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February 2013| FREE | www.RiverJournal.com
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WINteR CArNIvAl CIrquE DU SANDPOINT Feb. 15 • 6:30 pm • Pend d’Oreille Winery
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Feb. 15 • 7 pm • Jeff Jones Town Square
KpND prESENtS thE LErOy BELl CONceRT Feb. 15 • 8:30 pm • Panida Theater
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Feb. 22 • 6 pm • PSB Financial Center
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Feb. 16 &17 • 12 noon • Bonner County Fairgrounds
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THE RIVER JOURNAL A News Magazine Worth Wading Through
7 4
~just going with the flow~ P.O. Box 151•Clark Fork, ID 83811
7
4. COLLEGE PRESENCE CONTINUES TO GROW Sandpoint and North Idaho College continue to plan to make Sandpoint a college town.
12. SOME CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES From education reform to gun rights to health insurance exchanges, this session will bring controversy. A SEAT IN THE HOUSE
Trish Gannon-trish@riverjournal.com
5. LPOSD LEVY School district to ask residents for $15+ million on March 12.
13. HAPPY AND HOPEFUL Lessons from Grandpa and a crosscut saw. THE SCENIC ROUTE
Ministry of Truth and Propaganda
6. DOWNTOWN CALENDAR Take a look at what’s happening in Sandpoint
14. STRANGE ACCOUNTS FROM NORTH IDAHO Was that a doppleganger in the woods? VALLEY OF SHADOWS
STAFF Calm Center of Tranquility
Jody Forest-joe@riverjournal.com
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle Proudly printed at Griffin Publishing in Spokane, Wash. 509.534.3625
7. FOLLIES FOR A GOOD CAUSE As this Angels Over Sandpoint variety show moves into its 11th year, the need continues to grow 7. ALUMNI TOURNAMENT For the 26th year, graduates of Clark Fork and friends hit the gym for a weekend of action. 8. TURN FISHING DREAMS INTO REALITY It’s almost time to hit the water, and Matt has the tips to make sure you’re ready. THE GAME TRAIL
Contents of the River Journal are copyright 2013. Reproduction of any 9. material, including original artwork and advertising, is prohibited. The River Journal is published the first week of each month and is distributed in over 16 communities in Sanders County, Montana, and Bonner, 10. Boundary and Kootenai counties in Idaho. The River Journal is printed on 40 percent recycled paper with soy-based ink. We appreciate your efforts to 11. recycle. Cover Photo by Trish Gannon
THE LESSER SCAUP Maybe you thought they were just a duck, but Mike paints a picture of a lovely bird. A BIRD IN HAND GOD IS LOVE Moving toward spring, Kathy works on tending the garden of the heart. KATHY’S FAITH WALK
15. A MODEST GUN PROPOSAL Northing is more surreal than bringing death to another, which leads Jody to a proposal for gun owners. SURREALIST RESEARCH BUREAU 16. OBITUARIES 17. A VETERAN FRIENDLY CONGRESS? Gil sees hope for veterans’ issues in the 113th Congress. VETERANS’ NEWS 18. THE BEST SMELL IN THE WORLD Bacon lovers, watch out. Boots remembers bacon in a way you might not be familiar with. FROM THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER 2O. SNOW REMOVAL Scott’s adventures with a muffin top. SCOTT CLAWSON
BREATH: A GIFT OF NATURE To receive this gift from nature, one has only to get out IN nature. THE HAWK’S NEST
DiLuna’s Presents
JOHN CRAIGE Friday, March 1
Doors open 5:30 • Music at 7:30
Tickets $10/$12 door
www.RiverJournal. com•208.255.6957
220 Cedar St. Sandpoint 208.263.0846
College Presence in Sandpoint Continues to Grow Walk on to the Sandpoint “campus” of North Idaho College and it’s almost old-home week. Faces familiar from various organizations and businesses around town are seen delving into books on philosophy and mathematics while others practice speeches or determine the intricacies of developing a PowerPoint presentation. As North Idaho College—the region’s two-year community college—has expanded its presence into the northern counties its student body has grown. Or maybe as its student body has grown, NIC has expanded its presence into the north. It’s hard to tell which is the horse, and which is the cart. But continuing to offer more programs, “is our goal and objective,” explained Mark Browning, NIC
vice president for community relations and marketing. Traditionally, community colleges have seen enrollments increase in times of economic difficulty thanks to their more affordable tuition costs. Resident tuition costs at NIC for a full-time student (12 to 16 credits) are just $1,423 per semester, compared to $3,106 per semester at the University of Idaho. These rates are especially attractive when the economy falters, and unemployed and under-employed residents often look to college as a way of gaining more marketable skills. Long a dream of area residents, efforts to bring college classes into Sandpoint came to fruition over ten years ago,
by Trish Gannon
when a limited number of classes were made available downtown, in the back portion of the Ink Well building. Growth continued, and the college expanded out into Ponderay at the Bonner Mall, before opening its doors last fall in the Sandpoint Events Center, the beautifully refurbished old Sandpoint High School. “I think the new facility is conducive to learning,” said Mark. “We are literally in a school building now and the facility itself is just beautiful.” A physical buiding, however, is just one piece of a larger picture in how college classes are delivered today. Unseen are the numbers of students who are hooking up online, despite the area’s low bandwidth speeds, and working their way though course offerings over the Internet. Today, NIC offers as many classes that are web-enhanced or online as it offers in a traditional classroom setting, and a growing number of students are signing up for dual credit classes in high school, earning college credit even before receiving their high school diploma. Yet many of the students taking those classes are non-traditional as well. There was a time when most students in college arrived there right after graduating high school, but more and more NIC is seeing an older face on its students. “That’s where the growth is in education right now,” Mark said. “It’s in people like us.” Despite the strides made in offering classes to students in Bonner County, the college is still looking to do more. Currently, they’re working on funding a “wet lab” for science classes in the area. Once this goal is met, a student will be able to obtain an Associate’s degree from North Idaho College without ever setting foot on the college’s Coeur d’Alene campus. The college is also looking to provide more classes online, especially as it grows ever more difficult for first year students to get into the entry level classes they need. A surprising stumbling block? A lack of teachers. “We require all of our teachers to hold a Master’s degree in the subject area they teach,” Mark explained. “So when there’s a lack of available teachers, we have to ask ourselves if we want to lower our standards. And the decision has been no, we want to maintain the standards we’ve developed.” NIC’s future will undoubtedly be influenced as well by the recent phenomenon of the MOOC—Massive Open
February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page
Online Courses, offered at no charge to the student, that give people all over the world the opportunity to take classes from some of the top universities in the nation, including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Duke University and even MIT. Online MOOC aggregators like Coursera, Udacity and EdX are already enrolling millions of students in high quality college courses, though currently, those courses do not count as a credit toward a degree. The Stanford-based Coursera, however, is working with the American Council of Education to develop certification for the courses it offers, and the vision is that students soon be able to obtain their college credits via a MOOC. There is no question the MOOC model will make big changes in higher education, but as yet, there is no answer as to what those changes will look like. Which is why NIC is keeping a close eye on developments in the field. “Our president (at NIC) is currently taking a MOOC course,” Mark explained, and added that staff are actively looking at ways to bring the benefits of MOOCs under the NIC umbrella to its Idaho community. Finding ways to partner with MOOCs is really no different than the active and close partnerships NIC already enjoys with both the University of Idaho and Lewis Clark State College. The two fouryear universities partner well with NIC in ways to make a Bachelor’s degree easier to obtain for North Idaho residents. “There’s no competition between us,”
Mark said. “Instead, we have all said we see the need (for more accessible education in North Idaho) and we’re all on board to make it happen.” And to make a lot of it happen in Sandpoint, where Mark credits strong support from businesses, individuals and civic leaders in achieving that goal. “I’m both encouraged and humbled by that,” he said. It’s obvious from its rapid growth that the stars have aligned for higher education in North Idaho, and offerings will only continue to grow—as, it’s likely, will the number of students looking to fill out the class roster. If you’d like to learn more about the opportunities available through North Idaho College, visit their website at www.NIC.edu or drop by the Sandpoint Center during the week to talk with NIC staffers. And don’t think these prospects are only for those looking to obtain a degree. NIC offers several professional certification programs, and classes at a per credit charge for those seeking only to learn new skills or update information in key job areas. Senior citizens can take non-credit classes for just $25 a class, and there are dozens of classes available designed to meet the educational needs of business owners and other professionals. If you believe, along with Oscar Wilde, that a person can never be overeducated, then North Idaho College can help you with program offerings designed to fit your life here in the North Country.
