of Fame for referees. If the unsaid rule is you don’t call your boss for a foul, then having Doug in the stripes might well be an added benefit for our Hometown Heroes.

“I’m not sure who sent me the email,” explained Verna Lutes of Wishing Star, “but it asked if there was a group in the area that would be interested in bringing the Harlem Ambassadors in for a game. I thought this would be a great fundraiser for Wishing Star, and a great thing for the area, too.”

Verna immediately got to work and enlisted the help of Jason Wiley, Recreation Manager for Sandpoint’s Department of Parks and Rec, and Lance Bruce, girls’ varsity basketball coach at Sandpoint High School.

“We had to have a gym; you can’t play a basketball game without a gym,” Verna said, “so I called the high school and they were all for it from the beginning.”

Jason “I’m-not-the-coach” Wiley and Lance Bruce were in charge of recruiting players of the team and, as we went to press, still didn’t have the line-up finalized, though Jason hinted he’s hoping to have a brother/ sister pair on the team who are “awesome” players. Their hard work and support in making this event happen is predicated on the same values of the players—that the cause is a worthy one.

Those already confirmed to play appear to be a group well versed at performing with the Harlem Ambassadors, whose tour materials promise a lot of “spontaneous improvisational humor.” In Sandpoint, the Ambassadors might just find themselves being challenged at a level they’re not quite used to; and I’m not talking about basketball.

The Wishing Star website (www. wishingstar.org) lists a number of children

PHOTO CREDIT: COPPERASCOVE

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

Love Notes

Why They Came Home

Jim Parsons Jr, Kathy Conger, Mitzi Hawkins & Toby McLaughlin Marianne Love

slightdetour.blogspot.com

billmar@dishmail.net

Having lived in Sandpoint all my life, except for four years at the University of Idaho, I’ve often wondered what it would be like to view our community from the perspective of the folks who’ve “come home.”

I’m talking about locals who’ve left town after high school graduation, pursued their education and found niches in the professional world “out there.” Some stayed away for several decades. In each case, they eventually found their way back to Sandpoint to resume their lives and their careers.

My curiosity has been accentuated of late because of reconnecting with several former students who’ve come home. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing them from time to time as they’ve re-acclimated themselves to life in the hometown. I also believe their personal journeys offer unique and positive perspectives of interest to readers, like myself, who’ve remained firmly fixed in this area.

The four individuals featured in this column occupied a special place in my teaching past. Kathy Allen Conger was a member of my Ponderettes Drill Team.

Jim Parsons served as a photographer on the Monticola yearbook staff, while Mitzi Hawkins was a Ponderette and Monticola staff member. Toby McLaughlin took my sophomore honors English class. Now, he’s my lawyer.

They were all kind enough to respond to

my nosy questions. Their thoughts follow.

JAMES LIKNESS PARSONS, aka Jim, J.P. and Snips, was born at Bonner General Hospital, January 15, 1955, to Clarice and Jim Parsons, Jr. After growing up in Sandpoint, he attended the University of Idaho, eventually moving to Southern California in late 1979.

Year you graduated from SHS; what was your class noted for? I graduated in 1973, and although it was longer ago than my memory usually retains things, I do remember our class being very good friends. I think I graduated with about eight or ten kids with whom I had started kindergarten. In those days I think we had only about 3,500 people in town, so you pretty much knew everyone.

I also remember “Hello Days” at the beginning of every school year. Each class, starting with the sophomores one day, juniors the next and then seniors, would dress up in a class-wide theme. Our senior year we dressed up as commandos and borrowed the local Civil Defense’ six-wheel amphibious vehicle (The Duck). When the first bell rang, we drove to the front door, went inside, “captured” the teachers and put them in the office.

Not sure what happened after that, but the next day, the teachers dressed up as

cowboys and Indians, and as far as I know, it was the first time they’d ever done that.

They lassoed a few whom they thought were “ringleaders” and dragged them out during a pep rally to set an example. Good stuff.

What did you enjoy most about your years growing up here? The friendships and the outdoors. Always a lot to do and someone to do it with. I was also very lucky to have a supportive and involved family. My dad used to film all the high school football and basketball games.

Sometimes I resented him being so close because it made it much more difficult trying to get away with things. Mom worked at the Rexall Drug store on First and Cedar. It was like gossip central from a teenager’s perspective because she would hear about everything from someone.

What events from the past in this community are etched in your mind? At this point, even the etchings have eroded some, but a few things come to mind. I remember the Lions Club BBQ at the beach every summer. It seemed to me that the entire town showed up for that and that the weather was always perfect. I remember when Schweitzer first opened because my dad and grandfather had been involved in its beginnings. Dad had the first ski shop in town and on the mountain. He got me in the S.A.R.S. program, which was Continued on next page

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

fun, but I remember every coach making us sidestep up the Junior Racing hill to do our practice runs. Obviously, the only lift that could get you there was Chair One, and the traverse was too far to be practical, but we dreaded those hikes.

What did you envision doing with your life while growing up here? I had no long-term plan.

Growing up as a teenager in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s was an adventure unto itself.

Give a brief accounting of your life after high school until you returned to Sandpoint: I left in late 1979 and moved to San Diego to run the ski shop and fishing department for a ninestore sporting goods chain. After that, I lived in San Juan Capistrano and accidentally got a job with an insurance company. That changed everything from a career standpoint. I later moved to Woodland Hills and lived there with my wife and kids until returning to Sandpoint.

When did you return and why? We moved back in May of last year. It was precipitated by two things. First, my wife had been through spinal reconstruction surgery and during that, they found cancer (luckily, very early).

The pace of Southern California was just getting to be too much. Second, we were waiting to see where our children might settle, and our thought was that we would move somewhere close to them. We finally (and when I say “we,” I mean my wife) decided it was better to move somewhere that the grandchildren would love to come visit at any time of the year. Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children, so we wanted them to be able to come here where we could spoil them rotten with a lot of fun outdoor activities and then send them home to whatever they had to deal with on a daily basis. Most people don’t realize we get to deal with THIS on a daily basis.

What do you currently do professionally? I’m an insurance wholesaler (Jansen and Hastings).

I run the U.S. underwriting operations for a London-based firm. Insurance agents are my clients. They come to me when they have difficulty finding coverage for a high risk or an unusual class of business insurance. We negotiate the contract and price with any number of specialty insurance companies from around the world.

What were the most notable changes in the community you observed? That is very hard to say, because even being gone so long, my family still was here, and we came back often enough to see the change occur over time. I think there is certainly more diversity here than when I was growing up. I think that tourism, developed as a result of the lake and the ski area, has brought in more amenities than we had when I was young.

What has stayed the same? The friendliness...

I don’t think that it matters socially or economically. The people here are just basically nice and considerate to each other.

It is a special thing that does not exist everywhere.

In what community offerings, civic groups, etc. have you partaken since your return? We’ve been to a couple of P.A.F.E. functions, gone to auctions at my nephew’s school (Northside), and my wife is looking into Angels over Sandpoint and the Soroptomists.

What direction would you like to see the Sandpoint community go in the future? I hope that the planning for the community is consistent with the area and that they do not adopt the “urban sprawl” mentality that happened in Coeur d’Alene. I’ve spent enough time in areas with strip centers and mini malls that I really appreciate the local influence of businesses. If recreation is our main industry, let’s play to it and nurture it to be what we want. Consideration of some consistency in planning can create a tremendous upswing in revenue for the entire community as a whole.

What are your personal long-range plans? I plan to enjoy (again) everything this area has to offer, including my family and friends.

Anything you care to add? I hope this finally gets me off the hook for making fake I.D.’s in the school darkroom when you were my Monticola advisor in high school KATHLEEN ALLEN CONGER. aka Kathy, Kath, was born September 9, 1958, at Bonner General Hospital.

She spent her entire childhood in Sandpoint.

Local family highlights: My greatg r a n d p a re n t s , John and Martha Garrison, came to Sandpoint in 1902 from Stone County, Missouri.

Their firstborn was my maternal grandmother, Ethel Hadley. ... (Born) Ethel Alberta Garrison, (she) was the oldest of 14 children born to John W. and Martha M. Garrison (can you imagine being pregnant that many times?!). Half their children either died in infancy or in very early childhood. Ethel married my grandfather, William “Ralph” Hadley, when she was 17 and he was 22.

The Hadleys had moved from Wisconsin in 1902 to Waverly, Wash., in the Palouse south of Spokane. They moved to Sandpoint in 1916. Ralph was the third of nine children.

Ethel and Ralph had six children. My mother Lucille was their fifth child.

My grandfather worked many and varied jobs to support his brood of six. He drove a team of horses and wagon making deliveries for Frazier’s Grocery. In the winter he used a sled. He helped build the Farragut Naval Training Base. My mother remembers that he worked in Tillamook, Ore., on a military base, and in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s he

worked at Diehl Lumber Co. in Plains, Mont.

My father’s parents, Lee and Josephine Allen, along with the three youngest of their six children, moved to Sandpoint from Grass Valley, Calif., during WWII. Lee’s sister, Mary Rodgers lived in North Idaho.

My father Robert was stationed in the South Pacific, and after the war he travelled to Sandpoint to visit his family. On this trip he met my mother, returned to California long enough to be discharged from the Marine Corps and came back Sandpoint to marry Lucille Hadley on September. 14, 1946. My father worked for Pack River Lumber Co. for many years and drew the “Packy” logo.

In his long career he worked in 28 different lumber mills, mostly helping to get them up and running, throughout Montana, Idaho and Washington.

He retired from Brand S Lumber (presently Riley Creek) in the late 1980s. Retirement didn’t set too well with him. He returned to work on a “temporary” project at Lignetics and stayed 14 years. At 81, he finally took off his welding helmet. My mom’s 25-plus years in retail sales included working at Penneys, Anthonys and Austin Drugstore.

She was a well-loved, well-known figure in the downtown Sandpoint scene during those years.

Year you graduated from SHS; what was your class noted for? 1976. It was the country’s Bicentennial, and it seems like everything we did was geared around that theme.

What did you enjoy most about your years growing up here? Family gatherings. Small- town living. Outdoor activities, especially time spent on Lake Pend Oreille What events from the past in this community are etched in your mind?

Fourth of July parade and fireworks, Lions’ Club beach barbecues, the Sundance Fire and the winter of ‘68/69 when we were out of school for the entire month of January.

What did you envision doing with your life while growing up here?

Going to college, having a career and living in a big city!

Give a brief accounting of your life after high school until you returned: After high school I went to college at the U of I graduating in 1981 with a business management degree.

While there I met my future husband Ken. In 1981, we moved to Milwaukee, Wisc., so he could attend the Medical College of Wisconsin. We married in 1982. We lived in Milwaukee for eight years. I worked in retail at Marshall Field’s during his medical school and residency years. In 1989, we moved to Bozeman, Mont., where Ken joined a family practice/pediatric office, and I worked for an orthodontist.

Continued on next page

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Love Notes-cont’d from previous page When did you return and why? In 2006, I attended my 30-year high school reunion.

While there, I talked to a few classmates who had moved back to Sandpoint. One man had returned after living in Los Angeles to help his aging and widowed mother. I was impressed with his devotion, but I thought to myself that I would never want to move back!

How surprised I was a year later to make the same decision. On a solo trip to Sandpoint in July, 2007, a dream formed in my head and my heart that I wanted to come home to live. Our life in Montana had become stressful, and we were ready for a change. Also my parents’ health had declined, requiring in-home care. On the 400-mile trip back to Bozeman, I developed what I hoped to be a convincing argument that I could present to my husband why we should move to Idaho. I waited overnight. Then the next morning I told him my plan and asked that he not make any immediate objections but to give it some thought.

I went to take a shower and noticed that he picked up a real estate guide that I had brought home. When I stepped out of the shower, he was standing there and he said, “I found us a house.” So the decision was made! It took us just over a year to wrap up our lives in Bozeman. We arrived in Sandpoint on July 29, 2008. I’ve loved every minute since I have returned. My one regret is that my father passed away in October, 2007 before we got back.

What do you currently do professionally? Give a brief explanation of your day-to-day duties.

I work as a production assistant to Jim Parsons, senior vice-president for Jansen and Hastings.

What were the most notable changes in the community you observed? The growth and development that has occurred and the opportunities that have come along with the growth. Also, how few names I recognize when I read the Sandpoint (I mean) the Bonner County Daily Bee. What has stayed the same? The beauty of the area still takes my breath away. And, the people are still friendly, caring and proud of their community.

What do you like most about Sandpoint now? The many, varied fun and interesting things to do here. Actually, there are more opportunities and events than one has time for.

In what community offerings, civic groups, etc. have you partaken since your return? I teamed up with some fellow SHS alums to support Kinderhaven’s Festival of Trees.

I’m also on the Women Honoring Women committee. We’ve also enjoyed The Festival at Sandpoint, Lost in the ‘50s, the Sandpoint Sampler, the Bonner County Fair and Fourth of July festivities.

What direction would you like to see the Sandpoint community go in the future? I would like to see the return of 2-way traffic!

What are your personal long-range plans now that you’re experiencing Sandpoint again?

To keep reconnecting with family and old friends, establish new relationships, enjoy local events and get more involved in the community. I hope to live here forever.

Anything you care to add? Thank you Sandpoint for welcoming me home!

MITZI GAY HAWKINS came to Sandpoint in June, 1961, one week after her birth and her dad’s graduation from the University of Idaho. Her father, the late Will Hawkins, is best known for his scenic postcard business, while Mitzi’s mom Joan spent many years as the friendly face behind the counter at the Sandpoint Post Office. The Hawkins family, of Litehouse, Inc. fame, came to the area in 1882. Mitzi graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1978.

What did you enjoy most about your years growing up here? Truly lifelong friends, trail rides, playing with the cousins from the “big city” (Spokane) who would come up for the summer.

What events from the past in this community are etched in your mind? That first act as a driver: the summer hay truck where 10-yearold is the one plopped behind the wheel which he/she really can’t see over. I was delighted to find out my 10-year-old niece was indoctrinated this summer. And, Fourth of July festivities, for sure.

What did you envision doing with your life while growing up here? I was going into “International Marketing” even though I’m sure I didn’t know what that was at the time or if I even do now. But it sounded glamorous, and it did set the spark for my travels.

Give a brief accounting of your life after high school until you returned? Off to U of I in the fall of ‘78, spent two years there then transferred to UMass-Amherst. Received a marketing degree with Chinese minor (thus the fulfillment of the “international marketing” plan). Graduated in May 1982, went to Xi’an (best known for the terra cotta soldiers buried nearby) in the Peoples Republic of China for the next school year. Returned to Sandpoint in ’83, gave a slide show presentation to one of Mrs. Love’s English classes. Literally bored them to sleep, ending my speaking circuit.

Ultimately moved to LA and worked for Wilderness Experience, an outdoor clothing manufacturer. My supposed ability to speak Chinese (plus a well-placed connection) got me the job where I never spoke anything but English. However, it put me into the role of a

purchasing agent where I have stayed.

When did you return and why? Came back for a year in early 1987 after my dad passed away to lend my mother a hand on a small huckleberry candy business they had going.

Took a purchasing job with local ski-wear company Sun Ice USA. When they moved to Seattle in early 1989, I moved with them.

I must say I lasted much longer than the company did, staying in Seattle until late 2007 with two subsequent purchasing positions.

Circumstances forced my departure from the last position; I came back to Sandpoint briefly and then left for Cambodia where I volunteered as an English teacher. I came back for good in May, 2008.

What do you currently do professionally? Give a brief explanation of your day-to-day duties. I am the MRO buyer at Litehouse, Inc. MRO stands for maintenance, repairs and operations, meaning I oversee buying everything that keeps the factory going, but buy nothing that goes into an actual jar of dressing.

What were the most notable changes in the community you observed upon your return? 1. All the buildings for sale in the downtown core, not just the occupant changes but the actual buildings.

2. All the houses built way up on hillsides where I never expected to see a house. 3.

The library is a fantastic addition. Even though that is not new to most, to me it is, and I think it is a tremendous asset.

What has stayed the same? I was going to say the Sunnyside Road, but that actually happens to be under repair right now. So, I would say the opportunity to be on a great hike or ride in seemingly minutes.

What do you like most about Sandpoint now?

I’m impressed with all the musical events that are available. In leaving Seattle I never expected to have the chance to hear so many up-and-coming (or already ‘up’) musicians.

The entire line-up at the Panida is just wonderful, I think, but the fact other venues also offer up opportunities is great for this pseudo-city girl.

In what community offerings, civic groups, etc. have you partaken since your return? Not as much as I should or will, but I do tutor at the library.

What direction would you like to see the Sandpoint community go in the future? Tough question. Like many, I would hope that we can solicit some small companies that would offer more employment opportunities here.

I know how fortunate I am to have the good job I have. I wouldn’t have been able to stay here without it. I hope we can keep an open mind to ways of improvement. I know there is always chat about the fact “newcomers” Continued on next page

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come in and want to change things to the way of the place they just left. However, I feel some of those are very valid and could be beneficial.

What are your personal long range plans now that you’re experiencing Sandpoint again? I’m in the middle of a house remodel, but once that is done, I hope to get involved in one or more of the many offerings I read or hear about. I intend to be a very loyal volunteer and am being careful about my decision.

