The River Journal, October 2010

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October 2010

The early spawn pictures a recovering kokanee fishery (p 2) Magick in Missoula (p 4) Whitepine peril (p 7)

Departments Editorial 10..........Wellness 12-14......Outdoors 16..........Politics 20..........Veterans 21..........Sandpoint Calendar 22..........Faith 24-25......Other Worlds 26..........Obituaries 27..........Humor

Cover: Thousands of kokanee salmon returned to their home redds on Granite Creek to spawn this September and Becky Reynolds was there at the right time to get the shot.

You can learn more about kokanee, the fishery and the spawn on page 2.

9 Love Notes Megan McCormick 15 Currents Surprise Award 17 The Scenic Route On Citizenship 19 The Hawk’s Nest Shedding 23 Politically Incorrect Ghosts I have known 27 From the Mouth of the River Bountiful fall

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O O W

G ING H ME e call it fall—officially call it fall—when the autumn equinox arrives (September 23 this year) and the balance of light tips toward night until the winter solstice arrives to move us back toward longer days.

We also call it fall when the leaves begin to change colors; warm, sunny, ever-shorter days coupled with cooler nights trigger a resting period for trees, when they begin to eat the food they’ve been storing and their green pigment fades, leaving behind the yellows and oranges and russets and reds that make for spectacular color on the hills.

These signs that nature gives of the changing of the seasons are felt by the kokanee salmon as well. Cooling water temperatures, and the amount of daylight tell the kokanee fall has arrived; they get the message and

by Trish Gannon

mature adults head home to prepare for the next generation, and die. It’s called the spawn, and is one of this area’s most spectacular signs of autumn.

Like Peter Pan, salmon don’t get old.

The early spawners, autumn’s fish, are generally hatchery bred and return to their home creeks where they were first released, as were those pictured above and on our cover at Granite Creek. Late spawners (November/ December) hatched along the many acres of Lake Pend Oreille shoreline. Kokanee hatch between November and January and, come spring (April/May) make their way into the lake. There they do whatever it is fish do in the water; those that avoid predators reach maturity at age three or four and, when nature signals, they return to their birthplace, following their nose until they get back home.

Once there the female kokanee, upon finding the right mix of gravel, water and sand, and will create several nests—called redds—where she will lay anywhere from

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250 to 400 eggs. The male, who has stayed close by, then fertilizes the eggs and then, following their only real act as adults, they die, choking the stream with dead fish and providing a much-appreciated, bountiful feast for area wildlife. The early spawn, when thousands of bright red fish fight their way upstream, is a dramatic and awe-inspiring look into this cycle of life.

At one time, Lake Pend Oreille was a fisherman’s paradise for kokanee, considered by some to be one of the best fisheries in the world, with an annual harvest of almost a million kokanee alone. Then the kokanee population dropped into such sharp decline that as the new millennium began, fishermen were told they could no longer take the tasty fish home. A moratorium was placed on fishing for kokanee.

“I don’t think people realized just how close we were to losing the kokanee,” explained Jim Fredericks, fisheries biologist for the Panhandle Region for Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game. “We were probably a year away from seeing the population collapse to the point it couldn’t recover.”

It was a two-pronged attack, experts believe, that threatened the kokanee. On the

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Photo by Becky Reynolds

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one hand were the lower lake levels caused by the operation of the Abeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River, a level so low it left kokanee spawning beds along the shoreline of the lake high and dry. On the other hand were the predators: the introduced lake trout and rainbow trout for which the kokanee is an important food source. Growing trout populations were simply eating their way through a kokanee population that was already struggling to reproduce.

Recovery efforts were controversial; stakeholders from all sides were passionate about how to save a fishery that was estimated, even at its lowest end, to pour $17 million dollars each and every year into the local economy. The program eventually put into place by Idaho Fish and Game was, as Fredericks put it, “cutting edge fisheries management. Nothing had ever been tried this way on this scale.” Officials responsible for fisheries management on lakes throughout the West have been watching to see what happens on Pend Oreille.

The recovery plan targeted both threats to kokanee, and included an aggressive catch program that provided cash bounties geared at the kokanee predators along with netting.

The program, funded by Avista and Bonneville Power Administration as part of the mitigation requirements related to relicensing the Cabinet Gorge Dam, has paid for commercial netters to remove close to 50,000 trout from the lake, plus paid individual fishermen $15 a head for the close to 75,000 rainbow and lake trout that have been caught in the last five years. The power companies have spent over three million dollars to date, and have been enthusiastic partners in preserving the kokanee.

In addition, considerable thought has gone into lake level management. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game believes lower lake levels due to the operation of the Albeni Falls Dam played a major role in the decline of kokanee salmon, noting the winter draw down to 2,051 ft corresponded with the onset of the kokanee decline, which began back in the 1960s. For almost 14 years now the Army Corps of Engineers has allowed the level of the lake to remain higher for approximately

every two years out of three, in an attempt to protect those important spawning beds.

This has been crucial, as the 30,000 to 50,000 kokanee seen swarming in lake tributaries are a small amount compared to the millions of kokanee who hatch along the shoreline.

Another weapon in the kokanee survival was the establishment, back in 1985, of the Cabinet Gorge Fish Hatchery in Clark Fork.

The hatchery raises kokanee salmon to release into the lake, and has released an average of 9 million fry each year since it opened.

The result of these efforts has been everincreasing numbers of kokanee in local waters, leading Fish and Game to be cautiously optimistic that a true kokanee fishery in Lake Pend Oreille is making a comeback.

“What we’re seeing is improvement in the numbers of juvenile fish,” Fredericks said.

“Three years ago we were seeing a survival rate of about 10 percent. Last year, our best estimate was a survival rate of about 70 percent. This is very exciting. If things continue to improve this way, then we may well be able to say we’ve saved our kokanee fishery.” The Department’s management plan into next year remains the same, but if they continue to see high rates for juvenile kokanee survival, Fredericks says fisherman might be pulling these tasty fish out of the water again as early as 2013.

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October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page

An inside look at a modern-day coven

by Jesseca Whalen Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, all that dies shall be reborn. Corn and grain, corn and grain, all that falls shall rise again!

One by one each woman raises a candle set within a sideways crescent moon before reading from four cloth banners that decorate the walls. Fire, water, air and earth: the elements and their corresponding astrological signs are celebrated in a clear, childlike script.

Taking turns, the priestesses speak the painted words aloud, faces eerily illuminated as the other women follow one syllable behind in a chanted round.

The ritual began at 11, so it has to be past midnight. Doesn’t it? No one knows. There are no clocks, and like much in the witches’ house, the passage of time seems strange.

Now, offerings are made to Aima Elohim, described by High Priestess Estha as the mother of all gods and goddesses. Crawling under a glittery black veil, the women keep their eyes lowered as they leave gifts of pine needles, leaves and (in Madeline’s case) hair.

The veil serves an important purpose: if Aima is looked at, her power will manifest itself in unknown, yet very dangerous, ways. This explanation is given without any trace of laughter. There are no twitching cheeks, no upturned lips. Reaching through the single small window above the goddess’s altar, a ghostly light braces the shadows. Superstition comes naturally.

Magic, however, must be learned.

Emerging in the 1950s, New Age witchcraft (Wicca) weaves Greek, Roman, Jewish, Hindu and ancient Celtic ideologies together to create a unique structure. Groups of witches are called “covens,” and can be led by one priestess, or both a priest and a priestess.

Rarely do priests have sole control of a coven.

Although men are also referred to as witches (“warlock” and “wizard,” while used by some Wiccans, are considered Hollywood terms created to emasculate the idea of magic), pagan religions are traditionally matriarchal.

They are also polytheistic. Praying to multiple gods makes sense, says 27-year-old Estha McNevin, who started the Missoula coven with her partner, High Priest Raven Digitalis (26-year-old Colin Smith) in 2003. Both are occultists, not just witches. This means that there are formulated ceremonial habits within the coven, and a distinct “clergy,” or priest and priestess leadership. But unlike other religious clergy, they believe that Deity should not be a distant, unreachable concept.

In Wicca, everyone is seen as a sacred child of the gods: a being of limitless potential. The

energy created during ritual and spell casting channels this divine power through the body to bring a person closer to Deity. Spells, Estha explains, are just prayers.

“Some people do think that we’re up to some kind of devil worship in our temple, but that isn’t what we are about,” she says.

“We are practicing a more concentrated form

Photo of Raven and Estha by Chad Harder of the Missoula Independent. Used with permission.

Magick in Missoula

of prayer that’s older than our own American culture.”

Raven is arranging feathers on a square of paper in focused silence. Usually, he says, he casts spells “for friends and family who are traveling, or in a hard place, or who just need some attention.”

Raven and Estha were introduced in 2002 by a mutual friend at a birthday party. They hit it off, but didn’t see each other again until they reunited during a University of Montana sociology class on alternative religions.

Professor Robert Balch says the two sat together every day.

“I think Colin and Estha recognized that they were both interested in the same thing,” Balch says.

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

Called Opus Aima Obscurae, the group that was born out of Raven and Estha’s mutual interest in occultism “helps people find their will, formulate their will, and get to their divine path,” Estha says. Translated literally, OAO refers to the different or “obscure” work. This religious sect focuses on the idea of paying respect to all religions and gods, not just one. Raven is the face of OAO – the person who handles the outward marketing of the group – while Estha has larger influence on the home front. Both work together in an effort to build understanding about alternative religions and provide community services that deal with human rights issues, healing and education.

Raven and Estha became interested in occultism and alternative religion as teenagers. Growing up in Montana (Raven is from Missoula and Estha is from Plains) Estha studied Hinduism and mysticism in high school and Colin studied Buddhism.

Although one must be 18 years old to join the coven (“Because some of our rituals are more adult, and in general to be in a devoted Wiccan coven one must have a level of maturity” Estha says), for many, the interest in paganism starts during the tumultuous years of high school and early college when people are trying to build an identity. Witchcraft is heavily focused on personal empowerment.

Spells are a study in willpower, rituals center on the idea of humans as godlike vessels, and divination is in essence soul searching.

Despite the strangeness of these practices, Wicca is also not any different from other religions in terms of how it got started, Professor Balch says. He adds that “Every religion that is around today started as a cult.”

It’s Wednesday night. Tucked into the right arm on the couch, Estha has a warm yet commanding presence.

Anywhere else she would look completely out of place, but this is her sanctuary. She is surrounded by charms to ward off evil, fivepointed pentagrams, ethnic masks, spinning tarot cards that float from the ceiling on fishing wire, and pictures of family. Excepting the shriveled brown apples carved into grotesque-looking heads, it’s decidedly cozy.

It’s also far outside the realm of average.

Sweeping into the room wearing a long, ratted coat, Raven sets a tiny figurine on a Hindu altar, watched over by the four-armed god Shiva. A grin flashes across his hairless face as he pushes glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I like casting spells,” he says, pulling cigarettes out of a deep pocket with blacktipped fingers. His voice is gentle and smooth, as are his movements. The only sharp thing about him is his hair: two spiky black hedges growing from an otherwise bald head. Estha never joins him on the patio, though Raven smokes at least once every hour.

River, another coven member, looks up from the whip she’s making on the living room floor. She doesn’t let her cat set foot outside during Halloween.

“People think we’re evil,” she says, shaking her head and cutting long strips of leather.

“But Christian boys are the ones out torturing helpless animals. Not witches.”

Raven and Estha are both animal rights activists, as are most of their coven members.

But that doesn’t mean that all of the group’s practices are nonviolent.

As River says, the whip isn’t just a conversation piece.

Every year certain pagans host a public ritual in which one coven member gets “flogged.” The scourge, or whip used in the symbolic ceremony, is a traditional tool of initiation in Wicca. Usually a person volunteers for this ritual, but sometimes they are designated to participate by other group members. On Halloween, River will be whipping her husband, who says that although the flogging will hurt, he trusts his wife completely. The whip itself is pale lavender. “Isn’t it pretty?” asks River with a giggle. The ritual serves a spiritual purpose.

It’s meant to exonerate the year’s sins and prepare the body for renewal. Seated around the low coffee table, other coven members squeeze their eyes shut, some turning red from exertion as they push delicate pins into tangy lemon flesh. Another cleansing ritual – less violent and a bit easier to conceptualize given that Estha’s living room smells like its been hazmatted with Pledge. Each pin is supposed to represent a negative thought.

After transferring their negativity into the lemons, participants will hang the makeshift pincushions in their homes, where they’ll continue to collect bad energy until they blacken and must be de-pinned and tossed into a river or buried.

“They really work,” Madeline says. Since the ritual, a stylist has tamed her butchered hair into a neat pixie cut. Only a few telltale spots give away that she chopped off her 3inch dreads in the dark. “I did an experiment once where I hung my lemon charm right by the TV and left Fox News on all night. By morning, the lemon was completely black.”

Like many coven members the night before Halloween, Madeline is finishing her poppet. Poppets are dolls that are created in a person’s own image. Part of yet another cleansing ceremony, these muslin effigies will be stuffed with the split ends collected during ritual, leaves, newspaper or anything else that people want to burn (along with their negative, old-year associations) on Halloween. Some even fill their poppets with parking tickets.

Most poppets will be anointed with a single drop of blood, Estha says. As she speaks her robe falls down her shoulder, revealing long horizontal scratches.

While the OAO never condones cutting with a blade, a scratch, Estha explains, is enough to “stir the blood and lend extra energy and ancestral power to some rituals.”

Blood-letting is supposed to heighten whatever power is called forth by worshippers during the pagan holiday of Samhain, or

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October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page

Magick- Cont’d from previous page Halloween. Estha tells the coven that if a woman is fortunate enough to be on her period during All Hallows Eve, she can smear her poppet with “divine” blood. Women are sacred, and menstruation is considered auspicious, particularly during a holiday.

For the male and other less-fortunate poppet makers, sterile diabetes pins are set out on the coffee table.

Shaking her pointer finger upside down, Madeline winds the plastic tab, loading a coiled spring that will release with swift efficiency when she’s ready. You have to hold the tiny barrel tight against your skin, or the needle won’t pierce deep enough to draw blood. Squeezing her eyes shut with a grimace, Madeline jumps as a faint click indicates that the weapon has found its mark. It’s never that bad, she says, it’s just hard to anticipate. She reaches for her poppet as a crimson bubble threatens to spill onto her robes.