EXTEND YOUR GROWING SEASON! We have the plants, products and expertise to help you get a jump start on this year’s garden. Stop in today!
Lake Pend Oreille School Levy As is the case every two years, we will be running a supplemental levy in our district on March 12. Over the course of eight meetings, the Lake Pend Oreille School District Board of Trustees discussed district needs and deliberated over the levy rates. It is important to the board to ensure adequate funding to continue the great progress our district has made over time. The investment our community made in passing our levy two years ago paid dividends in the form of increased student achievement. We will continue to focus on continuous improvement and careful allocation of resources to ensure excellent growth for our students. The supplemental levy is for a twoyear total of $15,767,484. The levy will fund things such as one-third of all district staff, all academic and athletic extracurricular activities, all curriculum materials, and technology upgrades and staff. It is important to note that LPOSD has the lowest school tax rate in North Idaho, which is 53% below the state average. More details are available on the district website www.lposd.org. Recently, a blog was started that can be found at lposd.blogspot.com. If you would like to receive regular updates via email, please contact Julie Menghini at julie.menghini@lposd.org. The blog contains pictures and updates regarding current happenings in our schools. If you use Twitter, we will also provide updates through that avenue as well. It can be followed at @lposdwoodward via Twitter. -Shawn Woodward, LPOSD Superintendent
LPOSD Levy Community Meetings
• Feb 19 • 6:30 PM at the Hope Community Center • Feb 20 • 6 PM at the Sandpoint High School
Levy Election will be held on March 12 from 8 am to 8 pm.
February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page
DOWNTOWN SANDPOINT EVENTS SANDPOINT EVENTS
February
Masquerade Ball A First Thursday Event!
March 7 208.255.1876
Experience
Downtown Sandpoint!
Visit www.DowntownSandpoint.com for a complete calendar of events
14 The Love Boat Dinner Theater, EFX on Division. Dinner theater, 6 pm. $25. 208-610-1944 14, 16 Brooklyn Castle, Panida Theater, 7:30 263-9191 15-21 Winter Crazy Days in the Sandpoint Shopping District 15-24 Sandpoint Winter Carnival. Learn more SandpointWinterCarnival.com 15 Cirque de Sandpoint, 6:30 Pend d’Oreille Winery 15 Downtown Rail Jam and Bonfire 7 pm Jeff Jones Square 15 LeRoy Bell Concert, Panida Theater, 7:30 pm. 263-2179 16 Ski Joring 11 am Bonner Co. Fairgrounds. 16 The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner 4 pm Bonner Co Library 16 Country-style BBQ Dinner and Western Hoedown, Trinity at City Beach. 255-7558 16 Pardi Gras at Schweitzer, 3 pm. Schweitzer.com 17 Winter Ale Walk Kickoff 19 Annual 2/19 Party at the 219, 10 am to close. 21 Taste of Sandpoint, 5 pm, Sandpoint Event Center 21-23 Rust and Bone, 7:30, Panida Theater 263-9191. 22 Schweitzer Extravaganza, Schweitzer.com 22 Adult Spelling Bee, 6 pm, Panhandle State Bank 23 Wedding, Party and Event Expo 10-4 Bonner Co. Fairgrounds 23 Dodgeball Tournament, Eureka Institute, 1 pm, 513 Oak
March
1-3 Sportsmen’s Gun and Horn Show, Bonner Co. Fairgrounds 3 Missoula Children’s Theater, 2 & 7 pm, Panida Theater. 263-6139 7 First Thursday: What A Ball! Masquerade Ball. 255-1876 7 Laurie Rubin 7 pm Panida Theater, 263-6139 8-9 The Follies, Panida Theater, 8 pm. AngelsOverSandpoint.com
PLUS: • Trivia every Tuesday night at
MickDuff’s, 7 to 10 pm. • Tuesdays with Ray, Trinity at City Beach, 6 to 8 pm. • Lounge Music with Neighbor John, Thursdays 6-9 at 41 South. • Winery Music - Live music every Friday night at Pend d’Oreille Winery • Starlight Racing - Every Friday night at Schweitzer • Live music, Coldwater Creek Wine Bar, 7-10 on Fridays. • Saturday Jam at the La Rosa Club. Live music! 255-2100
February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page
Follies for a Good Cause
It was 11 years ago when Marsha Ogilvie—now mayor of Sandpoint but then just a downtown business owner— partnered with Eichardt’s publican Jeff Nizzoli and began twisting arms to help create a Mardi Gras celebration for Sandpoint. The Angels Over Sandpoint, looking to increase the amount of money they raise i to provide support for Bonner County residents going through hard times, jumped on board and The Follies was born. A variety show (a raunchy, risque variety show, in the tradition of Mardi Gras), featuring the talents of local performers, The Follies is now in its 11th year and has become a mustsee performance for locals in-the-know. This year’s production will take place at Sandpoint’s Panida Theater on March 8 and 9. “Those of us who have been in the Follies all these years are amazed every year as we watch the popularity continue to grow,” said Kate McAllister, the marketing chair for the Follies, one of its most popular performers (as the Queen of Ireland), and a past President of the Angels. “We began as part of the Sandpoint Mardi Gras celebration that the town put on for years. Then when Mardi Gras went away, the Follies kept going.” It’s not a show for the faint-at-heart. Bawdy language is raised to an art form (sometimes), costumes can be scanty, and seemingly no topic is off limits. But the show is saved from B-Street burlesque by the sheer talent shown by each and every performer. From music to dance to humorous skits, the viewer can expect a professional grade performance in a firstclass production. A lot of credit can go to Deb McShane who, as Director of the show, brings her many years of performance experience to the project, along with the production excellence headed up by Dave Nygren (who is also the production manager for the Festival at Sandpoint) and his crew of back-stage, sound, and lighting specialists. “Who knew this unique, ‘naughty’ little show would grow into an international sensation (yes, Canada is international),” laughed Kate. “It comes down to supply and demand; the public has demanded it and the Angels Over Sandpoint have supplied a magnificent performance every year! We preformers feel honored to be a part of it, and if being ‘naughty’ will raise over $30,000 in one weekend to help those who can’t help
themselves, then we will all be there to encourage the donations.” The group is sensitive to those who want to support the cause, but are uncomfortable with the nature of this annual variety show, which provides such a large percentage of its funding. “If the Follies offends those with delicate sensibilities, the Angels offer other fundraisers such as the High Tea the first Saturday in May. It is quite lovely and everyone is very civily spoken,” Kate explained. And there’s also the opportunity to make direct donations to this 501c3 charity whose work is ever more important in a county of growing needs. “All monies raised goes to help those in need in Bonner County,” said Kate. “This time of year we see an increase in requests due to the cold weather and all that entails with heat, lights and rent assistance. We are a grass roots organization dedicated to helping a community in need when there is nowhere else to turn. As an all-volunteer group, we rely on generous benefactors to make our giving possible and unfortunately there is never enough to help everyone.” This year’s show will feature Andrew Sorg as emcee, a crowd favorite since his first performance (“Dick in a Box”) and a leading light in the local theater scene. He’ll preside over two nights of talent, taking place March 8 and 9 at Sandpoint’s Panida Theater. Doors open at 7 pm each night and the show begins at 8. Tickets are just $25 each and are available for purchase online at SandpointGeneralStore.com, or at Eve’s Leaves, Petal Talk, and Eichardt’s Pub, all in downtown Sandpoint. This show tends to sell out fast, so don’t wait to get your tickets. As we go to press, Petal Talk is already sold out of their tickets for Saturday night’s show. “Once again the acts that have been chosen from the two nights of auditions are going to be priceless and guaranteed to make you laugh and shake off winter for an evening,” Kate promised. “It’s a great time to gather with friends and celebrate each other. We will have redneck drinking glasses this year and some other really great surprises! Remember, you must be 21 or older to get in and please, if you are easily offended, don’t even think about it.” -Trish Gannon
Alumni Tournament
For over a quarter century, graduates of Clark Fork High School and associated friends have gathered in the spring to return to the gym and show off their (mostly) still-strong basketball—and now volleyball, as well—skills. Corey Vogel is one of those who comes back to the school for some hoops action, though a knee injury sidelined him last year. It’s a tradition he values, given he played in the first alumni tournament ever held, and was on the winning team. “I’d say that as a varsity basketball player coming out of high school that first year, it was such a great experience seeing those alumni come and play who I had watched on the old wooden bleachers as a little kid,” said Corey. “I always told myself, “Wow, I’ll never be that big!” as they thundered by. Every year it got bigger and bigger and more and more alumni came back. It really got to be the big, unofficial, Clark Fork “reunion,” and everyone was always excited about seeing classmates they hadn’t seen since the last tournament. The businesses in town have come to depend on the revenue generated every year. It continues to be one of the highlights of my year and I know that there are hundreds of other Clark fork graduates that feel the same.” This year, the 26th of these annual tournaments will be held on March 8, 9 and 10 at the school. If you want to play, the cost per player is $30 (includes a team shirt plus admittance), and forms are available on the Clark Fork High School Facebook page, or by calling the school at 208.255.7177. If you want to brush up on your skills, the gym will be open at 6:30 pm from March 5 through 8. Admission to watch is $6 adult/$4 students, or get a weekend pass for $14 adults/$10 students. There is no charge for children under the age of 5. Games begin Friday evening with basketball at 6 pm, continue throughout Saturday, and finish with championship games on Sunday. “It’s no secret that finding funding for athletics is increasingly difficult,” said Phil Kemink, principal at Clark Fork, “and the alumni tournament for years has provided important financial support for our program. In addition, watching returning graduates and their families, and in some cases, their grandchildren, return year after year really brings home that this school is at the heart of our community. If you’ve never come to watch a game, you should. The skill level is pretty high, and I have to admit, I love watching the old guys teach the ‘young pups’ how it’s done!”