DANIEL TOBY MCLAUGHLIN, like his other family members, goes by his middle name. He was born to Dan and Patti McLaughlin July 2, 1974, in Truckee, Calif. His family was living in Incline Village, Nev., on Lake Tahoe at the time. Truckee was the closest hospital.

How much of your childhood/young adulthood was spent in Sandpoint? We moved to Sandpoint the summer before my seventh grade year. However, my parents purchased property in Sagle (Spade’s Road) years earlier, so we spent many vacations in the area prior to our moving here. My father used to own an insurance agency in the Tahoe area and decided that the area was becoming overrun with the extremely wealthy. My parents wanted a small resort town and decided on Sandpoint years before moving here.

The year before moving to Sandpoint, they sold their company and bought a motor home. We (parents, brother and sister) traveled the country for 11 months, during which we were home-schooled. We moved to Sandpoint at the end of the trip.

What year did you graduate and what was most notable about your class? We were the

first graduating class of the new high school (1992), which included the school sit-in, objecting to something or other!

What did you enjoy most about your years growing up here? The lake and the ski hill, which is what I still enjoy the most! There is nothing like spending a day boating on Pend Oreille.

What events from the past in this community are etched in your mind? I remember the river being completely frozen over one winter when we were just visiting. I remember the train wreck where the train fell off the tracks next to the north end of the Long Bridge. I also recall one Fourth of July when a few of us threw stink bombs in the back of A&P’s (I think it was PJ’s back then) and ran like crazy. Trouble makers!

What did you envision doing with your life while growing up here? I always thought I would be veterinarian or a doctor, somewhere far away!!! I suppose you have to move away to appreciate Sandpoint.

Give a brief accounting of your life after high school until you returned: I attended University of Idaho from 19921997 and graduated with a B.S. in economics after changing majors a half a dozen times.

I had trouble deciding on a career path. I then worked for a year at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Idaho Falls. From there, I spent a summer in Rochester, New York, followed by four years at the University of Oregon, where I received by MBA and law degree. Then, I worked four years at a Spokane law firm before moving back to Sandpoint in

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October, 2006, and opened up a practice with Bill Berg.

Why did you return to Sandpoint? I returned to be close to my family and to enjoy the quality of life that Sandpoint provides.

There are few places where I can ski for a few hours and then work the afternoon.

What do you currently do professionally? Give a brief explanation of your day-to-day duties.

My law practice centers mostly upon real estate, business and civil litigation. This means that I essentially do homework for a living, with a few court appearances mixed in. Who would have thought?!

What were the most notable changes in the community you observed upon your return?

The number of real estate offices certainly had increased! That, and I think the town really grew up in many ways while I was gone. I never thought in a million years that Sandpoint could sustain multiple wine bars and a sushi restaurant. I suppose that shows that the town has become far more like Coeur d’Alene than it was back in my high school days.

What has stayed the same? There is still that odd mix of loggers and hippies that permeates the town. That, and it still feels like a small town, which I love.

What do you like most about Sandpoint now?

Still the lake and the ski hill! And the people.

What direction would you like to see the Sandpoint community go in the future? I would like to see a balance between growth and preservation. We should protect some of the historic structures, but we should not stand in the way of progress and growth, both in terms of population and development.

What are your personal long-range plans now that you’re experiencing Sandpoint again?

I would like to grow our law firm and, perhaps, at some point, engage in some form of civil service activity. Is that vague enough?!!!!

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

Friend or Foe?

Will the little-known walleye hurt kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille, or co-exist well enough to constitute a sports fishery of their own? No one knows.

by Ralph Bartholdt

Al Lindner caught his first walleye as a kid and ever since that day more than a half century ago he has pursued the toothy, lake bottom dweller with a passion that became a career.

Introduced in the 1960s his Lindy Rig, a monofilament, snap, sinker and hook contraption meant to be baited with leaches or minnows, revolutionized walleye fishing. It opened the door for a boatload of Lindy products used by anglers who target the glassy-eyed fish that is a staple game fish in the Midwest.

The rigs made fishing heroes of the Lindys.

But, Pend Oreille Lake isn’t exactly the Corn Belt.

The 148-square mile Pend Oreille that stretches 65 miles north to south and drops to depths of 1,150 feet is the home to a small silver fish called kokanee.

Kokanee are a landlocked version of the briny water sockeye salmon whose declining numbers in Pend Oreille have been priority number one for state fishery managers.

Kokanee have been targeted by anglers here for as long as many of them can remember, and when it comes to tossing a barb into the backside of a kokanee fisher just mention mysis shrimp or lake trout.

Mention the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in the same breath in a sportsman’s café and the coffee will get cold for a dearth of sipping and a plethora of jaw wagging.

The mysis shrimp introduced by the game department in the 1960s in an effort to provide food for kokanee did the opposite, the argument goes. It provided a rich diet for mackinaw (also called lake trout), which in turn grew fast and big and began killing and eating kokanee en masse.

The lake’s kokanee population, once a

fat fishery that fueled a lucrative regional sport fishing industry floundered and finally hit rock bottom, resulting in Idaho Fish and Game closing the kokanee fishery on 2000 and frantically seeking ways to reduce the number of mackinaw—or lake trout.

Enter the walleye.

Back under the midwestern moon, where a lot of anglers fish for the predatory night feeders, walleye are called “walleyed pike,” but they aren’t a pike. They are the largest members of the perch family with record size fish reaching 25 pounds. Their favorite food is their smaller cousin the yellow perch.

That doesn’t preclude a tinge of anxiety

by Fish and Game, which discovered walleyes in Lake Pend Oreille about the same time it realized its kokanee couldn’t stand yet another predator snapping its maws at the few remaining land locked sockeyes in the lake.

Andy Dux, a department of Fish and Game fishery biologist, said his department has been so busy trying to keep the kokanee population afloat that it hasn’t spent a lot of time and dollars studying walleyes.

“There’s a lot we don’t know,” Dux said.

He’s not the only one.

Since their introduction into the fish pot of Lake Pend Oreille about a decade ago—no one knows for sure when or whence they came—walleye have been caught in nets during population surveys and by anglers, usually bass fisherman, along the north end of the lake.

Walleye fishers who have come to ply the lake for their favorite game fish often walk away empty handed.

“A few fisherman catch them but they are not really consistent,” Calvin Fuller of Sandpoint Outfitters said. “A lot of them

are fluke catches by people fishing for bass or perch.”

Not long ago a 14-pound walleye was sacked in the Clark Fork River.

That leads people like Alan Roberts to believe the fish have been in the system a long time and are getting bigger. The bigger they get, he says, the more likely they will become part of the deep lake fishery, chasing kokanee as they are suspended 40 feet off the surface.

Roberts is a member of the Spokane Walleye Club who regularly fishes for his number one game fish in Lake Roosevelt. A walleye aficionado, he says that the glassyeyed game fish (walleyes are named after the mirror-like reflection of their eyes, which looks like an opaque wall instead of a retina) are usually caught around reefs, inlets and outlets and along rocky points: places that kokanee only inhabit during the spawn. Sometimes though, as in the Great Lakes, huge walleye are caught suspended in much deeper water, the same place you’ll find Pend Oreille kokanee most of the year.

“The concerns about kokanee are valid,” he says.

Yet, he points out, walleye and kokanee coexist in Washington’s Lake Roosevelt, and they do well together. Both the walleye and the kokanee fishery bring big bucks to the area because of their viability.

George Allen, the club’s vice president, grew up in the middle of South Dakota where he caught his first walleye as soon as he was big enough to lob a worm and a sinker into the lake. When he moved west, he fished for many species but stuck with walleye after discovering the Lake Roosevelt fishery decades ago.

“It’s all I fished ever since,” he says.

He is among anglers who think kokanee and walleye can live together just fine in Lake Pend Oreille. What’s more, he says, it’s too late to do anything about the walleye

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in the lake.

“The Fish and Game department is so afraid of all the mistakes that have already been made, that they don’t want anything else introduced,” Allen said. “But they aren’t going to get rid of them so they better start managing them.”

Walleye, he suspects, were brought to the lake either by bucket biologists who wanted to fish for walleye in their home lake and dumped a bunch of fry into its fertile waters, or they came down the Clark Fork River, washed over the dam at Noxon.

“They probably don’t belong there, but they are in there now, so they need to do something with them,” he says.

The fishery department doesn’t presently have the resources to concern itself with walleye, Dux said. Right now anglers targeting walleye can keep as many of the fish as they catch.

Returning the lake’s kokanee to fishable numbers in the face of the many predators that already exist in the lake, including macs, rainbows and bull trout, is already a difficult assignment.

“If we throw walleye in the mix it would certainly complicate things,” he said.

His department has caught walleye in gillnets that had kokanee in their stomachs, he said. Some of the walleye have been in the 10- to 15-pound range, and all of them have been caught in the shallower water along the river deltas and near Sandpoint’s big bridge.

“We don’t know if they will do well in the open water environment,” he.

“There is a potential and that is why we’re concerned.”

The concern is lost on Fuller, who thinks walleye will target kokanee primarily when they move into shallow water to spawn and that the impact on kokanee will be minimal.

Because walleye tend to feed on the bottom—usually around shoals and structures like rock outcrops—while kokanee tend to stay suspended in deep water, he doesn’t see a problem.

Johnny Booey agrees. Booey is a walleye fisherman who operates the fishing department at Post Falls’ Cabela’s.

“Walleye is a night feeder,” he says “I’ve taken walleye at night in two feet of water.

Kokanee might move into 25 or 30 feet of water at night, so their paths may cross, but not consistently.”

Like other anglers looking for a new species to chase, Fuller welcomes walleye, and the fishery if there ever is one, to the lake.

“I think there is a place for them in this lake,” he says. “There are so many different aspects to Pend Oreille, I think it can support it.”

√ VOTE

Marsha Ogilvie

Sandpoint City Council

In these challenging times you need someone representing you on city council with a fresh outlook and new ideas. What worked yesterday is not sufficient for tomorrow. Marsha has a history of making good things happen in Sandpoint. Put her experience to work for you!

Read more at ElectMarshaOgilvie.blogspot.com

Marsha Ogilvie- the Experience of Accomplishment Marsha Ogilvie’s candidacy is endorsed by: Lynnie Billingsley Michael Franklin Dr. Forrest Bird Sen. Shawn Keough Roxie Lowther Marcella Dorn Jacinda Bokowy Bryant Jones Maria Walden Shirley Parker Buddy Chambers Bonnie Shields Dave Eacret Pat Gooby Dave Brooks Jim Walter Jerry Clemons Pete Mulbarger Dr. Foster Cline Tom Bokowy Pat Amstutz Marsinah Runge Nicole Dash Stacy Wasserman Temple

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Ross Hall Sherri Obrien Joan Robbins Jean Peck Ernie Hawks Katie Rogers Marilyn Chambers Brian Neitszke Phyllis Horvath David Broughton Suzanne Huguenin Marguerite Suttmeir Linda Plaster Jim Hutchens Dan Wimberly Susan Haynes Mary Ellen Black Mackanzie Jones Janel Holm Katie Chambers Pete Merritt Laurel Taylor Hermie Cline Paula Mulbarger Leslie Hall

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PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT MARSHA OGILVIE, PATTY HUTCHENS, TREASURER

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 11

To Jab or Not to Jab

As the availability of a swine flu vaccine approaches, people find themselves at a loss as to whether they should get it or not

by Trish Gannon

Vaccines cause autism! The swine flu vaccine can give you Guillian-Barr syndrome!

Seasonal flu vaccine contains deadly, live avian flu virus! Vaccines contain aborted baby tissue! Obama’s gonna come into your house and hold you down and force the swine flu vaccine on you! These are just a few of the warnings circulating via email, fax machines, websites and alternative press. Are the warnings true? Should you get the vaccine for H1N1, or should you run screaming in the other direction?

Nothing is completely safe. Water, for example, is the elixir of life, but too much of it will kill you. Your job as a responsible member of society is to wisely weigh the risks versus the benefits in any given course of action. That includes your decision whether or not to partake in the vaccination program for H1N1 flu.

And yes, it is still your decision; at least, it is in Idaho and

Montana.

Neither state has made any requirement for residents to get vaccinated for the flu.

Making that decision, however, is not as easy as it first appears and the blame can well lie with the U.S. Public Health Service—drastically underfunded as it is—and the difficulty not only in obtaining relevant information, but the fact that relevant information simply does not, and can not, fully exist when it comes to a new virus.

We’ve all heard that approximately 36,000 people die from influenza each year in the U.S. But what does that mean in terms of risk to you, personally? We don’t know, because we don’t know how many people are exposed to the influenza virus every year. In fact, last influenza season

(07-08), laboratory tests confirmed only 39,827 cases of the flu. Actual number of deaths from pneumonia and influenza are not given, though 83 deaths occurred in children age 18 and under. It’s estimated, however, that 5 percent to 20 percent of the population gets the flu. With a U.S. population of 304 million, the 20 percent level would suggest over 60 million flu illnesses, so chances of death are about 1 in about 8,500, increasing to about 1 in 1,667 if you actually get the flu. Ninety percent of those deaths occur in people age 65 and over.

T h e H 1 N 1 is a complete unknown, but it’s assumed that a new virus, moving through a completely susceptible population, will infect approximately 30 percent (about 90 million people in the U.S.) up to 50 percent of the population (152 million people). Current information from the World Health Organization about deaths from H1N1 suggest a death rate of 1.04 percent; that’s between 936,000 and 1.5 million dead in the U.S. That makes your chances (at the lower number of dead) about 1 in 325 of dying from swine flu, your risk increasing to about 1 in 96 should you actually get the flu. At the time CDC quit counting individual cases, the U.S. death rate was right around a half percent; even at that level, that makes the risk of dying from swine flu or its complications still much higher than the risk with seasonal flu. And contrasting with seasonal flu, 41 percent of those deaths have been in people aged 24 to 49, with another 24 percent in ages 50 to 64. Which should lead most people to the realization that Novel (A)H1N1 isn’t really “just” the flu.

But how risky is the vaccine? Adverse reactions to the seasonal flu vaccine are considered very rare. For example, the Vaccine Adverse Reporting System lists just 35,000 severe reactions to seasonal flu vaccine for the period June 1990 through August 2009 (less than 2,000 per year) and the system reports any health problems after

a vaccine is given, whether the problem is related to the vaccine or not.

You should not be vaccinated if you have an allergy to eggs (flu vaccines are grown in eggs) or a fever. In addition, vaccines are not recommended for children under six months of age, or for anyone who has ever had a bad reaction to a flu vaccine.

The seasonal vaccine this year is formulated to provide protection against three strains of virus (there are 1,161 identified strains): an (A)H1N3, a B virus, and an (A)H1N1 that is genetically different from the swine flu strain.

Although the swine flu vaccine has been described as “fast-tracked,” it’s fundamentally the same vaccine as prepared for the seasonal flu, with killed virus from the Novel (A)H1N1 strain used in place of the others. Tests undertaken show no results that would lead to suggest this vaccine is any more dangerous than the seasonal flu vaccines.

As the flu season gains ground in the northern hemisphere, more data brings more information. As far as the seasonal vaccine goes, WHO is looking into an unpublished Canadian study that suggests receiving the seasonal vaccine could potentially make a person more susceptible to contracting swine flu. They stress that no other information they have received has shown this type of correlation.

A potential reason for why swine flu might be more lethal than seasonal flu could be due to the way it interacts with bacteria lurking in most people’s bodies; in particular, Strep pneumoniae. A CDC analysis of autopsy tissue from 77 patients who died from swine flu showed 29 percent were also infected with other bacteria, primarily the pneumococcus.

In addition, it appears that swine flu is more likely to cause a deep lung infection, Acute Repiratory Distress Syndrome, something rarely seen in seasonal flu.

Other studies suggest swine flu might be more contagious than previously thought; while official recommendations still say that sick people should stay home until 24 hours after the end of fever, some studies show that patients are still shedding live virus after that time. Reflecting the lack of data available this early in the season, it is

Page 12 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

not known how effectively that live virus will infect others.

If you think you wash your hands enough not to need a vaccine, think again: because hand washing does next to nothing to protect you from H1N1. “Don’t kid yourself that you’re going to protect yourself from the flu completely by washing your hands,” said Arnold Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health That’s because there’s almost no evidence you can pick up swine flu from virus on your hands (though plenty of evidence of other illnesses you can get that way), and plenty of evidence that swine flu is transmitted through the air— you get it from breathing in virus particles expelled by someone else. The message here is not to quit washing your hands, but don’t rely on hand washing to protect you from the flu.

So what about autism? And Guillian-Barr syndrome?

There is no evidence that links childhood vaccines with autism. What the debate over autism and vaccines highlights, however, is a profound misunderstanding of science that occurs in many different areas—a belief that correlation equates to causation.

Because neurological disorders like autism show up in children in the same time frame that children receive vaccines, it’s easy for a distraught parent to blame the vaccine for a condition that often has no clear-cut cause. But that’s the same as believing that, for example, because many soldiers smoke, military service causes smoking.

Those concerned that vaccines are linked to autism place a portion of the blame on a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal. Thimerosol is used in multi-doses of vaccines; single dose vaccines do not contain thimerosol, and those concerned can request a thimerosolfree vaccine when it comes to the swine flu vaccination.