Because the coven is in essence a family, there is a varied stream of people going in and out of the house when night falls. About 80 are on the coven’s mailing list, and of those 30 people come and go regularly. Right now four are fairly permanent fixtures. Madeline Keller, Anjuli King (who also goes by Sky), Maia McGuire, and Ben Kinder are “priests and priestessesin-training.” Ben studies under Raven, while the women are under Estha’s tutelage. This neotribal division is meant to encourage male and female “Mysteries” exploration, strengthening a person’s spiritual connection to their sex. While some covens allow or even encourage illicit relations between witch and pupil, Estha and Raven say that respectful boundaries must be present to ensure a stable learning environment. They loathe being compared to what they call “promiscuous covens,” sexually open groups that practice public sex.

Getting kicked out of the group is a huge blow, and not only because the coven is family. It takes an enormous amount of time, energy and training to become a witch.

Each student of magic must study history, aura or chakra healing, herbs, tarot, astrology, divination, and neopagan ethics to be considered a professional in the craft. Even so, full training within OAO isn’t completed for more than 22 years. These steps represent the 22 “Major Arcana” tarot cards – which indicate life’s significant issues by illustrating everything from birth to enlightenment. Not even Estha, who began studying mysticism at age 19, has reached the “22 milestone.”

After three years, however, students are considered clergy. They go to Monday evening lectures (“Which have lasted all night before,” Sky recalls with a rueful grin), write weekly research papers, and are expected to keep up with readings, rituals and weekly community service at their nonprofit of choice. They also have special pagan training videos, which leave an unmistakable mark even before the

film rolls. A disclaimer for one such video reads: Please do not copy or reproduce. This product has karma protection, with a copyright curse in place. All of the women studying under Estha are under 25 and still take classes at the University of Montana.

“We are always busy,” Madeline says. “But we really want this, so the work is worth it.”

Priestesses also have to wear their robes constantly. This is to indicate to the public that they are pagan clergy members and are willing to serve and heal anyone in their community.

“I can’t even take off my robes when I go dancing at a club,” Estha says. “It’s a lot of sacrifice to become a priestess, but this is what I want to do. It’s the same way for Raven. This is who we are.”

Like the High Priestess, student priestesses must wear their robes in public, even to classes. Some people believe that they are brainwashed, forced to dress and act strangely by the group leaders, but Robert Parker, a friend of Raven’s who is not Wiccan, says that this is the biggest misconception people have about alternative religions.

“I’ve never seen any evidence of ‘brainwashing’ within the OAO or any other new religious movement,” he says. “What I have seen is strong social influence, but no more so than what’s exerted by sports organizations or the U.S. military.”

Raven finishes a tarot reading and reemerges. Tarot readings are $2 an hour, and it’s just one of the ways Raven and Estha pay the bills. Raven has been with a nonprofit for years, and has also written two successful books, Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture and Shadow Magick Compendium: Exploring Darker Aspects of Magickal Spirituality. His third book is set to come out later this year. In addition to the money brought in by these (they sell well on Amazon), both witches own Twigs and Brews, a home-run business that specializes in healing herbs and oils. The tarot readings they give are also from home, and both Raven and Estha frequently disappear for 20 minutes at a time to divine someone’s future.

Tarot readings are a serious business.

“We train for years to become proficient in readings,” Sky says. “We have a Code of Ethics that doesn’t leave room for us to bend the truth when interpreting someone’s future.”

Estha folds back the coffee table runner to reveal a small hidden drawer. Inside, buds of hash are tucked neatly into tins and jars. As one of the oldest shamanic substances, marijuana has been used in divination ceremonies since the 6th century. The pipe circles for two hours before everyone is ready for the ritual.

“Not for the fainthearted,” Estha says, tonight’s black mirror divination ceremony will part the veil separating living and dead. Scrying is an important technique for connecting with the spiritual world’s dark

side. The art of interpreting shadows, one can scry in water (recall Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain) or using any dark surface, but it’s especially effective if looking into a special glass: a “black mirror.”

Outside, the rest of the women start their own preparations.

Before stepping into the small, converted garage on the side of Raven and Estha’s house, everyone must be “smudged.”

Sky gives a faint smile and holds out a smoldering bouquet of sage. “Arms up,” she says, voice rising into the night with the pleasantly acrid scent of the herb. Smudging is a ritual cleansing practice meant to remove bad energy. Sky runs the smoking bundle down the body with smooth strokes, under one foot, then the other. Her movements mimic those of airport security scanners, but are gentle, slow. She blows softly to waft the sage onto the back of the neck, leaving a tingle that heightens with anticipation when entering the place of worship.

“We will need a Happy Chain,” Estha says in a mystical voice, carried on air hazy with frankincense. Watched by Sky’s dog Kyrie and Estha’s only other cat, a silky black one called Uba, each woman speaks the name of the most comforting thing they can think of.

A warm cup of tea, a unicorn, fun, a cozy blanket, a well-stocked library, and love.

Six happy thoughts for six women.

“If you are overwhelmed or upset by anything you see tonight, speak up and we’ll call on the Happy Chain to diffuse the negative energy,” Estha continues, unwrapping a small black glass and setting it reverently into a metal stand. Seated on pillows, the women close their eyes and begin a soft chant. Taking turns, each slowly approaches the mirror, peering into its depths.

Estha raises her arm and rings a bell. The high-pitched chime pulls Madeline out of a 5-minute reverie. Sitting down and staring around at inquiring faces, she speaks: “Happy chain,” she says, tears flashing down her face as the words circle.

A warm cup of tea, a unicorn, fun, a wellstocked library, love.

Finally she is steadied enough to whisper her own positive thought. “A cozy blanket,” she says with a shaky smile.

No one will know what Madeline saw in the flickering shadow. Magic must be learned, but it can never be fully understood.

Jesseca Whalen grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho, and has lived in Montana for five years, where she is completing her degrees in print journalism and business marketing. This story was initially written for a journalism class at the University of Montana, and has been heavily edited for print publication. You can read the story in its entirety online at our website, www.RiverJournal.com.

Chad Harder (photo on page 4) is an awardwinning photojournalist with the Missoula Independent (www.missoulanews.bigsky.com) and the photo editor of Montana Headwall, a quarterly magazine about Montana’s outdoor recreation scene.

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

Keystone Species of the High Country in Peril

Photo by Maurice J. Kaufmann, taken at Two Medicine Lake in Glacier National Park

High on the ridges of the surrounding mountains stand the often-twisted and gnarled whitebark pine. The harsh, windblasted environment makes survival difficult but these trees have another battle: mountain pine beetles and white pine blister rust.

The combination of mountain pine beetles and white pine blister rust can be deadly. Mountain pine beetles feed and reproduce under the bark of pine trees which eventually disrupts the flow of water and nutrients within the tree and kills it. White pine blister rust is a fungus that enters through the needles, grows down the branches and into the trunk and eventually girdles the tree. “The mountain pine beetle wouldn’t usually kill all the trees because of the tree’s resistance,” said Robert Keane, research ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. “But the mountain pine beetle epidemic is killing all the trees because they are infected with white pine blister rust.”

The mountain pine beetle and white

pine blister rust are two reasons the Natural Resources Defense Council petitioned the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to list the whitebark pine under the Endangered Species Act. In July, the USFWS announced that the whitebark pine may warrant protection under the ESA, but a year-long status review will determine if it is truly warranted.

In their petition, the NRDC stated that other factors affecting the whitebark pine included climate change and changes in fire regimes. According to the NRDC petition, climate change will limit the range of the whitebark pine, increase the range of competing tree species, increase the range of pests and increase the frequency and intensity of stand-replacing wildfires.

Additionally, the NRDC petition states that current fire suppression practices have allowed competing trees to thrive among whitebark pines and have allowed fewer openings for whitebark pine seed germination.

Whitebark Pine being considered for Endangered Species status

by Laura Roady The whitebark pine’s thick bark, deep root system and thin crown allow it to withstand frequent fires. Fire creates the open spaces necessary for seed germination and kills competing trees that are not fireresistant, such as sub-alpine fir.

Locally, the U.S. Forest Service is working on reintroducing fire to whitebark pine communities. In 2006, the Bonners Ferry Ranger District burned over 1,000 acres to help restore whitebark pine. Prescribed burns were conducted near Russell Peak, Ball Lakes, Big Fisher, Farnham Ridge, Burton and Cutoff Peak. The burning project is an experiment to reduce the mountain pine beetle population according to Jamie Wynsma, USFS Silviculture Forestry Technician. “Fire is Mother Nature’s way of giving it a bath,” said Wynsma. “We are anticipating visiting the plots next year to see if they worked and to inventory new whitebark pine seedling.”

New seedling trees are the future of Continued on next page

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Pine- Cont’d from previous page whitebark pine stands. Since mountain pine beetles target large, mature trees, the seedlings have a chance to thrive as the cyclic nature of mountain pine beetles takes it course. Mountain pine beetle outbreaks are correlated to periods of warmer temperatures, such as from 1909 to the1930s and during the 1970s and 1980s according to the NRDC petition. Wynsma mentioned that the Selkirk Crest is the hardest hit area by mountain pine beetles. “We have to let it [the mountain pine beetle] run its course yet protect the whitebark pine,” said Wynsma.

The USFS is protecting the best whitebark pine trees in regards to genetics.

“We are trying to keep individual trees alive,” said Wynsma. The genetically best trees have small, white pheromone packets attached to them to discourage mountain pine beetles. The packets contain the same pheromone that mountain pine beetles emit to signal to other beetles that the tree is at capacity. Therefore, the packets cause the mountain pine beetles to pass over that tree.

While mountain pine beetles can be

tricked, white pine blister rust cannot. As a fungus spread by wind-blown spores, white pine blister rust is not specific; it affects all age classes of five-needled white pines in North America. Currently, white pine blister rust is detected across the whitebark pine’s entire range except for a few isolated stands in the interior of the Great Basin ranges. Locally, the Forest Service is pruning whitebark pines to reduce white pine blister rust infection rates.

A combination of projects is important for the survival of whitebark pine communities.

In 2008 and 2009, after the mountain pine beetle outbreak of 1999-2005, aerial surveys were completed in three areas of the Selkirks: Russell Ridge, Pyramid Lake and Trout Lake. Of the mature whitebark pines, 78 to 94 percent were killed by mountain pine beetles and of the remaining trees, 69 to 89 percent were infected with white pine blister rust. In addition, 15 to 23 percent of the smaller trees were infected with blister rust. In regards to theses three areas, USFS Entomologist Sandy Kegley said: “They will most likely convert to another cover type without intervention.” Interventions include fire or other restoration work.

“The Selkirks were one of 42 stands surveyed in Montana, Idaho and Yellowstone,” said Kegley. “Twenty-four of the 42 stands are likely to convert to another cover type without intervention.

The remaining 18 sites will most likely remain whitebark pine because of the low rate of rust or sufficient numbers of regens [small trees] that were not affected or there was not a lot of competing vegetation.”

According to Kegley, one of the reasons the Selkirks will convert to another cover type, most likely alpine fir or spruce, is that the Clark’s nutcracker has few open areas to cache seeds.

The Clark’s nutcracker is one of the main dispersal agents of whitebark pine seeds because the cones do not open upon drying and, therefore, are not winddispersed. The nutcracker caches thousands of seeds every year throughout its territory.

The birds prefer to cache seeds in open sites, such as burns, where the caches will be accessible throughout the winter and spring. Forgotten caches are the beginning of seedling whitebark pines.

Even though the whitebark pine is in peril, natural and human restoration efforts will continue regardless of whether or not it becomes listed under the Endangered Species Act.

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I Guess I’m Winning

Singer Megan McCormick wows Nashville, CBS and her family right here in Sandpoint

Ph oto b y A n g

el a Ko h l

er

When we still lived near the Sandpoint Airport, I often rode my bike into town. One of my favorite routes took me past Dale and Mae McCormick’s home. Invariably, while passing by and turning my head toward that big picture window, I’d see Dale relaxing in his overstuffed chair.

I always waved with a great big smile. Dale smiled and waved back.

I’ve known Dale and Mae for about 40 years.

Mae and I used to work together at Sandpoint High School where their two children Julie and Todd attended. Julie (Knox) served as my Monticola yearbook editor back in 1974-75. Todd was a year or two behind her in school, and I can remember some photos of Todd holding a big fish caught from Lake Pend Oreille.

Generations of the McCormick family were good at fishing. Dale and his brothers, Larry and Gordon, also established a fine reputation in the local construction industry. They had their own contracting business for 15 years and built structures like Condo del Sol. Later, while associated with other firms, they helped build The Coeur d’Alene Hotel and the Kootenai River Inn, to name a few.

I don’t exchange waves with Dale quite so often now that we live further out in the country. From my occasional drives by, though, I know he still sits in that chair in the same spot.

If I’d been riding by on my bike past his home the morning of Sept.

4, I would have seen a tear or two streaming down Dale’s face, along with that infectious smile.

I was glued to my television set that morning, just as were Dale and a whole lot of other people in the area.

“Papa” Dale, a well-known longtime local musician, was sitting alongside Mae, watching their granddaughter Megan perform on the “Saturday CBS Early Show.” During the “Second Cup Cafe” segment, the 24-year-old multi-talented sensation, now living in Nashville, was strumming the guitar and singing original songs from her newly released, critically-acclaimed CD “Honest Words.”

While showcasing Megan’s songwriting, guitar and singing talents, the CD collection of 12 songs features selections about love, family, addiction and, according to her MySpace page, “the never-

ending search for self understanding.”

“Her skill set isn’t at all traditional,” one online bio states, “...the incisive licks she churns out on her hollow-body electric, plus the bluegrass-style flatpicking, plus the fetching melodic pop sensibilities that she easily adapts to a number of musical styles and so on.”

“Honest Words” can be ordered through Amazon online (www.amazon.com) or purchased from The Long Ear in Coeur d’Alene.