February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page
The Game Trail Matt Haag
I was cleaning up the garage the other day and saw my fly rod sitting in its case covered in dust and the cobwebs it gathered through the winter. I just bought my wife a new fly rod for Christmas and it lay upright unused next to my rod, a virgin to that lovely bend of a fighting fish. Needless to say, I got the hankering to do some fishing. I began to dream of casting a big hopper, laying it in that perfect spot on the river as the late evening sun set on a warm August night. It’s definitely a character flaw of mine to long for something I can’t have. Believe me, in August when the temperatures are in the 90s, I’m wishing for that cold fall or winter day! I guess you can say I’m a little unsettled! Well, fishing is on my mind this cold, snowy day in January and good fishing is right around the corner, so here a few reminders before you grab your rods, and of course, your kids. Now is the time to start getting your gear together and making sure that your equipment is operating well. Remember when you stored your gear this winter with that damaged fly line or that huge bird’s nest in your bait caster? You’ll regret that when the stars align and that first opportunity to fish is knocking on the door. Of course, you should be thinking about purchasing your license as well, because when you get that hankering to wet a line and you’ll never remember to purchase your license first; it’s kind of like buck fever. Unfortunately, I run into folks every year that forget to buy their license, or use the excuse they couldn’t afford one. It’s a lot more affordable to buy a license than pay a fine that would
Turn Fishing Dreams into Reality
be equivalent to six years of purchasing a resident license. Put five dollars in the piggy bank every few days and you have the $25.75 you’ll need to purchase your resident Idaho license in no time. Come on, what can you purchase for such little cost that will bring that much fun over the course of an entire year, and in some situations bring quality food to your household? Please don’t forget to pick up a copy of the fishing regulations when you purchase your license; the new ones are out and they have some changes you should be aware of. Every year I come across folks who say they didn’t know that the regulation changed and now they are in a heap of trouble because they didn’t take the time to grab a copy of the regulations, and read them! Some new changes to the regulations include the closing of harvest of rainbow trout in the Clark Fork River and its tributaries, Pack River and tributaries, and Grouse Creek and Tributaries, until the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend. Catch and release on those big Kamloop Rainbows is still legal. Remember, those fish are headed to spawn and your attention to properly handling and release is paramount in creating a quality rainbow fishery. In addition, the Clark Fork and its tributaries are open to Kokanee harvest with a limit of six fish, and like in the past, the harvest of bull trout and cutthroat is illegal. Lake Pend Oreille regulations have changed a bit as we move through the stages of recovering a Kokanee and rainbow fishery. The bounty is no longer in effect on Kamloops, so please don’t turn your heads in anymore, the check will not be in the mail. Harvest limits on rainbows are six fish a day with only one
Why drive to town when there’s better things to do?
rainbow over 20 inches. Some exciting news on the Kokanee front is that we now have the opportunity to harvest with a limit of six fish a day. The use of unlimited rods from a boat while fishing Lake Pend Oreille is still legal and, as always, the mouths of Gold, North Gold, Granite, and Trestle Creek are closed to fishing for a radius of 100 yards into the lake. With the regulation changes and some increased opportunity, your local Fish & Game officers will be increasing intensity of our patrols on the Lake Pend Oreille. We, of course, will be focusing on the education aspect with our contacts, but at the same time we need increased enforcement of those folks who think it’s okay to steal fish from all of us intentionally. So don’t be upset when we ask to board your boat, check coolers, and check those little hidey holes in the floorboards you think we didn’t know about. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we protect your resources! Please call me or call our regional office in Coeur d’Alene 769-1414 for any questions about regulations you may have. I know the regulations can be confusing, especially when there are changes. As enforcement officers it is not only our job to enforce, but more importantly, to educate the sporting public on laws. Allow us to do that before you head out for the day. Don’t forget about those kids, they want to go fishing too! They need your patience and guidance to learn the lifelong passion of fishing. So pick a day and place to fish that’s friendly to kids and will encourage success, and most of all have fun out there. Leave No Child Inside . . . put a fishing rod in their hands.
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Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| February 2013
A Bird in Hand Michael Turnlund
In the time before the invention of last names (which was related to taxation purposes, by the way), people were often identified by some distinctive characteristic. For example, there might have been in any village in Medieval England a James the Short, a Mary the Tall, or a Peter the Lame. A list of kings from Medieval France will find a Louis the Fat, a Louis the Quarreler, and a Charles the Affable. And how about these: Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad—the parents of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Wow! I could have fun with this, starting with my in-laws. And thus is our bird of the month: the Lesser Scaup. A great bird by any other measure. So what if it is a wee bit smaller than its larger cousin, the Greater Scaup. It is not lesser by any other measure. The Lesser Scaup is probably one of the most common ducks in our area. In fact, it is one of the most common ducks in everybody’s region in that it is, either because of summer range, winter range, or migration, one of the most commonly seen waterfowl in North America. In our neck of the woods it is typically a yearround resident. So what is a Lesser Scaup anyway and how does it differ from a Greater Scaup? Scaups are medium-sized diving ducks, meaning they make their way in the world by chasing their sustenance under water. Scaup feed on aquatic plants, insects, mollusks, and other underwater critters they can catch. Lesser Scaups are primarily freshwater birds and Greater Scaups saltwater birds, therefore you’ll mostly see the Lesser inland on lakes and ponds, whereas Greaters like the coastal regions. Both species breed in the far north of North America, where their ranges might then overlap. Otherwise, in the winter, they are distinct populations as the one remains inland and the other hugs the coasts. The origin of their name is unknown. When pronounced, it rhymes with top. Some authorities believe that the name came as a description of the hen’s call, as they are much noisier than the drakes. Others suggest that the name came from the Scottish word for clams, one of the primary foods of the Greater Scaup in northern Europe. I like the former idea better, as the birds often make a noise—to my ears—that resembles “ska, ska.” Scaups are pretty birds. The males appear to be black and white when on the water. With binoculars, that dark head
The Lesser Scaup: A Duck Lesser in Name turns to a deep metallic blue, purple, or green depending on the angle of view and the play of the light. The eye is a distinctive yellow, though this is not a good field mark. A lot of dark-headed male ducks also sport such colored eyes. The bill of the male is a soft baby blue during breeding season, which gives these birds its common name of “bluebill.” If you can get a good view, you’ll also notice a black nail on the tip of the bill. Again, from the water, both the bow and stern of the scaup is dark, though more black in shade than the head. Besides the bill, what really marks the scaups—either Lesser or Greater—is the coloration of the back and flanks of this bird while paddling around on the lake. The sides are a perfect color of white and it is quite striking in comparison to the forward dark colors of the male bird, with a clear line of demarcation between the dark and light. The back of the bird might appear white or gray from a distance, but closer inspection finds a beautiful tweed pattern of dark grays and whites. These are truly lovely birds, though you will need a good pair of binoculars to fully appreciate them. When out of the water, the male’s white belly becomes apparent, demonstrating that the white coloration is a wide band around the bird. As is common with most female waterfowl, the scaup hen is covert in coloration. She will be nondescript light brown in coloration, head to tail tip, though dark shades will blend in and out on her back. The hen also sports a yellow eye, and there is normally some sort of white patching on the face around the bill. The bill might be light blue, black, gray, or combinations thereof. As noted above, the hens tend to be noisy and the drakes mute. I guess they’ve just got nothing to say.