Guillian-Barr syndrome is a little more complicated. In 1976, the last time a widespread swine flu vaccination effort was undertaken, an inexplicable number of people developed GBS. When 56 people developed the syndrome after vaccination, the swine flu immunization program was discontinued. Eventually, 1,100 cases of GBS were reported, with 25 deaths; the average in a year is 215. Although it is believed that GBS is linked to the ‘76 swine flu vaccine, over half of the cases that appeared that year were in people who did not get vaccinated, so some other or additional explanation is necessary.

Still, if all cases of Guillian-Barr arose from the swine flu vaccine, 1,100 cases out of the 40 million doses given puts your risk of contracting GBS at 1 in about 36,000; the risk of dying from it due to a vaccination is 1 in about 1.6 million. Apparently, you’re

much more likely to die from swine flu because you didn’t get vaccinated than you are to die from Guillian-Barr after receiving a vaccination.

If you heard about a live avian flu virus contaminating a vaccine that’s... sort of true. Baxter International sent experimental virus material to several labs that was contaminated with live, H5N1 flu virus. But this was not a vaccine, nor was it intended to be—the contamination occurred in a product developed for testing. While a serious breach and under investigation, the incident has nothing to do with vaccine safety.

The “aborted fetal tissue” rumor is also not all that it appears. In the lab, viruses are grown in human cell lines; for 35 years vaccine makers have used two self-perpetuating cell lines in which to grow viruses; and yes, they initially came from aborted tissue. Utilizing a killed virus that was grown in a human cell is a far cry from a vaccine “containing aborted fetal tissue.” Those bothered by science derived from human cells, by the way, would have to refrain from utilizing most scientific advances made since the early 40s.

Most decisions surrounding the treatment of illness and disease involve trade-offs; antibiotics kill the bad bacteria making you sick, but also kill good bacteria that helps your body to work. Do you refuse to take an antibiotic? Individuals make health choices based on the best information they can get and, ideally, with the help of a medical professional who can point out areas of risk and benefit.

Although information continues to come in about swine flu and the Novel (A)H1N1 vaccination, nothing is contradicting early reports: In most cases, swine flu is relatively mild. It’s mostly affecting a different age group than seasonal flu. Serious reactions to flu vaccines are so rare, it’s hard to give odds on the risk. You must make the best decision for your response to this flu season based on your own personal health history. The health police are not planning to invade your home and forcibly immunize you. If you have serious concerns about the swine flu and the vaccination available to help prevent it, consult your doctor.

Panhandle Health District will offer Novel (A)H1N1 vaccines at no charge in a series of clinics, probably in November and December. Vaccines will be offered first to those considered to be at high risk should they catch the flu.

If you become ill with flu-like symptoms, please limit your contact with others. In the event of serious complications (difficulty breathing, blue tinge to lips, dehydration, seizures or confusion) seek medical attention immediately.

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 13

A Bird in Hand

Pigeons & Doves - Six of one, half-dozen of the other Mike Turnlund

mturnlund@gmail.com We are home to at least two species of Columbidae, that is, members of the dove and pigeon family. I say at least, because I have seen a third member, which I will explain below. The Columbidae family is host to many species of birds which we typically identif y as doves or pigeons.

Before I begin identif ying which bird is which, let’s set the record straight on the difference between a dove and a pigeon. Well, quite honestly, there really isn’t any difference. The terms are used arbitrarily. The smaller members of the family are typically labeled doves and the larger ones pigeons. For all intents and purposes, it is six of one and a half-dozen of the other. That being said, let’s look at our two birds of the month.

The first is one of my all-time favorite birds, the mourning dove. Note mourning, not morning. The specie gets its name for its sad lament of a call. This bird is almost always seen in pairs, as the birds mate for life. These pretty little doves range from gray to saddle brown in color, often with a varying amount of dark spotting on its closed wings. An important field mark is the long, pointed tail which has a notable taper visible on the flying bird. The open tail is

framed with white and is quite distinctive.

The mourning dove may or may not be in your neighborhood during winter.

Depending on the weather they might migrate locally or regionally, or simply stay put. I have seen them in the woods in January. They don’t care for a lot of rain nor really cold weather, but seem willing to tough it out for as long as they can. Home bodies I suppose. Mourning doves are delicious to eat and avidly hunted across the continent, and are probably the most numerous game bird in North America.

The other common Columbidae in our area is the Rock pigeon, also known as the feral pigeon. These are those birds you see hanging out at the tracks, or the horse barn, the fairgrounds, the local Les Schwab tire center, or just about

anywhere with a large overhang to hide under.

Rock pigeons range in color from blues to reds, even an occasion (though rare) white. These birds might be escaped pets or drawn from locally established nesting populations. The point being, these birds seem to be everywhere that people

are. They even range up to Alaska. Specially bred lines of these birds include both racing pigeons and homing pigeons. Same genus, just different breeds.

The last specie I’ve spotted was a probable Eurasian Collared dove. I say probable because it might also have been a Ringed Turtle dove, which is a very similar bird. I spotted this outlaw resting on a phone pole in the parking lot of the Sandpoint West Athletic Center. I didn’t have my binoculars with me, so I couldn’t be sure which of the two it was, but both are commonly kept as house pets. This specimen was probably an escapee and I doubt it survived long in its flight for freedom. It is just the sort of thing a passing falcon would make a quick meal of.

Doves and pigeons are unique in many ways compared to other species of our feather friends. Unlike other birds which have to drink water by lifting mouthfuls (beakfuls?) to flow by gravity down their throats, members of Columbidae can drink by suction. They just stick their beak into the beverage of choice and drink away, never having to lift their heads.

These birds are also unique in the way they feed their hatchlings. Both the male and female parent are able to “suckle” their young with crop milk. Crop milk is a milk-like secretion from a special lining of the stomach and the young birds access it by thrusting their beaks into their parent’s craw, sucking it up. Though this special type of feeding only lasts a few days, it is quite extraordinary. Who would have thought that such a common bird was so uncommon in characteristics. Just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover, nor a bird by its commonness. Happy birding!

Question: What is the biggest threat to Lake Pend Oreille?

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Protecting Lake Pend Oreille since 1996 Page 14 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

The Game Trail Hunter ethics

Matt Haag

mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov Every hunter entering the woods has a responsibility to follow the laws and ethics to honor our privilege to hunt. We owe this to the wildlife, the landowners and to our fellow sportsmen.

As the fall hunting seasons come into full swing, your local conservation officers for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will be working long hours trying to make contact with as many hunters as possible.

Not only are we doing our jobs, but also we are making new friends, offering advice, listening to grievances and sometimes detecting violations.

Most of the violations we encounter are mistakes or oversights by the hunter, an unintentional violation. These mistakes are still violations though, and the hunter must educate himself or herself to avoid these situations. Common mistakes that hunters make include; failure to immediately validate and attach the tag, failure to leave evidence of sex, and waste of game.

The hunting regulations clearly state that upon killing any deer, elk, antelope, black bear, or mountain lion you must immediately validate and attach the tag.

This does not mean attach the tag once you drag it to the truck, or when you get home. If the animal is down, before doing anything else, take the time to properly notch the date and month and then attach the tag to the animal.such as nitrogen and increase nutrients, Properly leaving evidence of sex is another common blunder, but the process is septic being very This simple.

If you pilot are notproject going toisleave the introduced in order to comply with water head attached to your animal, leave the sex qualityattached standards as determined by the organs to one of the hindquarters.

With antlered animalsAct. leave the penis Federal Clean Water Designated to orprotect scrotum attached, withplan, an known antlerless water quality, the as animal leave the vulva or udder a “Total Maximum Daily Load” attached. for Lake Remember, with an antlered animal the Pend Oreille, addresses nutrient issues antlers must accompany the carcass if they are detached. In addition, leave evidence In addition, of species attached as many well. Thislakeshore could be homeowners participated a survey as simple as leaving the tail orinantlers on a in 2007 concerning a variety wing of water deer or leaving a fully feathered on a grouse. quality issues. As is turns out, their

During the early fall, the temperatures can be extremely warm. Unfortunately, every year there are a few hunters who don’t plan well and end up wasting meat.

This is not only a violation but it breaks the code of ethical hunters. If you have any doubt that you can get the meat packed out before it spoils, don’t take the shot.

Please plan for this by bringing adequate amounts of ice and coolers and hunt within a reasonable distance from your vehicle. In addition, know where you will take your animal before you even go. Ask yourself, “Will I take it to grandpa’s cooler or the butcher?”

Mistakes happen to the even the best hunters. The difference between an ethical hunter and a careless hunter is honesty.

Every hunter knows somebody or has been in a situation himself or herself that resulted in an honest mistake. It doesn’t matter if it was accidentally taking two turkeys with one shot, or killing a bull trout because it was hooked badly, call your local conservation officer and explain what happened. We can make things right if you make the effort to contact us. However, if we have to contact you, do not expect leniency.

For those hunters that intentionally violate the law, you are jeopardizing the privilege to hunt, and you are stealing from your own community. Before you go spotlighting, hunt over salt, or party hunt ask yourself is it worth it? Will I be in hot water with my family, friends, or even lose my job? Don’t fuel the anti-hunter sentiment and ruin the hunting privilege for the honest sportsmen.

Take the time to avoid these common mistakes and have a safe hunting season.

Please get those kids out with you hunting and teach the next generation how to ethically and responsibly enjoy our resources.

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 15

A Seat in the House

Idaho still struggling with lack of funds George Eskridge

Idaho Dist. 1B Representative

idaholeginfo@lso.idaho.gov 1-800-626-0471 The news media reported recently on the Idaho budget shortfall for the current fiscal year (FY10) of approximately 151 million dollars. The media coverage hasn’t presented a great amount of detail so I thought more information on Governor Otter’s actions might be helpful, including the restrictions placed on the Governor when this type of financial action is needed.

The Governor announced his plan of action on September 25 stating that the first step in accommodating the reduced revenues was a holdback that temporarily reduces spending authority for state agencies that will reduce state spending this fiscal year $98,976,100.

The holdback applies only to general funds and involves all departments, agencies and institutions of the Executive Branch that report directly to the Governor and rely on financial support from the state’s general fund. Governor Otter has also asked that the other constitutional officers and other branches of state government also join with him in holding back general fund expenditures.

State law restricts the Governor’s flexibility in addressing a need to change the agency appropriations set by the legislature in the last session. The Governor’s holdback can only be a temporary measure that has to be officially acted upon by the legislature when it reconvenes, January 11 of next year.

Furthermore the Governor cannot reduce expenditures greater than needed to meet the shortfall.

The Governor’s order does not apply equally “across the board” to all agencies. The holdback amounts range from 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent depending upon the type of appropriation involved. Critical agencies (such as the correction system and the Health and Welfare agencies) are impacted 2.5 percent to 5 percent; those services recognized as essential (such as colleges and universities, public health districts, and the military division) are experiencing an average 6 percent holdback. Other services such as the Department of Environmental Quality, Administration, Parks and Recreation and others will experience holdbacks at an average of 7.5 percent.

Public education will be protected from the holdback order by spending a portion of the state’s education “rainy-day” fund that the legislature placed in reserve last

session. The legislature placed these funds in reserve recognizing that the economy may not recover as rapidly as estimated when establishing the FY10 budget.

The Governor, legislative leadership and the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee Chairs and Vice-Chairs will continue discussion of how to best meet the reduction in revenues as we move closer to the next session. I will be in a meeting of JFAC later in October and anticipate receiving more budget information and recommended solutions to the revenue problem that the legislature could consider next session.

Aside from Idaho’s financial situation, the federal economic stimulus program has generated a lot of discussion. I attempt to avoid expressing political opinions in this article but am going to deviate from this practice in relative to a couple of the stimulus programs.

There has been a great deal of discussion on the stimulus program relative to the benefit and cost of the program. Some of the programs I can support, especially those that provide improvements to our federal highway system and other infrastructure needs. The Dover Bridge Project is an example. This project has been waiting on funding for several years and was finally funded by federal stimulus dollars. Funding the project in this manner allows the project to be completed sooner while increasing area employment and providing a safer highway sooner than otherwise. The project will also be constructed at a lower cost because of the reduced cost of materials and competition in the construction business during this adverse economic situation that resulted in lower bids than estimated saving taxpayers significant amounts of tax dollars.

The stimulus project most disconcerting to me was the “clunker program.” The following is an analysis of the program that was sent to me on email (original author unknown). I thought it might be “thoughtprovoking” for RJ readers. As with any analysis it can be questioned but I thought it raised an interesting question on the “benefit” of the program. The analysis is as follows: A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline. A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

In this case the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

The government claims that about 700,000 vehicles were involved in the program resulting in about 224 million gallons per year saved.

That equates to a little over 5 million

barrels of oil; 5 million barrels of oil is about one quarter of one day’s US consumption.

At $75 per barrel (current price is about $66 per barrel) the 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million.

This means that the taxpayers will be contributing 3 billion dollars of taxpayer dollars to save 350 million dollars and onequarter of one day of U.S. oil consumption!

Assuming that this is a reasonable estimate of the benefit of the “clunker program, one would hope that other provisions of the federal economic stimulus package has more positive benefits.

Thanks for reading! As always please feel free to contact me with issues of concern.

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

George Ed. Note: To be fair, if the information regarding “Cash for Clunkers” as related is correct, then it translates to a $3 billion dollar “bailout” with money going directly to, in most cases, locally-owned car dealerships within communities. The $350 million saved was money directly placed in the pockets of those individuals who participated in the program. That’s in contrast to the bailout of the financial industry, now in the trillions of dollars.

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 16

Say What?

Remember What?

Paul Rechnitzer

pushhard@nctv.com

Frank Luke

photo courtesy US Air Force Museum

My calendar notes that November 11 is called Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada. If as a veteran you are tempted to get warm and fuzzy believing that many—if any—spend a moment thinking about veterans, get over it.

Coming mid-week this year probably doesn’t help.

Considering what November 11 really means, the thought of remembrance is good if we remember what we are supposed to remember. Do you remember that in the old days we called November 11 Armistice Day, which reduces the amount of remembering you have to do provided you know what the term armistice means? In asking around I was somewhat surprised that the question brought on sort of a blank look. Let me take this space to help any dear reader who can’t recall the details.

In order to remember first you need to know. So let me tell you what you need to know about the Great War (1914-1918) in order to remember the significance of November 11. (If you really don’t care to know what is worth remembering simply skip to the last paragraph).

If you were a supporter of the status quo, assassination of the heir to the AustroHungarian Empire’s throne was a horrible event and worthy of starting a war. On the other hand, if the oppressive society of the time was too much it was a good thing. In either case the blood spilt on June 28, 1914 was nothing compared to the eventual cost to both sides in the four year conflict that followed. A month later the Empire declared war on Serbia. Then they declared war on Russia (long time ally of Serbia) and on August 2 declared war on France.

Germany followed suit with a declaration on August 2 and an invasion of France, but Belgium was in the way so war was declared on them. Eventually the conflict became truly worldwide in that Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Montenegro, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Siam, Turkey, the United States and Uruguay in one way or another assumed a role.

By 1917 the original combatants were on the verge of exhaustion. The tactics of its generals, the obstinacy of the Kaiser, the refusal of the principals to concede anything almost ensured the entry of the United States to save its allies, both Great Britain and France. The war was one of attrition, with countless battles being fought on and over the same French soil. The machine gun, both British and German versions, was efficient beyond all measure. The single shot rifles of past wars no longer got the job done. Far more deadly, the machine gun’s field of fire was devastating. The introduction of poison gas widened the carnage.

The idea of being able to fire multiple rounds quickly soon found its way to the war in the air.

The aeroplane had hardly been invented in 1917 when it was adapted to both observe and to dominate the air in ways the Wright Brothers could not have imagined. Aerial warfare provided both inspiration and an outlet for the best young men of both sides who were frustrated by the stalemates on the ground not to mention the miseries of trench warfare. And so began the golden age of aerial combat.

The result was a whole new way of waging war. Not necessarily any safer for the participants but far more glamorous.

But above all it was measurable in a positive way for the enthusiastic and patriotic men involved and it made for very good press.

(Read “Sagittarius Rising,” by ace Capt. Cecil A. Lewis, MC, RFC, who flew an SE5a). Only the finest young men became pilots and their losses were costly. Some lasted less than two weeks!

It was soon decided by someone that anyone who managed to shoot down five enemy planes would be designated an Ace. This tradition still is alive and well. To enhance the interest in this war in the air meticulous records have been maintained and to this day it is possible to tell who shot down who, how, when and where, The Germans honored their flyers who shot down 20 or more planes with a medal known these days as the “Blue Max.” The honor was initiated in the Bavarian court,

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were French was the language. Called the “Pour le Merte” it was the source of much pride and made for great headlines in the German press. (The “Blue Max’ also happens to be the name of a really great movie about the Great War in the air.)

The British and French were not quite so glamorous but they awarded their highest honor, the Victoria Cross, to quite a few. The best the Americans could do was to recognize an extraordinary pilot from Phoenix named Frank Luke, known as the “Balloon Buster” for the number of German observation balloons he shot down before being killed after crash landing. He was the only American airman awarded the Medal of Honor. Eddie Rickenbacher, another famous pilot of the war, survived distinguished service overseas and received the Medal of Honor a decade later.

This unprecedented conflict finally came to an end on November 11, 1918 at 11 AM. Many wanted to take the battle to Germany.

More than one thought the armistice terms too harsh. Considering that eleven million people died on an 85-mile front over the four years those shedding the blood had enough.