In between her Sept. 4 appearances on the “Early Show,” the CBS hosts kept reminding their nationwide audience that Megan’s CD, released Aug. 17, had already received enthusiastic acclaim. Among those accolades was “Oprah Winfrey’s Midas-like touch,” and disclosure that the talk-show queen has included Megan’s songs on her personal iTunes list.

While Dale and Mae watched in their Sandpoint home, Megan’s parents Todd and Michele tuned in from a Bed and Breakfast in Soldotna, Alaska. Todd works as a surveyor on the North Slope, while Michele teaches third grade in Wasilla. Megan attended high school in Wasilla before heading off to East Tennessee State University to study bluegrass at 16 with a music performance scholarship.

“We told everyone we saw about the CBS show, the desk clerk, our waiter the night before at dinner, people in the lobby,” says Michele McCormick. Because of the time change, Megan’s parents hadn’t yet seen their daughter perform when their phones were already lighting up with calls, texts and emails from thrilled family and friends across the country.

“At around 6:30 am we saw her and cried while we watched her pour her heart out in song!”

Michele says. After the CBS performance, Todd called his mom and teased her into believing that hordes of paparazzi had gathered outside their B&B door.

Well, not exactly, but since then, sold-out audiences have turned out at venues around the Midwest, East Coast and South to listen to Megan strum and sing.

“We have an overall sense of joy and pride for Megan,” says Michele. “We’re so

Marianne Love

Love Notes proud of her and happy that she’s getting some recognition for her hard work. She has worked on her music forever, and we’re thankful that she’s finally reaping the benefits.”

Michele’s extended family also shared pride in Megan’s recent musical achievements.

Her parents, Chuck and Norma Bell of Athol, inductees of the Western Swing Society in 1985, mentored their granddaughter from the moment she first showed interest in the family’s musical passions.

“My dad was a huge influence on Megan,” Michele wrote in an email interview. “He passed away in March this year. The day he died Megan had his initials tattoed inside her left wrist [saying] ‘I want to see it and think of him every time I play my guitar, Mom.’ “I didn’t know I’d be so happy to have my daughter get her first and only tattoo,” Michele added. Megan also wrote a short dedication to Chuck Bell which appears in her album cover: Are you missing me, like I miss you? “... she has had a lot of people around to tutor her,” says Dale McCormick who remembers giving her lessons. “She was 9 years old... [generally] I try to give enough in a half hour that it would take them a week to digest.

One time at the end of the half hour, she said, ‘What’s next, Pop?’ I was kinda flabbergasted.

She was kind of a natural.”

Nowadays, Megan appreciates those early days of abundant family guidance.

“Both of my grandpas being fantastic guitar players as well as my uncles and dad... My mom’s dad was more of a country-swing style guitar,” she says. “And then... Dale McCormick was more on the classical/jazz side of things.

Both of them taught me so much, showing me something new and exciting every time I asked.”

It was her grandmother Norma, however, who taught Megan her first song on the guitar “Little Brown Jug.” Meanwhile, her first live performance came in third grade at Athol Elementary with cousins Emily and Nelly Bell.

“I don’t remember anything going wrong!” she recalls. “I played ‘Steel Guitar Rag’ for probably 200 kids and staff.”

Along with family influences, including a cousin who taught her bluegrass, Megan has closely followed the works of Steely Dan, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, and Jimi Hendrix, among others.

One online bio states that after two years of college, she went on the road with a bluegrass band, later “splitting her time between the bluegrass-jazz fusion group Missy Raines and the New Hip and the indie country outfit Everybodyfields.”

Later, after moving to Nashville, she decided to set off on her own, carefully selecting performance situations where she could be seen by high-profile people in the music business.

“My attorney, Tyler Middleton, was the first person on ‘my team’ really,” Megan says.

Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page

“She and I came up with a ‘plan’ of doing these miniature showcases at a small club in Nashville (The Basement). Via her music industry invites and connections, she and I just invited friends, industry folks and anyone else we could think of... and slowly found my publisher, manager and eventually record label.”

Locally, radio station KPND 95.3 has featured her album. Assistant program director and music director Diane Michaels calls the CD fantastic. As a 30-year veteran of the radio business, Michaels sees a bright future for Megan.

“She has a great voice, plays a mean guitar and is ‘the real deal’ in my opinion,” Michaels says. “She is a very talented lady, and I hope she gets the attention she deserves. I think she has a solid career ahead of her.”

Aunt Julie Knox concurs.

“I knew she’d be the one to go above and beyond her ‘roots’ and would be able to share her talent in an extra large fashion,” Knox says.

“Recently, Trestle Creek Band was playing for a benefit concert, and I shared with her how fun it was having the whole family together ‘pickin’ and grinnin’.

“She replied, ‘I wish I were there too, Aunt Julie, but I just met Bruce Springsteen.’”

As a little girl, performing for her family with a red electric guitar and amplifier, Megan introduced herself, “This here’s Reba McEntire right here in front of ya’all!”

Well, it appears that that the little 4-yearold has matured into an accomplished artist in her own right, with no need for pretense.

Nowadays, this multi-talented singer from North Idaho can stand in front of big crowds anywhere and announce, “This here’s Megan McCormick, and I’m happy to be here.”

On a personal note, as one who has followed Megan’s musical journey off and on over the past few years, I’ll put stock in her ultimate success by making plans right now.

When Megan McCormick appears on network television walking to the stage and accepting her first Grammy, I want to be sitting with my friends, Dale and Mae, watching joyous tears of pride stream down their faces.

Marianne Love

slightdetour.blogspot.com

billmar@dishmail.net

Ray Allen is available for private parties, special events, restaurants, etc Jazz standards and pop tunes. Solo on guitar and vocals. Also booking for the Monarch Mountain Band, great bluegrass and newgrass

Call 208-610-8244

A Holistic Approach to

Chronic Pain

by the Sandpoint Wellness Council www.SandpointWellnessCouncil.com

By Owen Marcus, MA As you’re reading this, are you in pain? Have you done all the tests, had all the treatments– but you’re still in pain? I’m not talking about that sprained ankle from your run yesterday; I mean that back pain or that general malaise you’ve had for years.

According to the CDC, in 2005, 133 million Americans – almost 1 out of every 2 adults –had at least one chronic illness. Your illness might affect your physical abilities, your appearance, or your independence. You may not be able to work, causing financial problems. About a quarter of people with chronic conditions have one or more daily activity limited. For children, chronic pain and illnesses can be frightening because they may not understand why this is happening to them.

There is hope. Let’s look at a few key facets to healing a chronic condition.

You injure yourself, you get a cold—that’s acute pain or illness. Chronic is the illness or

I am not saying you’re sick because you’re seeking attention. I don’t know anyone who does that. In fact, one of my clients, a work-athome mom, told me the exact opposite: that when she’s sick, it’s the only time she doesn’t feel guilty telling her kids she needs to rest quietly, ALONE, in her room! Yet, I have seen with myself and others that as kids we learned that when we needed attention, often the only available means was being sick.

Your first instinct is to survive not just physically but also emotionally. When the more positive options are unavailable, you default to the less advantageous options. Much of this occurs unconsciously. I once had a client, whom we’ll call Sue, who had “tried everything” to get well. Sue started with the medical docs, then moved on to holistic practitioners. She came to me desperate. We talked as I Rolfed her.

Through a few sessions she revealed her father was domineering. Her mother was the “loving one.” It soon became clear to her that she

Fixing an immediate problem is different than preventing or curing a long-term problem pain that doesn’t go away or keeps coming back.

Allopathic medicine, or standard medicine, is great at fixing trauma and killing infections.

We are becoming bionic with all the advances in surgery. Premature babies’ survival rates continue to improve. Science and medicine keep on developing more technology as their contribution to healthcare.

Unfortunately, preventing and healing chronic illness and pain is not allopathic medicine’s strong suit. Fixing an immediate problem is different than preventing or curing a long-term problem. Andrew Weil, MD, the Harvard-trained doc, internationally renowned author, and University of Arizona professor, claims that “modern medicine” is not the place to go for healing chronic conditions. He directs his patients and medical fellows to look at holistic medicine.

Before we can explore using holistic medicine for healing chronic conditions, we need to look at some of the reasons why we might have a stubborn condition. Often there is a secondary gain or an underlying reason why we develop a problem. For some people these “other” reasons can sabotage even the best allopathic or holistic medicine.

What do I mean when I say you might gain from being sick? For example, as a boy when I was sick I got a lot of attention and I allowed myself to receive it. As an adult I certainly didn’t consciously decide to get sick to get attention.

But at some point I did realize that some small part of me enjoyed the upside of being sick.

unconsciously learned that to get attention, she needed to be sick. Her father would back off and her mother would pour attention on her.

As a child in Sue’s world, there was no other way to receive attention than to be sick. That wasn’t true as an adult. Unfortunately, her body and mind were trained to get sick to get love.

When she understood how her past was haunting her present and allowed herself to really feel the sadness she couldn’t feel as a child, she got well.

Knowledge will set you free. Usually you will also need to fully experience the feelings—from beginning to end—that you were not allowed to express. Then your new awareness can have its full effect.

Much of Sue’s healing was letting go of her old story of always being sick. That meant she needed to let go of how she described herself as well as her way of relating to people as a sick person. She quit her support group because, as she described it, they were supporting the sickness. By letting go of her unconscious affinity to being sick, her holistic medicinal treatments worked. She got well.

Our thinking and our healthcare system is oriented towards fixing problems. Plus, things are so complicated and confusing these days, with all the tests and newly-identified illnesses, we have given away authority over our own bodies to the healthcare system. If you have good insurance, it almost seems like free healthcare—it often doesn’t cost extra out-ofpocket for all the tests and specialists. But with that sense of healthcare entitlement we gave up

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self-responsibility.

Getting well may mean not just doing what some expert tells you to do. Don’t assume the expert knows everything; don’t give up your body. You may need to seek out new information and new therapies. You likely will have to pay for these therapies. Like the athlete, you will need to invest in your body to be well.

As you step out of the institutional box of our healthcare system you will need support.

Do your due diligence, become an expert about what you have. Don’t just look at what standard medicine and science says. Look for what others who had similar conditions did to get well. Who knows what you are going through better than someone who went through it too? Learn from their failures and successes. It’s rarely one thing that gets a person well. There are no magic pills.

The Internet is a great place to start. People want to help. Many current or past sufferers become geeks about their illness. There are people out there who know a tremendous amount firsthand about their illness. Ask are they still sick or are they getting well? Discern which information is useful to you.

I am often amazed by my clients. Many will come to see me as an authority on their condition. I freely admit they know more about their illness than I do. They certainly know what doesn’t work. Frequently they will comment that before they started their healing journey they had no interest in holistic medicine. Through first trying all the traditional means to get better, they found themselves trying holistic therapies and finally getting well.

A year ago I had a client, whom we’ll call John, who was going from one specialist to another while continuing to get worse. After listening to his wife and his kids, John decided to see a naturopath in Seattle where he lived. The naturopath ran a few tests and came back with a new diagnosis which essentially described a nutritional imbalance, not the degenerative disease that he was diagnosed with previously.

Within a month, he was feeling better. In six months his regular doc said his tests were normal and there was no need for the liver transplant he’d been told he would need.

John is now an evangelist for holistic health. His year of healing converted him into a champion of changing your lifestyle to get well.

He no longer eats the foods that made him sick.

When he was last in to see me, he shared how he can’t understand why someone would not give up a few things to feel good.

I always mention to my clients that getting well is like getting in shape. At first it’s work.

Sometimes it’s not fun in the beginning. But stick with your program and you will see results.

It gets easier, and then it becomes fun.

You know how, when you first start working out, you’re actually more tired than normal and usually sore? Well, when you start on a program of holistic health, something similar can happen: as the stress leaves your body, so do the old toxins held in your tissue. These toxins can be from normal physiology such as uric and lactic acid from your body’s metabolism. They can also be from chemicals or drugs you were exposed

to. Twenty-five years ago I remember working on a big man who grew up applying chemical solvents. For several sessions the room reeked of those chemicals. It took several washings before the smell was gone from my hands. After several weeks the client was feeling better than he could recall ever feeling. My hands and the room stopped smelling.

One law of homeopathy, a holistic medical therapy, states that you get well in reverse order to how you got sick. That means that the more recent symptoms may show themselves as they release from your body, then the older symptoms could present themselves later. It is like peeling an onion one layer at a time. For many, getting well is just removing the tensions and toxins that created the illness or pain, for others it will also involve rebalancing. For everyone it will involve work.

Over the last 30 plus years I have treated thousands of clients, many referred to me by physicians. The one thing that is consistent with all these clients is their commitment to get well.

Some come desperate; others come because they just want to feel better. A few have commented how they were as guilty as the next person when it came to not investing in their health. Often they admit they would be better at investing in maintaining their cars than their bodies.

Realize that chronic means that the cause has existed for a long time. Explore any secondary reasons that might be a benefit from being sick.

Expand your thinking and options by seeking the help you need. Get the support you need along the way and understand that getting well can have setbacks.

There are no panaceas, there is just collaboration. With the help of many practitioners, I have seen people cure themselves of “incurable” conditions. I cured myself of Asperger’s Syndrome through my journey. At age 57, my body and my mind are doing things that I thought impossible when I was 17.

Chronic illness and pain can be transformed.

It will take work and investment on your part.

You are worth the effort. Create your support team and get started today. Please apply this strategy to your children. The rate of chronic health conditions among children in the United States increased from 12.8 percent in 1994 to 26.6 percent in 2006, according to results of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Children respond very quickly to alternative therapies; we adults are a little tougher.

Use our blog at SandpointWellnessCouncil. com as a resource for your own healing journey.

All the members of the council are happy to speak to you about what they know. Don’t give up, keep expanding your box, keep asking questions, seek out those who have gotten well, question authority—even mine—create a plan and work it. You don’t have to live in pain.

You don’t have to be ill. You really can feel fit, healthy, and joyful.

Owen Marcus, MA Certified Advance Rolfer, 208265-8440. Call Owen if you have any questions, and visit his website at Align.org.

