The River Journal June 2010

Because there’s more to life than bad news

A News MAGAZINE Worth Wading Through

Local News • Entertainment • Politics • Education • Other Worlds • Wellness • Humor • Outdoors

June 2010 | FREE | www.RiverJournal.com

June 2010

Plant Doctors (p. 2), Celebrating the Fourth (even on the third) (p. 3) Festival Announces Lineup (p. 4), Siemen’s Challenge Students (p. 5) Boat Inspections (p. 7) Free Train Rides (p. 10)

Departments Editorial 6.........News Briefs 8..........Education 12-15.....Outdoors 16.........Veterans 18.........Politics 20-21.....Other Worlds 22.........Faith 23.........Education 24-25.....Wellness 25.........Veterans’ News 26.........Obituaries 27.........Humor

9 Love Notes A Mag to Brag About 11 Currents Fifty years 17 Politically Incorrect Around the Roundabout 19 The Hawk’s Nest Evan’s Landing 23 The Scenic Route Building a Wilderness 28 From the Mouth of the River Culinary Excitement

THE RIVER JOURNAL A News Magazine Worth Wading Through ~just going with the flow~ P.O. Box 151•Clark Fork, ID 83811 www.RiverJournal.com•208.255.6957

SALES Call 208.255.6957 or email trish@riverjournal.com

PRESS RELEASES (Email only) to editorial@riverjournal.com

STAFF Calm Center of Tranquility Trish Gannon-trish@riverjournal.com

Ministry of Truth and Propaganda Jody Forest joe@riverjournal.com

Cartoonists Cover: Every year, the little town of Clark Fork, Idaho, located just a few miles before crossing into Montana on Highway 200, puts on an old-fashioned Fourth of July, complete with all sorts of races, a greased pole, chainsaw contests and a race to see who can eat a slice of watermelon the fastest. Photo

by Trish Gannon.

Scott Clawson, Matt Davidson

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

803 Pine Sandpoint•208.290.6760

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

208.762.8065 - Coeur d’Alene

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Regular Contributors

Desire Aguirre; Jinx Beshears; Scott Clawson; Sandy Compton; Marylyn Cork; Dick Cvitanich; Duke Diercks; Idaho Rep. George Eskridge; Lawrence Fury; Dustin Gannon; Matt Haag; Ernie Hawks; Herb Huseland; Lt. Cary Kelly; Emily Levine; Marianne Love; Kathy Osborne; Gary Payton; Paul Rechnitzer; Boots Reynolds; Sandpoint Wellness Council; Rhoda Sanford; Lou Springer; Mike Turnlund; Tess Vogel; Michael White

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle Proudly printed at Griffin Publishing in Spokane, Wash. 509.534.3625 Contents of the River Journal are copyright 2010.

Reproduction of any 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, Boundary and Kootenai counties in Idaho. The River Journal is printed on 40 percent recycled paper with soy-based ink. We appreciate your efforts to recycle.

Plant or Bug Questions?

The Doctor is IN

story and photo by Kathleen Huntley

MOST ALL OF US KNOW WHAT TO DO for the common cold, scrape and burn. When we don’t know what to do about our ailments, or they have gone on far too long, we haul ourselves to the local clinic or doctor.

You can do the same thing in Sandpoint for your sick plants or worrisome bugs.

And, unlike a clinic or doctor, the service is free. Tucked behind the Idaho Extension building, in the little house that sits to the right of the Bonner County Fairgrounds is a plant clinic. They will even let you through the front door. It is tongue-in-cheek when I say the clinic is staffed by doctors, nurses and medical aides, but it is close to the fact.

VS_CO-OP.X3.pdf 4/13/10 11:31:03 AM You can bring in your ill plant or predacious bug and the staff at the clinic will not only

diagnose the illness, they will prescribe you several cures, both chemical and natural. You get to decide what is best for you and your plants. Not only do they treat garden plants, they will also advise you on houseplants.

While I was working as an Aide Thursday last we identified a “bee� that seemed to be all over the dandelions in one Clark Fork resident’s yard. With actual trapped “bees� we started looking carefully at our patient.

He had four distinct stripes on his belly, a tiny “waist� and a funny round head. While the Nurse (Master Gardener) looked on the internet, one of the Aides looked though the volumes of bugs. It was decided that the bee was not a bee at all but a Syrphidae or Hoverfly. He was a beneficial fly busy pollinating everything he could and at the moment it was the dandelions in Clark Fork. After a careful diagnosis Mike Bauer (our resident ‘Doctor’) from the Extension Office confirmed the identification. The Clinic members then called the concerned resident with the good news.

While two of the Master Gardener team were diagnosing the Syrphidae fly a lovely woman came in with a box of her commercially purchased compost. She was sure a tiny bug had hatched inside and the compost wasn’t any good. With tweezers in

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hand one of the Master Gardeners spread the compost sample carefully across a blank sheet of paper. Nothing alive could be detected and what she thought might be an egg seemed rather to be a timed released fertilizer.

A third party brought in their purple Early Girl tomato plant. The plant appeared healthy with the exception of a light purple color streaming down the veins on its underside. This seemed to baffle the Master Gardeners and again, after careful questioning of the tomato’s “parent� it was discovered that although the tomato plant had not frozen it had gotten chilly. The diagnosis here was that the plant should recover once the weather heated up. “If � your plant or bug problem is so unique that no one can diagnose it—it can be sent to the University of Idaho’s plant laboratory in Boise. They too will contact the owner about the eventual diagnosis and recommendations all without charge.

The man with the field of tansy did pose a good question. He wanted to get rid of the field, but he got a great deal of information that may help him make an informed decision on a method of control. Tansy has been used for centuries to repel flies and ants and for some medicinal applications. There is a commercial market for tansy. However tansy is also poisonous to humans, livestock and pets if ingested in sufficient quantities and is listed as an invasive species of plant.

Some organic gardeners like tansy at the sides of the gardens as it attracts bugs that otherwise would be in the vegetables.

The Plant Clinic staff attempts to give you, the patrons, as much information as they can and the final decisions are left up to you.

Everyone is welcome and we’d love to see your curled leaves, your bugs and any suspicious creepy crawly that you have captured and hopefully zipped into a plastic bag.

The Clinic is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am to 3:00 pm. Sometimes they close the front door for lunch from noon to 1 pm, but if you have called ahead someone may be available to help you even then. Their phone number is 208-263-8511.

And remember, this is a free service. You can’t get a better deal than free.

Photo: Master Gardener Gail Swan diagnosing a sick tomato. I’m happy to report the tomato recovered!

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Celebrating Independance Day

by Trish Gannon

Deep booms roll through the mountains

echoing, it seems, for days, as communities from Thompson Falls to Priest River, and Spirit Lake to Bonners Ferry, explode pyrotechnic peonies, palms, crossettes, kamuros, horsetails, and more into the night skies to celebrate, for the 235th time, the American nation’s independence from its former British masters.

That first Independence Day celebration—July 4, 1777—in Philadelphia was marked with fireworks but it wasn’t called Independence Day; that name didn’t come into use until 1791. And through the years, it wasn’t always celebrated on the fourth—in 1779, the fourth was on a Sunday, so celebrations took place on the fifth of July. That our Independence Day came to be held on the fourth at all was a surprise to early founders, as the Resolution of Independence was actually approved by Congress on July 2. But July 4 was the date shown on the Declaration of Independence, which followed the resolution, and the Fourth of July henceforth became synonymous with Independence in America. In 1991, however, Congress made the first Monday in July our official Independence Day holiday, so the Fourth of July these days may be celebrated on days other than the fourth. As it will be this year.

In North Idaho and western Montana, residents have a number of ways to celebrate and a lot of time to do it—because just as in 1779, the fourth falls on a Sunday this year, which means the official holiday—the day many people get off work—lands the following Monday.

Clark Fork kicks off the holiday this year on the fourth with the 9:30 am parade, followed by a day full of traditional Fourth activities. After the parade, various types of races are held on the grounds of the high school, along with lots of opportunities to buy raffle tickets, hamburgers and smokies. (Stop by the Booster Club’s food booth and say hi, as that’s where I’ll be working all morning.)

At noon, the fun moves down to the ball field with a beer garden and a dizzying array of turtle races, watermelon eating contests, greased pole climbs, chainsaw and crosscut saw contests and more. And rounding off the night—one of the finest fireworks shows in the area.

Noxon’s holiday celebration will also take place on the fourth with most of the returning traditions that townsfolk and visitors enjoy. If you’re participating in the Fun Run, line up downtown by 7:30 and you’ll be bussed to the start. The parade theme is the 1910 fire, and it will start at noon. Dinner will be served at 5 pm and at some point in the late afternoon, live music will be provided by Whiskers.

Along with tons of activities for kids will be all sorts of booths, horseshoe games and turtle races. This year, Noxon will NOT, however, be putting on a fireworks show, so head to your neighboring towns down the highway if you don’t want to miss the traditional light show.

Heron will also celebrate with its traditional parade on the fourth. Participants will begin lining up at 1 pm Mountain Time at the Heron Community Center resource building, and the parade should begin making its way through town by 1:30. This year’s parade theme is “Remembering the great fire of 1910” with Grand Marshal Dave Haggerty.