The losses were beyond measure and if there was a lesson it was never learned. The Great War was over... for the time being. Here is the last paragraph.

There is a display at the Sandpoint Library beginning November 5 and running through December 16 of the airplanes involved in the war in the air. The models, all 1:48 scale, are remarkable in their detail and their decoration. The 22 models represent the actual planes used by those pilots who shot down five or more of the enemy. Each type is identified by name of the pilot and the kind of ‘crate’ he used to achieve immortality. If it isn’t fascinating it certainly is interesting and informative. See and enjoy. It might help you remember, the significance of November 11, 2009 and all the 11/11s hereafter. Protecting our freedom is usually costly because it is so precious.

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 17

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Focus on Education

Thank You Varnell Neese Dick Cvitanich

Superintendent, LPOSD

dick.cvitanich@lposd.org Recently I had the opportunity to attend my 40-year high school reunion. My wife and I graduated in a class of over 700 students and we felt fortunate because we were sure we would recognize someone after these 40 years from the hallowed halls. When we arrived we were amazed at the changes in many of our classmates. Some were more robust than we recalled. Some had flesh where hair once grew. In fact, some of it was even gray. There were lines on those once smooth faces. Who were these people?

However, once we cast a quick and sneaky glance at their nametags we were able to sort through the memory bank. They did look like who they once were… in a way.

We joined the usual reunion activities.

We talked, shared pictures of children, snapped new pictures of our somewhat changed friends, ate a big meal, talked some more, and danced even though our 58 year old legs weren’t quite as fluid as they once were. In short, we had a terrific time reconnecting.

However, there was another highlight to this reunion that made it very special for us. This moment had to do with the fine adults that taught us when we were so impressionable. I am sure we weren’t perfect.

I am sure our overconfidence stretched the limits from time to time. But somehow, that group of teachers at Woodrow Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington kept us on task. And even though our high school held close to 2,700 students, these teachers made our learning personal, took an interest in our

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lives beyond school, and somehow steered us out into the world after graduation.

As a lifelong educator I often wished I had the opportunity to thank those who helped me to become a better person both in the classroom and in life. Somehow, my life became so busy that I forgot that simple and gracious act. So, you can imagine my excitement when I learned that a small handful of our teachers from the class of 1969 would attend our reunion. I was even more delighted when I learned that Mr. Varnell Neese would honor us by attending.

Mr. Neese was my high school biology teacher, football and wrestling coach. From him, I learned as much on the athletic field as I did in the classroom. He helped me to understand the value of perseverance; that sticking with something even through adversity would have its payoff. He taught me to be respectful of others in a direct, yet kind way. Sure, it helped that his forearms were the size of most people’s legs. However, he never used his size or those forearms to intimidate or scare us into doing something.

He was a gentle man.

I recognized him immediately, although he now walks with the help of a cane. We spoke that evening and I learned he left Texas to become a teacher. Along the way he played football for the University of Idaho.

After coaching and teaching in Weiser, Idaho he moved to Tacoma where he worked the remainder of his career. Of course, he said he remembered me. I am not sure that is true because so many students came and went through those doors; however I chose to believe him. I was proud to share with him that I was now working in education in Idaho. I was also happy and proud to tell him how lucky I was to have him as my teacher and coach. I was able to thank him for all that he did for me, and countless other students. I believe he appreciated it; all of us like to know the work we have chosen has an impact on someone else. I certainly appreciated the opportunity to tell him.

So, even with your busy lives, the beginning of the school year is a great time for you to connect with one of your teachers who made a difference to you. Pick up the phone; call information; Google the name and chances are you can find them. Let them know by phone, email, or letter that you are a better person because of the lessons you learned from them. You will feel good, but you will also make that teacher know they made a difference in this world. It is never too late.

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

The Hawk’s Nest

GOT Happens Ernie Hawks

photosbyhawks.com ernie@photosbyhawks.com

Several years ago I came home and one of my stepdaughters said, “Ernie, the kitchen sink sprayer got into the garbage disposal.”

Any parent with kids, over about five years of age, know that “got happens.” I’ve heard “my backpack got up on the roof,” and “my bike got into the lake.” And one that will run a chill down any parent’s spine: “My retainer got into the school lunch garbage.”

We learn very young that got happens and there isn’t anything that can be done about it. It has even happened to me, which I, of course, had no control over. For example, as a kid I got grounded—often.

One time it happened right after dad’s new car got a dent in it.

I thought I was over it when I became an adult. Then I bought my first home. It was a cute little rancher with a full basement.

At the time of the purchase, I didn’t have a real concept of what a full basement was.

After a couple of years I walked down the steps and, low and behold, got happened.

The basement had got full. So that’s what is meant by a full basement, I couldn’t even walk through it.

It wasn’t an immediate crisis because I had just started building a two-car garage on the end of the place. I could say it got finished but that isn’t quite true. It was completed because of hours, days and weeks of hard labor on my part, nothing so random as it got done.

However, a few years later I opened the double-car garage door and, wouldn’t you know it, got happened again. It had got full too.

This arbitrary got doesn’t just happen to me. The other morning I was visiting with an acquaintance who was complaining of feeling nauseated with a bad headache. I asked when it came on and he said “well, last night I was sitting and laughing with friends and I got drunk.” I didn’t ask if alcohol was involved.

He did go on with another scarier case of got happens; “I don’t know how I got home.”

Got sounds quit innocent doesn’t it?

For example, “I was walking through a field of daisies and got hit by a meteor; no one is responsible, right?”

It seems to just happen. I don’t think

it is something one can look for or try to prevent. Here is what happened last summer to me: my wife was gone for a week. A few hours before she was due home I looked around the house and got happened. It had got filthy, even by my standards. When I walked outside, guess what? Got happened again; the yard had got so tall that large animals were hiding in it.

A friend of mine got the answer she didn’t want when she asked “How did you get pregnant?” “Well mom, I got ......ed.”

My car insurance went up a lot this year because I got stopped by my radar buddies.

One time I asked, “Where is your boyfriend?”

“Got busted.”

“Gotta lawyer?”

“Gotta new boyfriend.”

I wonder how I got this old, but I’m glad I did. But then I looked in the mirror only to see got happened again; I got donelops disease… my belly done lops over my belt.

Sometimes you want got to happen but it doesn’t for some reason. We have lived in our home now for over five years; right now I’m looking out windows that still haven’t got trimmed, and I’m getting tired of looking at raw edges of sheetrock.

Maybe it’s time I got after that project.

Whoa, I just read that last sentence.

Got couldn’t possibly be my responsibility could it?

Okay, I got it.

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 19

Veterans’ News Airing Dirty Laundry Jody Forest

dgree666@sandpoint.net Q: What do the Sandpoint VFW and the tragic death of American Hero Pat Tillman have in common?

A: Apparently not a goddamn thing!

Pat Tillman has become one of my newest heroes. Before his combat death in the rugged Afghanistan mountains he’d given up a lucrative contract playing football in the NFL to enlist in the Army Rangers in the days following 9-11. Originally sent to Iraq, his unit helped free American POW Jessica Lynch and from there he was sent to Afghanistan to help root out the Taliban.

His death from “friendly fire” helped expose a White House plan to use his demise to bolster support for that war.

The then-White House Director of Communications had previously done a mind-boggling job of transforming the rather mundane “rescue” into the saga of “a petite blond supply clerk from a fleaspeck burg in West Virginia is ambushed in Iraq and fearlessly mows down masked fedayeen terrorists with her M-16 until she runs out of ammo. Then she’s shot, stabbed, tortured and raped before being snatched from her barbaric captors during a daring raid by Army Rangers.”

Makes a darned good story, but in truth her dirty rifle jammed and she never fired a shot; her injuries were exclusively the result of her Humvee running into the truck in front of her. She was never shot, stabbed, tortured, or raped and her captors at the hospital treated her with kindness and special care. When the Americans “rescued” her they met no significant resistance.

The rescue attempt, in fact, had been put off for a day until a video film crew could be gathered to hastily film the event for American TV. The night before the rescue her doctor “captors” actually put Lynch into an ambulance and tried to drop her off at an American military checkpoint, but nervous US Marines shot at them, forcing them to turn around and take her back to the hospital.

Pat Tillman wrote in his journal that night, “I believe this is just a big PR stunt and screams of media blitz.” He was right; more than 600 stories about Lynch’s rescue appeared in the media, including a hurried book that debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and a made-for-tv movie, “Saving Jessica Lynch,” aired during the important sweeps month for the largest possible audience.

Pat Tillman was right to be cynical; the

Lynch saga worked so well the White House would use the same tactics just a year later, only about him.

The new book by Jon Krakauer, “Where Men Win Glory (Doubleday, 2009) the Odyssey of Pat Tillman,” which I’ve quoted from above, is an excellent read and I highly recommend it, but in these days of media spin, screaming yahoos and “You’re a Liar!” politicians, I’d also like to point out a small newsletter sent out recently to members of Sandpoint’s Vietnam Veterans of America (Chap. #890) (among others) by Bill Stevens, head of the local VFW and American Legion organizations.

In this “informational newsletter” Bill quotes a 1944 speech by an American socialist comparing the Democratic Party favorably to communism and he engages in some good-natured “French-bashing.”

Asked his sources for the French story in an email he replied, “I heard it in an e-mail.

True? False? Who knows?”

I shudder to think of our loosely bound local V.V.A. chapter heading down the same old dying roads of the quasi-military VFW and American Legion Posts. Current V.V.A. President Howard Bigelow (the former VFW head) has already stressed the need for “dress codes” for volunteers helping out at the annual stand-downs and another volunteer was turned away at this year’s rummage sale who’d brought a dog. Iraqi Veterans Against War who were thinking of marching in this year’s 4th of July Parade were given the cold shoulder. When the Disabled Veterans asked for the support of other veterans’ organizations recently in bringing a medical marijuana initiative before the Idaho DAV convention, only the V.V.A. Chapter agreed to support them.

Like Bill’s newsletter comparing Democrats to commies, many Democrats and Independents simply don’t feel welcome at the VFW or Legion meetings.

The Vietnam Vets Chapter 890 is the largest and most active in the state. They give a yearly scholarship (this year they gave three) and their financial records are open to the public (as are those of DAV Chapter #15) and they distribute over $10,000 a year to families in need. As readers of this column know, for many years TRJ has been reporting on exactly how much the V.V.A. and DAV raise and exactly how they spend the money. Only the VFW and American Legion have refused to cooperate.

The V.V.A. has donated $1,500 towards replacing the aging DAV van in the last two years; the VFW and American Legion gave nothing. (By comparison, the DAV Chapter donated 100 percent of this year’s forgetme-not drive to the van fund). I’d better quit now before I go ballistic on those weasels. The VFW and American Legion are secretive, quasi-military organizations, as is their right of course, but enough of calling those who don’t agree with you unpatriotic.

I just don’t want to see V.V.A. members getting the same hate-filled garbage you send to your own members.

As constant readers may have noticed, Kriss Running-Waters has quit writing the Veterans’ News column, preferring to concentrate on her own writings. I’ll be reluctantly filling in once more for a while but I’d like to take this opportunity to thank her and wish her well. I’m sure she’ll still be doing an occasional article for TRJ. Her two articles in last month’s issue drew raves. Hasta La Vista, Baby! ‘til next time; All Homage to Xena!

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Politically Incorrect

The Numbers Month Trish Gannon

trish@riverjournal.com I’m not a fan of math. It’s not that I can’t do it—it’s that it’s not intuitive for me, so I consider it work. Nonetheless, I find I’ve been surrounded by numbers in the last month.

For example, take 1,080,000 (one million, eighty thousand). That’s how many times, roughly, I listen to a huge, hydralic battering ram bang support columns into the ground for the new bridge in Clark Fork every single week. One ‘pound’ per second (I have timed this), sixty seconds to a minute, sixty minutes to an hour, eight hours a day for a five-day work week. I am not giving them any credit for time off (they don’t take much) because they often start at 7 am and work beyond 5 pm—that’s so rude I feel they deserve no breaks. According to encyclopedia.com, the word for this—loud, repetitive noise, that is, not rudeness—is “yammer.”

A brief search shows me that noise pollution can increase blood pressure, stress, fatigue, headaches, annoyance, aggression, anxiety and speech problems, as well as cause stomach ulcers, which would explain my desire to drive down to the bridge and rip someone’s head off.

My sympathies to those in Sandpoint who will undoubtedly get to enjoy a similar accompaniment to their day as the bypass makes its way through downtown. How long did they say that construction was going to take?

Another number making an appearance in my month is 28.75. This one came about when I couldn’t find one little piece of paper in my office. Not finding one little piece of paper is a common occurrence in my office, because I absolutely stink at dealing with paperwork, and there are piles and piles (and piles and piles!) of it all over my office.

Partly, this is due to the fact that all my filing cabinets are full, which is due to my difficulty in throwing anything away.

So I decided to throw some stuff away.

Actually, in my never-ending quest to make every job a leviathan project, I decided to completely re-do my office while simultaneously sorting through 20-some years of paperwork, including the filing cabinets full of the River Journal archives.

The River Journal first printed in December of 1993, and has printed since on a sporadic schedule that featured twice-monthly publication for the greatest period of time.

And for some reason I believed I needed to

keep at least 50 copies of each issue for my archives, explaining in part why my filing cabinets were full. Approximately 16 years at 24 issues per year, times fifty... yep, over 19,000 copies of newspapers.

So I decided there was absolutely no reason to keep more than 10 copies of each issue, an amount I later lowered to seven. Ruthlessly culled and filed in order, I now have 28.75 linear feet of archives, and room in the file cabinets for all my other paperwork. (Also in the process of being ruthlessly culled—after all, I probably won’t need all those copies of Washington Water Power bills which, by their name, have to be at least ten years old or more!)

Then there’s this number: 67,331. I’m as bad with computer files as I am with paper files so I spend a lot of time searching for things on my computer... especially pictures.

Fed up with my second hour of searching for a photo I knew I had taken (but couldn’t remember what I might have named it) I decided to take the computer time to have Picasa recognize the photos on my external drive, so they would be easily searchable.

Yep, 67,311 of them. No wonder I can’t find anything!

How ‘bout these numbers? Thirty-nine weeks, 1.5 centimeters dialated, 5 percent effaced. Yep, my new granddaughter should be fully “cooked,” so to speak, though as of this writing she has not yet decided to make an appearance. Although Lauren (her mama) doesn’t want to hear this, I think baby Keira is waiting to be born on my own birthday, October 3. After all, her Aunt Amy was born on January 3, and her Aunt Misty on March 3, so the girls in my family do seem to have an affinity for the third. At 39 weeks, this baby is now officially full term, but many babies aren’t born until week 40, and some like to wait (don’t tell Lauren this as she’s tired of waiting) until week 42.

Nonetheless, I expect that by the time anyone reads this column, my second grandchild will have made a spectacular appearance in the world and will undoubtedly be beautiful, gifted, and will talk early and often. And if she does happen to come on my birthday, she’ll have a grandma who’s exactly 17,154 days older than she is.

Eighty. That’s how many pictures of people reading the River Journal I have uploaded to Google Maps. (There’s lots more to go... maybe they’ll be there by the time you read this!) You can check ‘em out by following the link here: www.riverjournal. com/vivvo/trjworld.html.

Six. That’s the number of automated PDFs of River Journal issues I have uploaded to our website. (Follow the link on the homepage

for PDF archive to check ‘em out.) Yes, it will take a while to get current with this one, but while going through all that paper in my office, I did discover that I have a copy of the very first River Journal ever printed, on 15 December 1993. That was a nice surprise, as I thought the only copy in existence was probably somewhere in Mama Nicholls’ house in Richmond, but there was one right here in Clark Fork as well. And that is also on the website for people to view. The look has changed a bit in 16 years.

And that begs the question... why are we on volume number 18 with the River Journal?

I don’t have an answer for that, but will put discovering it on my ‘to do’ list.

Speaking of the RJ website, today’s numbers show that since we put up the new site with the new software (sometime last spring) 354,000-plus articles have been read.

I’m guessing it’s time for me to start putting some effort into selling advertising on the website.

With this issue of the paper, my archives will expand again (though not as much as before) and once Keira is born, the number of photos on my hard drive will undoubtedly increase. The bridge will keep yammering, at least for a while. But I have one number left to comfort me—eight. That’s how many hours I sleep every night, a place where numbers don’t plague me at all.

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 21

Local Food

of the

Inland Northwest Drinks are a magnificent part of life. In my eyes, beverages are by nature a luxury- a steaming cup of tea, a well-aged glass of wine, a tangy sweet sip of homemade apple cider. I get thirsty just thinking about it. And the beauty is that just like local food, local drinks are fresher, more nutritious, full of love, and luckily, very accessible. Here is my rundown of what’s locally available Let’s start with water. Yes, our lake is beautiful, but I must confess that the city’s various water-treatment programs mixed with dumping 2-4-D outside of the treatment facilities is at best unappetizing. But if you ask, you can get your hands on a friend’s fresh spring or well water for your drinking. You won’t regret itclean water tastes like a little bit of pure heaven sliding down your system. Plus, the absolute best cure for our upcoming winter chills is a thermos full of plain, hot water. LIttle sips throughout the day warm the body and soul without the caffeine and sugar in other hot drinks.