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

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October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 11

A Bird in Hand

Pileated Woodpecker Mike Turnlund

mturnlund@gmail.com

MARIE SCOTT Your Elected Clerk Experienced in

• • • •

BUDGETARY MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATION LEADERSHIP SUPERVISION

Marie Scott Serves as: • • • • • •

The Clerk of the District Court County Auditor County Recorder Clerk to the Board of Commissioners Chief Elections Officer Resource for our Taxing Districts

These diverse responsibilities require a multi- talented, experienced person at the helm.

Our little patch of God’s green earth is a wonderland for birders. We sit at the intersection of three important geographical areas: the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, and the near location of the northern boreal forests. If we include the influence of Lake Pend Oreille and the surrounding waters on bird migration patterns, it can’t get much better. We get all sorts of birds here, whether year-round residents, summer-only residents, or migrants. All of them are unique and wonderful to observe and learn about. And counted among my favorites is this month’s bird, the Pileated woodpecker.

Besides birding I also enjoy hunting, and tromping through the woods on a cool fall day is a great time to spot this huge, crowsized woodpecker. Pileated woodpeckers can be readily seen flying from tree to tree as you sit shivering in your deer blind. Though black like a crow and of similar size, this largest of all North American woodpeckers is easy to separate from ravens or crows by its lack of steady wing beats.

If you are able to get near enough to a Pileated woodpecker to observe it with your binoculars or even your bare eyes, you’ll notice a bright red pointed cap. This cap is worn by both the male and the female, though the male’s red is more extensive and matched with a red “mustache.” Both sexes have marvelous zebra strips of black and white that extend from the shoulders up to the face. Otherwise the rest of the bird is black. However, note the prominent white under-wing patches and the smaller, broad white chevrons on the wing primaries. In certain light conditions these

white markings are less obvious, but with a pair of binoculars they become bold and unmistakable.

Another evidence of hunters or hikers finding themselves in Pileated woodpecker territory are distinctive rectangular excavations found in trees. These holes are very large, perhaps five or six inches long, a couple inches wide and a couple inches deep. They look man-made, but they are not. These neat diggings are caused by the Pileated woodpeckers hunting for beetle grubs and carpenter ants, their favorite prey.

For the more practiced birder, the call of the Pileated woodpecker will remind him or her of the mating call of the Northern Flicker. They will also sound out a loud and rapid hammering against wood. But what is the most memorable call of these large dark forest denizens is a hysterical laughter that echoes from the tree tops in the spring. It may not be heard commonly, but it is unique and unforgettable. It sounds like a maniac loose in the forest. If you are unacquainted with this call, hearing it for the first time will cause you to look over your shoulder and maybe head for the truck. It still gives me the willies!

The only bird that might be confused with the Pileated woodpecker is the even larger Ivory-billed woodpecker of the southern swamps. As this bird is probably extinct, the Pileated has been handed the title of the continent’s largest feathered boring tool. The next time you find yourself shivering in the woods, cold rifle in hand, wondering why the heck you took up deer hunting, take a peek at the tree tops and chances are you’ll spot the Pileated woodpecker bustling among the pines. It is a sight to behold. Happy birding!

Vote for Experience!

Re-Elect

MARIE SCOTT Bonner County Clerk A DEMOCRAT SERVING SINCE 1991 Paid for by the committee to re-elect Marie Scott

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The Game Trail Hunter numbers are good; CAP takes care of the poachers Matt Haag

mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov There is nothing like the crisp clean mornings of early fall, even better if you mix in a few bugles and grunts from a bull elk in rut! Hunting seasons are here and the past archery season was productive according to those who took the time to hunt hard.

People are seeing a good number of elk, but they are not always cooperating. We have been enjoying some great hunting in the Panhandle over the past few years. There’s always a few who complain how terrible but they’re the ones still in camp in the morning enjoying an early barley pop.

We’re seeing the number of archers (includes both A tag and B tag) increasing at a rate of about 4.7 percent a year in the Panhandle. Last year we had just fewer than 4,900 elk archers in the region. That’s about one out of every four elk hunters hunting with a bow. Panhandle archers are doing better now than they did a few years ago as well. According to our wildlife manager, Jim Hayden, that’s probably due to a combination of better equipment, better access, improved overall elk herds, and/or a shift of hunting to areas with more elk.

In 2001, about 9 percent of archers took an elk in the Panhandle. Last year, it was better than 12 percent. The combination of more hunters and higher success rates led to an all-time record of 594 elk harvested

by Panhandle archers in 2007. Just for a comparison, 15 years ago, Panhandle archers

took just 128 elk during the 1992 archery season! We’ve also seen a slight increase in the number of nice bulls taken by archers.

From 2000 to 2004, archers took about 65 six-point bulls a year. That’s improved now, and last year, archers took 118 six-point bulls in the region.

With the excitement of hunting seasons upon us some folks, a very small portion of people in our neck of the woods, like to steal our wildlife by poaching. These people are neither hunters nor sportsmen; they are thieves and should be treated as such.

To combat such activity, an amazing group of Idaho citizens created an organization called Citizens Against Poaching.

Citizens Against Poaching, otherwise known as CAP, was created in 1980 and continues strong today aiding Conservation Officers in catching poachers. It’s obvious we can’t catch every poacher out there so we rely on the good citizens of Idaho to help us. We have 83 Conservation Officers covering the 84,000 square miles in the state, which leaves each officer with roughly 1,000 square miles to patrol. For example, my patrol area stretches from Shoshone County to Kootenai County north to Boundary County and east to the Montana line, a daunting task to say the least. In an ideal world I would be covering every square inch of that area every day and be aware of all illegal activity. Unfortunately the world doesn’t work like that so we as officers ask hunters, bird watchers, hikers and all those who enjoy spending time in the outdoors, to take the responsibility and make the effort to call and report illegal activity.

To call CAP and report poaching activity simply call 800-632-5999. The phone lines are manned 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with operators prepared to take the information and relay it to the nearest Conservation Officer. CAP pays rewards if the information supplied is sufficient for a citation or a warrant to be issued,

The Scotchman Peaks Keep ‘em wild.

For our Families, For tomorrow. www.ScotchmanPeaks.org

a conviction is not necessary. Set reward amounts are $100 for birds, fish, and general violations, $250 for most big game animals and $500 for trophy species, such as sheep, goat, moose and caribou. With approval from the CAP board, these amounts can be increased in special circumstances.

Major funding for CAP rewards come from donations, controlled hunt fee check off, court ordered reimbursements, and license sales commission on licenses sold at department offices.

Please take the time to call your local officer, county dispatch center, or the CAP line. If you think some activity isn’t right it’s your duty to make the call. Nothing is more frustrating than when we hear from a landowner, sportsman, or any other citizen who saw some illegal activity and didn’t report it right away. In most instances it’s the difference between making a case and stopping illegal behavior, or not.

We’re very lucky to have some quality waterfowl hunting here in the Panhandle and it often gets over looked. Waterfowl season starts October 2 and closes January 14 in our neck of the woods. Please don’t forget that scaup season does not open until October 23 this year, so identify your birds before pulling that trigger. Duck daily bag limits are as follows; seven of any kind of duck but not including more than the following: two female mallards, two redheads, two pintails, three scaup, and one canvasback. Goose bag limit this year is four birds.

Conservation Officers see some common mistakes in waterfowl blinds that could easily be avoided. Remember to purchase the correct license and stamps. A waterfowl hunter should have a hunting license, validated for the Federal Migratory Game Bird Harvest Information Program, and a 2010 waterfowl stamp. The stamp needs to be attached to your license and signed.

If your shotgun is capable of holding more than 3 shells make sure you have a plug and remember non-toxic shot only. So get those grouse loads out of your hunting vests and pouches.

Be safe out there, and be the most ethical hunter you can be. Don’t forget to take the time to include the kids and show them the right way to hunt. Hope to see you out there!

Leave No Child Inside

Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 13

Land Management

Get it in Writing Michael White

NorthIdahoLandMan.com mdwhite@coldwellbanker.com

I really should fire my forester or, more honestly, I should have listened to my forester but since my forester is me… I certainly have no one to blame! If only I had taken my own advice! If only I had listened to me!

Over the summer I initiated a logging job for the sole purpose of opening up my forest to make it more conducive to horses, more enjoyable to walk around in and more esthetically pleasing. Of course, I also wanted to encourage good wildlife habitat, protect water quality and make a little money too.

To accomplish these goals I knew exactly how I wanted the property logged; I had a prescription if you will but I made the mistake of assuming I could convey it accurately to the guys doing the work on the ground. My plan was to thin the forest from below or to take all the smaller trees and leave the biggest and best, nicely spaced throughout the property.

The most important aspect was to remove all the “dog hair”—the small, closely packed, genetically inferior trees, which are

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suppressed from lack of light. These trees make it nearly impossible to walk through much of the forest and the smaller cedars will make great fencing. Then remove many of the mid-story trees (those which receive sunlight only from directly above them, or filtered light) and also, remove some co-dominant trees (those receiving light from above and partly from the sides and which are larger/ taller than the mid-story trees) and finally remove a few dominant trees which are the largest and tallest (receive light from top and sides because they stand “head & shoulders” above the rest).

I also wanted to create some micro-niches for wildlife, diversity and aesthetics, such as two or three trees together in a clump with a dead tree among them, an old dead rotten tree the critters were already using, with a couple live trees providing shade and cover on the sides for cavity nesters, roosts for turkeys, good habitat for squirrels, etc...

Leaving clumps of trees here and there will also provide additional habitat as cover for various animals and even for my horses, as well as adding an important natural look to the property. The overall idea is to end up with the biggest, most healthy trees, nicely spaced about thirty feet apart with some interspersed small clumps throughout.

So, my silvicultural prescription planned, I marked a small patch of woods as an example and I conveyed the plan to the timber harvest company which would do the cutting, skidding and slash piling, and haul merchantable logs to the mill. I spoke with and explained the details and overall goal to the owner of the company and the sawyers who would actually be doing the cutting. It all seemed so cut and dry if you will but there are so many things to consider when it comes to choosing which is the best tree to leave in any given grouping of trees. Which tree is best suited for the site, which tree has the least defects in it, which is disease free or has the least damaging disease to the residual trees, which one is the most valuable, which one will serve the wildlife the best, which one will provide the best seed into the future; this is how the decision making process for each and every tree can go.

Given these variables and the individuals’ differing perspectives, the choices are quite subjective. The only way the land owner can be sure about his or her forester’s idea of the best trees to leave is to actually mark the timber. Despite knowing this full well, I failed to do this.

Now once a tree has been cut, it can not be put back up of course, but it is rarely ever a case the wrong tree was cut. This is because, as stated previously, there are so many factors and individual perspectives which go into the decision of what lives and what dies.

Once the trees in a given spot are cut and on the ground, it is nearly impossible to second

guess the decision process the sawyer used to make his decisions.

Needless to say though, sometimes the trees left and the ones cut did not match my expectations.

As it stands now, the easy areas have been logged, the merchantable trees have been taken to the mill, the money has been paid and has been spent but still the “dog hair” is left and the more difficult areas which have fewer merchantable trees and more difficult ground to log have not been entered. Though a couple of pieces of equipment remain, the crews have not been on site for about three months and the fall rains have begun. I am left to wonder if they are done or whether they will return to cut the “dog hair” as had been agreed upon and if they will then finish the areas as yet untouched.

So, I have begun to think… that just as a surgeon should not operate on a family member or friend, so a forester should not oversee the logging of his own property. I know that if this had been a client property, I would not have left so much to chance. I would have marked every acre of the forest personally and would have had a written agreement, clearly laying out how the job would be done. The contract would have specifically listed that the unmerchantable trees must be cut and skidded along with the merchantable timber. There would have been a time frame for the job to be accomplished within. But I chose to leave much of this to trust and a handshake; I left it to my belief that explaining how I wanted the land to be left would be done, primarily just as I intended.

Now it may yet turn out the job will be completed and in the end, the land will look much as I had hoped it would. I am quite hopeful of this and ultimately believe this is how it will end but for now, I wonder and worry. Mostly it reminds me how much I left the land open to being left in a poor way, how much I opened myself up to having the good trees taken while the bad ones, which need to go, could be left to choke out the good seed and which could end up costing lots of time and money to remediate. Again, I am not saying this is the case and I have faith the crews will return but it sure has gotten me to think and to wish I had done it as I have always recommended to others it be done.

So, again… I can not emphasize enough: Make sure you have a clearly written silvicultural plan with a clear priority of which species and classes of trees are to be favored, in which areas with a map showing those areas. Make sure that the trees are marked according to that plan and that the requirements of the job be clearly written in a contract and signed by the owner or manager of the company which will do the work on the ground.

Page 14 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

Surprise Award Why would a small, feisty environmental group give an award to a large, powerful energy company? Once a year the two hundred or so member Cabinet Resource Group (CRG) presents a Miners Lamp Award for “extraordinary contribution, either through action or efforts, to educate the public about our natural resources”. This year the Miner’s Lamp was awarded to Avista.

While I have been a member of CRG since 1978 when ASARCO first proposed drilling under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness above Rock Creek, I am not a player. I’m not on the field, not even on the sidelines. I’m up in the bleachers, giving away hot dogs. But even from this bird’s eye view, it is noticeable that the game has changed.

The players have matured. Montana is close to agreeing on a forestry bill that will keep mills open, and improve forest health and diversity. In working out the details of this bill, big environmental groups like Montana Wilderness Association, and small ones like CRG collaborated with industry and Forest Service to begin the massive work. Mature people are able to find common ground and collaborate.

Maturity and pragmatism has changed the game. Just the names of the dams, Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge, can make a river lover weep, but even cement dams do not last for thousands of years. In the meantime, the reservoirs have had interesting impacts on western Sanders County. The water table is higher; wells that once ran dry in August are now reliable all year long. The fish migrations are stopped, but a thriving bass population has made this lemon of impounded water into lemonade. A small human population has had less room to grow; less land to subdivide since water fills most of the valley and Avista owns a twenty-foot to half-mile wide swath of

continual shoreline.

The game isn’t happening in the stadium; it happens in the long, tedious meetings. It requires patient determination to sit through butt-numbing hours, and elevated knowledge of the issues to hammer out a workable solution regarding use of our natural resources.