Sandpoint also provides a full day of Fourth festivities, though this year they’ll do it on Saturday, the third. And they’ve warned ahead of time that our troubled economy will translate into a shorter fireworks show—just 7 to 10 minutes, compared to the usual 30. After the morning’s Grand Parade and Kid’s Parade, head to City Beach for lots of activities designed for kids, including those who reside in all of us.

In Bonners Ferry, “Praise and Salute” takes place on both the third and the fourth at the Boundary County Fairgrounds. On the third, it’s the Leg Shakin’ and Fire Dance, with chili feed, at 6 pm. On the fourth there’s a full slate of activities scheduled for the fairground, followed by fireworks at dusk. And if you’re still in the mood for fun, you won’t want to miss the annual Lawn Mower Races, held at the Fairgrounds on Monday, July 5 at 6 pm.

If all you’re looking for is fireworks you can visit Priest River (Bonner Park West), Priest Lake (Hills Resort), or Hope (anywhere along the lake) in addition to the fireworks at Sandpoint, Clark Fork and Bonners Ferry. All fireworks shows begin at dusk.

Remember... the times listed for all Idaho events are Pacific Time while all Montana Events are Mountain Time. Dusk, of course, is dusk wherever you happen to be.

Photo by Dave Broughton

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page

Old Friends Return

The Festival at Sandpoint books a line-up with a lot of familiar names

by Trish Gannon

AT 9:19 PM ON THE NIGHT OF MAY 13, loyal fans of the Festival at Sandpoint on Facebook got a sneak peek at the 2010 season line-up.

At midnight, the Festival’s website (www.

FestivalatSandpoint.org) went live with the names and on the afternoon of the 14th, Festival staff and board members handed out flyers during the Lost in the 50s parade to share the news that some old friends were returning to sing under the stars.

The first Facebook comment was from Jenni Desmond Pagano and her reaction?

“Woo hoo!! Don’t want to wish summer away but CAN NOT wait! Great line up!

Thanks for the sneak peak!”

This year, in a break with a 27-year tradition, the Festival has booked four acts (or maybe five) that have been featured performers under the tent at the Festival in previous years. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (2001), Keb’ Mo’ (2002), Natalie MacMaster (2005) and three-peater The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1999, 2002) will all be back again under the tent. The almost fifth repeat is the Turtle Duhks, opening for MacMaster; Scruj MacDuhk, a Celtic folk band described as blending “Eastern Canadian Celtic fiddling with Romanian Jewish cello pieces and French lyrics,” appeared on the Festival stage in 2001, with then-lead singer Ruth Moody (now with the Wailin’ Jennys, a 2006 Festival act) and banjoist and vocalist Leonard Podolak, who currently fills that role with the Turtle Duhks.

So why the repeated performances? It all boiled down to money. “Frankly, we thought we had a better chance of selling more tickets with known entities,” explained Curt Hagan, a past-President of the board of the Festival at Sandpoint, and a member of the Festival’s booking committee for over a decade.

Long-time residents of the community remember the Festival’s dark days—a period of years when red ink seemed to bleed out of the Festival office and paying the bills at the end of each season only came about through the financial support of some major big business donors. What grew out of that period was a fiscally conservative board of directors who, once the Festival was on a firm financial footing, faced a different, but equally difficult dilemma: how much surplus should rightfully be kept in the “rainy day fund.” With a comfortable amount socked away in CDs, the Festival directed additional profits into fulfilling its educational mission—paying to rent or buy

the instruments local students use in band— and making capital improvements (the sound system) to enhance the experience of each year’s concert season.

Then two years of lower-thananticipated ticket sales—much lower than anticipated—ate up the savings socked away and the Festival entered into planning for the 2010 season in an uncomfortably familiar place—the hole. The conservative board became even more conservative and tightened the belt on the budget to an anorexic point, leaving the booking committee with a challenge: book a season with artists people will be clamoring to see; those same artists must have fees so affordable ticket prices can be reduced, yet still generate enough revenue to bring the budget back into the black.

“We decided to try to do two things,” said board member Dave Vermeer, who has been working on the booking committee for the last 11 years. “We wanted to bring back some of the community’s favorite artists whose tickets had sold very well and two, to do so with an overall lower booking budget, so we could make those tickets more affordable.”

It should be said that, given the small size of the venue at Memorial Field, the Festival at Sandpoint will never be funded completely by tickets sales; sponsorships from individuals and corporations, along with grants, will always be required in order to balance the budget. Yet sales from tickets are expected to produce almost 54 percent of the Festival’s $864,000 2010 budget.

Booking a fiscally and artistically successful season sounds easier to do than it is in practice. Beginning right after last year’s season ended, the booking committee began gathering information on the acts touring in 2010. “It’s a balancing act between availability, proximity and price,” explained Vermeer.

It’s not enough for an artist to be free on one of the Festival dates; any given performer is likely to be more affordable if they’re performing somewhere in the area in the same time frame as the Festival season. Finding those artists is a delicate dance that the booking committee has learned to perform with skill.

In addition to booking some returning performers in the hope of boosting the bottom line, the committee also considered who new to introduce to the Sandpoint music scene. Booking barefoot reggae

performer Michael Franti & Spearhead has been a long-time dream for the Festival’s executive director Dyno Wahl, and he’s been a perennial request from Festival fans.

“We lucked out with Franti,” said Vermeer.

Lucked out because the Festival could still afford him. ”What most people don’t understand is we can’t get an artist at the peak of their career. We can’t afford them.”

Also new to the Festival stage this year is Brandi Carlile, a Seattle-based acoustic, folk-rock singer/songwriter whose fans include Elton John.

And the Festival, of course, still pays homage to its symphonic roots with a performance of the Spokane Youth Orchestra and “Peter and the Wolf,” along with the traditional Grand Finale concert with the Spokane Symphony, conducted by maestro Gary Sheldon and with guest piano soloist Archie Chen. This year’s performance will be an all Russian program closing with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and a fireworks show sponsored by Avista Utilities.

Will the focus on old friends work to bring the Festival back onto a firm financial footing? It’s early in the day to tell, but with two weeks of ticket sales under their belt the Festival office reports a 13 percent increase over this time period last season.

Those sales, however, are predominantly for the two new acts: Franti and Carlile have accounted for 62 percent of the tickets sold.

Those numbers will obviously change as we move through the weeks remaining until the season kicks off on August 5.

For example, the Grand Finale concert traditionally sells pretty close to sell-out status, yet only 16 tickets have been sold in the first two weeks for this enduring favorite. And there’s no denying that the four acts chosen to return this year are favorites with the area community. As are some of the opening acts: Crooked Still, opening for Nitty Gritty, has been a success on local radio; Ian MacFeron is an Eichardt’s favorite; and Kristina Train, opening for Keb’ Mo’, has a local following as well.

“If you’re looking for a sure-fire season, this is it,” offered Hagan. You can order tickets online at www.FestivalatSandpoint. com or call 888-265-4554.

Editorial disclosure: Trish Gannon is a member of the board for the Festival at Sandpoint, though she does not volunteer on the booking committee.

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

One

Improving the Community

THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF BONNER COUNTY will inherit a community significantly different from the one their parents inherited.

Deforestation, endangered species, polluted air and water and an increasing population are among the many issues that threaten on both a local and global level.

The good news is, many of our kids are more than willing to learn about the environment and its challenges and eager to find ways to help. This year, the seventh grade students at Sandpoint Middle School got a chance to demonstrate their willingness by participating in a national competition.

“Our district decided to continue the higher level science program into middle school,” says Linda Navarre, a science teacher at SMS. “Two teachers were chosen to work on this over the summer. They chose the ‘Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge’ as a way to enrich our program for the kids in advanced science.

It’s the first time any school from Idaho participated.”

The “Siemens Challenge” is a K-12 sustainability challenge where teams of two, three, or four students work with a teacher to identify an environmental issue in their community and develop a plan of action to implement changes. Top prizes include a chance to appear on Discovery Network’s Planet Green, a share in thousands of dollars in savings bonds, a Discovery Adventure trip and more. Of course, the real prize is the healthier, more environmentally sound communities that result from the minds of creative students.

Last year’s top honors went to Team Dead Weight, made up of three middle school students from West Branch, Iowa. The team’s goal was to get the word out about the dangers of lead wheel weights in vehicles, and to help phase out this hazardous material from the tire industry. The city and school districts were convinced and agreed to phase out lead wheel weights in city and district owned vehicles. In addition, the students teamed up with several legislators to develop three bills proposing to phase out the harmful metal.

If you think this is a pretty big accomplishment for 12 and 13 year-old kids, you’re right. And local Sandpoint seventh graders took on some big challenges of their own. “At first we had no idea what we were getting into,” admits Perky Hagadone, a science teacher at SMS. “It was work we’d never done before. It was grown up work.

Student at a Time

Everything about it pushed the kids far beyond their comfort level.”

Not only did the students have to identify an environmental issue in their community, they then had to research it, develop a plan, collect data and share the results.