Moving on to tea. There are so many local plants to make into tea that I can’t count them. Make tea fresh, or dry flowers and herbs in a dehydrator or just by hanging them; store in a sealed jar for winter teas. Here are Emily LeVine is in her first season of growing produce and cut flowers for Red Wheelbarrow Produce in the Selle Valley. If you have ideas, questions, or comments, or topics you’d like to read about regarding local food, please contact her at localfoodchallenge@gmail.com October 2009| The River Journal - A News

some ideas: Mint, red clover, yarrow, tarragon, rose hip, berries, raspberry leaf, lemon basil, lemon verbena, lemon balm, bee balm, catnip, echinacea, nettle leaf, sage, St. Johns wart. There’s more. I promise.

Here is my favorite part. You think I’m going to say alcohol, but not yet. Juice. Fresh juice is more energizing than anything I’ve ever put into my body. There are three ways of making really good juicein a juicer, through a cider press, or with a steam juicer. For carrots, beets, and other vegetables, or for oranges, I vote for a good old Champion juicer. Fresh carrot juice can be a meal. For another take on raw juice, mostly for apples and pears, find a friend with an old cider press. My frozen apple cider was as vibrant in February as the day I made it.

Lastly, the steam juicer. This is a fairly new discovery for me. It’s hard to improvise, but if you can find one, get it! It’s basically a triple boiler with water in the bottom, fruit on top, and a catch pan in the middle. It’s easy because you can just let it go...no stirring or adding fruit as you go.

Last year my friends picked bushels and bushels of Concord grapes, steam juiced them, and canned the juice. I know what you’re thinking....ew, grape juice. I swear, this purple goodness made

Drinks

by Emily LeVine me feel invincible. Which is nice in the middle of flu season.

On to the drugs: coffee and alcohol. We can’t grow coffee beans in North Idaho, but we can roast them, and more than a few people do. Check out Bongo Brew, Doma (Spokane), Monarch Mountain, and the new Evan’s Brothers to drink great coffee and support local roasters.

(not the community garden site

As for wine, we all know that Pend d'Oreille Winery makes great wine, and supports the community as well. Check out their refillable bottle to save on glass. Laughing Dog has been brewing beer locally for some time now, but don’t forget about MickDuff’s.

Their wide selection will satisfy your light or dark beer craving, and again, you can refill a growler to reduce your waste. Plus, they make root beer for the kids (or just for those of us who like good root beer).

Don’t be afraid to make your own hard drinks as well. Ferment your apple cider, buy a beer-brewing kit, or make a huckleberry wine.

Some of my friends make gallons of cordial by soaking fresh fruit in vodka for a few months. It’s a fantastic sweet sipping alcohol for the winter.

Happy drinking!

Local Food of the Month:

Elderberry

This locally wild fruit is exceptionally nutritious and tasty. It has antiinflammatory as well as anti-oxidant qualities, and has been shown to significantly speed up recovery from and prevent the flu. Last year I harvested the berries, picked them off the stems, and used the steam juicer to make juice. I then cooked down the juice into a syrup, and stored it in the fridge. For a health tonic, I mixed a tablespoon of the syrup with hot water and a splash of honey. Or just eat it plain, if you like a little tart on your tongue.

Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 22

Currents

Moony Gardening Lou Springer

nox5594@blackfoot.net

This year’s first frost occurred right on time –September 21—the last day of summer. This isn’t an arbitrary date chosen

by Hallmark, the Earth’s very clock details the precise time of the Equinox. Twice a year our world receives twelve hours of sunlight, twelve hours of dark. Twice a year our sun appears (forget for a moment that it is our spinning that brings the sun into view) to rise exactly in the east and set exactly in the west. Besides the spinning and the going around, our world also tilts, and thus we get seasons.

Just recently—I am a slow learner—I have noticed that the moon also rises

exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west during Equinoxes. But only during that point of equal day and equal night does the moon precisely follow the sun’s path. Until the following solstice, the moon seems to dance away from the sun. The December full moon rises in the same place as does the June sun. After the winter solstice, the moon and sun coyly approach each other, meeting briefly during the spring equinox.

The do-si-do seems to last longer, then the couple again split, this time the sun moving north and the moon sliding south.

Observing this natural clock was essential to humankind’s’ success. Understanding, then predicting, the cyclical movement of the sun and moon gave humans an edge.

Knowing how animal prey adjusted to cycles made humans better hunters. Hunters who understand that animals are influenced not only by the seasons, but also the daily dance of the sun and moon will be better fed. Hunters who can predict migrations will wear more furs.

Learning when to plant and when to harvest lead to nothing less than life as we know it.

Most of this sky world knowledge has become subconscious. The old pagan religious holidays celebrating the significance of sky movements have been re-consecrated as Christmas and Easter. But to fishermen, hunters and gardeners today, sky movements are still important.

Accepting that the moon has a gravitational pull upon earth’s waters, it is understandable why ocean tides are the strongest when the new moon is precisely aligned with the sun during Equinoxes.

The tides are controlled by the moon’s movements, but when aligned with the sun’s weaker gravitational pull, the year’s highest tides will occur. Anyone making a serious living from the ocean pays attention to tidal cycles or else the ocean makes a living from them.

During the new moon waxing phase, while the moon is closely following the sun and thus gleams in the western sky at nightfall, moisture is drawn upward through the soil; fluids are pulled through a plant.

From the full moon to the left hand sliver of an old moon, ground moisture is drawn downwards.

I will probably never be convinced that the constellation of stars forming the fantastical outline of a crab or scorpion has any effect on human character or personality.

But as a gardener, I cannot ignore moon phases. We start pepper, tomato parsley, celery and basil seeds inside during the waxing moon around the Spring Equinox.

April’s new moon, we plant peas in the garden and cosmos, zinnias, marigolds inside. During the waning moon, we plant potatoes, beets, onions, carrots.

This year’s garden season was perfectly bracketed by the Spring Equinox planting and the Autumnal Equinox killing frost.

After six months of plant care, we are ready to put down our hoes and shovels and pick up axes. How, we wonder, do folks in yearround growing locations ever get a break?

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 23

Page 24 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

Kathy’s Faith Walk

Living our avocation through our vocation

Lite Lit

Little Secrets Tess Vogel

tessievogel13@aol.com

Kathy Osborne

coopcountrystore@yahoo.com I just read a snippet in Fast Company of “What Should I Do With My Life Now” by Po Bronson.

It would have been nice if Bronson, in this short piece, had touched on the difference between vocation and avocation. What we do in our life, our job, isn’t necessarily who we are. It has long been held that men identify themselves by what their job (vocation) is. Women sometimes do the same. But I am finding more and more that as men and women, young and old, discover the calling on their life (avocation) they are less inclined to put as much pressure on the contentment they receive from their vocation.

Bronson says that a “calling” is not something you just know but something you grow into. Having raised three children, all in their early to mid-twenties, I have witnessed otherwise. The oldest is a musician, the variety that plays songs with Christ-based lyrics. This is his avocation and has been since he was old enough to plunk a piano key. By day, he is a drywall apprentice. Rock work pays the bills but he takes joy in delivering rock music with substance. This makes his drywall work very good.

My oldest daughter is a child care worker and has been since she was 19 months old.

Yes, 19 months! That’s how old she was when she picked up her newborn sister off the couch and carried her to me because the baby was crying! I was mortified, of course! But I saw something that day which as parents we chose to foster. She has been blessed enough to develop a life in which vocation and avocation blend.

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The third is an actress/singer and has been since she learned every Disney song to every Disney Princess movie ever made She was about two years old back then.

As parents, we took note and fostered the calling. Today, whether acting or singing, she is as at home on the stage as in our living room, and she leads worship in church. But by day she sells sandwiches at a franchise in town where she uses her calling to entertain co-workers and serve customers with a smile.

I believe we all know what we are called to do. It is the thing we want to do that’s burning in our heart and we just can’t let go of it. I believe God places it there as part of our DNA. Oftentimes the calling costs us rather than brings in a paycheck but that’s the beauty of the system! We work our vocation so we have the means to serve in our avocation. We may never get rich this way but the joy we experience in executing our avocation more than covers what our vocation costs. My pastor once called Christ Followers “Secret Agents” of sorts. God loves people. People who love God will love people too and they will find a way to live that mission out, most often, through their job.

Sometimes those vocations can be stressful, as I and my husband have found many times. But this is an avenue God often uses to share His love with people. Hang in there. The rewards are on their way.

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This series of books is more of a girl series than a guy series because there’s scandals, backstabbers, and so much DRAMA, which is something that guys want to stay away from, and rightly so!

“Little Secrets Playing with Fire” is the first in the Little Secrets series by Emily Blake. I have read this book and the second and loved them both! I have recently bought the last books of the series and will be reading and reviewing them soon.

Wow! It seemed like Alison Rose had everything she’d ever want; at least, until her mother was arrested and her best friend stabbed her in the back. As Alison’s world comes crashing down on her, she starts to wonder who it is she can trust. Nasty backstabbing Kelly is the most popular girl in school and has managed to steal Chad, Alison’s boyfriend away from her. As her mother sits in jail, Alison grows closer and closer to her grandmother, who seems like the most likely person who would have put Alison’s mother in jail. As Kelly becomes more and more powerful at school Alison becomes more and more of a social suicide case if anyone were to be caught talking with her. As the book progresses, Alison finds out about some major family secrets.

She and Grandmother Diamond grow closer together and even though Kelly is Queen Bee at school, Alison is number one with their grandmother and that burns Kelly up inside. The end of the book nears with an ending that leaves you gasping.

In this book there are two other major characters, Zoey and Tom, but telling too much about their background and how they are now would give too much of the book away.

I would rate this five stars because of the way the story line goes. All the scandals and drama that this family has is just fun to read about. It shows Alison who you can and can’t trust. I think that this book is amazing. I have read it many times and will read it many more times.

Little Secrets, Playing With Fire by Emily Blake. Scholastic Paperbacks, 160 p. ISBN10: 0439810531

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 25

What the College Student Saw

“... O autumn winds that bake and burn, And all the world to darkness turn, Now storm and seize and make of me... A swarm of leaves from Autumn’s Tree!... O Samhain, God of the dead! Hear us! - Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree A primer on Wicca, aka witchcraft and satanism, which it is often confused with.

To begin with, I am not on this page endorsing any particular belief system, merely stating where my research and experience has led.

Christians and other mainline religions have long confused Wicca or witchcraft with Satan worship. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live...”

Witchcraft, however, simply means “wise craft” or “wise one.” In old times, these individuals were the medical center/ midwives, etc. of a village, dispensing herbs and the like found in nature, much as modern medicine derives its base from compounds found in nature. This is why there is an outcry from medical quarters concerning the destruction of so many forests around the world, due to the possibility of undiscovered plant-based medicines that could cure a variety of human ills.

Satan is most often depicted as a horned beast/humanoid. In witchcraft, the male side of life, the fall and winter months, are represented by the buck, a figure with multi-pronged antlers, not horns.

The spring and summer months are associated with the female half of life, or the moon goddess, the most powerful figure in Wicca.

Further, Halloween (in the U.S.) was originally a cross between our Memorial Day and celebrating the harvest bounty. It had nothing to do with Christianity or the worship of the devil.

Females are witches while a male is called a male witch or a wizard, such as Merlin; they are not a warlock, which means liar.

Wicca’s most important holiday is May Day, celebrating the renewal of life, not mourning the end of life as during Halloween. Furthermore, Christmas (which we celebrate on December 25) correlates with the Wiccan or pagan holiday of Yule, the winter solstice celebration held the 21st or 22nd of December.

A final misconception... the pentagram.

As in the illustration, the satanic pentagram has two points upward, representing the horns of the devil. The Wiccan pentagram, such as the stars on the American flag, have

Valley of

In ThE

ShadowS with Lawrence Fury

a single point up. Where does that come from? Take any apple, lay it on its side, and cut it in half. Now look at the seed core. It is a five-pointed star. The Wiccan symbol is the seed chamber of one of the most common fruits on earth, a symbol of life.

thinking he could probably hitch another ride out to Spirit Lake.

Jerry let Mark out at the dumpsters just inside the turnoff, wished him luck, and drove off down the old section of 95 to Garwood.

Twenty minutes later, and with only Mark was in his last year at North Idaho a dim glow in the western sky, Mark was College in the fall of 1975. His parents regretting having taken the lift. Strangely, had just divorced, and since no one could no other car had come by and he doubted agree on who got what in the settlement, his lighter would be much good to see by.

Mark was for the time being without a car Barely finishing these thoughts, he looked ahead where a side road intersected the secondary highway and saw what appeared to be a number of people standing in the intersection.

Hesitating, Mark slowed to a near stop a couple hundred feet from the group and could now see there were about eight or ten people, all wearing cloaks or capes, standing in a circle, hands raised to the dark sky. The wind brought what sounded like a faint chanting.

Standing at the side of the road in fear The Wiccan pentagram, at left, and and uncertainty, a light appeared behind satanism’s inverted pentagram at right him. Looking back he saw a car about a quarter mile away. Pulling out his lighter, and forced to bum rides until a settlement he flicked the flint and held it up for the driver to see. He was greatly relieved as the came from the court.

One Friday in late October, a little after car pulled over and he was it was Jerry in four in the afternoon, Mark had come up his Fairlane.

Mark got in and Jerry explained that empty in his efforts to get a ride home to his conscience got the better of him. He’d Rathdrum.

The campus was fast emptying out. rather be late than let Mark possibly walk With mostly cloudy skies, a temperature all the way to Rathdrum. No telling what barely 50 degrees and a steady wind, the might happen.

As Jerry pulled back onto the road, college was starting to take on a bleak, there was no sign of the coven, if that’s forlorn, empty feel.

The sun barely peered through clouds what it was. It was if they had evaporated low in the sky toward Spokane. Mark wasn’t into the thin air...

This writer has seem something similar relishing spending the weekend alone and recently here in Sandpoint. Two autumns mostly broke in his dorm room.

Just about to walk back to his building, ago I was returning from a friend’s place another student he had seen around and as I drove north on Ella, by the Pine campus came out of the library, walking Street athletic field, I dimly saw five people toward one of the few cars left in the lot, in cloaks or capes looking up at the full moon. a ‘68 Fairlane.

Happy Halloween.

Mark hurried over to the tall guy and Note: In last month’s “The Scarecrow of saw the Bonner County plates. Asking if he was going north, the other introduced Sagle,” I neglected to mention that the clothes himself as Jerry and said he was hurrying to the neighbor gave to my Uncle Pat for his Sandpoint, but would be glad to drop Mark scarecrow belonged to the man’s son, who was off at the Rathdrum turn off. Mulling over killed in World War II. the chilly, nearly 8-mile hike, Mark agreed,

Page 26 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

From ThE

Files

of The River Journal’s

SurrealisT Research BureaU

My Weirdest Tale

I’m often asked, in over 30 years of researching such topics as Bigfoot, UFO’s and Ogopogo, which is the strangest case I’ve come across. For sheer “otherness” and the unknown, I’d have to say the bizarre incidents that occurred in the Parisian churchyard of St. Medard between 1727 and 1732.

These happenings were so bizarre and so outrageous modern readers might be forgiven for thinking them sheer fantasy or inventions if not for the realms of impressive documents to back them up, including dozens of affidavits by the doctors, judges, and scientists who investigated and witnessed them.

They began in May of 1727 with the burial of Francois de Paris, the Deacon of Paris. Only 37 years old at the time of his demise, he’d been widely admired with a reputation as a healer who taught that men could be saved only through the grace of God and not by their own efforts. Great numbers of mourners followed his coffin and as his body was laid in his tomb a crippled child held aloft by his father went into apparent convulsions and was hurriedly removed to a quiet corner of the churchyard and laid out on the ground. The child, crippled since birth with a deformed leg, jumped up smiling and dancing, his once-withered limb growing new muscles and stretching as the bystanders watched. The leg soon became as strong as the other.

That appeared to open the floodgates.

As the news spread like wildfire within days lepers, hunchbacks, cripples and the blind were flocking to the courtyard and deformed legs and arms became straight again, cancers disappeared and sores and wounds healed instantaneously. Scientists and investigators witnessed ever more incredible occurrences over the months.

One, the great philosopher David Hume was to write in An Enquiry Concerning Human

by Jody Forest

Understanding, “There was surely never a greater number of miracles in one locale, but what’s more extraordinary is that many of the miracle cures were immediately proven on the spot by judges of unquestioned integrity, attested by witnesses of credit and distinction.”

One such witness, a lawyer named Louis de Page, told his friend the Judge Louis Montegron what he’d seen but the magistrate scoffed at him, sure he’d been tricked by carnival conjurers and charlatans.

But he agreed to accompany him to the churchyard next day and see for himself. On this day (7 September 1731) the miracles had a decidedly more gruesome tone.

First, the magistrate reported a number of women writhing on the ground, their bodies contorting into impossible shapes, sometimes bending backwards until their heads touched their heels, all the while speaking in tongues. While the women writhed on the ground other men standing by apparently became possessed and began beating the women with heavy pieces of iron and wooden clubs. One woman, naked to the waist, had her nipples grabbed by a pair of iron tongs, twisting them violently. None of these women felt pain, many begging for more force to be used and many of them

were later cured of whatever ailments or deformities they’d arrived with after this bizarre treatment.