One of the most difficult things for a birder to do in North America is to differentiate between a Greater and Lesser Scaup in the field. It is probably not possible, though your birding guides will make suggestions. I like what the Sibley “Guide to Birds” has to say: the “oftdiscussed head… differences in scaup are essentially useless in the field.” Meaning, you can look for the supposed field marks, but you probably can never be definitive. What seems to be the primary difference is that the Lesser Scaup appears to have a peaked crown of the head, sometimes with a wee little tuff, whereas the Greater Scaup’s cranium is smoothly rounded. The differences probably only become apparent when the birds are at rest on the water and you can make comparisons. Yes, the Greater Scaup is greater in size than the Lesser Scaup, but undoubtedly a big Lesser is the equal of a small Greater. One possible way to differentiate between them is viewing the birds in flight. The Greater Scaup’s white trailing wing band (view from the top of the wing) extends as an arc across both the primaries and the secondaries (from almost the tip of the wing to its base), whereas the Lesser’s wing band extends only through the secondaries (half the wing’s length, beginning at the base). Beyond this, habitat—saltwater versus freshwater—might be your best bet. Whew, that was confusing! But beyond that, these are beautiful birds, whether Lesser or Greater. So here is an assignment for you. Get out the binoculars, put on your Deerstalker cap (think Sherlock Holmes), fire up your pipe, head for a quiet pond or lake with ducks on it, and see if you can spot the field marks as described above. That, my friends, is one of the elementary joys of bird watching. Happy birding!
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February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page
Kathy’s Faith Walk God is love. Do you remember seeing this phrase in the form of a bumper sticker? I do. I also remember deeply wounded friends telling me that if God’s love is anything like the love they got from family and friends over the years, well…thanks, but no thanks. In this wicked world we have no shortage of damaged people, usually in some level of power, telling the weaker among us, “Trust me. I know what is best for you. I love you,” and then abusing the weaker soul. This is common behavior in our culture of conceit, anger, violence, and the pursuit of power. And when a person is exposed to this torment early in life, when they are most vulnerable, it can take a lifetime to repair the damage. That is why it is so important to let people know, no matter the milepost of their journey, God loves them. They may not believe it at first. They may scoff and shout angry replies. No matter. God still loves them. Many seeds are planted in the garden of our hearts. Seeds of compassion, anger, hatred, peace, joy, kindness, malice, greed, patience, gentleness, pride, avarice, jealousy, bitterness... they are all there. They are present in all of us all the
God is Love
time and they all grow into plants. The question will always be which ones will we allow to grow and which ones will we choose to pull out? The truth of that matter is we simply cannot tend this garden of the heart on our own. If we have been badly abused it will be almost impossible to tell the difference between plants that should stay, and those that must leave. We need the Master Gardener to help us learn the difference. I have heard it said in song and poem that there is good and bad in every garden and that it is okay. Just let it all grow naturally. That may be true of the wildly chaotic English flower garden, but when it comes to the garden of our hearts it is not okay. There is a difference and allowing bad fruit to grow and ripen is a poor garden practice. Neither is it wisdom to simply blast through the garden pulling out bad plants as good may also be lost. It takes time in order to preserve the good fruit while eradicating the bad. The Master Gardener knows how best to do this and he LOVES to tend the gardens of His children. God is love. In the New Testament of the Bible there are three little books
toward the back. They are 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. Find them just ahead of Revelation. These little books were written by the Apostle John. He was with Jesus until the Crucifixion and even cared for Jesus’ mother after that day. John wrote about faith and love, but in these small books, mostly about love. They are so worth the read because they help us understand what love on Gods terms looks like. It is very different than what we would naturally expect. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. He is the source and the expression of love. In fact, without Him, we cannot truly love. God is love. As we move into the month of February we will soon see images of hearts and little Cupids shooting arrows, candy and cards, thoughts of romance and bliss. These are reflections of something we long for deep in our hearts. We all want to be loved by someone who will never hurt us but will build us up to love as well. There is only one who can do this relentlessly and with eternal perseverance: Jesus the Christ. Consider allowing the Master Gardener into your heart and let Him till, plant, weed, and harvest. The fruit will be love. You may write to Kathy Osborne at osborne122@yahoo.com
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The Hawk’s Nest Ernie Hawks
With a trailhead at over 9,500 feet, getting our breath was bit taxing. I constantly felt the same as I do when I run the steps at home a couple times—not really winded but not a full oxygen supply with each intake. To prepare for the hike we had been camping between 7,000 and 8,000 feet for a few days, with day hikes well into the tens. A week before we left home we had done some ridge walking at over 7,000 in the Canadian Selkirks. Walking the narrow ridges from peak to peak taxed our lungs and our legs. And it had given us some wonderful views of deep narrow valleys. In some of the shaded areas below us, winter snow never melts completely. With that training we managed to convince ourselves we would have no problem with the thinner air. With all that preparation we were confident our lungs would be up to the job. So after a couple of nights at the trailhead we felt ready to head out on our seven-day trek. In four miles we had gained over a thousand feet, so we rested at a spot called (with very good reason) Photographer’s Point. We were already feeling rather oxygen deprived but were doing fine. Then we saw the sights. They took our breath away. Several gray, stony spires pierced the sky, still gripping against the forces of time, snippets of ancient glaciers. We could see into valley bottoms that were less than 7,000 feet and up to peaks that were over 13,500. While standing and looking I noticed my breathing. Usually I take it for granted, but at this altitude it was ever present in my consciousness. I couldn’t help but remember a line Cristina Baldwin wrote “And what is breath? Nature. Nature’s gift: the exhalation of trees.” We would take several breaks over the next week, both to draw in the precious views of nature and to draw in the precious gift of nature, breath. Some cultures believe Breath and Spirit are the same. In many cultures life begins with the first breath. In the book of Job, “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Spirit and Breath as one is easy for me to believe. Spirit breathes us while Breath creates life all around us. More than anything
Breath: A Gift of Nature else it connects us to all the rest. We share it with everything: the plants, the animals, even the earth itself. Its very essence is more than the sum of the parts; in fact it is a mystery. No living organism can survive more than a few seconds without it. Awareness of our breathing was ever present as we moved on; deep into valleys with stream crossings it was there. Up over saddles and through gaps it was there. Then to the tree line and beyond it was there. I was feeling my lungs asking for just a little more, yet none of us suffered any serious symptoms of altitude sickness. One morning there was frost on our tents and the vegetation around us. The water supply we had drawn from the lake the night before was frozen. As I crawled out into the new day I could see my breath. It joined that of my companions and then wound itself into the atmosphere around us. It reminded me of the American Indians and their use of the peace pipe. As they pass the pipe they exhale the smoke into the air. The smoke symbolizes the individual’s Spirit mingling with all others and dissipating into the all. On another trip into the mountains several years ago I sat next to a fast flowing stream. Everything around
me was frozen except the water as it cascaded down a narrow chute. A mist was rising from the water, which was warmer then the air and created a fog. As I sat, a bull elk came into view across the creek; his nostrils wafted vapor as he moved along the water. His breath and mine mixed with the mist over the water, all becoming one. I could see how we are all one in the Spirit, connected by the one thing our life depends on more than any other—air, our breath. We spent several days at the higher elevations never quite, totally, acclimating to the thinner air. This meant the awareness of our breathing was always there. Still, the beauty of the place, the pristine lakes, pouring tumbling streams, and those huge granite towers that are scarred and scored by the ice fields of several centuries ago, kept taking our breath away. It was a weeklong reminder of our connection to each other as well as the Earth. In the Spirit we breathe we are connected to other humans, other animals, the Earth and all she supports. We are individual creations that make up one vast creation. Coming out of the mountains our recovery was immediate. Still the lesson had been impressed us forever, it is still there. We are all one in Spirit.