A group called The Chargers decided to research the problems caused by the millions of cell phones tossed in landfills each year. “What happens if you throw them away,” explains team member Nate Loutzenhiser, “is they let off Co2 and other toxic gases.” The team put up fliers around the school to educate students about the problem. They also put recycling boxes in the middle school and high school where students are beginning to put their old cell phones.

The Pizza Patrol decided to look into the recycling of pizza take out boxes. The group was amazed to discover that 4.2 billion boxes are discarded each year. “They can’t be recycled because of the grease stains,” says group member Madi Sleyster.

“The grease prevents the different layers of the cardboard from separating during the recycling process. So we tried to persuade our local pizza parlors to add a piece of wax paper in between the pizza and the box to prevent the grease stains.”

The kids were discouraged to find that most managers were not willing to add another step to their already “tight” schedules. But after more research, the team discovered that by simply tearing off the greasy parts of the box, the remainder could be recycled. Their goal now is to have pizza box suppliers print a brief message on each box to alert consumers to the fact that they can simply throw away the greasy parts and recycle the rest.

The three Pizza Patrol members were thrilled to recently find out they’ve been chosen as state winners. Each student will receive a $50 gift box of green products and the school receives a one year membership to the Discovery Education Channel—a prize worth two thousand dollars. It allows access to a huge amount of science related content including streaming video and lesson plans. The team will have to wait a little longer to find out how they fare at the national level.

“We might not have impacted our community that much,” says Madi, “but at least we got the word out about this problem.”

The same can be said for the many other teams who researched the feasibility of recycling household batteries, plastic

by Dianna Winget

produce bags, vending machine bottles, motor oil, fast food bags and ink cartridges.

The group Plastic Pencils Prevail discovered that one hundred million pencils are produced each year in the U.S. and that thousands of trees could be saved by simply switching from traditional wooden pencils to reusable mechanical ones.

And a few of the projects hold promise of having some lasting impact. Team Gasbusters took a careful look at kindergarten schedules and bus routes and came up with some suggestions to save our school district both gas and money. The board of trustees is giving serious consideration to trying out the kids’ proposal.

The Green Garden Growers decided to help improve the school lunch program.

“Our project is to plant and maintain an organic garden at the middle school,” says team member Faith Nelson. “We’ll harvest the food and serve it to the students.”

With much planning, and the help of master gardeners Gail Burkett and Janae Dale, the garden idea is ready to move to the next step. “So far we’ve raised over two hundred dollars to pay for our soil, seeds and garden tools,” says Adriana Winget.

“All the cedar wood to build the bed was donated to us and we plan to start it this month.”

Perky Hagadone sums up the best thing about the Siemens Challenge. “The kids became much more environmentally aware.

I’m definitely going to do it again next year.”

Kudos to all those seventh graders trying hard to make our community a better, healthier place.

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June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page

In Brief HATS OFF! to all our local area graduates

Colleen’s

Coffee Corner Located at Colburn Culver Rd & Hwy. 200 • Open 5 am to 2 pm

Opening Flag Day June 14

Re-opened for the Season!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday: • Breakfast & Lunch 8 am to 3 pm • Dinner 5 pm to 9 pm Open Sunday • Breakfast & Lunch only 8 am to 4 pm

CALL 208-266-0190

DENTAL CARE FOR VETERANS: The Idaho State Dental Association is partnering with the Veterans Association to offer muchneeded dental care to Veterans during the upcoming Stand Down charity event.

The ISDA will offer oral cancer screenings and necessary antibiotics for this often overlooked segment of the population.

The increasing rate of oral cancer is a large issue throughout the state and the ISDA recognizes not only the positive health impact of this event but also the overall affect of its generous charitable contributions on Northern Idaho communities.

It all takes place Saturday, July 10 from 10 am to 2 pm at 301 S. Division Avenue, Suite A, in Sandpoint.

WRITERS’ RESOURCE COURSE AVAILABLE: Mona Vanek, aka the Montana Scribbler, has made her publication “Access the World and Writer your Way to $$” available free online You can find it at http:// writersresourcesonline.blogspot.com.

FOLLIES DVDs: DVDs of the 2010 Follies production by the Angels Over Sandpoint are now available for purchase. The two-DVD set featuring the 2 hour and 20 minute show plus approximately 34 minutes of “behindthe-scenes” bonus footage is available for $45 (silver) or $55 (gold). A single DVD (two hours) is also available for $30 (silver) or $35 (gold). In addition, those interested may purchase a $10 (silver) or $20 (gold) CD of over 1,400 still images from the show. To purchase, email Chuck Smith (videosmith@ coldreams.com). Note: silver DVDs are said to have a 20 to 30 year lifespan; gold DVDs should last 100 years or more.

CABINET-YAAK GRIZZLY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently monitoring three female grizzly bears. An adult and subadult female are located in the Yaak River drainage and the other is the 2009 augmentation bear in the Cabinet Mountains. All bears are being monitored with GPS radio collars. Seven black bears are being monitored with GPS radio collars to compare movement patterns with grizzly bears. The augmentation bear has moved from the West Cabinets to the main Cabinets, but could not be located during the last two flights. Given the amount of movement, it is doubtful that she has

cubs. The adult female in the Yaak remained in the den until early May and has not moved very far from her den which could be indicative of a bear with cubs. Reports can be found online at www.igbconline.org/ html/sc-reports.html.

WINERY ANNIVERSARY PARTY: Pend d’Oreille Winery in downtown Sandpoint is celebrating its 15th anniversary June 18 through June 20. To celebrate, the winery is offering live music, wine and merchandise discounts, appetizers from their new kitchen, the Bistro Rouge Cafe, and tastes of their latest release, the ’07 Meyer Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition, there will be door prizes all weekend long. Pend d’Oreille Winery is located at 220 Cedar St. in Sandpoint. Visit their website at www. powine.com, or call 208-265-8545.

Milfoil Management in Lake Pend Oreille - a Wide Angle Perspective: is the featured topic for the June 26 meeting of the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society, which takes place at 9:45 am at the Sandpoint Community Hall.

The presentation is open to all interested and is free of charge.

DANCING CONCERT: The Festival at Sandpoint has announced the Michael Franti concert, scheduled for Friday, August 13 during their 2010 concert series, will be a dancing venue concert. Look in our next issue for a story explaining the change.

LEGISLATORS “WALK THE WALK” FOR LOCAL SCHOOLS: Once again, area legislators Senator Shawn Keough and Representatives George Eskridge and Eric Anderson kept their feet moving during the legislative session on behalf of schools, winning a $5,000 prize they shared among area high schools. A promotion of Regence Blue Shield, the “Move-It” Challenge seeks to promote awareness of childhood obesity.

Idaho legislators wear pedometers during the session; our local legislators logged the most steps (1,510,023 - approximately 755 miles!) as they went about the citizens’ business.

The trio has one first place honors three times in the four years of the competition.

Bonners Ferry High School, Riverside High School Alternative of Bonners Ferry, Clark Fork High School, Sandpoint High School, Lake Pend Orielle Alternative High School of Sandpoint, Priest River High School and Priest River Education Program Alternative High School shared equally in the prize.

Discover it!

www.OnlyInClarkFork.com Events • News • History • Family Albums • Merchants Bulletin Board • Photos • Jobs • Commmunity Calendar

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Conservation District to Inspect Boats The Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District has recently received funding from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to locally manage boat inspection stations to protect the waters of Pend Oreille and Priest watersheds from aquatic invasive species.

Fifteen employees have been hired for the three stations that the BSWCD will manage; they come from Kootenai, Bonner, and Boundary Counties. Stations will be located at 1) Samuels Station on Hwy 95 North; 2) Oldtown on Hwy 2; 3) south of Athol on Hwy 95. In addition, Idaho has partnered with Avista to manage an inspection station on Hwy 200; BSWCD will assist in any way possible to ensure consistency and efficiency. “Local management of boat inspections stations will ensure a better working relationship with the community, law enforcement, and the boating public,� says Pend Oreille Basin Commission coordinator Kate Wilson.

The newly hired inspectors will be trained in the coming weeks and consist of an in-depth classroom portion as well as a hands-on watercraft training component with a local boat mechanic. The stations will be open from 7 am to 7 pm seven days

a week from May 27 to September 15. Help us celebrate “Invasive Species Awareness Week May 31 through June 6!

This Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention and Education program is completely funded by the Invasive Species Sticker Fund.

This year, motorized boats registered in Idaho do not need an additional sticker as it is covered in the registration fee. Also new this year is a vendor fee for non-motorized and out-of-state sticker purchases; vendors will receive $1.50 for every sticker sold, ensuring that vendors don’t end up losing money by participating in the program.

Stickers will now be sold at the inspection

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At all the finer retailers or

stations. It is mandatory for all watercraft to stop at boat inspection sites—including non-motorized vessels.

An emphasis on education is a focus of the program this year as well. Each boater should understand that this user-fee goes into the Invasive Species Sticker Fund which directly funds the inspection stations; boaters should also understand why aquatic invasive species are an issue and what they can do to be part of the solution. The Idaho solution is to make sure all boats are “Clean, Drained, and Dry� when they come through inspection points. Boats traveling on the highways present the highest risk of transporting aquatic invaders such as Quagga & Zebra Mussels, Eurasian watermilfoil, New Zealand mudsnails, and fish pathogens to our great waters of the west. “This year we have a unique opportunity to better protect our waterways from aquatic invaders, provide jobs for local citizens, and make a model of the Boat Inspection Program,� says Wilson. “I, for one, am excited. This is a very progressive and timely program.�

Photo courtesy Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District.