In another part of the churchyard other women were found busy cleansing grotesque boils and open sores of the afflicted by sucking and licking them clean, amazingly curing the wounds complete. Another woman knelt before a blazing open fire and plunged her head into it yet her eyebrows and hair were not even singed. She picked up a chunks of blazing redhot coal and proceeded to eat them, smiling. The Judge had seen enough for one day and left but he later returned and investigated further, eventually writing and compiling three volumes of case histories and cures which he later presented to King Louis XV. (I’ve left out some of the more fantastic, grotesque and shocking incidents that occurred there but simply Google variations on St. Medard or French convulsionaries and a few websites should pop up. A lot of the incidents are frankly too crude and vulgar for the gentle readers of TRJ). The Catholic church still investigates and ponders on the meaning, if any, of the occurrences today and there’s some fascinating case histories on their online files and reports.

The Parisian civil authorities eventually decided in 1732 that the situation was getting out of hand and becoming a cause d’celebre’ so they ordered the church closed down and the courtyard, trees and graves razed to the ground. In the words of Colin Wilson, “It would be foolish to stop looking for scientific explanations of the miracles of St. Medard, but in the meantime let us not deceive ourselves by accepting superficial “skeptical” explanations.

“Beauty will be convulsive or it will not be at all!”—Andre Breton

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 27

A Holistic Approach to

Stress & the Workplace by the Sandpoint Wellness Council www.SandpointWellnessCouncil.com

Coping With Stress in the Workplace

By J. Ilani Kopiecki, BA and CMT Like it or not, for millions of people around the world, their workplace is a home away from home. For the lucky few, this is a wonderful, fulfilling experience that brings much richness and joy into their lives.

However, for many, their work environment brings challenges and stress that can build up over days, months, and years. Sometimes this can affect a person’s physical as well as mental and emotional wellbeing. This article offers some suggestions that can help you make it through your day and possibly, change some old negative patterns that no longer work for you. This could be the start of a new, more positive outlook at work, thus relieving the stress and discomfort you feel as you move through your day. Have fun with these suggestions and use the ones that feel right for you.

Your Physical Environment • Bring photos of family, friends and/ or pets and put them up around your workspace. There’s nothing like a loved one looking back at you during the day to brighten your mood. If you are feeling down or upset, just take a look at one of those pictures and allow yourself to have a few moments of gratitude and love for that person or pet.

• If you have the space, a green plant or two can be a wonderful addition to an otherwise stark environment. Also, taking care of a living thing is good therapy!

• Make sure that your workspace is ergonomically correct. A bad chair and/or computer that strain your body in any way can add to your physical discomfort and

thus affect your mood. You can also play with the height of your computer and chair and the placement of your keyboard and mouse. The body likes variety, and if you change things around every couple of days, your body may thank you for it!

Your Mental Wellbeing • With so much to remember during the day, and lots of responsibility to accept, the brain can get overloaded with seemingly millions of details. At this point many people feel “burned out” and unable to take on anything else! A great technique to cool things down is what I call “the brain melt.”

Just sit quietly for a few minutes (even 1 minute will help!), close your eyes, and take a deep breath and let it out. Let your body relax and allow your seat to hold you up.

Put your attention on your breath, and as thoughts come up, let them melt away like butter. As new thoughts arise (as they will!), notice them, let them melt, and gently put your attention back to your breath. There is no judging involved, just noticing. Do this for a few minutes and you may feel refreshed and restored and able to attend to your daily tasks with new clarity.

• Try to get outside on your lunch break and walk around. If this isn’t possible, just walk around the workplace, and get your body moving. Sometimes just being by yourself and getting away from you work space can be the best gift you can give to yourself.

• Maybe listen to a book on tape driving to and from your work. A good thriller or mystery could help you have a mini vacation as you transition from home to work.

Your Emotional Wellbeing • Sometimes a co-worker, boss, or stressful situation can punch your emotional buttons.

It could be an off hand comment or a criticism of your work. In these circumstances it is important to take time every day to nurture yourself.

This could take the form of a mental “pat on the back.”

Tell yourself that

you are doing the best job possible and that you are truly a good person. Maybe do the “mind melt” to calm your thoughts. When you feel easier about the situation, ask yourself how you can make it right. If you aren’t sure, ask a supportive friend or family member. But don’t dwell on the drama. It will only keep you in turmoil and pain! Then take the steps to make it right. Sometimes there is no action —just your relationship to the situation has changed.

• Find things to do that give you joy in your every day life. Participating in sports, a hobby, or getting together with understanding friends and family are some ways to bring laughter to your life.

These suggestions are some of the ways you can lift your spirits and have more grace and ease at your workplace. Maybe you will come up with some or your own ideas and use them. Good luck!

Ilani Kopiecki, BA & CMT is a CranioSacral Therapist and Therapeutic Massage Practitioner.

She has been in practice for ten years. She received her CranioSacral training through the Upledger Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is a certified Advanced Practitioner.

Ilani maintains her office at Stepping Stones Wellness Center, 803 Pine Street, in Sandpoint, Idaho. For more information about Therapeutic Massage, CranioSacral Therapy, or to make an appointment, please call her at 208 610-2005.

Or visit her website at: www.ilanisessions.com.

Please call any of us or visit our blog at www.sandpointwellnesscouncil.com to ask questions or leave comments. Our goal is to be a resource for our community; our blog is your forum to interact with us and other readers.

Sandpoint Wellness Council members: Krystle Shapiro, BA, LMT, CDT,Reiki, Touchstone Massage Therapies Oncology Massage Specialist 208.290.6760 Owen Marcus, MA Rolfing 208.265.8440 www.align.org Kristine Battey, MA, PT Divine Health and Fitness Personal Training & Physical Therapy 208.946.7072 www.divinehf.com Mary Boyd, MS, PT Mountain View Physical Therapy 208.290.5575 J. Ilani Kopiecki, BA, CMT Integrated Bodywork and Craniosacral Therapy 208. 610.2005 Robin & Layman Mize CBS Quantum Biofeedback 208.263.8846 Chris Rinehart Homeopathy 208.610.0868

Page 28 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

The Scenic Route

Trail Time Sandy Compton

mrcomptonjr@hotmail.com www.SandyCompton.com

Ten years ago today, my friend David and I woke up early and drove from our camp in Hurricane Creek in the Wallowa Mountains to Joseph, Oregon, and then on to Wallowa Lake, where we left the truck and climbed to the top of the lateral moraine that makes up the eastern shore of the lake. After an hour there taking pictures and writing things in a notebook, we drove to Wallowa, the little town where the Lostine and Wallowa rivers come together before dropping into the Grand Ronde canyon. There, they join with that river and make their common way to the Snake a couple of dozen miles south of its confluence with the Clearwater.

From Wallowa, we drove to Enterprise, county seat of Wallowa County, and then we drove and drove and drove and drove — out along the west rim of Joseph Canyon; down into the Grande Ronde and up the other side; across the very southern edge of the Palouse to Asotin; down the Snake to Clarkston, and across it to Lewiston; across the Clearwater and up that river to Lapwai on the Nez Perce Reservation; up Lapwai Creek and across the Reservation and Camas Prairie to Grangeville; and then up over White Bird Pass to White Bird Canyon where we finally stopped. Again, we took pictures and wrote things in a notebook.

Then, we found a campsite on the far side of yet another river, the Salmon, and had a fire, some dinner and a rest. We smudged ourselves good that night, with wood and sage from three states—no, four—Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana. We stood half-naked in the smoke and I asked a blessing for us.

We got one—a healthy dose of trail time.

David and I were chasing a myth on that trip. We found a tragedy, the story of the Nez Perce War of 1877, which I am still finding out about. Last week, I drove to Nespelem for my semi-annual visit with Joseph of the Nez Perce, whose life was one of the tragedies hidden in the Nez Perce myth. In a profound way, it was a triumph,

too. I commend his story to you. Just remember that not all that is written about him is real.

Joseph is buried at Nespelem and he is worth coming to know, though it happens slowly, learning who he was and what he stood for. White history and Western mythology have turned him into the “noble savage,” the wily war chief who outsmarted the US Army for months on end. In reality, he was more likely a family man whose major concerns were his children and wives and making sure that the old people were taken care of. In the end, he was an exile— an unhappy, homesick old man, dying of a broken heart hundreds miles away from home. His crimes were that he wished to worship his own way, travel as he wished, live where he wished, and that he told the truth and kept his word in the face of lies and treachery.

When I asked for the blessing ten years ago, I didn’t ask for anything but a blessing, nothing more. What we were blessed with on that trip was 20 days in the truck and 2,400 miles of the wild, wild West. At the end of that, we popped out the other end of the time-tunnel we were traveling through and came back to our “real” lives, but we came back with something indelibly stuck in us. At least I did.

We found a country so big it’s indigestible, though it will surely digest a wayfarer in it, given the chance. But we found more than that. We found a way to move through it.

The only way to see it clearly and to consume it, is to let it consume you, to hunker into it and let it overwhelm you to the point that the only thing you can do is let go of trying to get anywhere fast and take one, measly, small, humble, stumbling step at a time. Watch where you put your feet and keep moving. Remember to look up once in a while, and, when you do, be prepared to be awed by what you see.

We can practice moving through our lives like that. It is a peaceful way to travel.

Trail time is time to learn true things, even if some of them are hard things. It is time to take one step and then another, time to be in the moment, time to live in the now. After a while, getting through the place, getting past it, ceases to matter a damn, and just being in it becomes the blessing.

Memories in Music

October 17 at Sandpoint’s Panida Theater • call 208-263-9191

HALLOWEEN AT THE BONNER MALL SATURDAY OCT 31.

MALLWIDE TRICK OR TREAT 3PM - 5PM • FOR KIDS 12 & UNDER 5PM • KIDS COSTUME CONTEST 2 AGE CATEGORIES 5YRS & UNDER and 6 to 12 YRS PRIZES FOR: SCARIEST, FUNNIEST & MOST ORIGINAL & BEST OVERALL IN BOTH CATEGORIES

Sponsored by your friendly Bonner Mall merchants

COATS FOR KIDS COLLECTION THRU OCT 16, DISTRIBUTION STARTS OCT 17 TO OCT 31 ACROSS FROM GNC

300 Bonner Mall Way in Ponderay

208.263.4272

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 29

SAVAGE Eugene “Gene” Ryder Savage, 76, of Sandpoint,

Coffelt Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.CoffeltFuneral.com Idaho, passed away at Valley Vista Care Center in Sandpoint on Wednesday, September 9. Gene was born in Coolin, Idaho on July 17, 1933, the third child of ten children born of Otho and Marie (Van Hoff) Savage. Gene was raised in the Priest River area before moving to Sandpoint where he spent most of his life. He graduated from Priest River High School in 1953. Gene married Wanda Ereman of Sandpoint on October 2, 1955, in Sandpoint. The family lived in Sandpoint at their home on West Pine Street for 45 years.

Gene worked for Kaniksu Tractor, Sandpoint Garbage Company, Bargain Supply, Bonner County Road and Bridge Department, Rickman and Fister Logging and finally Idaho Department of Lands before he retired in 1994. He farmed, raised livestock, logged and built roads in his spare time. Following his retirement, he and Wanda spent time each winter at their winter home in Pahrump, Nev. Gene was also a volunteer fireman for the Sandpoint Fire Department for many years. Gene had a deep love of all life and nature, which included his family and many wonderful friends. He loved to fish, hunt, pick huckleberries, grow vegetables and explore the wilds of Idaho. His passion was discovery—to find out what was at the end of a road in the woods and mountains of Idaho and Nevada. He passed on his fondness for the outdoors to his children and grandchildren. He could fix almost anything. He was a dedicated recycler, and rarely passed up metal, wood or concrete if he could find a use for the materials. He and Wanda traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and all the western states. The accomplishment he was most proud of was building his underground house on West Pine Street in 1981 which was featured in Ruralite Magazine.

Gene is survived by his wife of 54 years, Wanda, daughter Renee (and Greg) Blythe; son, Tim (and Marcey) Savage; daughter Linda (and Adam) Ednie, brother Ed (and Alice) Savage; sister Juanita Saul; brother Vernon (and Jenny) Savage; sister Emma (and Larry) Scott; sister Jo Blomenkamp; brother Bobby (and Carolyn) Savage; sister Dottie Yerkes; sister-in-law Juanita Savager; grandchildren Adrian (and Angie) Menard, and Dante Menard; Trudy Savage; Lee Savage; Michelle Levi; Amanda, Logan and Buck Ednie and great grandchild Keaghan Krebs. He is also survived by cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother Robert Savage, and his sister, Mary Savage.

We thank him for his spirit of adventure and have enjoyed memorable times camping, fishing and exploring Idaho and Nevada. A memorial service was held at Coffelt Funeral Service’s Moon Chapel.

CHENAULT Robert P. Chenault, 84, of Sandpoint, Idaho died Friday, September 11 at Bonner General Hospital.

Bob was born October 7, 1924 in Indianapolis, Ind. the son of Hobert and Emeroy Chenault. During his formative years he lived in various locations, moving 18 times by the time of his graduation from high school. He enrolled at the University of Indiana but World War II erupted and he enlisted in the Air Force.

During the war he flew P-38s, and at the time of his discharge had achieved the rank of Major.

After the war he moved to Hollywood and began a career in television and film. He started in the studios and worked his way up through the ranks, ultimately serving as a producer/director. He won two Emmy awards while at ABC, the first for an after-school special entitled, “My Mom’s having a Baby,” and the second for the best T.V. series, ABC Weekend Specials. He later worked at

Columbia Studios as a producer/director for various miniseries filmed in Europe.

Robert married Cynthia Robichaux Leonetti in Las Vegas, Nev. in 1983. An adventurous couple, they lived for many years on a 65’ sailboat in San Pedro harbor and enjoyed escaping every weekend to the Channel Islands.

They later lived in Palm Desert at the Lakes Country Club where he was club golf champion. In 1995 they moved to Sandpoint, where Bob designed and built the log home of their dreams, where they have since resided.

Bob was a naturally gifted, smart and ambitious man who led a rich abundant life. At the center of his life was his marriage. He wrote and directed many of his projects with his wife Cindy. He was a painter, a sculptor, a ham operator, a gifted craftsman of fine furniture, a voracious reader driven to learn everything he could. He was a true Renaissance man.

He always tried to give back to the community wherever he lived. He was concerned with enriching children’s lives as demonstrated by some of his television work, supported the efforts of the Community Assistance League of Sandpoint. He spearheaded the STOP Tax Initiative (Sensible Taxation of Property) in Idaho. Bob was a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Producers Guild.

He is survived by his wife Cynthia Chenault, daughter Collette Holden, step-daughter, Kimberly Beck Clark, step son Jason Clark and grandchildren Miles and Dylan Clark and granddaughter Maxine Holden, niece Crystal Shaw, and nephew Ritchie KremerA. Bob was preceded in death by his parents and 1 sister.

Private family memorial services will be conducted at a later time. Kundalini Farewell Prayer May the long time sun, Shine upon you All love surrounds you And the pure light Within you Guide your way on PEINE Justin Anton Peine, 41, of Sagle, Idaho died Saturday, September 12 from injuries received in an accident at his home. Services were conducted at the Westmond L.D.S. Chapel. Interment followed in the Whispering Pines Cemetery.

Justin was born June 27, 1968 in Sandpoint, the son of Chris and Myrna Peine. Justin attended Sagle Elementary, Stidwell Jr. High, and graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1987.

Justin was always busy working, or helping someone out. He owned and operated Peine Trucking, specializing in excavation. Some of his other projects included rebuilding cars and converting diesels used for hauling to dump trucks. He also built two homes, but most important…his workshop. He was an avid outdoorsman. In his small amounts of spare time, he was motorcycle riding, boating, snowmobiling, demolition derbies, mud bogs, fishing, and improving his property. Justin also enjoyed teasing everyone around him.

He was a member of the Westmond Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Justin is survived by his daughter Whitney Marie Peine and 1 grandson: Payton Anton Peine, his companion: Tammy Nickle and her son Brice Nickle; his father: Chris Peine; 7 siblings: Angela (Andy) Taylor, Michael (Melissa) Peine, Malinda Peine, Brenda (Matt) Vernon, Jared (Bonnie) Peine, Jennifer (Eric) Heward, Diana (Ben) Hull, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his mother and one brother. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

YARYAN Jack William Yaryan, 87, of East Hope, Idaho died September 15 at his home. He was born February 10, 1922 in Spokane, Wash., the son of Floyd and Perola Verral Yaryan.

He was a lifelong resident of East Hope where he was reared and graduated high school.

After high school he enlisted in the US Army serving World War II, and the Korean Conflict. On December 31, 1948 he married the love of his life Elona Rhoads and they celebrated 60 years of marriage.

Jack is survived by his wife; 2 children: Leslee (Robert A.) Hoover and Gregory Yaryan; 2 grandchildren: Shayne (Mari) Holt and Aubree Wright; 1 great-granddaughter: Kyra Holt; and 1 sister: Barbara Phillips. He was preceded in death by his parents, 2 brothers: Berkley and Val, and by 1 sister: Donna.

Private family services will be conducted at a later time. The family request memorials be given to Bonner Community Hospice, P.O. Box 1448, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

JORDAN Norma Jean Jordan (Flanagan), 87, residing in

Kootenai, Idaho, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, September 16. It was a beautiful day as she made her journey home.