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February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page 11
A Seat in the House
Rep. George Eskridge
The 62nd Idaho legislature is entering its second month and the House and Senate committees are beginning to see a flurry of legislative proposals ranging from veterans’ legislation to a proposal to make Idaho one of six test sites for unmanned drones. Significant issues that will be addressed by this legislature include ethics reform, education reform, formation of a state health insurance exchange and legislation protecting our second amendment right to keep and bear arms. By the time this article is printed, the Idaho House of Representatives will have voted on House Resolution 2 (HR2) to revise House Rule 76 that governs ethics complaints against a House member. The resolution adopts a new procedure for “constituting a standing ethics committee and committee alternates through a confidential nomination and election process.” It also defines what constitutes an ethics violation by a member and revises the procedure for filing a complaint, the review for probable cause and the hearing process in the event the complaint appears valid. Ethics violation penalties under the resolution range from a reprimand to expulsion of the member. There are a number of public education bills being proposed in both the House and Senate education committees. At least four of these are aimed at restricting the influence the teachers’ unions have in negotiating multi-year contracts and salaries. Supposedly, these bills have strong support from the Idaho School Board Association and school district trustees representing both small and large school board districts throughout Idaho. The intent
This Session’s Controversial Issues of the legislative proposals is meant to provide more flexibility for trustees in managing budgets and addressing other critical local education issues. Most of the provisions in the various measures proposed are in reaction to the failure of the school reform propositions last election, and are an attempt to bring some of those measures back to the legislature for consideration. Implementation of a Health Insurance Exchange is a highly controversial issue before the legislature this session. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), oftentimes referred to as Obamacare, requires the implementation of a health exchange program by either the state or the federal government. An exchange is basically a “shopping center” for people to select an insurance program that best suits their needs. Supposedly, a state has three options: 1) to create and maintain a state exchange, 2) to let the federal government provide and maintain the exchange and 3) to refuse to implement any exchange required under the PPACA. Governor Otter has recommended that the Idaho legislature adopt a state implemented exchange in order to avoid a federal exchange being imposed that would increase costs and result in more federal regulation than necessary for implementation. The third option is being supported by many. The risk with this option however, is that in the event the federal government is positioned to implement the exchange, then Idaho citizens will be required to participate in the federal exchange if they don’t presently have insurance coverage and a state exchange is not in place. Failure to have insurance
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or to participate under the federal exchange in the absence of insurance would result in a fine imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. An overwhelming amount of information is being provided to legislators by supporters and opponents of a state-run insurance exchange and the decision is going to be difficult and controversial no matter what the legislature finally decides is best for Idaho. The majority of Idaho legislators are extremely protective of our second amendment right to keep and bear arms. As a result, there are several pieces of proposed legislation to address concerns of legislators and Idaho citizens resulting from gun control efforts that may be enacted by President Obama through executive order as a result of the school shooting in Connecticut. Because of the number of proposed bills addressing gun legislation, the House and Senate are taking measures to manage the number of proposed bills in order to avoid duplication of efforts to address gun control issues. I will continue to provide updates on legislative activity as we progress through the session and I encourage your input on issues important to you. I can be reached by e mail at geskridge@house.idaho.gov or by phone at 1-800-626-0471. I can also be reached by regular mail at: P.O. Box 83720, Boise, Idaho 83720-0038. Thanks for reading! George
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The Scenic Route Sandy Compton
January’s column excepted, I’ve not written a Scenic Route in a year, and January’s was merely a confession that I would continue, a warning shot across the reader’s bow. Now, having run through all ideas I have ever considered writing about, I wonder if I’m crazy to do so. I started repeating myself ten years ago or longer. In that time, politics haven’t changed, nor have politicians. It seems that we are led by a cowardly, overtly greedy and entitled mass distinguished by a few bright stars who can and are willing to think beyond their own welfare. The efforts of the stars to drag the rest along toward sanity attract the attention of vocal sharks preying on a disillusioned populace by complaining about people with more talent, ethics and compassion than the sharks could ever hope to have. In other words, the media has gotten more hysterical and more divisive. Celebrities are more bizarre and less of a good example to those who celebrate them. We are spending billions on weapons and spectator sports annually while thousands of children starve to death daily. We are burning billions of dollars and millions of barrels of gasoline chasing each other around in circles—literally and figuratively—while burning up our biosphere in the process, and directing nearly no effort toward discovering a way out of our dependency on fossil fuels or off this planet. I have written about all these things, sometimes two or three or five times, but still they continue. It seems a bit futile to continue myself. And, yet, I told Publisher Gannon that I would have something for February. So, what will it be? Outside the window of my little
Happy and Hopeful - Like my Grandfather writing cave in Montana, I can see an even dozen trees larger than ten inches, diameter breast height. DBH is a standard used by foresters when cruising timber with their calipers, inclinometers, compasses and tapes. Said trees belong to me. Interspersed among them are many smaller trees obscuring a phalanx of other large trees. Once in a while, I cut some of these down and, depending on their state and species, make firewood of them or send them to the sawmill. I learned to do this and how to do this from my father and my grandfather. My grandfather used a crosscut saw. Gasoline powered chainsaws did not arrive until he was about 60, and then it took two men to make one work. I am blessed with a Stihl that weighs 15 pounds and can fell a tree in about a third of the time that the old double-ended Mall might have, and six times faster than grandpa with his crosscut. My grandfather was a happy, hopeful man. He lived in a world much different than ours, especially in the speed at which things happen and the stark contrast between the attitudes of humans then and now. We all seem to want more. He was happy with what he had. Why we want more is debatable, but part of it has to do with our willingness to listen to those who would have us believe that we are defined by what and how much we have. My father, I think, was not so happy or so hopeful as my grandfather. He was of that next generation, the Boommakers, who believed in the mantra of industrialized America, and taught it to their children: “a refrigerator in every kitchen, a television in every living room, a washing machine in every home and
two cars in every garage—unless you can get more” or some variation on that theme. And so, now, we are addicted to stuff. My grandfather and grandmother never had a refrigerator, though they did get a huge freezer when they finally got electricity in the 1940s. They had a garden that my grandma worked in on crutches the summer before she died at the age of 91. They had an orchard. They had a chicken house, a big home, a shop and barns my grandfather built himself. To the best of my knowledge, they never had more than one automobile. Grandpa plowed with horses until 1953—when my dad brought in a Ford 9-N tractor. The tractor did make life easier, especially in winter, which it is now, here on this old place in Montana. Snow is piling up around those dozen trees I can see from my writing cave. And all the rest of them, too. My father died at age 57. I have outlived him by four years already. My grandfather outlived him by 27. I have my grandfather’s 1943 Montana driver’s license, issued in April, the first time he got to the county seat that year, I imagine. It lists his age as 60, his height as 6 feet and his weight as 170. I’m a year older, an inch shorter and quite a bit heavier. But, I recently learned to run a cross cut saw, and I’m thinking of doing some logging in the spring. Sandy Compton’s latest book, The Friction of Desire, has nothing to do with crosscut saws, and very little to do with sex, in spite of the titl; but you should buy one, read it carefully and then wrap it up for a friend. It’s available at Vanderford’s Books and The Corner Bookstore in Sandpoint or online at www.bluecreekpress.com
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The
Valley of Shadows
Strange Accounts From North Idaho
Lawrence Fury
“Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight? … Ever from their lair and through their hands’ palm; Misery swelters.” – Wilfred Owen Jody Forest got the jump on me last May with his “Dopplegangers I Have Known” piece. This first tale is quite different from his. I’ve related several unusual and bizarre accounts about people’s odd encounters and experiences in the woods of North Idaho over the past five years, and the following is no exception. Ever wonder about some of the unexplained differences in the world? Or stranger yet, an odd reappearance? A person who has been missing and returns after several months, or even years, and even though family and friends are happy for the person’s return, they seem… different. Of course, the time away and their experiences could, and in most cases likely does, explain this change. But there could be another explanation, one that perhaps crosses the veil into another possibility or shall we say… another reality. One that the following could explain. Look for yellow eyes; they need not be jaundice, but the telltale sign of nature’s or perhaps Super nature’s, copy. This account takes place one summer in the 1950s somewhere in and around a logging camp here in the forests of North Idaho. My source, who was then a young man in his twenties, I’ll call “Jake.” The housing boom of the post-war era was going strong and Jake had no trouble finding logging jobs. In grade school during World War II, his dad was partly disabled from a wound he sustained.