$24

Trails of the Wild Cabinets $15.50

Climber’s Guide to North Idaho and the Cabinet Wilderness $17.50

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page

Focus on Education End of the Year Round Up Dick Cvitanich

Superintendent, LPOSD

dick.cvitanich@lposd.org Student Academic Performance Last year we were pleased to report that our ISAT scores were the highest the district has recorded. I am pleased to relay this year’s preliminary scores appear to be stronger.

(Unfortunately, we do not have our final results at this time. The scores will not arrive until the first week of June.)

Plant and Facility Levy Our 14.1 million dollar Plant and Facility Levy was the first successful measure of this type in over 20 years. Its passage in Spring of 2008 generated a great deal of work throughout our district during the past two years. I am very pleased to report that all projects have been completed on time and under budget. In fact, because of the favorable bid environment and construction costs, we will have in reserve 1.2 to 1.4 million dollars to address upcoming facility issues. I can say with clear conscience that our facilities are in the best condition they have been in the four years I have served the district. We will not be forced to take money from our general instructional budget to address facility needs for the immediate future. This is extremely important as we move forward to improve our instructional programs. As noted in last year’s report, we explored the possibility of adding a gymnasium project to Kootenai. I am pleased to report this did occur because of the favorable bid environment, as well as a new library and technology room. Finally, voters will be pleased to note their last payment of taxes to support the many projects will be this December. In short, every item will be paid for without long term indebtedness.

The above noted surplus will serve the district well on future health and safety issues. Sometime in the next five years the district and community should explore next steps for facility upgrades, particularly at Sandpoint Middle School.

Economic Downturn The district and Board of Trustees anticipated the economic downturn and began working to address the potential effects over 18 months ago. As a result, our school district is in an enviable position compared to many school districts in Idaho, and in particular, our neighboring districts.

We have not declared a financial emergency as have many districts. We have not been forced to reduce staff salaries. We have made some cuts to benefits for our staff to gain some savings on employee costs, but by and

large our employees have remained whole through this economic downturn. We have a fund balance of 3.7 million dollars; of which 2.7 is undesignated. This is much higher than most school districts in the state. In addition, the district has a designated fund balance of $1,000,000. This is set aside to address any unplanned for emergencies. Again, this is not the norm for many surrounding school districts. Our Board has been consistent in their determination to set aside dollars yearly in this account even in these difficult budget times.

We did reduce next year’s budget by 1.1 million dollars for fiscal year 2010-2011.

Staffing reductions will occur at Clark Fork High School, Sandpoint High School and Sandpoint Middle School where enrollment is down. Other reductions have occurred in multiple programs but I am pleased to report these were kept as far away from the classroom as possible.

Supplemental Levy Our current supplemental levy of 10.9 million dollars expires in June of 2011. As a result, we have begun our work to craft a levy to be placed before voters in March of 2011. This represents a considerable challenge given the economic climate. It will be very important that our voters understand this is only a replacement levy. We are hopeful they will understand their school tax burden will drop considerably with the payoff of the Plant Facility levy in January.

The Supplemental levy represents over 27 percent of our budget and is all locally funded. With state revenues declining, it is our community’s only opportunity to drive local funding directly into our schools.

Staff Relationships Each year we negotiate with our LPOEA regarding teacher contracts: benefits, rights, and expectations. I am pleased that we have successfully completed negotiations for this year and the Board and Union have both signed off on the agreement. As noted, we were not forced to reduce staff salaries and I believe this is an important point to note for both morale and instructional reasons. Brian Smith, President of LPOEA, is an outstanding leader and works closely with us to problem solve. A kudo is also due to Board of Trustee, Mindy Cameron, who facilitates the interest based bargaining process. I am particularly proud of the work we have done in this area over the past four years, and I am thankful to Mark Berryhill and the Board for establishing this collegial process.

Partnerships Our district continues to thrive with the partnerships that have been created. The Panhandle Alliance for Education, Community

Assistance League, Angels Over Sandpoint, Rotary, Ambrosiani Foundation, University of Idaho, Coldwater Creek, Litehouse, the Festival at Sandpoint and others have all played a significant role in the success of our school district and students. Programs of which I am particularly proud include the Ready! 4 Kindergarten initiative, Secondary Transition counselor at Sandpoint High School, PAFE Innovative Teacher Grants, Kaleidoscope Art, POAC Performing Arts Series, Festival at Sandpoint Music Outreach, and the ISLES grant with the University of Idaho for improved science instruction. Our relationship with local legislatures is strong.

We meet with them and directly email regarding issues that affect our district. This past year they were instrumental in securing ADA Protection for our district despite the bleak state budget. This represents over $800,000 dollars to our district and effectively made the closure.

Challenges Ahead Despite the positive news there are still challenges ahead. Briefly, they are as follows: Academic—Our goal is continuous improvement. We have made improvements each year in each academic area that is tested. We cannot be content with the status quo on the ISAT. I believe our reading scores will improve this year, and frankly, I am a bit surprised because they are currently so high.

I believe math and language usage results will also climb. We will continue our push to raise standards and expectations because we want our students to be competitive in whatever arena they choose.

Economic—We anticipated the drop in revenue for 2010-2011 and have already started planning for 2011-2012. We are in a position that we can absorb a 5 percent legislative holdback should it occur. However, as noted above this also means that passing our supplemental levy is imperative. Working in the state of Idaho is a particular challenge around funding.

Competition—The competition for students continues as the Sandpoint Charter School and virtual schools continue to grow. However, I believe we can be more aggressive in our marketing. This part of our work has improved this year. However, I also will be asking the Board of Trustees to reconsider the transportation component of our support. We are one of only two public school districts transporting students to a charter in our state. I believe this needs to change.

Succession—Leadership changes continue in our district. Judy Hull (Director of Title 1), Sid Rayfield (Director of Facilities) and Betsy Walker (Elementary Principal) will all retire. They are terrific employees and human beings. We continue to look at succession planning at all levels of our organization.

Page | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Love Notes

Sandpoint Magazine a Local’s “Brag Sheet” Marianne Love

slightdetour.blogspot.com

billmar@dishmail.net

I also made numerous visits to local museums and talked with several WWII Naval recruits from across the country who provided me with some rich lore about their Farragut basic training.

Over the years since that assignment, electronic links to the completed Farragut product, along with some wonderful Ross Hall photos and a short feature about the legendary local photographer on my web site (www.mariannelove.com) have connected me with dozens of former Farragut “bluejackets” or their family members.

One of the most meaningful and enjoyable associations came one day, thanks to a short note on my web site guestbook. Karl Tews of Neptune, New Jersey, had spent time at Farragut as a teen-aged German Prisoner of War.

In 2003, another cover story for Sandpoint Magazine took me down my own memory lane and to several interviews with Schweitzer Mountain Resort personnel. The articles dealt with the 40th year anniversary for the popular ski area.

During the early 1960s, my family, like so many in the area, participated in early fundraising for the resort through the purchase of Schweitzer stock at $10 a share.

We also lived on North Boyer where, in the early days, hundreds of cars filled with skiers, passed by our farm morning and night during the ski season.

I loved crafting that cover package, which featured news of progress, a Schweitzer timeline and highlights of the resort’s early days. Many of the latter came through an informative and fascinating series of interviews with Schweitzer’s first manager Sam Wormington.

Like the railroad, Farragut and Schweitzer stories, the most recent cover assignment stirred up my nostalgic and creative juices.

After all, horses have always occupied a major spot on my plate of passions.

And, like the other stories, I gleaned more than enough information from numerous helpful sources who represent every facet of the horse world from knowledgeable owners, trainers, hay sellers, 4-H leaders, professional instructors, veterinarians, to farm supply providers, etc.. Some of my research shows that horses and the accessories that go along with them provide an integral part of our economy, much more so than meets the eye.

The true frosting on the cake with this assignment involved spending time with people and their horses. I learned more about dressage through the gracious generosity of instructor extraordinaire Gail Redinger.

Marv Lagerway and Maureen Palmer-Hooten welcomed me with open arms to Maureen’s Hooten’s Hollow ranch north of Bonners Ferry, where Marv trains horses and puts on reining clinics.

One Saturday I enjoyed several hours visiting, drinking coffee and watching Greg Hargadon shoe Roxane Conrad’s horses.

Roxane grew up in Selle and competed as a Marine sharpshooter in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She retired from the Marines and returned home a couple of years ago to do what she loves best: train and ride horses.

Since her return, Roxane and her husband Kerry have transformed the old family farm into a magnificent horse facility.

The cover-story package also involved profiles of six area horse lovers, representing a variety of equine interests. In addition to interviewing these folks from all over the county, I enjoyed a magical spring evening with them when Sandpoint Magazine editor Billie Jean Plaster miraculously arranged a time for them to get together with their

If you haven’t seen a copy of the summer edition of Sandpoint Magazine, you should pick one up at the many drops around Sandpoint. You can call Keokee Creative Group at 208-263-3573 to learn where it’s available for free.