During these long hours of deliberation,

Relicensing of the Cabinet Gorge Dam has led to Avista protecting resources for all. the seed of understanding and respect for each other can be planted. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires a fifty-year review of each energy facility. This lead to years of meetings with the public, agency people, and Avista to create resource plans for the lands surrounding the Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge reservoirs. Seeds were planted as local people learned to respect individuals who represented Avista. Shoots appeared when Avista listened to the concerns of local land owners. Leaves unfolded as the management team reached a consensus and the agreement has had far-reaching results.

Lou Springer

Currents One of the results regards waterside development. Let the buyer beware of the land developer who touts ‘lake’ front property.

Avista owns the frontage. Docks require hardto-get approval. The lot owner cannot cut any trees off the energy company’s property. In many cases, the still water will not be visible.

Public trails could funnel strangers along Avista land right past the Montana hideaway.

Anybody in a canoe could beach for a picnic.

It appears that Avista is a defender of its water as well as land resources. Not just the immense volume needed to generate electrical power, but the quality of the water has become important. From up in the bleachers, I suspect that is what led to the Miner’s Lamp Award.

Avista denied Revett Mining Company’s plan “as proposed” to lay a pipeline to carry discharge from their proposed Rock Creek mine tailings impoundment across Avista land and spray fluids into the reservoir’s water through a series of nozzles. Discharge from tailings slurry is saturated with nitrates used in blasting, flocculants added during the milling process and heavy metals that are naturally released when tons of rocks are pulverized.

Revett was operating on the ‘dilution’ theory of pollution. Avista is spending millions to rehabilitate Bull trout and most likely doesn’t view a continuous spray of toxic fluids in their best interest.

Nor is it in the best interests of those living downstream. Toxic discharges into the reservoir are not conducive to the continued high quality water of Lake Pend Oreille. The large energy company—operating in their own interests—is protecting resources for all of us.

Lou Springer

nox5594@blackfoot.net

You know me. I’ve served in your communities before, and I’ve served when times

were tough. I am one of you. I share your concerns. I share your values. I share your dreams for our children. Bonner County needs responsible leadership, not rhetoric. It needs reason, not reactions. It needs leadership that’s committed to maintaining what’s

best about this county. Please vote this November 2.

Brian Orr - Reason, not Rhetoric for county commissioner District 2

Paid for by the committee to re-elect Brian Orr (D), Randy Edgar, treasurer • orr4commissioner.com October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 15

A Seat in the House

Idaho voters to consider Constitutional amendments George Eskridge

Idaho Dist. 1B Representative

idaholeginfo@lso.idaho.gov 1-800-626-0471 November 2 is election day throughout our country and we will all have the opportunity of voting to elect or re-elect members of our government who because of their office and the decisions they make impact every one of our lives. Don’t take the right to vote for granted; take the time to vote in this general election.

In addition to being able to vote for various government officials holding elected positions in Idaho there are also four proposed constitutional amendments that will be submitted before Idaho voters on November 2. Because these are significant constitutional amendments I will list them along with the Legislative Council’s Statement of “Meaning, Purpose and Result” that would occur if passed in this River Journal article since this will be the last article published before November 2.

S.J.R. 101 is a proposed amendment that “will clarify that the Board of Regents of the University of Idaho may charge students tuition, as authorized by law. Currently, the University of Idaho charges student fees to undergraduate students, but not tuition.

• Personal Student fees cannot be used to pay for classroom instruction. All of the other statesupported colleges and universities in Idaho • Corporate have the authority to charge tuition, and this amendment specifies that the University of • Partnerships Idaho will have the same authority.”

H.J.R. 4 is a proposed amendment to Section 3C, Article VIII of the state of Idaho • Trusts that “will allow public hospitals to acquire facilities, equipment, technology and real property through a variety of means that aid the public hospital operations, as long as the acquisitions are paid for solely from charges, rents or payments derived from the existing or financed facilities and are not funded by property taxes. Under current Idaho

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constitutional provisions, public hospitals, as subdivisions of the state of Idaho, have limited ability to incur debt without the approval of a two-thirds vote at an election held for that purpose. This proposed amendment will provide a limited alternative to that two-thirds vote requirement. The use of tax dollars to finance these kinds of investments is prohibited.”

H.J.R. 5 is a proposed amendment to Article VIII that would add a new Section 3E that “will allow local governmental entities that operate airports and regional airport authorities to issue revenue and special facility bonds to acquire, construct, install and equip land, facilities, buildings, projects or other property.

Voter approval will not be required to incur such indebtedness, as long as the bonds are paid for by fees, charges, rents, payments, grants or other revenues derived from the airport or its facilities. The use of tax dollars to repay such bonds is prohibited.”

H.J.R. 7 would amend Article VIII of the Idaho State Constitution by the addition of a new Section 3D. “The proposed amendment

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has two parts. The first part will allow any city owning a municipal electric system to acquire, construct, install and equip electrical generating, transmission and distribution facilities for the purpose of supplying electricity to customers within its service area. The city will be authorized to issue revenue bonds to pay for such facilities, with the assent of a majority of the qualified voters, provided that these bonds are paid for by the electrical system rates and charges, or revenues derived from the municipal electric system, and not with tax dollars.

The second part of this proposed amendment will allow any city owning a municipal electric system to enter into agreements to purchase, share, exchange or transmit wholesale electricity to customers within its service area, without voter approval.

Any indebtedness or liability from these agreements will be paid for by the electrical system rates and charges, or revenues derived from the municipal electric system, and not with tax dollars.”

These are important amendments to our Idaho Constitution and to help voters decide on what position to take the Secretary of State has prepared a Idaho Voters’ Pamphlet that provides more information on these amendments, including both pro and con arguments relative to the proposed amendments. The Voters’ Pamphlet can be seen on the Secretary of State’s website at: sos.Idaho.gov/ELECT/INITS/ 2010IdahoVoterPamphlet.

Idaho election law has also been revised and now requires that a voter must present a photo ID or sign a Personal Identification Affidavit. Acceptable forms of photo identification include an Idaho driver’s license or photo identification card, a U.S. passport or Federal photo identification card, a tribal photo identification card or a current student photo ID, issued by an Idaho high school or post secondary education institution.

Thanks for reading; I hope this information is helpful and remember: PLEASE VOTE ON NOVEMBER 2.

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Page 16 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

Citizenship is Not a Passive Occupation

small along the way. Beautiful things soar all around, whether they be buildings or monuments or huge trees lining the streets.

The indigenous population is very interesting, scurrying here and there in their automobiles and, often as not, out. Washington is a walking town, which we had drilled into our heads— and feet—this past few days, particularly as

Photo by Phil Hough

On Saturday last, I took a walk into “our” wilderness, clambered into the upper reaches of the East Fork of Blue Creek, looking to sew together some unconnected dots. I found what I was looking for—I think—but I also ran out of time, making another foray on another day absolutely necessary. Oh, darn.

The time I ran out of was that necessary to wade the creek, find a way up a small cliff and connect to a trail I know is on the other side, a path to what I call the East Fork meadow. I have been many times to that sacred place, but the passage I have used has become, over two decades, untenable. A huge, nasty patch of hawthorn has taken over 100 yards of what used to be the trail. After my last journey through that, I decided I wasn’t going to do that again—ever. At least not without a chainsaw, which we’re not supposed to use in wilderness.

I ran out of time because it was time to go home and pack for where I am at this moment, Washington, D.C.; a long damned way from the East Fork in more ways than one—several thousand miles and more than a couple of centuries. Before that marble, glass and steel edifice was built on the hill just south and east of where I am at this instant, the East Fork had been leaping 35 spectacular feet down Mule Falls for millennia. The surprising grove of Pacific yew I made my way through on Saturday sprouted long before the First Congress convened.

The ascending series of cliffs leaping up from both sides of the creek grew long before someone penned, “When in the course of human events...”

Learning my way around a big and old city like Washington, D.C. is analogous to finding my way around in the backcountry, particularly as a city hiker. There are canyons to explore full of surprising places large and

we have made our way from one meeting to the next to the next and to the next.

A group of wilderness lovers, including Phil Hough and I from Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, have been, um... okay, I’ll admit it—lobbying. No, really. During Wilderness Week, we scurried around with the indigens (as well as a few indigents), running—sometimes literally—from office to office of Congressional delegates to provide them with information about wilderness and why we think it’s a good idea to have more.

That’s “lobbying.” Once, we even worked in the lobby, so to speak, but most often we were invited into the inner sanctums, where we met with all the Idaho and Montana representatives except one—Senators Crapo, Risch and Tester and Congressmen Minnick,

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The Scenic Route Simpson and Rehberg all sat down with us.

I had a fortuitous meeting with the other Senator’s staff. So, we took the word to all of them in one way or another.

And, they all listened. Politely. They and their staffs asked good questions. They all made good suggestions. Every one of them offered us reasonable ideas about how to make our wilderness happen. Some of them even said they would help get it done.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson learned from this is about the approachability of our Congress. In all cases, we were made to feel welcome, treated with respect and neither derided nor mocked for sharing our beliefs. I found that both refreshing and empowering. It made me not only proud to be an American, citizen of a country where we have access to our governors, but hopeful for our future as a country and for the future of wild places in our country.

We are often treated to stories of derisive behavior between people who hold conflicting points of view about emotionally and politically charged issues.

Our modern media seems to thrive on telling us what’s wrong about our system while leaving out what’s right. Through this lens of hysteria-mongering by greedy “news” venues who write to our visceral fears and passions in the interest of selling copies, click-throughs and copious amounts of advertising, we get a distorted view of our government, our situation and ourselves.

None of these people we met with seemed to believe that our country is in pristine condition, but none of them felt that we, as a populace, couldn’t fix it, either. In my experience, they demonstrated that they are very much servants of the public. Our job is to stand up and tell them what course we want them to take, and listen to their advice on how we might achieve that by working through the process that they attend to daily: governance. Citizenship is not a passive occupation.

I’ll be back in the East Fork of Blue Creek soon. This time, I’ll cross the creek and connect the dots; climb into the East Fork meadow and celebrate its wild presence.

It will be a good way to celebrate my time here in the East, and the palpable progress I feel we made toward making the Scotchman Peaks a wilderness area.

Time is on our side, after all, but we need to be using it wisely.

Sandy Compton

mrcomptonjr@hotmail.com www.SandyCompton.com

October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 17

Your Republican Party Ticket • visit co.bonner.id.us/clerk/elections.html for polling places Idaho State Offices √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Governor - C.L. “Butch” Otter Lieutenant Governor - Brad Little Secretary of State - Ben Ysura State Controller - Donna M. Jones State Treasurer - Ron Crane Attorney General - Lawrence Wasden Superintendent of Public Instruction - Tom Luna

Legislative District Offices Legislative District #1 √ Shawn Keough for Senator √ Eric Anderson for Representative Pos. A √ George Eskridge for Representative Pos. B

Federal Offices √ United States Senator - Mike Crapo √ U.S. Representatives Dist. 1 - Raul Labrador

Pictured below are Rep.Eric Anderson, Sen. Shawn Keough, Rep. Dick Harwood and Sen. Joyce Broadsword (not shown: Shannon McMillan)

Legislative District #2 √ Joyce Broadsword for Senator √ Shannon McMillan for Representative Pos A √ Dick Harwood for Representative Pos B

Pictured at right are Bud Mueller, Jerry Clemons, Chryl Piehl, Lewis Rich & Mike Nielsen. (Kitt Rose not shown)

Bonner County Offices √ Mike Nielsen - County Commissioner Dist. 2 √ Lewis Rich - County Commissioner Dist. 3 √ Bud Mueller - Clerk of the District Court

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Jerry Clemons - Assessor Kathryn “Kitt” Rose - Coroner Treasurer - Cheryl Piehl

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The Good and Bad of Shedding I like fall. Okay, I know, I say that about all the seasons but I really do like fall. Nature’s work seems to be done and is relaxing a bit, as it prepares for a good rest during winter— another season I really like.

The way so many plants and trees shed leaves and needles allowing them to prepare the ground for winter, and making branches lighter for surviving winter’s snow loads, is a lesson I want to understand.

As an observer, I wonder if I could make ready for winter by doing a little shedding, so I sat among the trees for a long time this morning with just one question: How do you

do that?

The answer came clear and simple. “Look at what you have that isn’t serving you anymore and shed it.�

Ironically, as I walked back to the house, I stopped by our storage shed. Now when one adds the adjective storage to shed it means the opposite of what the trees in the woods were telling me. Well, it isn’t really opposite because, everyone knows, what is kept in a storage shed will be needed, someday.

I would not buy material and spend time to build a place to keep stuff that is not needed—that would be stupid.

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Ernie Hawks

The Hawk’s Nest The reason I found myself at the storage shed was the direct result of being filled with inspiration from my morning time with the trees. I was thinking shed as in fall and missing the real point of a storage shed.

There was another reason: I too need to get ready for winter. That means getting my shop ready for indoor winter projects but the shop is almost full of important stuff. That’s because the storage shed is full. So to clear the shop I need to make room someplace else. Therefore, I was standing in the door of the shed wondering if something, quite by accident I’m sure, could have been put in there that wasn’t needed.

I can see that trumpet I bought at a garage sale thirty-some years ago; I still think I could learn to play it. Next to the trumpet is my trombone I played from grade school into college—haven’t played it since I bought the trumpet, but I’ll play that again I’m sure. Oh, back in the corner are, let’s see, two, three, five, seven, eight pairs of skis. I did ski a couple years ago, but I didn’t use any of these. I see some file cabinets from a previous life. Don’t have a clue what might be in them, but I’m sure someday someone will discover their contents validate my contribution to humanity—and possibly to the whole universe or maybe even the omniverse.

A tree sheds a branch that drops on the ground behind me. I wonder if it’s telling me I’m being just a little bit grandiose.

I look back in the shed and mentally inventory everything I can easily identify from the door.

As I stand there, I can’t find a thing I need to shed.

One member of our household (there are two of us total) suggested we throw a chain around it and drag it down to the Dufort Mall, her quaint name for nearest dump.

However, I just added a lean-to on the side of it for more tool storage so that’s out of the question. Now it’s a storage shed with attached equipment shed.