Through hard work, the good money Jake, an only child, made came in handy in supporting himself and his parents, even though his dad had some benefits from his war service. His mother was a housewife. Enough with the background. It was late May and, while Jake would get off one day a week, and three days a month, the logging job would last through late September or early October, depending on the weather. Long days took their toll, but the pay for four-plus months work would provide not only Jake’s parents with the extra to make their year more comfortable, but Jake’s tuition and most of his living expenses in the fall to attend the University of Idaho. ne hot day in late August, the young man and an older logger were limbing some fallen trees (his term, not mine). It wasn’t unusual that they would find themselves yards apart, and though they might be out of eyesight, usually kept within ear shot. After nearly an hour, Jake, exhausted and drenched in sweat, leaned against the last log he had limbed. Drinking from a canteen, he suddenly noticed what he thought was his partner a hundred yards away. The other man was walking away. But it was funny as the older man should have been in the opposite direction, behind Jake, nearer to the logging road. Jake yelled to him and there came a reply, from behind him where the other should have been all along. Confused, the young man looked back. The ‘other’ partner, in the meantime, had turned to look at Jake. The man appeared to be his partner, but his clothes were different. Instead of a cut-off, short-sleeved red
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plaid shirt and black pants held up by suspenders, this partner wore a blue chambray shirt, blue jeans and a belt. The other thing though was what, at the time, Jake thought to be a trick of the sun and sweat in his eyes. This other partner’s eyes seemed lighter, not the brown Jake knew, but a burnt orange/yellowish color. After several long moments the other man shouldered what appeared to be an oddly small-looking chainsaw and continued into the tree line away from the road. At that moment, Jake’s partner suddenly spoke from three feet behind him, asking, “Whatcha lookin’ at?” Jake jumped a mile and turned to look at the man who was wearing the clothes he had been wearing earlier that day. That night in camp, Jake said that when he related the story to the other lumberjacks that his partner and one other man shifted and exchanged odd looks with each other. Jake came out and asked why they were acting funny. The entire camp of eleven men looked at Jake’s partner and the other man. Jake didn’t go into all that much detail, just said that the two men simply shrugged, and kept quiet though they continued to act strangely as the night’s conversations came to an end. Jake worked the rest of the season and the first part of the next until he had enough money to attend the University of Idaho at Moscow that fall of 1956. He got a degree in forestry, and married just before President Kennedy was assassinated. HE had one child and now lives in Everett, Wash., along with his wife and several grandkids. But he always wondered about the two men in the lumber camp of North Idaho. Why the odd reaction to having seen a double to one of their own? Had they had their own odd encounters they had not wanted to share? More accounts from the forests of North Idaho next time, in the Valley of Shadows.
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February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page 14
FROM THE FILES OF THE RIVER JOURNAL’S
Surrealist Research Bureau
Gun Control: A modest proposal
Jody Forest
The late Charlton Heston’s iconic “From my cold dead hands,” speech at a long ago NRA Rally is remembered nowadays fondly, if a tad worshipfully, by gun rights enthusiasts. It was in reality however, a craven, underhanded ploy by the consummate actor Heston, defiantly raising high an old muzzle-loading musket which he was undoubtedly aware absolutely no one on God’s Green Earth was even wildly considering asking him to give up. Hitchcock called such ploys MacGuffins and, if Heston was honest, he’d have been holding instead a lethal AK-47 with a 30 round banana clip magazine. If he weren’t dead already I’d tell him, “For Grid’s sake, hurry up and die old man, so I can pry your gun from your lifeless, useless, cold dead hands!” No more elementary school kids need to be slaughtered! My 12-year-old nephew, Tyler, has just recently been given rudimentary instructions on possible schoolhouse “incidents” like barricading doors and (my suggestion) waiting ‘til a madman shooter has to change his magazine and use that short interval to try and swarm and beat him (hopefully to death) with a metal chair or whatever’s handy. It seems like limiting magazine capacity to three or four rounds is the absolute bottom line we can do. The first person I killed was also my most memorable. In Spring of 1967 I was an 18-year-old armored infantryman in Asia behind the muzzle of a 60 cal. machine gun when we received mortar and small arms fire and I saw a running figure perhaps 50 yards away carrying something in his arms, maybe mortar rounds (?). Without thinking I opened up on him on automatic and watched as he danced frozen in mid-air for a timeless moment before falling in pieces to the ground as a small red mist blew away on the slight breeze. It turned out later he’d been an innocent civilian suffering from elephantitis and had been carrying an abnormal, enormous pair of cantaloupesized testicles, who was simply trying to evade the bedlam which was magically, fatally erupting around his tiny rice field. In the next two years I seldom came across live enemy; they were usually already dead. We shot at shadows, at muzzle flashes, we called in Phantoms of Death from Above and unholy rains of iron and fire from mystical
faraway firebases named Uplift or English and bodies came to resemble more and mean less to us than manikins frozen into a grimace, growing fat on their own corruption. It does not seem right to me now to allow one man to kill another. And yet..., After a statistical survey by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) found that homes with guns in them had a “higher than expected likelihood of violent death,” the members of Congress pushed And they don’t have to—after all, don’t through a law supported and written bywe theAmericans NRA to withhold forit’s anyours believe funding if it’s ours, agency, the CDC, from and weincluding can do with it what weeven want? Or researching or even compiling data on is the issue. The ATF, which is we tasked and wantby it, then Congress with enforcing our nation’s you have to give it to us and if you don’t, guns laws, has been emasculated by NRA then you insponsor terrorism and we’ll supporters D.C. It has been leaderless and without a Director for six years. The By theObama way, China wantsforthat last person nominated theoil as well. Remember China?was Theblocked people by who position, Andrew Traver, loaned usthe allmere that fact money? the NRA for of his China’s having oil attended once, is long ago, a6.5 meeting consumption around billionofbarrels Police Chiefs discussed, a year, andwho is growing at 7among percent every other gun control. Thebillion NRA also year.things, It produces about 3.6 barrels prohibited theDoes ATF from evenlook compiling every year. this math good ato national statistical database andthan reduced anyone? Can anyone other Sarah the penalties for dealers who falsified Palin and George Bush believe we can records to a mere misdemeanor. drill out ofproposal this problem? Myour ownway modest is win- Anyone who thinkallwe better hit the win fordoesn’t everyone: gun owners canground running figure out howweapons. to fuel what keep theirto penises, I mean I’d we want require fueled assault with something other than simply weapon owners to oil probably to barbed go back to an surround their deserves homes with wire fences, only allowing them out when an electronic monitoring system verifies : I could go on their gunsbut areyou’ll safely locked away forever, quit reading. Soand one final accounted Ranges and shooting discussionfor. forFiring the American public. First, galleries will have their property and let’s have a true, independent analysis of business taxes doubled. Hunters choosing what happened on September 11, 2001. to hunt with assault rifles will have their The official explanation simply doesn’t license fees tripled. So that normal, hold water. This is one of those patriotic Americans can recognize and“who knew what, when” questions that must be shun these penis-lovers, I mean gunanswered—and people/institutions must fanciers, perhaps they should be required to wear a symbol, like maybe a big yellow star with a rifleofinaccountability, the middle.We you can might Speaking tell these Goobers its a badge of honor, be surprised to learn that I would not like a junior I bet support ansheriff effortortosomething, impeach President they’d for the it like Trish’s dog Carl scarfs Bush go after November elections. First, up a powdered donut! I dunno’ , I got a because that’s too late, and second, hundred a’ these great ideas. because more keep thanspreading Bush have ‘til next time, the been involved in crimes against the American word; “Soylent Green is People!” (It just people. toWhat I would likeHeston to seewas are occurred me that Charlton charges (at to thescream least, charges of treason) the first man those words). Oh brought Cheney, et al. Irony, thy against name isBush, Eris! All Homage toBring Xena! the charges and let’s let the evidence of
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February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page 15
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PASSAGES
Donald T. CHAMPNESS March 2, 1945- January 1, 2013 U.S. Air Force veteran www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Robert Newman “Mac” McCARTHY July 14, 1944-December 14, 2012 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Dawn Michelle Boward WOLDRIDGE December 11, 1969-January 2, 2013
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Keith H. PEN September 21, 1941-January 4, 2013 Vivian Leona HULL April 11, 1921-January 6, 2013 www.LakeviewFuneral.com
Miriam Abseck WEISS November 21, 1925-January 20, 2013
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John Darrel PARSLEY March 4, 1934-January 26, 2013 US Army veteran
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Vera Fances COLE November 6, 1927-January 28, 2013
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www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Richard Paul LEONE November 6, 1950-January 29, 2013
Alumni & Friends Tournament March 8, 9 & 10
WANT TO PLAY? Entry fee $30 per player basketball/ volleyball. Get a form at the Clark Fork High School Facebook page, or call 208-255-7177. WANT TO WATCH? Gate prices $6 adults/$4 children or get a weekend pass $14 adults/$10 students. (No charge under age 5)
Sharon Lyne NESS June 24, 1942-January 6, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
Rudolph “Rudy” Frank GALLOWICH January 5, 1919-January 6, 2013 US military veteran www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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www.LakeviewFuneral.com
Clark Fork High School’s 26th Annual
Fay-Elyn HAYS May 1, 1945-January 4, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Keith Elwood TUCKER April 11, 1930-January 3, 2013 US Army veteran www.Coffeltfuneral.com
www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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www.LakeviewFuneral.com
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Myrtle Joyce Butte MOORE April 27, 1921-January 13, 2013
Betty Jeanne Kile GEISS September 28, 1929-January 7, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Lois Irene Cooper JENSEN September 17, 1933-January 8, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Debby Jo Harmon WHITE October 12, 1951-January 9, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Brendan Earl CARPENTER September 7, 1990-January 9, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Steve Duane TUNISON October 6, 1952-January 11, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Daniel Roy FRIESEN December 29, 1945-January 11, 2013 US Navy veteran www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Barry Jan BARUSH September 16, 1958-January 11, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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LaNelda CONRAD May 26, 1924-January 14, 2013 US Marine Corps veteran www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Marjorie F “Marge” Eckert CHAMBERLAIN May 21, 1921-January 14, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Dorothea “Dottie” Ruth Meyer Van OOYEN May 16, 1929-January 23, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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John P BACHOWSKY July 22, 1930-January 23, 2013 US Military veteran www.Coffeltfuneral.com
Don’t miss the fun! Shake off the winter blahs while supporting the school’s athletic program!