I guarantee that you will find the contents worth the effort. The current 130-page, full-color issue features several historical pieces dealing with local milestones, some fascinating profiles on interesting area folks who’ve distinguished themselves with their talents (including Kristy Osmunson of country duo Bomshel), back-country hiking stories and one of my favorite features “Natives and Newcomers.”

In addition to dozens of graphicallyappealing stories and phenomenal photography, the magazine provides oodles of information about “things to do” and how to do them here in the area. I often consider the twice-yearly publication a six-month bible to Sandpoint activities and its history.

Plus, I love to send copies to my many friends across the country and the world as a brag sheet about our own version of God’s Country.

I feel honored to have contributed some stories about horse activities for the cover package in the current issue. This is my fourth such assignment since 1995. Each time the project has turned out to be a cherished learning experience for me.

Also, in each case, I’ve come away with a Because of host of new, interesting friends and a wealth the article, Karl and I became long-distance of fascinating information associated with friends. During his WWII “incarceration,” the phenomenal people and events that Karl performed landscaping work on the have molded this area into such a wonderful grounds at Farragut. He also fought forest place to call home. fires and even struck up a friendship with My initial cover story assignment and a local gal. Unfortunately, through our very first contribution to Sandpoint Magazine correspondence decades later, we were dealt with Sandpoint’s role as The Funnel in never able to figure out what ever became the cross-country railway network. of his summer romance.

After extensive research on that project, Karl would often either call or write, I gained a new appreciation for the trains updating me on his golf game and his family. passing right by my home (then on Great After the war, which included several other Northern Road) dozens of times each day and POW camps, he had relocated to the United night. Nowadays, here in Selle we seldom States and had been very successful at his see a train, but when I do hear the far-off chosen trade. He was a thoughtful, upbeat whistle as the Union Pacific rolls through, gentleman who had become fully immersed either at night or during the day time, I feel in his New Jersey community. a sense of nostalgic comfort.

As quickly as he came into my cyberIn the late 1990s, I wrote what I consider life, Karl, in his early 80s at the time and one of the most important stories of my dealing with a heart condition, suddenly freelance journalism career. Researching for went silent. I never learned any details of the story about Farragut Naval Air Station led why I quit hearing from him, but I cherish me on many trips to the scenic area, which the relationships that sprouted with him has long been a state park on the south end and with so many others who spent time at of Lake Pend Oreille.

Continued on next page Farragut during the war.

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page

WHISPERING PINES 3 1/2 acres adjoining government land near Sasheen Lake in Northeast Washington. Good access, utilities at hand, very nicely forested and varied terrain including rock bluffs together with hidden hollows make that make this parcel quite special. $44,950/TERMS FARM COUNTRY Very nice 5 acre homestead property just a few minutes south of Spokane, Washington bordering on farmland and forest plus a nice little brook. Good year-around roads, utilities, plenty of wildlife and great views. $55,950 - OWNER FINANCING! HIDDEN, WOODED RETREAT Nicely located 4.25 acre home or investment site tucked into the woods on the way to 5,000 acre Farragut State Park and Lake Pend Oreille. A little thinning of the timber could make this one look just like a little park. Level with private access road a couple of blocks off the pavement. $44,950 - TERMS SPECTACULAR LAKE VIEWS Very nice building or investment site looking down 40 miles of Lake Pend Oreille near Hope Idaho. Far enough away to enjoy the country but close enough to take advantage the convenience of Sandpoint, Idaho and Schweitzer Ski Basin. $89,950 - TERMS BARGAIN TIME Building or investment parcel at Bayview, Idaho with limited views over Lake Pend Oreille. Adjoining government lands and includes water, power, phone, paved road, fully approved for sewer system. $59,950 - LOW DOWN ASSUMABLE FINANCING AVAILABLE. THE VERY BEST THAT NORTH IDAHO HAS TO OFFER YOU! 10 acres just off well- maintained country lane near Sandpoint, Idaho. Very nice forest lands, springs and bubbling brook, wildlife everywhere and good neighbors – you could easily get lost on this one as it adjoins large block of timber company lands $99,950 WITH OWNER FINANCING AVAILABLE BUBBLING BROOK Part wooded and part cleared 10 acre parcel adjoining government lands with a nice little creek. Hundreds of acres of government and timber company lands to wander around on – this is an unusual opportunity for outdoor recreational opportunities all year long and yet close Bayview, Idaho and Lake Pend Oreille $74,950 - TERMS SINGS TO YOUR SOUL Five mountainous and nicely wooded acres with absolutely stunning views of the snow-capped Cabinet Mountains and located near Lake Pend Oreille and Green Bay with wilderness camping, hiking and swimming.

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Magazine- Cont’d from page 10 horses for a photo shoot.

We met at Leonard Wood’s home on the V Bar X ranch north of Sandpoint. It was a gorgeous Sunday evening, and a phenomenal photographer brought her camera gear to shoot hundreds of images. She allowed me to run along as her assistant. Meeting and watching Marie-Dominique “Do” Verdier in action has been an inspiring and educational experience, to say the least.

I cannot say enough about my own positive experiences while working on assignments for this Sandpoint Magazine issue, and I know my sentiments could be echoed by all the other contributors and the staff who worked so hard to put together a quality product and a true keepsake.

Bravo to all of them, and bravo to the Keokee personnel for continuing to capture this community and its many dimensions with each new issue. It’s a pleasure being part of the team.

If you’d like to read past articles, Sandpoint Magazine archives are available online at http://www.sandpointonline.

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The train, part of the Union Pacific Railroads Heritage fleet, will include a coach car, two dome liners, a business car and locomotives on both ends. Seating is limited to 150 people. The train will be picking people up and returning them to their boarding location.

Tickets may be picked up on a first come first served basis June 8 at the Idaho State Police Office, 615 W. Wilbur Ave. in Coeur d’Alene beginning at 10 am.

Union Pacific Railroad is providing the equipment as part of their effort to increase public awareness of the potential dangers that exist around highway rail intersections and railroad right of ways.

During 2008, there were 2,391 collisions

between motorists and train resulting in 286 fatalities and 935 people seriously injured.

Another 878 pedestrians were hit by trains resulting in 453 deaths and 425 people injured.

Idaho Operation Lifesaver is a state organization dedicated to eliminating senseless collisions, injuries and deaths at highway rail intersections. The program is sponsored by city, county and state law enforcement, state and federal agencies, the railroads in Idaho and community volunteers.

Idaho Operation Lifesaver urges all motorist to LOOK LISTEN and LIVE at all highway rail intersections.

For additional information, contact Idaho Operation Lifesaver at 208-236-5626 6/22/2010 The free train rides depart from the Rathdrum Prairie, UPRR railroad tracks on Greensferry between Hayden and Prairie, Departure times for the rides are 10 am, 11 am and noon.

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Page 10 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Currents

50 Years of Joy-Filled Seconds Lou Springer

nox5594@blackfoot.net

June’s sounds are the hum of lawnmowers and bees, wedding bells and horn-happy graduates. June is a time of excitement and commitment and contentment. There are moments in June when all is right with the world. A velvety lawn stretches to the dappled shade under aspens. The willow is surrounded with a ruff of lily spears. There’s nary a weed in the garden. The mild breeze carries the scent of growth and nectar.

Audubon warblers, western tanagers and evening grosbeaks are feeding upon the spent apple blossoms. Savor these perfect moments—these pure joy seconds.

Savor these moments, because the grass and weeds will continue to grow and you will have to deal with it. This brings us around to another sound of June—wedding bells. There are many parallels between tending a garden and growing a marriage. A gardener doesn’t toss down seeds and walk away. A newly married couple should know that the wedding is a beginning of their life’s work.

Consider two beings—one from Mars and other, Venus—with two separate identities, religions, ethnic backgrounds and life experiences daring to set out in a little row boat to cross the Pacific. Then adding babies as passengers. A lot of adjustments are called for.

In a garden or a marriage, in addition to adjustments, you have to pay attention.

Pull the weeds before roots get established.

Feed, shelter, nourish. The only difference is that with our climate, we only garden from April’s greenhouse starts to October’s garlic planting. A marriage can’t go dormant like a garden covered in snow.

Di Luna’s presents

Gardening as a pair is like being married... adjustments. This May we both suffered sprains and tears and it took two of us to get the planting done. One of us usually lays out the garden with a ‘pacing pole’—a six foot, six inch long larch whip—or by pounding in a stake every step taken for two foot spacing. Any leftover space gets filled with flowers. The other, who helped this year, prefers a more rigid method, requiring two tape measures, two layout twines, and a lot of time. While planting potatoes, after carefully raking the patch perfectly level, And they don’t have to—after all, don’t the precise one requested graph paper to we where Americans believe if it’sbe ours, it’s ours plot each spud should placed. and we can do with it what we want?