I go back out and sit against a large tree for more inspiration. I get a thought: “If I don’t figure this shed thing out, someone else who lives here might.� That could be unpleasant at best.

Reluctantly I think it is time to take the lessons of fall into the storage shed. Maybe someone will view these wonderful resources for what they are and it will turn from trash to treasure.

Then I can relax into the next season of fun projects in an open and roomy shop.

Ernie Hawks

michalhawks@dishmail.net

October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 19

Veterans’ News

What does ‘reducing government’ and ‘runaway spending’ mean for veterans and the elderly? A political rant.

Gil Beyer, ETC USN Ret. vintage@gotsky.com Over the past year that I have had the pleasure and privilege of contributing to the River Journal I have tried my best to write of things that would be germane, current and­—most importantly—interesting to area veterans. I’ve spent a few months writing about VSOs—with mixed success if reader’s comments are considered—and a few more months focused on insidious and deadly diseases like mesothelioma. I have tried, again with mixed success, to keep my focus on information and avoid having my opinions color my pieces.

Recent events and the media coverage that they have incurred have lead me—almost forced me—to deviate from that position. Today was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Today the U.S. House GOP released their latest manifesto titled, “Pledge to America�.

Those of you over the age of 20 may remember the last time the GOP issued a similar manifesto.

That one was called, “Contract with America� and lead to the GOP taking control of the Congress in 1996 which lead to the election of G.W. Bush in 2000. Thus began a disastrous descent into fiscal chaos that culminated in the near collapse of our financial system in late 2008.

After downloading and reading the entire document (including several pages of glossy photos of the House GOP leadership at various functions) I’ve come to one overall conclusion: Whoever wrote this has a great future as a fiction writer. After sorting through the catch phrases, jingoistic rhetoric, fabrications, historical revisionism, distortions and out-andout lies we find at base the same old tired crap that they have been dishing out since Reagan.

Their main themes appear to be “Reducing the Size of Government� and “Stopping Runaway Spending.� Let’s take a look at both of these themes with an eye to how it will play out for veterans and older Americans (many of whom

are also veterans—I’m definitely both).

Ever since Reagan’s administration the term ‘reducing the size of government’ has been a code phrase that meant eviscerating social safety net programs that the oldest and least affluent depend on. The other side of ‘reducing the size of government’ is to loosen restrictions on financial institutions and manufacturers.

And, at the same time, reducing the government’s ability to oversee the operations by reducing the number of inspectors in every area by underfunding every agency charged with keeping an eye on business. Does it surprise anyone that we’ve had more food and safety related recalls during and after the Bush administration due to letting ‘business’ police itself? Does the expression the fox is guarding the henhouse mean anything to you?

As to its effects on veterans one of the proposals in the plan to reduce the size of government is to privatize VA hospitals and provide governmental subsidies. Now there is a sure-fire winner—for the for-profit health care providers. Currently the VA has administrative costs of 0.2 percent of their annual budget (according to the CBO). It is estimated (again the CBO) that the administrative costs for privatized VA care word be 20 percent or more. All that means to me is that somebody somewhere will be paying more for less. I’ve yet to hear any area veteran complaining about the services they’ve received at the VA Centers.

[Please let me know if you have a gripe that hasn’t been resolved to your satisfaction.] I cannot conceive of any real benefit to veterans if the system was privatized. The same ideas exist for Medicare and TriCare. If that is what they—the GOP—means by reducing the size of government, count me out. I’ll stick with what I’ve earned after a 21-year career in the Navy. I like the fact that my prescriptions cost me less out of pocket through TriCare than they would through Medicare—which is why I didn’t buy into the Bush-era drug plan. [Talk about a scam run on the American people, that one was a biggie.] All that entire plan did was make my pharmaceutical stocks go up.

It’s time to put the “service� back into public servant.

Mel Davis

for Bonner County Commissioner There’s no substitute for energy, enthusiasm and a mother’s desire to achieve a better future for her children. s DAVIS BCC COM

Paid for by Davis for Commissioner. Andy Platte Treasurer

Onwards to Runaway Spending: I didn’t hear one single, solitary, GOP House or Senate member screaming about runaway spending while we were busily dumping billions into a quagmire called ‘Iraq’ during the Bush years. But it is ‘runaway spending’ when this administration tries to extend unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans and tries to extend loans to small businesses to get some of those unemployed back to work. Another prime example of ‘runaway spending’ is trying to help America become competitive with the rest of the world in the fields of alternative energy production. Anything that this administration has tried to do to dig out of this morass created

by GOP policies over the past 30 years has been blocked or denigrated in one way or another.

It took this administration to recognize the simple fact that all those veterans the Bush years created would need treatment and education if they were to be re-integrated back into the mainstream of the American workforce.

Cancelling monies for these efforts are also on the GOP’s agenda to stop ‘Runaway Spending’.

The GOP plan has long been to reduce the size of government to the “point where it can be drowned in a bathtub� (Grover Norquist) and let businesses self police. I for one take great comfort in thinking that someone somewhere is trying to limit the excesses, greed, malfeasance, corruption and deceitfulness that is rampant in far too many businesses. I further believe that any working stiff, retired serviceman, veteran or small businessman (I mean real small businessmen running a company, shop or store with less than 50 employees) that thinks the GOP has their best interests at heart is delusional. I can find no evidence that any member of the GOP currently serving in Congress has ever done a thing for those earning under $60,000 per year. If any area veteran can produce documentation that refutes that, please share it with me and other readers.

With elections fast approaching there is a great fear and associated anger rampant in the country. Most of this fear and anger has been created and amplified by the leadership of the GOP and their media mouthpieces.

With nothing new to tell the electorate the GOP has attempted to demonize the current administration and legislature by shouting lies loudly and repeatedly while doing everything in their power legislatively to thwart any and all efforts to put the Ship of State upright again. I call the GOP’s tactics ‘The Goebbels Plan’. Josef Goebbels was Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda and is the one credited with the idea that if a big enough lie is told often enough the people will believe it. A look at recent polls seems to indicate that the GOP is being successful in this cynical ploy. I sincerely hope that they are proven wrong and that ‘We, The People’ can cut through the crap to the truth.

Regardless of your views please be sure and vote on November 2. I still believe that the American people will vote in their best interests. That is not what the GOP wants or expects.

Page 20 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

DOWNTOWN SANDPOINT EVENTS SANDPOINT EVENTS

Wild & Scenic Film Festival

October

9 - Model UN Dinner and Auction, Panhandle State Bank, $20 208263-1075 14- Get Low, a true tall tale at the Panida, 7:30, 208-263-9191 15-16 - Murder at the Castle & Murder on Holiday, both plays at the Panida Little Theater, 7:30, $12, 208-263-9191 16- Community potluck, 5:30, Sandpoint Community Hall, 208946-5562, SixRiversMarket.org 16- Fall Harvest Ball, 5:30, Panhandle State Bank Atrium, $50, benefits the Bonner Community Food Bank. FoodBank83864.com or 208-946-6646 16-17 - Library Wine weekend at Pend d’Oreille Winery, 208-2658545 21 - Yappy Hour at Pine St. Bakery, 4 to 7 pm, benefits Animal Shelter 22- Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Panida Theater, 208290-2828, $10 23 - Warren Miller ski film Dynasty, Panida Theater, 3 pm $8, 7 pm $10, sponsored by Alpine Shop 24 - Storytelling Company, Panida little Theater, 5 pm, 208-2639191, fundraiser for Friends of Scotchman Peaks 28- Freeheel Life 2, Panida Theater, 7:30, $8, 208-263-9191

Benefits Clark Fork/Pend Oreille Conservancy

Oct. 22

NOVEMBER

5- Santa’s Workshop at Bonner Gen. Hospital, 8 to 4 6-Sandpoint Films Festival, Panida Little Theater $5 per block

PLUS:

Experience Downtown Sandpoint!

Final day of Farmer’s Market Saturday October 9 from 9 to 1 at Third & Oak Winery Music - Live music every Friday night at Pend d’Oreille Winery Open Mic Blues Jam every Monday night at Eichardt’s Trivia every Tuesday night at MickDuff’s.

Visit www.DowntownSandpoint.com for a complete calendar of events

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Restoration • Classes • Cameras • Friday 7 am to 3 pm Regular menu also Open weekends Camera • Accessories October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine WorthRepair Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10|available.

Page 21 starting at 8 am

Kathy’s Faith Walk

Choosing candidates

Clark Fork Baptist Church

election.

I look for an involved person. If the candidate is running for country commissioner, a very big job, then I expect him to have Sunday School............9:45 am Kathy Osborne attended many commissioner meetings and Morning Worship............11 am know a considerable amount about the job. coopcountrystore@yahoo.com I know whether he/she understands the job Evening Service...............6 pm Usually I try to avoid writing about politics by the campaign statements made. (“I will Wednesday Service.........7 pm but I have been asked to touch on a subject work toward cutting taxes.” “I will work we all have to deal with: How do I choose the toward open communication between the Call 266-0405 for transportation best candidate for political office? So in my Commissioners office and the people.” “I will case, more specifically: How should a Christ- work toward creating harmony among all the follower judge a political candidate? What is departments.”) To me, those statements are the most important criteria? worthless. I want to hear how these things That’s a good question and what you will will be done. If they ask me for my vote, I get here is only my take on the subject. When demand they produce a plan to win my vote. it comes to candidates, I believe in kicking Of course, that also means I need to know tires and ultimately, I will get what I pay for. something about the subject.

I believe ALL candidates have one I also want to know if the candidate responsibility: to interpret the laws governing has a firm grasp on the Declaration of the position they seek and carry them Independence, which tells us why we are here, out, be they city council members, county and the Constitution, which tells us how to commissioners, presidents, or mayors. Elected live here. In my personal opinion, if he cannot officials are supposed to work for the people converse regarding those two documents, I according to the law and when they don’t it see no reason to take him seriously as a leader is a terrible state of affairs. The king by justice of anything. makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes I watch how candidates behave at forums. tears it down. Proverbs 29:4 In a sense, every Whatever I see her do there will be magnified elected official is a king over some aspect of when she is in office. When asked a question, our lives. And dishonest kings just make the does she answer or does she attempt to divert people miserable. attention to another question she would I never want to know what a candidate’s rather answer? Does she avoid answering opinion is on anything. It doesn’t matter. I and begin a rail against her opponent? Or only want to know if he/she knows the laws does she answer with strength of conviction governing the office sought. That is what and clarity of lawful objective? If a candidate The decisions are to be based on in order to cannot speak clearly and concisely about the have peace in the community. If the laws are laws governing her sought office, then, in my at S bad then the people need to take steps for opinion, she has no business throwing her hat AND change. This happened in the last presidential in the ring.

POI Next, is he honest? What was he like in NT the private sector? Was he in business? If so, how did he treat his employees? Was he Early Bird good to them, fair in his dealings, and honest with others in business? Was his business Season successful? It matters because this is how he Passes now will treat his constituency and how he will manage tax revenues once he is elected. on sale!

Located at Colburn Culver Rd & Hwy. 200 • Can she lead? What positions did she hold in the private sector allowing her to Open M-F 5:30 am to 5:30 pm • Sat 7-2 experience leadership? Did she execute it $169 while well or did her people suffer under her bad leadership? they last!

• Two out of three people drink coffee Finally, the spiritual aspect must be considered. I would like to see God-respecting at work. people in office. Really I would. But even • One out of two workers say they’re not as a Christ Follower I am not swayed by a Stuff those candidate’s church attendance record. I have as productive without coffee seen too many wolves come into the fold and stockings • Nurses and doctors are the top use it for a launching platform into politics.

It’s not that I am jaded. I just understand professions for drinking coffee. today! that actions speak louder than words, past performance is an indicator of future results, So if you want to be and this is one time when the buyer MUST The Festival at Sandpoint beware. Does he/she love God and love productive at work, don’t people? If so, then everything else on my criteria list will be met. He will lead with the forget to stop for your coffee! www.FestivalatSandpoint.com heart of a servant and that, I think, is the best I can hope for.

Page 22 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

Main & Second • Clark Fork

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Ghosts I Have Known I had intended to write a serious column on vaccinations, but given the paucity of Lawrence Fury’s ‘strange tales,’ this month, and given that this issue comes out right before All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day, I decided to share with you a few of my own ‘tales of the strange,’ that you can take or leave as you want. I offer no explanations, and say only that when it comes to ghosts, I am an agnostic.

My most spooky occurrence happened the night my father died, and my sister and I were the only witnesses to its beginning— convenient for skeptics, as she’s now dead and not available to corroborate.

My daddy had been working at the Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant in Iuka, Mississippi. The town is pronounced “eye-yoo-kah” and if you say that sentence with a southern accent, it’s a beaut. Some time before the whistle blew to signal the end of shift, he had a heart attack and died.

Lucky for him, one of his fellow workers knew CPR and worked on him until the ambulance arrived, whereupon the EMTs got his heart beating again. If I remember correctly, he died again in the ambulance or at the hospital, but was again revived.

At the time this occurred, I was living in the lovely little town of Wanatah, Indiana with my sister, Faye. Faye lived in a ‘converted’ funeral home; I give converted special emphasis because the conversion consisted of some two-by-fours, drywall and suspended ceilings thrown together in the front portion of the building to make a living room, kitchen, bath and three bedrooms with little thought given to aesthetics or building codes. Truthfully, I never thought much about the building being a former funeral home, and it has no bearing on what I’m about to tell you, but I mention it here because it gives this story a slightly more spooky tone.

All in the house were asleep until sometime around 2 am when my sister began shaking me, insisting “Wake up. Wake up now!” Groggily I peered at her and she asked me, “What the hell do you want?!” I would say I responded, “Whatever do you mean?,” but I think all I got out was “uhhhhh?”

“You were calling me and you wouldn’t

shut up,” my sister insisted, and this is not the creepy part because there are many family stories that involve me talking in my sleep, most of them funny, and all at my expense.

With my eyes pried open, I led my sister out to her living room, where we both collapsed onto the couch and lit cigarettes— this was in the late 80s, a time when smoking upon waking and doing so inside the house was acceptable to both of us.