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Maureen Louise BANGLE September 20, 1949-January 25, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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James Everett MONTGOMERY November 29, 1941-January 26, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
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Shirley Jean CURTIS January 11, 1924-February 1, 2013 www.Coffeltfuneral.com
Page 16 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| February 2013
Veterans’ News Gil Beyer
Shortly after the election in November some pundit—’his’ name escapes me—said, “If you didn’t like the 112th Congress you’ll hate the 113th Congress.” I beg to differ with this person. I am cautiously—very cautiously—optimistic that at least from a veteran’s point of view we may be slightly better off than we were. Yes, there are slightly fewer veterans in the 113th Congress, but that actually may be to our betterment. Two of the Senate veterans from WWII are no longer in Congress—Senator Lugar of Penn. was defeated in the GOP primary, and Senator Inouye of HI died. Some of the veterans who were in the 112th in the House were associated with the Tea Party Caucus. Fortunately, a few of them lost their re-election bids and were replaced with somewhat saner people—it is hoped. All in all, while they are somewhat fewer in number, the newest members of the 113th Congress are younger and are veterans of more recent conflicts. A good deal of the optimism that I hold for the 113th Congress—at least in the House— rests on the shoulders and prosthetic legs of Representative Tammy Duckworth (Illinois’s 8th congressional district). She lost both legs and partial use of her right arm while co-piloting a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in November 2004 when an RPG struck the aircraft. After a lengthy recovery and rehabilitation process at Walter Reed Army Hospital, Rep. Duckworth was appointed Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs on November 21, 2006, by the Illinois Governor. She worked to develop state programs giving tax credits to employers who hire veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Desert Storm; more state grants to service organizations; and backing for below-market mortgages for veterans. She was honored by Chicago’s Access Living for “her extraordinary commitment to veterans with disabilities.” In 2007 Duckworth was honored by the non-profit group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America with the “Veterans Leadership Award,” in recognition of her dedication to the nation’s newest generation of veterans. In May 2010, Duckworth was awarded an honorary doctorate by Northern Illinois University. She is currently serving as an LtCol of the Illinois Army National Guard On February 3, 2009, Duckworth was nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of
A Veteran-Friendly Congress? Veterans Affairs. The Senate confirmed her for the position on April 22. On June 30, 2011, Duckworth resigned from her position to launch her campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. She had lost in 2006 her congressional race by less than 4 percent. During the 2012 campaign she handily defeated her first term GOP opponent, William ‘Joe’ Walsh, 55 percent to 45 percent. Her opponent was a Tea Party favorite who adamantly opposed any and all of the President’s proposals on any topic, once famously declaring that should be no ‘Safety Net’ (meaning Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid) because it wasn’t in the US Constitution. From my perspective this was a win-win trade-off. One Tea Party Darling out of Congress and a real veteran’s advocate coming in. Another new face in the House who raises my hopes for veterans finally getting their recognition and promised benefits is Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii’s 2nd District. Tulsi is a combat veteran who served two tours in the Middle East and was the first woman honored by the Kuwaiti military with an award of appreciation for her work there. There were a few more wins in the November 2012 elections. The House ‘Tea Party Caucus’ (chaired by Congresswoman Michelle Bachman) went into the election with 49 members. They came out of the election with only no more than 45 and maybe less. I’m having a difficult time getting updated info on the TP Caucus (Yes, I recognize the irony). I do know that Allen West (he represented my former stomping grounds in south Florida and was (in)famous for some of his outrageous positions on foreign and domestic affairs) has been ousted. Another good thing for veterans, as much increase as have nitrogen and of what henutrients, advocatedsuch would created even more of us. So, therepilot may be fewer veterans Thiswhile septic project is being in the 113thin Congress, whowith arewater introduced order tothose comply there are younger and fewer of them quality standards as determined by the are Tea Party affiliated. It is reported Federal Clean Water Act. Designated to that 85 of the 435 House members are protect water known as veterans (downquality, from 91the in plan, the 112th) a “Total Maximum Daily Load” for Lake and 19 of the 100 Senators are veterans Pend Oreille, addresses nutrient issues (down from 25 previously). If it shakes out that the newly elected veterans in the In 113thaddition, Congress—onmany either side of lakeshore the aisle—respect their past service and homeowners participated in a survey recognize the tremendous debt owed to in 2007 concerning a variety of water all of our nation’s veterans, they will put quality issues.politics As isand turns their aside partisan workout, for the
betterment of their comrades-in-arms. I will be following closely the committee assignments and voting records of this freshman class of Congressman. One can but hope. Another facet of the 113th Congress that may bear watching is the fact that more women were elected in November of 2012 than ever before. The Senate has more women than ever and so does the House. Women are on both sides of the aisle in bigger numbers and if I were a chauvinistic misogynist—like many of our more senior representatives—I’d mind my P’s & Q’s with them. One thing that I’ve learned through many years of experience is that women as a species work better together in groups. They are pragmatic rather than dogmatic and tend to compromise a lot better than men do. Maybe it’s because women aren’t ruled by testosterone and will stop at nothing to arrive at a workable solution to any problem. If the women of the 113th can get together across party line it may be that the gridlock will be loosened and the country will be much the better for it. We can only wait and see what happens. I suspect that the leadership on both sides of the aisle, in both houses, is waiting with bated breath to see how it all shakes out over the coming months. We have huge problems to address and the men don’t seem to be able to achieve anything meaningful for the long term. Maybe we should give the ‘Newbies’ a crack at solving some of this stuff. I think that bipartisanship is more readily achievable by the distaff side of the equation than by any of the guys that are running the store now. Until next month take care and I hope all of you are enjoying your winter. I know that I am enjoying mine here in sunny Mexico. Adios amigos!