Or “Honey,” said the one with the sore back, “This isn’t a cement pour.” And weis and we want it, then both laughed. you have tolikes givelaughter. it to us and if you don’t, A garden A marriage needs laughter. then you sponsor terrorism and we’ll We have muddled along for fifty freaking years.ByWethe have shared thewants incredible way, China that highs oil as and lows The of parenthood. well.heart-breaking Remember China? people who There have uncountable moments loaned us been all that money? China’s oil of savorous perfection, hours of silent consumption is around 6.5 billion barrels reproach. We have had some adrenalinea year, and is growing at 7rivers percent every filled adventures on wild and in year.

It produces about 3.6 billion barrels hidden canyons. We have worked sideevery year. good to by-side to rowDoes that this littlemath boat.look There have anyone? other thanthat Sarah been times Can that anyone it was fortunate no garden implements hand. we Plates Palin and George were Bush at believe can and have thrown. Anyone Doors drillzucchinis our way out of been this problem? locked and a sleeping left hit on the the ground porch. who doesn’t think webag better Indiscretions and out disloyalty havewhat been running to figure how to fuel we committed.

Illness and minor accidents want fueled with something other than have occurred. oil probably deserves to go back to an And yet we still laugh.

JASON SPOONER TRIO

Sunday, June 27 $10 cover charge

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

The official explanation simply doesn’t hold water. This is one of those “who knew what, when” questions that must be answered—and people/institutions must Speaking of accountability, you might be surprised to learn that I would not support an effort to impeach President Bush after the November elections. First, because that’s too late, and second, because more than Bush have been involved in crimes American Doors Openagainst at the 5:30 people. What I would like to see are Show starts 7:30 charges (at the least, charges of treason) brought against Bush, Cheney, et al. Bring the charges and let’s let the evidence of

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June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 11

DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE DARK!

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A Bird in Hand

Killdeer

Mike Turnlund

mturnlund@gmail.com Names aren’t everything. Frederick wasn’t really all that great and Joan was not with Noah on the arc. Or the ark. And the same is true in the bird world. Most Canada geese are not from Canada and sea gulls are not always located near the ocean—just check out the parking lot at the Ponderay Yokes market for proof. And this brings us to our bird of the month: the killdeer. It is a shorebird lacking a shore. In fact, it prefers a golf course over the waterfront.

Even better, a stony field next to the train tracks.

Killdeers are a type of plover. Plovers are shorebirds, and yes the killdeer does often spend the off-season doing what plovers do: picking at bugs and tasty morsels from surfwashed beaches or fresh-water shorelines.

But typically they prefer to raise their brood in the continental interior and often far from a body of water. Instead expanses of land without brush or tall grass, such as city parks and rocky areas, become the preferred areas to raise the family. This makes them easy birds to find and identify. Plus, killdeer are well habituated to living around humans and tend to be quite approachable.

The first thing you will encounter with the killdeer is its call, kill-dee and this is something most everyone has probably heard. The bird often calls while in flight and when flushed they do not fly very far.

They like to stay in their neighborhood.

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Killdeer are about the size of a robin, but unlike the statuesque robin killdeer hold their bodies parallel to the ground.

The don’t have much of a neck and are a bit more leggy than a robin. You will also notice that they tend to run in spurts—run, pause, run, pause. Killdeer have a white underside and breast and their backs and wing covers range anywhere from a golden to tawny brown. But the definitive field mark are the twin bands on the breast. The top band might completely ring the neck and the lower one runs from shoulder to shoulder. There may even be a third stripe, but always at least two. No other plover will have this combination. For fashion’s sake, the bird will also sport a black headband and a matching brown cap.

The killdeer nest is just an unlined scrape in the earth.

The eggs are perfectly camouflaged and extremely difficult to find. They look like stones. If you happen to unwittingly stray near a nest you might be given a fascinating show by one of the parent birds. The adult bird will attempt to lure you, a potential predator, away from its nest be pretending to be wounded. The bird will draw attention to itself by calling out loudly, display orange rump feathers, and limp along the ground faking a “broken” wing. If you were a coyote you wouldn’t be able to resist the sight.

Dinner! The adult bird will continue to play wounded until it can draw you sufficiently far enough away from its nest.

Where can you find killdeer in your area?

Go to the nearest ball field, school yard, city park, horse pasture, or barren field and there should be at least one mated pair.

They will call out as you approach them and fly off with rapid little beats of the wing and then quickly soar to a landing a short distance away, often circling behind you.

You are being watched!

If you are novice to birding or want to introduce your children to this life-long and engaging hobby, the killdeer is for you.

They’re handsome birds, they make great sounds, and if you can get them to “break” a wing for you, it is quite memorable. And if you are lucky enough to find their nest, you’ll never encounter a better example of camouflage. Good luck and happy birding!

Page 12 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

The Game Trail

Get ‘em Outside Matt Haag

mhaag@idfg.idaho.gov How can I get my kids more involved in the outdoors?

It’s a question that Conservation Officers across the state and country are frequently asked. “Take them fishing,” is a likely response from us, a seemingly simple solution to the problem. However, it’s quite a complex answer that must be approached with caution otherwise you send that child running back to their video games.

The first few times the child goes fishing a positive experience is really important because this is when the magic happens and the child becomes hooked on a lifelong hobby of pursuing fish. If you are a parent or mentor who has not fished before, but you want to give that opportunity to a child, don’t fret, we’re from the government and we are here to help. Every year Idaho Fish and Game employees hold a Free Fishing Day clinic at local water bodies on the second Saturday of every June. This year is will be held on June 12 at these nearby locations; Bonner’s Ferry—Snow Creek Pond, Clark Fork—Clark Fork Lodge Pond, Priest Lake—Priest Lake Golf Course, Sandpoint (Sagle)—Round Lake State Park.

All events run from 9 am to noon.

If you’ve never been fishing, Free Fishing Day is an opportunity to start.

Fish and Game personnel and volunteers will be at the above named locations to help adults and children alike if needed.

There will be a limited number of loaner rods and reels available to practice with but if you have your own equipment you are encouraged to bring it. We’ll be there to rig lines, bait hooks, and take fish off hooks.

While you don’t need a license on Free Fishing Day, all other fishing regulations including creel limits, opening dates and tackle restrictions remain in effect. Always check the rules and regulations for the water where you plan to go fishing.

Free Fishing Day is a great start to getting the kiddos out of the house and involved in an outdoor activity. However, you can take your kids out any time of the year as long as the fishing season is open on that water. I recommend taking a child to our “Family Fishing Waters.” Each Fish and Game region has Family Fishing Waters that can be located by going to our website at www.fishandgame.idaho.gov and clicking on the fishing section. Family Fishing Waters are a few choice spots close to home geared toward families and the likelihood you’ll catch fish. These waters are easy to reach and the rules are simple. Just to name a few in our area: Antelope Lake, Round Lake, Jewel Lake, Kelso Lake, and Granite Lake. As I stated, regulations on these bodies of water are easy to understand; fishing is open year round, limit of six trout and six bass, no limits on other species, no length limits, and you need a license if over 14 years of age.

Here are some tips to ensuring your child has positive and fun experience the first time they wet a line. First and foremost, always keep the activity about the kids. That seems like a simple concept, but I seem to violate it with my kids all the time. I took my three-year-old daughter out to Dover Bay when the perch were biting this spring. She was having a blast with her Tinker Bell kid’s rod and we were increase nutrients, such as nitrogen and

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fortunate enough to be catching perch pretty regularly. Typical of a three-yearold she lost interest pretty quickly and I failed to notice it until she tested the idea that her rod might float like the bobber.

Shame on me I was too into catching fish.

It’s okay if the kids make five casts and decide it’s time to splash around in the water or go explore because it has to be a positive experience.

Secondly, I would not get too fancy with the gear; keep it to a bobber, hook, split shot, and a good old fashion worm.

It’s easy for the child to understand, and equally easy for a first time parent fishing.

You can’t go wrong with a worm; it catches almost all species in most of our water bodies.

Finally, it’s a great opportunity to talk to kids about wildlife conservation principles, ethics and laws. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just simple concepts like, “we only keep what we are going to eat, and the rest of the fish get released.”

Or, “the law states we can only keep six fish, the reason being to ensure that we and others will have the opportunity to catch fish here in the future.” By doing this you are creating an ethic and understanding in that child that will be carried with them for life. Unfortunately, most people who are chronic poachers learned as a child from parents that didn’t lead by setting a positive example or discussion. They unfortunately carry that destructive behavior and mentality well into adulthood.

Get those kids out for a day of fishing and remember to keep it simple, make it fun, and lead by a positive example. I’ll be at the Clark Fork Lodge Pond for Free Fishing Day on June 12 from 9 am to noon.

Come on by and say hi and brings the kids for a little fishing action.

Leave No Child Inside

Council website at tristatecouncil.org.

Hay’s Chevron Gas • Convenience Store Unofficial Historical Society

Pend Oreille, addresses nutrient issues

Oil Changes Tire Rotation by appointment

476749 in 2007 concerning a U.S. variety95 of in water quality issues. As Ponderay is turns out, their

208-266-1338

Ask for Blacky Black, In addition, many lakeshore Sales Manager homeowners participated in a survey 208.263.2118

The River - A River NewsJournal Magazine Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol 17 No. 18||Vol. November 2008 Page 5 June Journal 2010| The - A Worth News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com 19 No. 6| Page| 13

Land Management

On logging the land - Part 3 attack from what ever pathogen is at work.