Jean was born March 20, 1922 in Indianapolis, Ind., the daughter of Dr. Estle Flanagan and his wife Bertha Flanagan. Norma graduated from high school in Walton, Ind., and attended Indiana University for two years. She was a real estate broker in Crawfordsville, Ind. where she resided for 39 years. In April of 2005 she moved to the Sandpoint area to be close to family.

Jean loved music, singing, playing the violin and piano, traveling and her dogs. She was also an avid collector of antiques. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the American Revolution and an Auxiliary Member of the VFW. She is survived by 4 children: Jan C. Rose (and Shirley), Tana J. Rose Kirkland (and Herbert), Rhonda L. King, Dana A. Jordan (and Susan); 4 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and husband.

Private family memorial services will be held at a later time in Walton, Ind.

Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.LakeviewFuneral.org KINGSTON Kenneth B. Kingston, 82, passed away on Wednesday, August 26 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Funeral services were held at the Sandpoint Christian Center on N. Boyer Ave in Sandpoint with Pastor Wesley Ribeiro officiating.

Ken was born on September 15, 1926 in Grand Island, Neb. to James “Willis” and Violet Kingston. In 1929 the Kingstons left Nebraska for Seattle, Wash. where Willis found employment with the Boeing Aircraft Company.

Ken grew up in Seattle with his older sister Betty and younger sister Sylvia. He attended Renton High School and in 1943 while still finishing his senior year he began working for Boeing helping to build B-17 bombers.

Near the end of World War II Ken was drafted into the U.S. Army and became a paratrooper. His unit was sent to the South Pacific; first to the Philippine Islands where pockets of Japanese soldiers were still fighting and later to the islands of Japan.

Upon his honorable discharge from the Army Ken returned to Boeing and soon became a supervisor. In 1950 he married Margaret McDonald who also worked at Boeing. In a few years they had two children; a daughter Cindy and a son James (Jim).

In 1960 Ken and his new family left Washington moving to Florida. Here Boeing was supporting the Mercury Space Program which was striving to win the “space race” by sending a U.S. Astronaut into space ahead of the Russians. Over the next 6 years Ken worked his way up into higher management positions insuring focus on the critical elements of Boeing programs that put the first man into space, upgraded the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile systems and built the massive Saturn V rocket which would eventually power the Apollo missions that put men on the moon.

In 1967 Boeing’s plans to build the largest commercial jet aircraft ever built brought Ken and family back to the Seattle area. For the next 22 months Ken would lead over 1,500 people to do what some called impossible; assembling the first 747 Jumbo Jet at the new still under construction Everett factory. At stake was the future of the Boeing Company which had promised to build the new plane in record time and risked going broke if it took too long. The factory team that accomplished the feat was known as “The Incredibles”. Not only did they build a plane that would insure the company stayed in business, they built a legend. Even today, getting that first 747 assembled

Page 30 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

and flying is held up as an example of “how to accomplish the impossible” at the Boeing Everett factory.

Ken once said; “If you want to get noticed, take on a big project that scares the hell out of everyone else and then whip it!”

Whether it was a tough commercial project or a big military contract, for the next 20 years Ken continued to whip one challenge after another. In 1988 he retired as the Director of the Boeing Military Modification Center at Wichita, Kan. Ken and Margaret were divorced in 1972 and Margaret passed away in January of 2009 in Washington.

Ken married Maxine Goding on February 3, 1978 in Kirkland, Wash. After retiring, Ken and Maxine moved to Sandpoint. Although Ken loved the late spring, summers and early fall Idaho weather, he was not fond of cold weather, snow or ice. Each year he was packing the RV and ready to “go south” by early October. The last 12 winters he and Maxine “wintered” in beautiful Mesquite, Nev. Ken was a great public speaker; he loved to see people laugh and smile and he could tell a good joke.

He became close to his brother-in-law, David W. Goding, who also worked in management at Boeing. Ken hosted David’s 50th birthday and retirement party, and for the entertainment portion of the party Ken imitated Foster Brooks.

After he became a born again Christian, he didn’t hesitate for a moment to tell others about Jesus. He was a member of the Sandpoint Christian Center, and Full Gospel Businessman’s Organization. He enjoyed carpentry and building things, fixing up old cars and tractors, and taking care of his yard.

He is survived by his loving wife of 31 years Maxine Kingston; three children, Jim Kingston, Cindy Kingston MannhalterL, and Tim Hulsey; four grandchildren and one great-grandson.

He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Betty and Sylvia, and stepson Rodney Hulsey.

REED Bonnie Jean Reed, 74, passed away at her home in Sandpoint, Idaho on September 3. Memorial services were held at the Lakeview Funeral Home with Rev. Robert W. Burdett from the First Presbyterian Church officiating.

Bonnie was born on April 16, 1935 in Chicago, Ill. to Robert and Delphine Burke. She graduated from Morgan Park High School before going to work at Illinois Bell where she met her husband Harry. They married on June 1, 1957 in Chicago and settled in Homewood, Ill. until the family moved to Sandpoint over 20 years ago.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Homewood and Neighbor Lodge #1025 O.E.S. She enjoyed watching movies, sewing, crossword puzzles, was an avid reader, and Chicago sports enthusiast including the Cubs, Bears, and Blackhawks.

She is survived by her husband Harry Reed; 3 daughters, Karen (Dennis) Pence, Candice (David) Naasz, Kerry (John) DaVault; 1 son Clayton (Rhonda) Reed; 5 grandchildren Amanda, K.C., Kymberly, Jonathan and Courtney; one great-grandson Conner one brother Robert (Pansy) Burke; and special family Dan and Amy Cipri and their children Taylor, Jake, and Ryleigh.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and one sister Barbara Beshir.

In honor of Bonnie’s support of animal shelters, memorial donations may be made in her name to the Panhandle Animal Shelter, 870 Kootenai Cut-Off Road, Ponderay, ID 83852.

BURNS Donald Dean Burns, 77, passed away peacefully with his loving family by his side on September 6 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Funeral services were conducted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints Sandpoint Stake Center with Bishop Arnie Wolff conducting.

Don was born March 23, 1932 in Denton, Mont. the son of Willard and Sarah Burns. At the age of 7, Don with his family, moved to Sandpoint, where he attended schools, graduating from Sandpoint High School class of 1951. He served proudly in the U.S. Navy. He worked most of his life in the timber industry as head scaler for Pack River, Crown Pacific, and W.I. Forest lumber mills for over 40 years retiring in 1993.

Don enjoyed horses, dancing, playing the organ and piano, woodworking, and being a handyman of just about anything needing fixed including cars. Don always had a warm welcoming smile for anyone he met. He was a very loving husband, father and grandfather who will be

greatly and sincerely missed.

He is survived by his loving wife Marie of 35 years, a sister Annabelle Riffle, one son Donald P. Burns, and one daughter Yolanda Taccogna ,four stepsons Rick Kost, Dave Kost, Dan Kost, and Lee Lacey, along with numerous grand- and great-grand children.

Don was preceded in death by his mother and father, one brother, one sister, and one daughter.

WALLACE Logan John Wallace, 16, passed away on September 9 in Hope, Idaho. Private family graveside services will be held at the Freeze Church Cemetery in Potlatch, Idaho.

Logan was born November 28, 1992 in Moscow, Idaho to Dylan and Jonna (Saad) Wallace. He attended elementary school in Potlatch, 5th-9th grades in Moscow, and 10th grade in Coeur d’Alene.

He enjoyed so many things including working as an apprentice stonemason during the summer with his dad, basketball, photography, fishing, hunting, target shooting, archery, mountain biking, snow boarding, weight lifting, riding BMX bikes, and writing “pieces” (Logan’s name for poems). He loved to spend time with his little sister Dayze.

He is survived by his parents, Dylan and Jonna Wallace; 11-year-old sister, Dayze; grandmother, Sandy (Jim) Everett; aunts and uncles, Linda (TJ) Quiring, Destiny (Nick) Neade, Jimmy (Jesse Madsen) Everett; and Doug (Jolene Leef) Saad; and cousins Trevar, AndSadie, they Kelton, don’tJaxson, have and to—after all, don’t Breana, Jewel.

He Americans is also survived by several great aunts,it’s uncles we believe if it’s ours, ours and cousins. He was preceded in death by his grandma we Saad, can and do grandpa with it Casey whatWallace. we want? Or andand grandpa In lieu of flowers, donation can be made to the is Spokane Shriner’s Hospital for Children, 911 W. 5th Ave., and we want it, then Spokane, WA 99204. you have to give it to us and if you don’t, NEWMAN Mangus William Newman, 90, passedand away we’ll on then you sponsor terrorism September 9 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Memorial services were held at Alpine Vista Senior Apartments Sandpoint Pastorwants Steve Nickodemus Byin the way, with China that oil as of Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church well. Remember China? people who officiating.

Interment will be held laterThe in October in Hon, Arkansas. loaned us all that money? China’s oil Mangus was born on February 25, 1919 in Hon, consumption is around 6.5 billion barrels Arkansas to William and Mary Ellen Newman. He was a year, and is growing atduring 7 percent every drafted into the United States Army World War II. He year. marriedIt Louise Carroll on June 1,3.6 1945, and thebarrels couple produces about billion made their home in Long Beach, Calif. Mangus served a year.

Does this math look good 30 every year career as an electrician at El Toro Marine Base.to After retirement Can they lived in Ft. Smith, then Sarah Bella anyone? anyone otherArk, than Vista, Ark, before moving to Sandpoint in 2005.

Palin and Bush believe can Mangus was George a member of the B.P.O. Elks we in Long Beach. loved baseball, andthis as a problem? younger man enjoyed drillHeour way out of Anyone golf and bowling. who betterKathryn hit the(Roland) ground He isdoesn’t survived think by onewe daughter Rose; 4 grandchildren Carrie Nicolewhat Seltzer, running to figure outGoodman, how to fuel we Ryan Rose, and Sara Haight; and 5 great-grandchildren. want fueled with something other than He was preceded in death by his parents, wife oilLouise probably deserves to goNancy back to an Ellen Newman, and daughter Caroline Levernier.

: I could go on forever, but you’ll quit reading. So one final discussion for the American public. First, let’s have a true, independent analysis of what happened on September 11, 2001.

The official explanation simply doesn’t hold water. This is one of those “who knew what, when” questions that must be answered—and people/institutions must

Ron’s Repair

Face to Face Bill Litsinger • Bob Wynhausen 1400 AM KSPT • 1450 AM KBFI

Friday lunch at 12:15 They have ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ and ‘touch the face of God.’

Coffelt Funeral Service helping those who are left behind.

P.O. Box 949 • Sandpoint, Idaho

Speaking of accountability, you might be surprised to learn that I would not support an effort to impeach President www.CoffeltFuneral.com Bush after the November elections. First, Recycling - Lawn, Snowsecond, because that’s too Garden, late, and Equipment, Generators, Older because more than Pumps Bush and have been Outboards.

Moon Chapel involved in crimes against the American I What also buy/sell batteries people.

I would like to see are Pinecrest Two doors west of the Hope Post Office charges (at the least, charges of treason) Cemetery Member by 208-264-5529 brought against Bush, Cheney, et al. Bring Moon Crematory invitation only October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 31 the charges andWading let’s let the evidence of

208-263-3133

STACCATO NOTES What’s up in October?

In October, fall is not only in the air (that can happen here during any given month) but with the passage of the Equinox, it’s official as well.

Also an official part of fall is harvest, and the area is ripe (sorry) with opportunities to celebrate the bounty of the season.

On October 10 in Sandpoint there’s a veritable cornucopia of harvest events, beginning with the Farmer’s Market’s Harvestfest as the market closes out the season with entertainment, food booths, arts and crafts, and displays from running from 9 am to 1 pm. at Farmin Park. Call 208-597-3355. Starting at 11 am, the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association presents the fourth annual Oktoberfest celebration, in the Tomlinson Sotheby’s parking lot at 200 Main St. (just behind the Town (Circle) Square). There’s plenty of German-inspired food and drink in the Bier & Food Garten, the Schweitzer Power Tower climbing wall, pumpkin painting, cookie decorating and live music. Learn more online at DowntownSandpoint.com or call 208-2551876. That evening, from 6 to 10 pm, enjoy the Fall Harvest Ball, a dinner/dance to benefit the Bonner Community Food Bank. It takes place at the Sandpoint Events Center and includes a four-course gourmet dinner, live music, silent

auction and raffle. Tickets are $50 per person get yours by calling 208-946-6646.

Busy that weekend? Never fear, there’s more dining opportunities a week later, on October 17. The Oktoberfest Benefit Dinner and Auction, hosted by Beta Sigma Phi of Sandpoint, takes place at the Bonner County Fairgrounds beginning at 4 pm. Food, beer garden, a local Oompa band and both live and silent auctions raise money for scholarships for local high school students. Tickets are $18 each or two for $30, available at Sharon’s Hallmark. Call 208-2638823. Or that same night enjoy a catered dinner and auction as part of the Sandpoint Teen Center Dinner and Auction Benefit. Head over to 414 Church St (the Panhandle Bank building) for social hour at 5 pm. The Teen Center provides an after-school home for teens with mentoring, tutoring, food, games and camaraderie. Tickets for this event are $20 and are available at Eve’s Leaves, Panhandle State Bank, Pedro’s and Bizarre Bazaar. Call 208-265-3335.

In the mood for music? Sandpoint’s Panida Theater (208-263-9191) features The Kusun Ensemble of Ghana on October 10, a Heart Songs performance, featuring area senior citizens, on October 11, blues artist Maria

Muldar on October 14 (sing along with Midnight at the Oasis), the ThinkSwing! jazz and blues festival on October 25, and folk artist Jonah Smith on October 30.

Still want more? On October 9, Tim Behrens performs a new Pat McManus play, “Poor AgainDagnabbit!”, Jean Peck puts on a new variety show, “Memories in Music” on October 17, and from October 31 through November 8 the Lakedance International Film Festival is back.

All take place at Sandpoint’s Panida Theater, 208-263-9191.

Plus there’s train rides, trivia nights, open mics, music at the winery and a Northwest Bridal Showcase, not to mention some great basketball fun as the Harlem Ambassadors take on our own Hometown Heroes at the Sandpoint High School gym on November 1 (benefits Wishing Star). And don’t forget to check out all the fall sports action at our local schools.

To find out more, visit the activities calendar at Sandpoint Online (www.SandpointOnline. com/current/index.shtml.) and check it out. Or visit our own website at www.RiverJournal.com for sports calendars for area schools. There’s something going on for everyone!

Get out and enjoy your communities!

Page 32 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

Following Instructions Does anyone actually read instructions? I tend to think I can figure Jinx Beshears things out on my own. jinxbychoice08@yahoo.com Unfortunately that seldom happens. That label warning on blow dryers that states “do not use while bathing,” was probably meant for someone a lot like me.

My common sense is usually senseless. For some reason, I am bound and determined to do things on my own, even at the expense of them not always turning out so great. I bought a small dresser from a department store, the kind you have to put together yourself. The kind we buy thinking it will last a lifetime. The instructions were in several languages and I chose to look at none of them. If the directions don’t just jump out at me, I usually ignore them.

After laying out all the pieces, I managed to get everything together, using only half the pieces that came with it. (Why do they put so many pieces in the packages anyways?). I was pretty impressed at the time; only one of the drawer fronts was on backward and the top of the dresser was on upside down. The hardest parts were the rollers to make the drawers move smoothly and I decided that I didn’t really need them to move that smoothly anyways!

My dresser looked like something you see on the side of the road that has fallen off somebody’s truck. What took me days to put together, may have only taken hours had I chosen to read the instructions. (Had I used all the pieces, the dresser might have stood up to being used longer, too!)

I never wear dresses, but I needed one for a party and I found a really cute one that looked okay on its hanger so I bought it. After getting it home I realized what looked good on a hanger does not always look so good on a person, but what was done was done; I wasn’t going to return it. I don’t shop well. Black and white are really good color for most people, simple and elegant, unless you spill beets on it, then it’s not so good.

It’s not like you can hide a beet stain on your lap either. If I had washed it out as soon as I got home, things might have been a little different. I actually looked at the label for a split second and saw that it had to be hand washed. So, off I go to the kitchen, fill the sink and dip my cute little dress in it. I washed and washed and the water still looked dingy. I rinsed and I washed some more. Hot water, rinsed in cold water, until the water rinsed clear and believe me it took a while! Then I tossed the dress in the dryer, thinking that it would be a neat little number to wear to my parents’ house for dinner next week.

I later pulled it out of the dryer to find that the only person wearing this dress anywhere might be one of my granddaughters’ Barbie dolls. It was wool. The miniaturized label said, no hot water, towel dry. The dingy water was the dye I was removing with each thrust into the soap that I wasn’t supposed to be using.

It’s not that I can’t read instructions, I think it’s more like I don’t have the patience to look at them. I have always been proud of being a “hands on” learner and this was very evident on a camping trip up Johnson Creek.

I had to buy a new tent as my old one had seen its last days and I was very excited about the bargain tent I found. It wasn’t a “pop up” tent like my last one. This one had poles and stakes and everything with it. Aspen and I found the perfect campsite as always, plenty of rocks for her to catch and I proceeded to set up camp. It was sunny when I started setting up, but the clouds had rolled in when I wasn’t looking. I love to camp in the rain though, so Aspen and I crawled into the tent ready to relax and read a good book. My new tent was fabulous. I could stand up in it, didn’t have to bend over to crawl inside, it was like a fold up castle!! I read myself to sleep beneath the clouds and to the sound of gentle raindrops.