My sister proceeded to share with me how she’d been woken out of a nicely sound sleep by a voice that kept calling, “Tiny!

Tiny!” This had me stumped, as my sister’s name was not Tiny, it was Faye, and the only nickname I had ever called her by was “FayeFaye.” In addition, the voice seemed to be coming from the front of the house, not the rear, where I had been sleeping. But as we sat there on the couch, something strange occurred. The microwave turned on, and ran for about a minute.

With that emphasized ‘converted’ in mind, let me explain that where we were sitting directly faced the galley kitchen. In front of us was a counter where people could sit to eat; behind that was a narrow aisle (about three feet) and behind that a counter, on which sat the microwave which we could easily see. This microwave had a dial that turned to set time and, when time was set, a button was pushed to turn it on. Needless to say, we had not turned the dial, nor pushed the button, and sat speechless on the couch listening to the sound of the microwave motor while gazing on the light that poured from the machine.

With a ‘ding!” the microwave turned off and my sister and I turned to look at each other. Without saying a word, we both got up and went back to bed.

The next morning we were full of ideas about power surges and the like, and shared this story with Faye’s brother- and sisterin law. They lived next door, on the second story of a ‘converted’ business building. Entry to their apartment was via the fire escape, which opened directly onto a counter that wrapped around their kitchen. As we were telling the story, we all heard the sound of someone climbing the stairs. When they

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Trish Gannon

Politically Incorrect reached the top, and knocked on the door, I leaned over from where I was sitting to open the door. There was no one there. I immediately stood up and moved the two steps to the door itself, whereupon I could see there was not only no one on the landing, but also no one on the stairs coming up the side of the building.

Scared the crap out of all of us, let me tell you.

It was a short time later when Mom called to tell us that Dad had died twice, and was still in intensive care in the hospital in Mississippi. We threw things into suitcases and drove down there. Eventually we told Mother our story. Her eyes got wide and she looked at my sister and said, “Dad always called you Tiny when you were little. Don’t you remember that?”

Dad recovered from that heart attack and lived several years more, but never had anything to offer regarding our spooky incident. He himself had experienced that now-mythical tunnel with the light at the end, but he always discounted it, saying he had read too many stories about near-death experiences; that knowledge had tainted his own, leaving him unsure whether it was real or not.

One other ghost story. I was living right here in Clark Fork when my oldest brother Boyd died. His cremated remains were mailed to me, for sprinkling under an apple tree in accordance with his wishes. Needless to say I did no such thing and, 14 years later, they still sit on my bookshelf.

But for a long time after he died, I would take his ashes down from the bookshelf and set them on the dining room table; then I would set up a boom box right next to them and put on some Simon and Garfunkel (his favorite) to play. And then I would sit there with my head on my arms and cry.

Massively.

The last time I did that, laying there sobbing my eyes out, that very heavy (fourand-a-half pounds!) plastic container of ashes suddenly slid almost two feet across the table. I didn’t see this, but I heard it.

My tears turned off as if on a switch and I bolted upright, staring at that box in its new position. The table is a very heavy, sturdy one that rests firmly on the ground. We had had no earthquake. To this day I have no idea why that box of ashes moved, but at the time I slowly stood, crept into my bedroom, and carefully shut the door so that I couldn’t see them. The next morning, I put them back on the bookshelf. I still occasionally play some Simon and Garfunkel for Boyd, but I don’t take him off the shelf to do it.

On that note, may you all have a spooky Halloween!

Trish Gannon

trish@riverjournal.com

October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 23

Fact or Fiction Part 3

“Once again, a lie told a thousand times does not make it the truth.”

The Vampire Doctor of Page Hospital and other questionable stories...

When you write a column on spooky stories, people end up telling you their own spooky stories. Some will genuinely send a shiver up your spine while others... well, they might grace the pages of fiction, but it wouldn’t be really good fiction. Most common, however, are the vignettes that people share, hints and pieces of what might—or might not—be a good story to tell.

Most of this month’s accounts are just that... hints at a story that might be worth telling if only I could find out the rest of it.

I share these with you now, and ask that any readers who have more information on these haints and apparitions, information that could flesh them out, so to speak, get in touch with the River Journal and share what you know.

I’ll start with the Vampire Doctor of Page Hospital, a little-known (or completely un-known) tale from the early days of Sandpoint.

Page Hospital was the original healing house here in Sandpoint. And I mean “house.” It was at the location of the building that currently contains Athlete’s Choice and All Smiles (at the end of First Avenue where it turns into Cedar St.). I’m old enough to

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ShadowS with Lawrence Fury

remember when Penney’s, and Sprouse-Reitz before that, were in that location. But the Page Hospital was a large, two-and-a-half story house that was converted to a hospital.

A few years ago I made the acquaintance of a self-proclaimed paranormal investigator who, at the time, was about to investigate the apparition of a man, presumably a doctor, who would stroll through the Pine Street baseball field in an old-style white surgical gown, drinking what appeared to be blood from a beaker. Now what this has to do with the Page Hospital is anyone’s guess, but the story is reminiscent of another account from Naples of a phantom surgeon, with a bloodcovered gown, sitting at a table at a certain store in Elmira. Different location, same basic story.

Anyone had an encounter with this (forgive me) bloodthirsty shade?

Continuing with Naples, I’ve been told of a phantom pregnant woman searching for a hat under a Dodge just before sunset... a young man in a heavy coat wandering the aisles of a Naples clothing store (The trouble here is that I don’t believe there is a clothing store in Naples)... and the shade of a decapitated man supposedly howling at people late at night near a vending machine. Uhhh, late at night in Naples is about as busy as a graveyard at midnight (discounting ghosts, that is). Also, how could he howl without a head?

Maybe someone in Clark Fork could shed some light on this one: A house just outside of town near the river that’s supposedly haunted by the spirit of a young man killed in a logging accident not long after graduating

Council website at tristatecouncil.org.

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orth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol 17 No. 18 | November 2008 | Page 5 Kinnikinnick

from high school. Involved here is the sound of footsteps up and down the house’s hallway, luminous mists near the ceiling and a white cat sitting on a kitchen counter, jumping off and turning to smoke.

More from Hope and Clark Fork... a skeleton riding a bicycle on the old upper highway. Well, I may have an explanation for this one. A number of years ago, I parked at the Hope mini-mart with my then best friend.

We took a trail up behind the old Hope store and eventually came out in Montana. Riding back to the Clark Fork mini-mart/gas station, I felt like a skeleton and drove home. My thenbest friend chose to bike back to Sandpoint.

Has anyone seen a young phantom in a winter jacket, covered with slime, at Denton Slough at night? Does anyone go to Denton Slough at night?

Other accounts... a shape-shifting ghost moving from flat to flat... isn’t that an English expression for apartment? Maybe that rumor of a story isn’t even local.

How about the ghost of a young man wearing a leather jacket near Boyer Slough staring wrathfully at bypasses? Well, the only ‘slough’ possible is the waters of Sand Creek, in the dip on Boyer just north of the fairgrounds near La Grace. It isn’t called Boyer Slough, though, unless some newer residents refer to it that way.

Other questionable sightings include the ghost of a charred woman near Bottle Bay just before sunrise... a headless woman drinking diesel from a pump... an old prospector with a hook for a hand walking a cocker spaniel at night... a cleaning lady watching cable TV... and a young female or waitress searching for her lover near the Coeur d’Alene National Forest.

I’d love to learn more about any of these stories, or feel free to share your own stories from the Shadow Side of the Valley. Email trish@riverjournal.com, or call 208-2556957, and let us know what’s been going bump in the night.

Next month I’ll have a story on a UFO sighting in the south end of Sandpoint between the Dover Highway and Memorial Field, as well as an introductory tidbit from down in Nampa, Idaho. Oh, and turkeys. Let’s not forget the turkeys next month.

Page 24 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

From ThE

Files

of The River Journal’s

SurrealisT Research BureaU Cadborosaurus Returns (sort of ) Like many lovers of the tales of the weird and bizarre I was excited to join in on the buzz going around cryptozoological chat rooms concerning reports that the Discovery Channel had acquired some “dramatic, lengthy and close-up footage” of what appeared to be a school of over a dozen Caddys swimming off the Alaskan coast near Nushagak Bay. Author John Kirk (“In the Domain of Lake Monsters”) and Dr. Paul LeBlond (a professor of oceanography at the University of British Columbia, author of “Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep”) were both shown the film by the Discovery Channel and have stated the film shows from ten to 15 separate animals. (It could be less, Kirk says, as what we perceive as two creatures might just be the humps of one.) Both Paul and John concurred these animals were the cryptid Cadborosaurus, or Caddy. There appeared to be two larger animals 50 to 60 feet long and approximately a dozen or so smaller six- to

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ten-foot babies. On the approach of a school of Beluga whales, the baby Caddys appeared to be herded away from danger like sheep by the two larger Caddys.

Sandi Mansi’s world-famous, 1977 photograph of “Champ.”

The footage was obtained by a Washington state fishing boat captain who fishes off the Alaskan coast during the summer. He and his two sons were on deck when they noticed a herd of strange animals with horse-like or camel-like heads being chased down a channel by a pod of Beluga whales, and they were stunned to see these beasts resembled no known animal they’d seen in all their years of fishing.

One of the sons had the presence of mind to get a video camera and, when he returned, he filmed from 20 yards away what appeared to be two larger Caddys protecting what looks like a juvenile from the pursuing Belugas.

One of the larger creatures then looks in the general direction of the camera and, in the words of John Kirk, “I was stunned because it looked like a living, breathing version of the famed Nadens Harbor carcass from 1937.”

Both Kirk and LeBlond, who separately spent over three hours studying the film, were in no doubt they’d seen a living Cadborosaurus and reportedly said so on camera when interviewed by the Discovery Channel, which quickly bought the rights to the film and planned to broadcast it this September sometime. Now here’s where things get really weird.

The Hillstrand brothers, stars of the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” were supposedly shown the video as well and their reactions filmed. Now it’s reported that, in

a contract dispute, Discovery is seeking $3 million from the Hillestrand brothers for breach of contract and both sides have filed injunctions prohibiting any of the parties from airing anything related to fishing or the Alaskan coastal waters. And that would include the Cadborosaurus footage. That’s where things stand now from what I’ve managed to piece together from various chat rooms relating to this matter. While the Discovery Channel website has been close-mouthed on this subject, you can read Kirk and LeBlond’s postings on the website cryptomundo.com.

For the uninitiated, Cadborosaurus, or Caddy, is the name given to a type of seaserpent generally reported as 60 to 100 feet long, with a head similar to a horse or camel. Hundreds of reports have come in since the 1900s, and prior to that time we have numerous wall and cave art by Native Americans depicting the creature. It was known by the Chinook as Hiachuckaluk. A carcass was found inside a whale’s stomach in the 1930s which measured 15 to 20 feet long, and was a suspected juvenile member of the species.

Cadborosaurus gets its name from its most common reported sightings off British Columbia’s Cadboro Bay. Some observers believe that sightings in BC’s Lake Okanagan are of a land-locked Caddy named Ogopogo which became trapped there due to extensive dam building in the 1930s. The “Mansi photograph” of 1977 appears to show a similar creature in Lake Champlain.

One can only hope the petty bickering in the case of the Discovery Channel and the Hillstrand brothers will end quickly, if indeed that’s what it is. (Speculation on the blogs could easily be in error and the film could well be released before this article hits the stands. I hope so). ‘til next time, All homage to Xena!

“Men really do need sea-monsters in their personal oceans... An ocean without its unnamed monsters would be like a completely dreamless sleep.” -John Steinbeck

October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 25

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Get complete obituaries online at

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MARY “KAT” MCGINNIS Mary “Kat” McGinnis, February 24, 1952 - September 29, 2010, of Hope. Obituary pending.

CURTIS REED Curtis Carl Reed, June 30, 1949 - September 28, 2010. U.S. Navy veteran. Obituary pending.

MARY DEFREMERY Mary Beatrice de Fremery, April 21, 1915 - September 28, 2010. Obituary pending.

BEULAH MAE ERWIN Beulah Mae Bowman Erwin, June 9, 1920 - September 18, 2010. Born Reeds Spring, Miss., moved to Jerome, Idaho in 1922. Married Earl Erwin, raised their family in Escondido, Calif. Moved to Sandpoint in 1999. Was an Idaho state spelling bee champion. Mother of three.

KATHY BERRY Kathy Marie Anderson Berry, August 18, 1953 - September 17, 2010.

Born Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Married William Berry Dedicated mother of a handicapped child and advocate for the disabled. Original partner in Hidden Lakes Golf Course.

DARLENE SHELLY Darlene Krauss Shelly, February 5, 1925 - September 17, 2010. Born Palm, Penn., married Harvey Ott. Mother of three. Sold insurance, securities and real estate, was a licensed masseuse.

Scholar in theology, nutrition and natural remedies. Co-facilitator of Life Skills NW EDITH SMITH Edith Mildred Smith, August 25, 1919 - September 14, 2010, died at her home in Elmira, obituary pending.

VERNA CARTER Verna LaVaughn Heller Carter, December 19, 1925 - September 25, 2010. Born Careywood, Idaho. Worked at Panida Newsstand, Sandpoint Cafe, JC Penneys, M&J Grocery, Rogers Grocery and Excell Foods. Married Pete Carter and raised four children.

ALETHA SHIELDS Aletha E. Foster Sheilds, September 4, 1921 - September 25, 2010. Born Granum, Alberta, Canada, moved to Sandpoint as a child, SHS graduate, graduate of Lewiston Normal Teacher’s School. Married Denny Shields and spent her life on Meadowbrook Ranch in Oden. Taught in numerous Bonner County Schools.

Mother of three.

NANCY BOALES Nancy Ann Boals, October 10, 1930 - September 23, 2010. Born in Bakersfield, Calif., died in Priest River, Idaho. Former assistant librarian.

LORNA POPEJOY Lorna Lucille Ames Karst-Popejoy, December 23, 1927 - September 22, 2010. Born Dover, Idaho, 1945 SHS graduate. At 14 worked at Sandpoint Cafe, managed Elks Club for13 years, worked shipyard clean-up and laundry during WWII. Served on Dover city council. Married Kenneth Karst, raised five children, widowed and later married Ernest Popejoy.