3) Provide for wildlife habitat and 4) Protect Michael White surface water quality. As a general outline for NorthIdahoLandMan.com forest management these goals will guide you mdwhite@coldwellbanker.com to a high quality forest environment.

The trees of a forest are generally classified Managing the forest land of your estate as the dominants (those receiving light from or property is one of the most important the top and sides), co-dominant (those responsibilities of a landowner and/or land receiving light mostly from above) and the manager. It takes a tree about 70 to 100 years suppressed trees or understory (which receive to grow from seedling to a fully mature tree little light or only intermittent light as the in the Inland Northwest, and the effects of trees above blow in the wind, etc). It is a decisions made now will even effect the next common misconception that the various trees generation of trees, which can carry the impacts in a forest of different sizes are of different of decisions even further into the future. ages, but this is not generally true. Except for Managing solely for maximum timber the very obvious seedlings and saplings, most returns now could have negative impacts of the understory, co-dominant and dominant on many different components of the forest trees are about the same age but have had ecosystem and negatively affect timber returns different physical histories or have different in the future too. The land manager should genetic capabilities. consider the whole forest ecosystem when A typical forest stand of trees will probably developing a management plan or harvest plan have started their lives at about the same for the forest they temporarily control. time, as a result from some previous stand The forest ecosystem is comprised replacing event such as fire, insect or disease primarily of wildlife, plants, soil and water outbreak, logging or clearing for long forgotten but these general categories can be infinitely agricultural use. There are some trees which will subdivided into an ever-increasing web of be of a different species category and require interconnections, such as varieties of plants, less light to grow which will grow up under soil layers, surface water systems, ground the canopy of the dominant stand species. For water and wildlife habitats. Each of these instance, if a wildfire burns through an area components can be affected by various and opens it up, then there will be a succession management activities such as which trees of plant communities which will occupy this are cut, which trees are left, equipment used, area and which will change as the conditions road layout and much more. It is therefore change. The first plant communities to colonize imperative to develop a management plan to an open area, the “pioneer species�, tend to be guide your management activities. There is a grasses and forbs (although noxious weeds will reason that entire university degrees are offered eagerly invade these niches too), then brush for Forest Management; it is an extremely will take hold and eventually shade out the complicated business and the impacts of grasses and forbs, then the tree species which forest management are both profound and need and thrive in full sun will take over and long lasting. With that in mind I recommend eventually shade tolerant trees will begin to the landowner utilize a professional forester grow up underneath. (The offspring of trees and/or land manager, with good credentials, which need full sun cannot grow under the to provide a management plan and administer shade of the parent trees). So, most of the sun harvest or forest improvement activities. At loving tree species of all the varying sizes are the same time, I believe it is imperative for the probably about the same age but have different landowner to have a general understanding of genetic capabilities and in the original race to some of the principles and techniques involved establish dominance they lost out, doomed to in sound, responsible forest management. live in the shade, put on very little growth and Given that my background both just barely eek out a living. educationally and in work experience is in I believe one of the best thing a manager both timber management and ecosystem can do for his forest is to remove the genetically management, I tend to manage the forest as inferior trees, and leave the best dominant a whole entity and, of course, I believe this and co-dominant trees, well spaced out about is the best way to do it. While this approach every 25 to 50 feet (depending on species and rarely yields the highest net profit possible, it situation on the ground) and remove all the does provide the most long term benefits. As other trees, whether merchantable or not. This a general rule, I recommend a land manager improves the ability of the seeds from these have the following goals in mind when making higher quality trees to take hold and grow a management plan for a property. 1) Leave the well, it improves the aesthetics and usability of best trees to provide for the best possible seed the land, and increases the growth of the leave production for the future forest. 2) Remove trees which can be harvested in the future poor quality or diseased trees and those around when their offspring have grown up into an the diseased trees which will be susceptible to

under story and are ready to be thinned. It is important to mark the trees to be left after a harvest and not leave it up to the logger. This helps to minimize losing trees which you want left through mistakes or miscommunications.

Remember, once a tree is cut it can not be put back up!

Diversity and variation are very important factors in creating or maintaining wildlife habitat. It is important to leave a variety of tree species, to leave some dead trees or snags (which are important for wildlife habitat,) to leave some clumps of trees here and there, as well as some irregularly shaped openings. Protecting surface water is of primary importance which should be done both by retaining heavy forest cover along streams, ponds, wetlands, as well as preventing equipment from driving through or too close to these areas. Set up a boundary around these water bodies, clearly marking for the loggers that this is a Riparian Protection Zone and should be treated differently from the rest of the property. While timber could be removed from the RPZs the timber should be drug out from the area without equipment entering the zone and no more than about 30 percent of the timber should be removed. It is of primary importance not to allow a lot of increased sunlight into the area or to allow sediment to flow into the water bodies.

Roads should planned with erosion control in mind and designed in such a way as to minimize the actual length and density of the roads. In other words, plan your main roads well and then plan the skid roads so the loggers can access the timber with their winch cables and drag them into the skid road. Try to prevent equipment operators from driving all through the property to access logs with the skidder or skid type equipment, which will drastically increase the compacted soils.

When your timber harvest is done it should look aesthetically pleasing, be more usable, and have provided for wildlife and water quality. You will have left the best trees for future seed crops; these trees are the most aesthetically pleasing as well, for they will protect the ground and be a valuable source of timber revenue in the future. It will be easier to walk through and enjoy your land, wildlife and livestock can graze under the trees which will be open enough to encourage grass and brush growth underneath them and there should even be increased views. The streams, ponds, or wetlands will still be shaded and water temps will not increase, or the water bodies will not be as prone to drying up, over time. Wildlife habitat will probably have been improved as most species of wildlife can not utilize overly dense forests and fire danger should be significantly reduced as well. Overall it is very possible to improve your land and make money through timber harvest, if it is done right.

Page 14 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Marine Patrol

Carbon Monoxide: The silent killer Lt. Cary Kelly

ckelly@bonnerso.org Several times in the last few years we have witnessed carbon monoxide poisoning in fishermen on Lake Pend Oreille. Early this season we came close to a real tragedy on Priest Lake when two boaters crashed into a parked sailboat and later had no recollection of the incident.

Both occupants were suffering from near lethal exposure to CO poisoning.

CO is called the silent killer because it is invisible, odorless tasteless gas that is produced when a carbon-based fuel burns.

CO can make you sick in seconds. In high enough concentrations, even a few breaths can be fatal. CO sources may include gasoline engines, generators, cooking ranges and heaters.

CO kills by suffocation, replacing oxygen in the bloodstream. Many fatalities around boats that were attributed to drowning are now suspected to be caused by CO poisoning. A recent study of 25 drowning

accidents on Lake Powell revealed that 12 (48 percent) of those deaths were actually caused by CO poisoning.

Early symptoms of CO poisoning include irritated eyes, headaches, nausea, weakness and dizziness. Often symptoms are confused with seasickness or intoxication. Move anyone with these symptoms to fresh air immediately and seek medical assistance unless you a certain the cause is not CO. To protect yourself and others while boating allow fresh air to circulate through the boat at all times, even during bad weather. Ventilate immediately if exhaust fumes are detected in the boat. Never allow anyone to sit on the back deck, “teak surf,” or hang on the swim platform while the engines are running. Never enter areas under swim platforms where exhaust outlets are located—even for a second.

One or two breaths in this area could be fatal. Also, towing someone behind a boat within 15 feet at a very low speed can be dangerous. Install and maintain marine type CO detectors in the cabin of your vessel, and inspect the exhaust system to ensure proper operation. CO poisoning can be caused by blocked exhaust outlets, another vessel alongside or slow speed or idling. It can also occur from a “station wagon effect” created when the vessel is operation at a high bow angle. A following wind can induce exhaust into the cockpit and is extremely dangerous—especially for fishermen trolling at very slow speeds.

Public awareness of the dangers of CO poisoning, especially around boats where the threat is often overlooked, is the best defense against this “silent killer.” Beware!

Happy and Safe Boating!

8th Annual Sandpoint Wooden Boat Festival July 10-11 • Downtown Sandpoint

Mountain Man Breakfast • Presentation of Colors • Retiring of Colors • Ships Store • Beer & Wine Garden Family BBQ • Ducks for Peace • Model Boats Parade Wooden Boat Parade • Flat Water Regatta The Regatta is a fundraiser for Sandpoint Rotary to raise money for area scholarships.

Sponsored by the Inland Empire Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society and Downtown Sandpoint Business Association

Complete schedule of events online at http://sandpoint.org/boatfestival

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 15

Veterans’ News

A Half Million Potentially Exposed Gil Beyer, ETC USN Ret. vintage@gotsky.com

Last month’s article was more personal than previous submissions and it appears that I have found a subject that resonates with more than just me. For those of you who may have missed last month’s piece it dealt with asbestos exposure and the potential long term effects of that exposure.

Comments have been posted on the RJ website and I received a personal email from another reader. Thanks to all for your words.