My sleeping bag was curled up around Aspen and I, tucked inside warmly. That is, until the tent collapsed on our heads and the rain that

had pooled in the top of the tent splashed down upon our unsuspecting heads. A very rude awakening! Had I read the instructions for the tent, I would have known that you have to stake down the rain flap so the water rolls safely off onto the ground. Had I read the instructions I wouldn’t have woken up half drowned with Aspen grumbling at me as if she knew what I had—or actually hadn’t—done.

You would think that a lifetime of proving that you need instructions would make someone look at them, but still, there is that small voice inside me that says, “who needs instructions?”

Upon arriving in Louisiana to visit my friend Sherry, her pooch, Little Man began urinating on things. We thought he was marking his territory; I assumed it was because Aspen had arrived with me and he wasn’t very tolerant of her. Sherry and I decided we would buy some puppy training spray, the kind you spray to help your pup learn where not to pee. It was rather expensive for both of our budgets, but we bought it anyway, thinking it would still be better than getting up with dog pee everywhere.

Every day we sprayed and every night, Little Man peed. Finally, in frustration, I grabbed the bottle and sprayed everywhere. The bed, the sofa, chairs, desk, computer tower, nothing was safe from my spray nozzle.

Still nothing worked. At the end of a day of cleaning pee up everywhere, I grabbed the useless bottle prepared to throw it out. I turned it over to read the instructions, just to see if there was anything we had possibly missed.

Sherry and I looked at each other with a “you’ve got to be kidding” scowl.

The directions? Spray only the area that you want your dog to urinate on.

Unbelievable. Now I read the instructions on everything from toilet paper to milk!

Put your camel to bed and

PARTY AT THE OASIS! Maria Muldaur in concert at Sandpoint’s Panida Theater!

October 14

with Neighbor John Kelly Tickets are $20 advance/$25 at the door and are available at Eichardt’s Grill and Pub, and Pedro’s in downtown Sandpoint, Papa Murphy’s Pizza in Ponderay, The Long Ear Records in Coeur d’Alene, and 4000 Holes Music in Spokane, or purchase online at SandpointGeneralStore.com

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 33

Scott Clawson

acresnpains@dishmail.net One of my hobbies is tryin’ to keep our canine unite, Sophie, in outdoor protective custody and happy at the same time. It’s cheaper than collecting stamps or even rare political promises. You also end up with all sorts of building materials you can play with afterwards.

Protective custody is just that. Protection from herself. To render her incapable of herding things like moose, skunk, deer, bear, porcupine, turkeys, roving clusters of idiot free-range pets and other stuff that might go wandering through yer homestead, fenced or not. The down-side effect is that unsolicited “sales associates” are also protected (which proves you can’t have everything).

But to any shepherd, locked up and happy don’t belong in the same sentence together. They need to be “sheppin’” something, even if it’s only the cat and a few squirrels. To have the freedom to oversee, inspect and patrol its borders or it just won’t be able to do the job and, therefore, be happy with itself. Self-esteem is very important in dogs. It seems people can get along nicely without it, but not dogs.

Anyways, who the heck wants to be cooped up inside on a beautiful day when they could be outside sniffin’ the breeze for intruders and the deposits they make.

By the same token, I can understand her angst when some uninvited guest tags the driveway while she stares out through the fence in mortal indignation, helpless, or so it seems. It sure tends to build up her determination to be unconfined.

Somewhere in our little princess’ sizeable fur coat there seems to be hidden: wire cutters, mill file, cordless sawzall, rope and pitons, sledgehammer, pick-ax, battering ram and a pogo stick or at least a pole vault. For a time, I figured she had a dog version of a catapult, but I could find no evidence of one, trusting, of course, that I’d know one if I saw it.

For three full months this summer I’ve kept busy swattin’ hornets and re-doing our dog yard/potting shed, last year’s attempt having been burned for kindling or used as mulch. Some of it, I’m sure, has become fertilizer somewheres after it came out of Sophie’s ‘USB’ port. This year’s theme: rock, block, logs, steel and welded wire.

I was optimistic from the start, having shut out of my mind most of last year’s fun and games. And because it’s so close to the front door, I deemed it necessary to keep it tasteful. This necessitated blowin’ $800 on the materials I mentioned a big ago. Add in all the incredulous outcries, the moaning, groaning and the actual labor served up on a daily basis to improve on a system you simply cannot make work as good as expected. Dogs are incredibly incapable when yer not looking! Last year’s experience could only be explained away by the enlistment of one of the local beaver by our ‘faithful companion.’ Whatever woodwork I threw at it the night before became shavings the next day; hence the materials chosen for this year’s motif, but to no avail! She remains free on willpower alone but stuck in the house for her own damn good.

I’ve tried to explain it to her but she bats that ol’ brown eye/blue eyed Aussie thing at me and jiggles her ears up and down. If I try to be serious, she curls up a lip like I just farted (one of the things that has endeared me to her!).

She’s out third dog out here in the woods and fer sure the most entertaining, needy and expensive to maintain. Twenty-seven years ago we had a wolf/husky cross and a blue merle aussie, both beautiful girls, to help raise our two boys and make sure they didn’t get lost. To do this we let them run free all the time. Sophie’s work load is a lot less congested but she gets a taste of the old days when the grandkids come over to play; otherwise, she’s bored poopless.

We don’t let her run loose when we’re not home and this might explain her neediness. I think dogs need to ‘feel’ free even if they don’t actually do anything that requires freedom. A feeling everyone can relate to, I’m sure.

One day I took a piece of chalk and outlined Sophie as she meditated on our front deck. Then I went to town for a couple of hours, picked up some more stuff for her yard, came home and found her still inside the chalk (no surprise). So after I made some ‘improvements,’ I put her in her ‘yard’ and made a ten-minute dump run. She was lyin’ next to that chalk outline when I got back.

I didn’t even bother to figure out how she did it, the little conjurer incarnate won’t tell me and she likes to swim too much to

be waterboarded effectively.

I felt like givin’ up on the idea ‘cept I seldom give up on a lost cause until I hear bone cracking and ligaments go pop. So I went to the fridge, snagged a beer, grabbed a pad and pen, went out to sit on a swing and throw a Frisbee fer the nut.

This is fer ‘good dogs’ everywhere.

A DOG’S POEM You lock me up and go away and don’t come home ‘til the end of the day.

Leavin’ me here to sit and stare, there ain’t no way you can call this fair!

I ain’t no ‘watch dog,’ I’m a do-dog, see; this pen don’t cut it, I’ve gotta be free.

I’ve got all day to work myself through it in hopes that someday you’ll say, “Aw, screw it!”

Just leave me to roam around and do my stuff, to scratch and sniff ‘til I get enough of protectin’ our place the best that I can from intruders and such, ain’t that the plan?

I promise to stay home and not get lost.

Just think of this pen and all that it cost.

And when I break out for one reason or two, it’s because of my nature, you know it be true.

You don’t have to worry ‘bout me chasing skunks or porcupines, Mormons or kids in trunks.

I’ll sit here quietly a mindin’ the store just like those other dogs you had before.

If I smell a cougar or hear a moose I’ll crawl under the deck and just hang loose.

It’s my livelihood at stake, I fear incarceration as it makes me crazy to the point of constipation.

I was born free to die free, if I keep my nose out of trouble, just like people who don’t like to live in a bubble.

To keep me happy in a consistent way, I need room to roam and roles to play.

I need yer attention and that goes double or my mood will usually be found in the rubble.

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October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 35

From the Mouth of the River

A boy should always have a dog and some girls. That didn’t sound right. I meant to say children should grow up with a dog around to love on and for companionship. Of course, a boy should have a hunting dog and when he’s old enough, then girls.

I have had a dog ever since I was in diapers.

Dad bought a collie when I was a baby to keep me company and from getting snake bit. She would stay by my side all day while my dad worked in the fields and would kill any snakes that would show up in the yard, and in the South there were always snakes. When I got old enough to untie the rope Dad had me tied to a tree with, me and Shep would run off from home. But Shep would never let me get very far before she would guide me back to the house. Dad told me years later she would just walk me in a big circle and back home.

Yes, as a single parent who worked on a farm my dad would tie me to a shade tree with 20 feet of cotton rope and put a pallet down made from an old quilt for me to sleep on and he would tell Shep to stay with me until he got back to feed me and change my diaper.

Growing up with a dog is just part of a country boy’s life. I never owned a purebred dog of any kind until I was in my seventies, yet I always had a hunting dog. Most any dog will hunt game with a little patience and encouragement from a boy. Grown men seem to lose their patience and understanding when it comes to training dogs.

Some years ago I went to Kentucky and Ohio to pick up a trailer load of show horses to take on a show circuit. While arriving at this one horse farm in Ohio I saw a pack of miniature fox hounds scurrying across the hills. In fact, I saw several packs of four running and baying like big

coonhounds. They were black and white with some tan mixed in and they had long ears and short legs and their tails stood straight up like bird dogs on point. All were running as fast as their little legs would carry them, baying and howling at the top of their lungs with their noses right on the ground. I had never seen anything like this and when I pulled up to the stables I asked the owner what on earth was going on with these miniature hounds? “Those are Beagles,” he said. “They are having hunting trials on the farm down the road.” About that time a pack of four ran right through his yard. Each dog had a big number painted on its side and with their noses to the ground they didn’t even notice we were there.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “If the hunting trials are on the farm down the road why are there packs running all over your place?”

“I have no idea,” he exclaimed. “I can’t figure out how they judge these trials either, or how they pick a winner. All I know is every time they have Beagle trials around here it takes a week to find all the lost dogs.”

If there is one thing I admire it’s the baying of hounds, which is quite common in the South, especially at night. When I was a small boy my dad and I would sit out in the yard on a summer night and listen to the hounds run coons down on the river bottom.

All of the above has long been a distant memory from my past until one wintery morning here in North Idaho I stepped out to shovel snow from our door steps and suddenly I heard in the distance the baying of hounds. There were two.

The lead dog was hot on a scent and baying constantly. The second dog was close behind and acknowledging the first dog was on the scent by letting out a howl occasionally. As I stood there in the cold morning watching and listening, the hounds came around our mountain, dropped down into the Bear Paw campgrounds on Trestle Creek and barked treed. I soon found out these dogs belonged to an outfitter with a license to hunt cougar. His client was a photographer who only wanted to film the cougar they had treed. When they arrived at the tree they were surprised to find a female cougar with two half-grown cubs to photograph.

The sound of those hounds baying brought back memories of those Beagles from my distant past, and I started my quest to own one.

“Lovie,” I said, “we are down to just one dog and she is old and lonesome. What do ya say we get a pack of beagles?”

“What? What’s a beagle and how many is a pack?” she asked.

“Well, they’re small and very

Boots Reynolds

cute little dogs and they don’t eat much and there are four to a pack.”

“What? Are you out of your @3$#* mind?

There’s no way we are going to get a pack of beagles!”

“But, Honey. They sound just like big hounds.”

“All the more reason were not getting any.

Case closed!”

A month or more went by and finally I said, “How about two?”

“Two what?” she asked.

“Beagles,” I said.

“No way. I thought I had made that perfectly clear.”

“No,” I said, “you said not a pack. This would be just two.”

“The answer is still No!” Time dragged on into spring and one day our neighbor, Wind Stone the opera star and caterwauler, shows up at our place with a threemonth-old Beagle puppy. Said he got it for his son. It was the cutest thing you’d ever seen; the Beagle, not the kid. The kid is cute, too, but thank God he takes after his mother.

Our neighbor, Wind Stone, teaches music and voice at one of those trade schools over in the back woods of Montana and he’s now a recording star. His first CD will be released this July and debuted at the Clark Fork transfer station. Don’t miss it. So much for his commercial, now back to the Beagle story.

Each morning, Wind Stone dragged this little pup up to our house and had coffee. In the meantime the pup would jump all over Lovie and you know how a woman can’t resist a snuggling puppy. I could now see the handwriting on the wall, as my evil mind contemplated my next move. Fudge brownies, cake, pies and lots of coffee kept Wind Stone coming back for more and now Lovie was looking forward to seeing and playing with that pup.

Finally, one day when Lovie was snuggling with the pup and it was licking her face I said, “Boy, I wish I had one of those Beagle puppies, so Wind Stone’s puppy would have someone to play with when he comes up for coffee.” Two weeks later I returned from a fishing trip and there she was, the cutest Beagle puppy you ever saw. And, she had papers on her as well as under her. I was in love all over again.

If you have ever been around dogs much you have seen them dragging their butt across the yard or making brown streaks on the carpet. I have always thought this was a funny sight. So, on behalf of dogs everywhere I have named my dog Scooter.

Generations after generations of breeding has taken place to create a Beagle or all purebred dogs for that matte; from a lap dog to a hunting dog they are bred for a specific reason. Then there’s the back alley dogs whose blood line is a mixed bread of fence jumpers and unintentional breeding. There are not many breads of hunting dogs whose bloodlines include family pets, though you can make pets out of most dogs.

Here in the Northwest labs and lab crosses are

Page 36 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No. 10| October 2009

the predominant pet with little Foo-foo lap dogs for the older generations.

I know one fellow who has a Pit Bull as a seeing-eye dog. it wasn’t until the dog tore off one of his arms and most of his face that he needed a seeing-eye dog.

If you ever, and I mean ever, decide you want a registered dog, read everything ever printed on that breed. Ask anyone and everyone who owns one what they like and don’t like about their dog. Not just one person but as many people as you can find. For instance, Beagles are bred to hunt; they have a nose second to none. Our Beagle can track a two-day-old ant track across the carpet.

When we first got the pup all we did was try to love it and play with it, getting it acquainted with us. I couldn’t wait until it was old enough to start baying. All I new about Beagles was they were bred to hunt cottontail rabbits. When they get the scent of a rabbit and jump it from its hiding place, they chase it howling and bowling at the top of there lungs. It’s easy for the rabbit to outrun a Beagle but with all that baying they stay right on the rabbit’s scent trail —the rabbit just runs in a big wide circle, right back to where it started, thinking it is safe to come home only to find a man standing there with a shotgun waiting on his return.

That’s all I knew about Beagles. We don’t have any cottontails here and only an occasional snowshoe rabbit, so what was our Beagle to hunt that she could bay at? It wasn’t until spring that her voice changed and we discovered that one morning when a bull moose walked around the corner of the barn and met Scooter in the middle of the yard. The bull stopped and looked down at this little dog barking at the top of its lungs twenty feet away. When the bull became irritated enough he shook his head. Scooter whirled and scurried towards the house in a dead run, then stopped and charged right back at the moose; this time her voice started to break like that of a teenage boy. Standing on her hind feet with every hair on her body standing straight out she began to bay, howl. Her voice would break up but ever so often she would put it all together and sound just like a big hound.

I was a proud Papa, but was somewhat concerned for her safety.

However, any time the bull would look at her or take a step she would scurry towards the house, keeping the bull at a safe distance. I was as proud as I could be of my little Beagle; even Lovie was excited about our little Scooter and the shenanigans she would pull with this moose, Eventually the moose got bored and trotted off. Much to our surprise Scooter thought she had a hunt going for her and proceeded to run the moose to Great Falls, Montana. While the moose trotted over the hill little Scooter, running as fast as her little legs would carry her, was barely out of the yard. But nevertheless she was in hot pursuit.

We hollered, screamed, whistled and shouted at the top of our lungs to no avail. Lesson one about Beagles. They will look you right in the eye and totally ignore any kind of command you give them when it comes to hunting. If they hit a scent of a squirrel or catch a glimpse of one or any other animal they are in hot pursuit, instantly baying and howling with their noses right on the ground.

And when Wind Stone brings his pup up to play, it gets twice as bad, veins sticking out on our necks and heads from screaming unheard commands at these two Beagles. This became more than we could stand.

When we would finely catch up with them they would act like they had been waiting on us to show up and were so delighted we could join them.

But after being out-smarted so many times, we got the upper hand by the use of an electric collar. Both dogs have an electric collar that lets them play and chase each other through the house and yard up to ninety feet from the front door, at which point the collar starts to make a buzzing sound; just a few feet further and it begins to lightly shock them.

They know where that 2WD and 4WD. Includes in-house boundary is and respect filter and 5 qts oil it. We now have two SHELL RAPID LUBE happy dogs and even happier owners.

404 Larch • Sandpoint 255-2251

MANAGER'S SPECIAL FOR OCT

at the

Sandpoint High School Gym Nov. 1 6 pm Our own

Hometown Heroes take on the

Harlem Ambassadors Tickets are available in Sandpoint at

THE BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE in Clark Fork at

THE MERIWETHER INN in Ponderay at

SANDPOINT SPORTS

Advance ticket price: $5 Seniors & Students/ $7 Adults At the door: $10 for all All kids under age 4 FREE ALL PROCEEDS FROM THIS EVENT BENEFIT THE SANDPOINT CHAPTER OF WISHING STAR

$26.99

Lube, Oil & Filter

Oil Change • Heating System Transmission • Tire changes Mechanic on Duty

A Benefit for the Sandpoint Chapter of the Wishing Star Foundation

October 2009| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 18 No.10| Page 37

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