EDWARD WALSON Edward R. Walson, June 11, 1946 September 20, 2010. A Sandpoint native, died in Louisiana. Served in the US Navy and worked as a diving consultant.

BERNADINE KOSSMAN Bernadine Christina Normington Kossman, April 29, 1918 - September 13, 2010. Born Moscow, Idaho, married Robert Kossman. Worked at Prosser Memorial Hosp. Moved to Garfield Bay in 1967. Mother of three. Worked for Garfield Bay & Bottle Bay sewer districts, was active in AARP. DUANE FINNEY Duane John Finney, November 16, 1949 - September 9, 2010. Born in Sandpoint, SHS graduate, worked as a logger and carpenter. Spent winters in Arizona.

JOAN SEXTON Joan Francis Sexton, September 27, 1935 - September 9, 2010. Lifelong Sandpoint resident and long haul truck driver. Obituary pending.

JOHN HUDON John Allen Hudon. September 8, 1916 - September 6, 2010. Born in Sandpoint, worked for the CCC in Clarkia, Idaho, worked at a pole producing company for 47 years.

Married Lucille Goulette, had three children. Lifelong member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

MARVIN JOHNSON Marvin Edward Johnson, September 29, 1914 - September 3, 2010. Grew up in Cocolalla. Married Alberta Terrell. Owned Johnson’s Sandy Beach Resort on Lake Cocolalla and Johnson’s Christmas trees. Both drove school bus. Worked in the CCC and helped to build Farragut. Father of three.

Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.LakeviewFuneral.org PAT MCCRUM Pat Edward McCrum, March 17, 1921 - September 20, 2010.

Born Robsart, Saskatchewan, moved to Sandpoint in 1924. SHS graduate, class of ‘36. Married Barbara Ulrich. Pat served in the Coast Guard in WWII, worked 33 years for Pacific Power. Father of three.

VIVIAN PERRY Vivian Estelle Sare Perry June 16, 1914 - September 13, 2010. Born Cordell, Okla. Married Raymond Perry. Widowed. Moved to Priest River, Idaho in 2002. Mother of 2

EVELYN TAVES Evelyn Merrill Toews Taves, May 30, 1914 - September 7, 2010. Born in Petoskey, Mich. After college worked as medical assistant, married Bill Taves. raised two children. Moved to Sandpoint in 1992. Active in church children’s groups.

BRIAN WAGGONER Brian Eugene Waggoner, March 30, 1968 - September 5, 2010; after battle with cancer.. Born El Monte, Calif., married Tonya Battenschlag, Moved to Sandpoint in 2006, worked for ID Dept. of Transportation. Three sons.

WILLIAM REED William Harold “Bill” Reed, August 12, 1918 - September 2, 2010. Born Murray, Neb., served six years in U.S. Coast Guard then Navy Seabees in Korea. Married Lucille Henly, worked in timber industry and for Wash.

Dept. of Natural Resources. Widowed, then married Esther Robinson.

EMMA SIMONS Emma Louise Janata Simons, September 25, 1918 - August 29, 2010.

Born San Francisco, Calif. Worked Merced Army Flying School, met and married Jack Simons. Settled in St. JOHN CARLSON Regis, Mont.

1952, operated cattle ranch, worked for forest service and as site manager for St. Regis Senior Citizens Center. Mother of three.

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death” - Robert Fulgham Page 26 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

From the Mouth of the River

We soaked summer up like we were in a hot tub full of margaritas. We sat there on the patio with our backs to the sun, mouths open, and eyes half closed, absorbing as much as we could.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” I said to Lovie.

“You better enjoy it, she said, “the weather man said it would cool off tomorrow.”

It’s not every year we have summer all day. You know, some years it rains on summer.

While the rest of the world is burning up with excessive heat waves, floods, fires and other disasters we’re sitting up here just comfortably enjoying the world as it passes by. It’s enough to make you worry about what’s coming for us, or wonder how we rate this kind of treatment. It rained at least once a week so I didn’t have to water the lawn.

Lovie’s garden is outstanding: sweet peas and young potatoes, large tomatoes and just look at them beans!

Lovie’s a member of the Garden Goddesses and she had them out for a visit to show off her labors a few weeks ago. They all brought dishes of wonderfully prepared food to share.

Some of the younger women soon turned the conversation from digging in the dirt too digging up dirt on how to keep their husbands from straying and sowing wild oats in other gardens.

There’s an old saying we’ve all heard that says, “The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” That’s an old saying written by an old maid. Another one states, “By the time the sex wears off the cooking had better improve.” I must say, my cooking has improved considerably over the years and the same could be said for some of the other men who accompanied the women to this garden party. These Goddesses, especially the ones who are on their second or third husbands, can really cook up a storm and they’re all probably pretty good gardeners as well. Unfortunately, they seem to be heavy into eating dessert first, middle and last, but there was plenty of everything and a good time was had by all.

Some of these Garden Goddesses are also part of the Mountain Goat Hikers Club that go for hikes every Monday. So we invited them out one Monday to take a hike on the Trestle Creek Bypass (it’s all downhill). That was when we found out that Fish and Game had been stalking them. It seems a certain game warden had picked up their tracks one morning and followed them into the woods while out looking for poachers. He was sure he had these poachers red-handed and just as he thought he was closing in on them here came this group of little old ladies and men back down the trail they had just hiked up. Then to save face he had to quickly explain that he just happened upon them while out patrolling for poachers and wasn’t really tracking them.

The Mountain Goats have split into two

groups: those who can and those who don’t want to hike to the tops of all the mountains in Idaho and beyond. Lovie and I fell into the category of don’t want to and found

out we fit right in. The camaraderie of this group is amazing. Once they got themselves organized and on the trail they sounded like a bunch of magpies on a road kill. The game warden doesn’t have to concern himself about protecting this bunch from a grizzly or any other wild animals. They make enough noise just trying to talk over one another to scare off anything within a mile of their trail. They were all good hikers, though, and some even went further than what was planned so they could stay a little longer.

September seems to be a good time to report on the wildlife and related happenings on Trestle Creek since last spring. First off, Avista has acquired the old Trestle Creek campgrounds area from the state of Idaho and it’s now open for day use only. The gravel pits in the area are now closed to shooting because of the noise and danger. Sighting in a rifle for hunting is one thing, but some guys like to make an afternoon event out of shooting with every big gun in their arsenal not realizing that just because they are off the highway, they are not on forest service property and people might actually live nearby. Besides, the lower end of Trestle Creek from mile marker one down to Highway 200 is the habitat for a lot of wildlife.

The Bonner County schools along with Fish and Game use the campgrounds for educational purposes, especially during the kokanee spawning season in September.

After one young student pointed to the creek full of fish and asked what those two fish were doing, the field trip turned into a sex education class. Trestle Creek is also one of the major spawning grounds for bull trout.

While the Fish and Game put up a huge sign that declares Trestle Creek is closed to fishing for bull trout they neglected to mention that Trestle Creek is closed to fishing of any kind.

You gotta wonder sometimes.

Our birds got the worst end of a wet spring this year. Not many young survived it seems.

Even the pair of ravens who live up on the

south facing slope had no young this year and we are down to only four hens and two tom turkeys. The hummingbirds seem to have done okay as we had our usual swarm at the feeders last spring and then again starting in July. It was also a good year for elk and deer. Seemed a little late with the birthing, but it looks like every female old enough to produce new life did so. Saw young mule deer, whitetail, elk and moose. Even the bears showed up with cubs. The old black sow had twins and the young blond sow had a little red cub, but we believe the big boar disposed of all three cubs as they disappeared soon after he showed up. Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes.

With the lack of huckleberries this year, but with the abundance of grasses and clover, the bears have stayed fat and are finishing up with the plentiful service berries to round off their year. I don’t know what they’re going to eat between now and snowfall. Apples, bird feeders, and garbage cans, I guess.

We’re all looking forward to a long Indian Summer which will allow the fishing season to extend on in to October and maybe as late as November or even to Thanksgiving. And speaking of fish, I will say this, the kokanee are swarming up Trestle Creek thicker than they have in thirty years and have even been seen up past Huckleberry campground, which is about five miles up Trestle Creek road. It’s very exciting and not easy to admit that the Fish and Game might have actually succeeded in bringing them back.

We’re not the only ones enjoying all the kokanee as the osprey spotted them and were diving through the tree tops to pick up a spawner or two. Lovie and I even drove down to Granite Creek to see kokanee so thick in the pools you could almost walk across the creek on them. It was quite a drive down there, but more than worth the effort to see that many beautiful, bright pink fish in one place. In fact, the coyotes down there have picked up on what the grizzlies in Alaska do with the salmon and are feeding on the spawning kokanee. And the summer feeding of yours truly is on big, vine ripe tomato sandwiches from my Garden Goddess’s Garden. It just doesn’t get much better in North Idaho.

Boots Reynolds

October 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| Page 27

Scott Clawson

acresnpains@dishmail.net

The main reason f o r

Halloween, as explained to me early in life by my two older and wiser brothers, was for venting all the pent-up anger and frustration stored up during the summer tourist season.

This made perfect sense to me even at the age of eight.

This condition was usually brought on by the absorption of stupid questions, either perceived or actual it didn’t matter. My third grade mid-term thesis happened to be a well researched dissertation on this very subject and earned me two weeks in “the corner,” prompting me to write yet another thesis on what constituted a ‘sour-puss’ which got me two more weeks in the same corner.

This is a very important process and deserves all the attention we used to give it.

Venting, that is. If it weren’t for proper venting procedures normal folk would implode in time and become those sphincter-lipped personalities nearly everyone tries to avoid.

(Like third grade teachers, for example.)

For me stupid questions most often came in the form of directions or rather, the need for some. And again, often as not, they popped out of people so far into their vacations that they couldn’t find their fanny with either hand.

Now, of course, we have GPS devices and no longer need our hands.

I used to lay out some ridiculous, meanderin’ route around town to get inquisitive tourists to the motel they were already in front of and be standing there acting out of breath when they got back. I’d tell them, “Just wanted to make sure you found it!” Sometimes I’d even get a tip for bein’ such a diligent young man. I suppose I was directly responsible for a lot of extra gas consumption but it helped boost the local economy some as well. I made “Booster of the Year” in ‘64! I was twelve and so confident of my abilities that I could even get myself lost without much of a fuss.

I could write volumes on tourism studies I’ve either concocted myself or gleaned from different generations of seasonal employees. I had ready access to many of these characters

and all I had to say was “What’s the most fun you ever had with a tourist?” One particular bartender we had loved to tell the unsuspecting traveler about “Nudie Tuesdays” up on the Firehole River or “Free Fishin’ Fridays” over at Fishing Bridge. I noticed he was always careful to find out whether or not they planned on coming back this way afterwards. He also liked to inform people that it was quite all right, and even encouraged by park personnel, to moon Japanese tour buses.

Not anymore though, as I found out the hard way there’s been a change to that minor protocol. It seems the Park Service has lost some of its sense of humor.

Like I said, I could write volumes about tourism studies but this is one about Halloween, which is because of tourists. And also because this is October.

I used to observe my brothers prepare for Halloween starting after the 4th of July. They’d stash excess firecrackers, smoke bombs, M80s, cherry bombs and just about anything else that might trigger a spontaneous bowel movement in the dark. Other important ingredients were toilet paper, bars of soap and new running shoes.

One year my cousin Willie got the bright idea to build a catapult for hurling toilet paper, having thrown his arm out the year before. Being an owner’s son of a family restaurant/bar/motel, I had access to plenty of ammunition. Together our efforts worked so well, in fact, that West Yellowstone was voted best looking strudel in Montana that year; a feat worth bragging about, I assure you. I suppose having more toilet paper per capita than any place else gave us an unfair advantage, though.

Soap was and has always been a great ‘marks-a-lot’ when it comes to venting (remember, this is a paper on that subject) and, there again, I had an unfair advantage. But not all that unfair, as there were something like 109 motels in town besides ours. These, by the way, offered up an absolutely astounding amount of windows to scribble and write on.

In fact (I’m full of these, you’ll notice), during the annual ‘spring clean-up and toilet paper gathering competition’ of 1967, the resulting bubble fest turned Hebgen Lake into a bubble-

bath that year and got Three Forks voted “Cleanest Little Town in Montana” and it was over 100 miles downstream! There again, I’ve always been happy to help out for a good cause and so have my classmates.

Still, my favorite and least mentioned of Halloween ingredients was a little different to gather up and keep secret until the big day: Grizzly poop.

Most of our town’s alleys were festooned with well-stocked garbage cans and these were also decorated, anytime after dark until just after the first hint of sapphire in the eastern sky, with fuzzy big Black Bear and Grizzly butts billowing from these cans with snorts of happiness muffling up from the depths.

Actually, I’d like to do a study of whether or not bears sing to themselves in this situation ‘cause it sure seemed like it to me when I was a kid. If you put a bucket over a kid’s head they will invariably sing, yodel or make farting noises, just for the echo they get back.

Griz are just big, hairy kids normally, unless they’re mad, in which case you might wanna be somewheres else. And a lot like kids, Griz go poop pretty near where they eat. Needless to say, the early bird gets that last ingredient for a successful venting process.

Properly stored, like with your mom’s ‘seal-a-meal’ or equivalent, good, fresh and steamy Griz-biz will maintain its succulence for a long time, thereby letting you store it under your bed instead of in the refridgerator until you need it.

Now there’s something about human nature that absolutely mandates certain responses to given stimuli. One of these is stomping out paper bags on fire, especially on one’s porch, even if it’s full of warm scat.

Happy Halloween!

Editor’s note to children and those who act like children: this column is provided for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your favorite medical professional, mother or sour-puss, third-grade teacher,, all three of whom would probably not advocate any of these approaches to venting.

This issue of the River Journal is dedicated to Anna “Mama” Nicholls, without whom the River Journal, in so many ways, would not even exist. Mama Nicholls was an astounding woman, a true Southern lady filled with life, laughter and much love. She will be deeply missed.

Page 28 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 10| October 2010

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