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February 2013| JournalWorth - A News Magazine Worth| Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com Vol. 22 No. 2008 2| Page 17 5 The River Journal - A The NewsRiver Magazine Wading Through www.RiverJournal.com | Vol 17 No. 18 || November | Page
The Best Smell in the world
I’m sure you’ve heard this question countless times. That’s when everyone looks around the room and finally all eyes settle on Uncle Bill and you can see a smirk start to come over his face as his eyes start to glaze over slightly. Uncle Bill, like most outdoorsmen, or men in general as far as that goes, somehow feels exhilarated whenever he can pas gas in a large volume of noise that sounds a lot like a foghorn on a steam ship or a long whistle from
dog Strange who ust’a have a green fog following him around the dining room on days the preacher would come to dinner, embarrassing the whole family. As you’re probably aware, smell is one of our strongest senses and will stay with you the longest. Like this morning, I was standing in the kitchen looking out at a small herd of Elk browsing through the yard when suddenly I caught the drift of something in the air, a smell that had long been forgotten and yet one I had been
From the Mouth of the River BOOTS REYNOLDS
a freight train. Better yet if they can let one sneak by in a crowded room causing everyone to look at their neighbor with suspicion and blame. Uncle Bill likes this one the best if it’s a room full of women, children and dogs. Like Pat McManus’s
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familiar with in my past. As I stood there trying to remember where that smell had originated, it finally came to me. Good God, it’s been forever since I had smelled that. I turned and looked at our cook stove, and in a skillet was two pieces of bacon. Now everyone can smell bacon cooking and that tells us that breakfast is on the way and in some cases your mouth starts to water. But this was not just any bacon, this was bacon with mildew on it. You know, that green mold that appears around the edge of bacon when it has been kept a little too long in the fridge. That’s the rancid part you smell frying. Now, this won’t kill you (but don’t take my word on it and sue me if it does) but it gives your bacon a peculiar smell. As a small boy I would stand behind
my grandmother’s old wood cook stove and get dry on cold mornings while she was cooking breakfast. The smell came to me from a slab of bacon she had scraped the mold off of and then cut several big, thick slices for the skillet, but there would be enough mold left to smell when it was cooking and it would cook off as the bacon became done. My grandmother showed me how to scrape it off with the side of her big butcher knife. It was back in those days when old bachelors would be found dead from food poisoning, by eating something that had gone bad because there was no refrigeration and they were too dumb to throw it out. Mold on pork was quite common back in the day when you bought bacon by the slab and sliced it yourself or sugar-cured it and hung it in the meat house; at any rate you just scraped off the mold and cooked and ate it. In Korea we would get hams that came over on the return trip of the Mayflower and they would be covered in mold. Our old mess sergeant would just wash them off in vinegar, rub brown sugar on them and bake. One other smell is that of Morton’s sugar cure salt; it will make any man’s mouth water and we use it to smoke Salmon, Steelhead or Kokanee, as a brim. I had to smile; as our little dog Scooter caught the smell of mold frying, she looked at me, dropped her tail, and left the room.
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Page 18 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| February 2013
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February 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| Page 19
Scott Clawson
acresnpains@dishmail.net This being February, my timing couldn’t be much better as winter is just getting wound up and will end with that last little blizzard in June, the day after we set our tomato plants out. Even at this latitude, here is one subject a lot of people don’t seem to give much thought to, and it shows. Last week it showed up in my rear view mirrors. I was navigating “the Flats,” or ‘Cocolalla 500,’ as I like to refer to it for its uncanny resemblance to the back stretch at Daytona. On a 3” snow pack pretreated with sodium chloride for added lubrication, I was leading the usual contingent of entrants under a caution flag. By dawn’s early light, I could see a large ‘snowball’ approaching on the
outside, seeking a less obstructed view. In the fast lane of this, the only decent place to pass for 25 meandering miles, was a little sedan determined to spook a small but well mannered herd of cattle trucks behind a flatbed haulin’ hay. In these conditions, the heavyweights were wallowing, much like water buffalo do, while the ‘rolling snow bank’ was, what I consider to be, ‘skating near open water.’ As it got closer, I could see a thin comet trail it was leaving behind, punctuated by random chunks of crust. The main body, though, was holding firm on its perch like a turkey vulture in a ‘blue norther.’ As we neared the neck-down back to a two lane road, it came alongside where I could get a better look at its
inner workings. I allowed an eyeball to check it out, figuring that if things were interesting enough, I’d spare the other one. Grinning and chewing simultaneously (one of many things I can’t seem to do without making a mess) and with both knees firmly on the wheel, was a guy flicking his ‘gizmo’! Upwards, downwards, sidewards and even poking at it! He reached for another doughnut. Leaning in with complete attention, he made a few deft hand movements, threw his head back in jubilation, looked over to see how many eyes were on him (two, by this time) then spun his unit around in time to share his morning fun. I think I’d just gotten ‘mooned’ electronically but I wasn’t certain. Could’ve been a wrinkled
Page 20 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 2| February 2013
peach for all I know! Expecting to see this eventually, I kept my emotions to myself and he didn’t seem to care. He turned his tablet back, resting it on his steering wheel where it gave off a warm and fleshy glow, fully illuminating a powdered sugar grin on a raw nut in a tank top. I don’t see many of these in late January except in my bathroom mirror, so I let myself enjoy a quick double take. My unprepared neck made sounds very difficult to put on paper, so I’m not even going to try, but I did make a mental note to describe them to my chiropractor at my next visit. All together, this revealed three important things: I needed to stop reacting like that, this was the ‘one in every crowd,’ and ignorance was having a little picnic at just over a mile a minute. I looked up to fully appreciate the sheer volume of snow going by, having more inertia than my bank account and presumably in possession of a valid driver’s license. Actually, it was quite impressive. One of the best ‘pillow tops’ I’d ever seen wearing Idaho plates, so I called KPND and requested an old Harry Chapin tune. Looking back at the operator as he rolled on by, I saw a man laughing so hard he had a grip on his other gizmo. I easily recognized that hold as the “too much coffee, man!� hold. That’s when it dawned on me that I was now following someone in the process of a “FYGWDUIFUS� (flicking your gizmo while driving under the influence of a full urinary system). A blatant violation of no particular code I could think of. I began to fantasize about my nice warm fireplace, easy chair and a hot cup of coffee when I became suspicious of the bond between car and snowball, skipping any confidence at all in one that might exist between car and driver. I could see water rivulets curtain the back window, indicating a warming trend in progress. A slideshow of previous experiences showed very similar, but not nearly as stupendous looking piles coming unglued from their host vehicles and disrupting lives in unique and unforeseen ways. Some were humorous while others were a bit more tragic. We rolled on northbound as if nothing out of the ordinary was about to happen. Looking back at the hay truck,
I could see the driver lip-syncing to “Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas� and swaying playfully to the beat of his wipers. It was raining. Awesome! This gave me just enough time to review the possibilities. One, it could all come off at once, stay airborne long enough to land a startled look on my face and force a pellet down my pant leg. Two, it could slide off into oncoming traffic, producing pellets in other people’s pant legs. Three, it would, by the grace of God, stay put until it got back home, then slide off in the driveway to provide some much needed irony to this story. I had four more possibles to go when we rounded the bend at Westmond where a state trooper was just finishing with a customer on the side of the road. Make that five more possibilities! I tried to slack off, ignoring a backwards “Peterbuilt� taking up most of my rear view mirror. Brake lights signaled the start of a new paragraph! I said “Good morning God! Are you watching this?� One more glance back revealed the message “ubret.� This wasn’t nearly as disturbing as watching three feet of snow slide off a car roof, down the windshield, seizing wipers as it went and coming to rest on a bug deflector like a forty-nine inch gut held
back by a thirty-two inch waste band. The driver’s side window went down accordingly and out popped a knothead just in time to greet the refreshing wake of a southbound load of Canadian piglets. His stocking cap would have disappeared if his eyebrows hadn’t got a hold of it first. Compassion instantly began to well up in my chest but turned out to be a pocket of gas derived from granola, toast and grapefruit juice. I mentally prepared for the next available exit. Catching a rut, he went sideways. This allowed me a profound view of two eyeballs fighting their way out of slush, salt and other seasonings in search of instructions, salvation or any spare form of available good fortune. Then, his right rear tire found the edge of the road, pulling him around one-eighty and directly into the parking lot of the Westmond Store. I followed just to see if, with this amount of luck, he was going to invest in a lottery ticket. He settled for the men’s room and a fresh box of donuts. On a similar note, I originally wanted to brag about my new snow blower and its remarkable ability to cleanly and efficiently remove license plates and other unwary items in the dark of early morning. When I locate them in the spring, maybe I’ll do an update on the ‘finer points’ of snow removal. Until then, yer on your own.
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