It seems that many—if not all—navy veterans, shipyard workers, miners, factory employees and their families that were even close to asbestos products between the 1930s and the mid-1970s have a high likelihood of coming down with either mesothelioma or asbestosis. That must mean that there are tens of thousands—maybe hundreds of thousands—of possible victims of this widely used material. Industry’s and government’s response over the past four decades to this health risk has been marginal at best. As a prime example of what I mean by a marginal response is the following. In 1989 the EPA instituted a ban on all new products containing asbestos. They proposed no such ban on existing uses. The industry took the EPA to court and in 1991 a Federal District Court overturned that ruling. The rationale behind that decision are technical and not directly related to the potential health hazard resulting from exposure to asbestos.

Another facet on this subject comes from Congress. Since 1977 various bills have been introduced to establish a national trust fund to cover all who are afflicted individuals.

This was done as an attempt to make right what some have called “the worst industrial accident in U. S. history.” This national trust fund would have negated the need for individual and class action law suits against the manufacturers and mining companies but guess what? Not any of the many proposed bills were ever passed in either house. One can only wonder at what possible influence the legal profession had in this lack of legislative action. As I wrote in the previous article it was a phone call from an attorney in Illinois that led to that piece. I suspect that there may be a class action suit in the making here with hundreds of billable hours involved. But then again I’m somewhat jaded and cynical when it comes to the majority of lawyers.

There is another facet to the proposed national trust solution to this problem and that is simply, time. Assuming that Congress

passes something like the “FAIR” (Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution) proposed

by Senator Hatch a couple of years ago we would be faced with a HUGE backlog of claims. Current estimates put the number of potentially exposed individuals at 500,000.

This would mean months of delays while the claims were being processed. And, for those afflicted with either mesothelioma or asbestosis, time is something that is in very short supply. As I wrote previously mesothelioma is sneaky and seldom presents itself until it is well advanced. By the time it is identified the range of options for treatment are very limited and most of those options are purely palliative.

As a result of this industry and governmental inaction we have at this moment no national trust fund and no ban on products containing asbestos. Now don’t get me wrong. There are numerous regulations and procedures at the federal and state level on the use, removal and processing of asbestos. There is, however, no outright ban of its use at this time at any level. As of January 2005 the European Union has banned all use of asbestos. I would humbly suggest that a similar ban be implemented in the USA quickly. It would seem that our government has dawdled sufficiently. After all, asbestos has been a known carcinogen for over 35 years.

Asbestosis and mesothelioma are equal opportunity health hazards. They can be contracted simply by living with someone who has been exposed to asbestos at work or by living ‘downwind’ of a plant manufacturing products that utilize asbestos. The email I received stated that the sender’s mother had died of mesothelioma after working in a manufacturing plant during WWII. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people simply living in the vicinity of asbestos mining operations can and have gotten sick.

Which brings me to something that is more in keeping with veterans interests. As of this writing the VA has yet to recognize that mesothelioma is a ‘service-related’ disorder. I find this strange simply because it has been known for well over thirty years

that asbestos was a bad thing to inhale.

Exposure to ‘Agent Orange’ while serving in Viet Nam and exposure to some specific chemical agents during the first Gulf War have already qualified as ‘service-related’ illnesses or diseases in a much shorter time span.

Why, one could ask, has asbestos exposure been neglected? Who knows? Maybe the numbers involved are just too big. Maybe, after being short-charged budget-wise for so many years under previous administrations, the VA is still trying to get its head above water with the stuff that they have to deal with from more recent conflicts. I do believe that a lot of the problems facing both the VA and our veterans’ communities have been exacerbated by short-sighted fiscal and budgetary policies over much of the previous three decades. A wise man once said, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ No individual or governmental entity—at any level—can spend like the proverbial ‘drunken sailor’ and reduce income at the same time. For that is the path to insurmountable debt and financial ruination.

Until next month—when I hope to have more information on topics related to mesothelioma and some ways to apply for available compensation—I’ll close this up.

Our local Bonner County Veterans Assistance Officer, Don Carr (208-255-5291) probably knows more about this than I do. I readily admit that I am somewhat disappointed with the status of both regulation and legislation on this subject but as Chief Dan George once said, “We shall endeavor to persevere.”

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Page 16 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Politically Incorrect

Round and round and round it goes Trish Gannon

trish@riverjournal.com My first experience with roadway roundabouts should have put me off them forever. This story happened one day when I was driving in Karachi, Pakistan, population 15.5 million—one of the ten largest cities in the world, and larger than any city in the U.S. At the time I was driving there, however, the population was only 5.5 million (which would put it in second place against current American cities—only New York City exceeds that amount today), and I think they were all on the road with me.

I was on one of Karachi’s many divided highways, with four lanes going in my direction. Cars all over Europe and Asia are smaller than American cars, however, so they pretty much drove those roads five cars across. And not just cars. Traveling at various rates of “highway” speed on the road with me were cars, trucks, buses, camel-drawn wagons, donkey-drawn carts, and moped/ human/donkey-powered rickshaws.

Karachi, of course, has a large Muslim population, and a major religious tenet for them is Insha’Allah, which roughly translated means, “if it’s God’s will.” In driving terms, it translates as, “if it’s God’s will that I die at this red light then I’ll die, and if it’s God’s will that I live, I’ll live—therefore, there is no reason to actually stop at the red light.”

Karachi’s substantial Hindu population also contributes to the adventure of driving through the city, because cows are sacred and are allowed to roam freely. This is hazardous enough in lightly populated Montana, but made for some interesting maneuvers in one of the largest cities in the world.

By the way, they drive on the “wrong” side of the road in Karachi, and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car. The stick shift, interestingly enough, is actually just the same, however, so when you pull the shifter toward you and down, you’re actually in third gear, not first.

I was not long into this thrill ride when I encountered my first-ever roundabout, and some small part of me is a little bit amazed that I’m not circling it still. But I didn’t have time to panic; or maybe it’s that I was already in such a state of panic I couldn’t have become any more so. Whichever is the case, I found the roundabout to be a piece of cake—a strangely intuitive way to negotiate intersections that made me an immediate convert.

But I came back to the U.S., where we’re awfully scared of roundabouts it seems,

so my second driving encounter with a roundabout didn’t occur until I happened on the one installed about ten years ago in Santa Barbara, Calif., at the end of the 101 exit for Milpas Street. The intersection of Milpas and Carpenteria, which includes two highway ramps, had been an area of frequent traffic delays, and the city wanted to address the problem with a traffic circle. Caltrans didn’t approve, so state law was changed in order to give the city control of the intersection (Milpas is part of State Route 144). I found that one to be a piece of cake, too, though I admit I didn’t drive on it often as I was only in town for a visit.

Then came the Fifth Avenue improvement project in Sandpoint. When was that? Seven years ago? Kody Van Dyck was the director of transportation for the city of Sandpoint at the time (as he is today), and I visited with him for a bit and suggested the city consider installing roundabouts—one of the greatest benefits of a roundabout is the ability to keep traffic moving and avoid back-ups, something Sandpoint is notorious for, especially given its peculiar timing cycles for stoplights. Kody laughed at me. He was very nice about it, and indicated he sort of liked traffic circles himself, but nonetheless let off a few guffaws as he explained to me that Sandpoint just wasn’t ready for a roundabout.

So what, just because we’re rural North Idaho we’re somehow too ignorant to recognize a benefit when it becomes available?! Are our drivers so inept they can’t negotiate a traffic circle?

Whatever the reason, Fifth Avenue was widened and drivers continued to experience clogged traffic thanks to the lights at Larch and Cedar (plus the inexplicable narrowing of the road just past the Visitor Info center going north).

In the meantime, Coeur d’Alene installed two roundabouts on Fourth Avenue. (I think they have four in Coeur d’Alene, but I’m not sure where the other two are.) My sweet boy lives just off Fourth, so when I go to visit I make sure to get off 95 early, just so I can utilize the roundabouts.

They are roundabouts, by the way, and Sandpoint’s is as well. With a roundabout, the traffic in the circle has the right-of-way; drivers entering must yield to drivers already there. A traffic circle is just the opposite: entering drivers have the right-of-way, while those in the circle must yield to those entering.

Now you’ll get the definition right if you’re ever tested on it.

So, almost a decade after the Fifth Avenue improvement project, and Sandpoint is finally installing a roundabout, at the corner of Boyer and Larch. And given the tenor of comments online responding to stories in the Bonner County Daily Bee, Kody might

have been right about Sandpoint’s readiness to embrace a roundabout.

Though, by the time you read this, the roundabout should be fait accompli. (Yes, the French have a lot of roundabouts, too.)

The roundabout is open for traffic. The city has offered instructions for how to use it online here: http://www.cityofsandpoint. com/Public%20Works/streets/Instruction s%20for%20Navigating%20a%20Roundab out.pdf. (If that’s too much to type, just go to cityofsandpoint.com, select “Public Works,” and select “roundabout driving instructions.”)

Interestingly enough, when the Spokesman-Review’s Dave Oliveria asked for opinions on Sandpoint’s roundabout on his blog (www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/ hbo), the responses (none from Sandpoint, I think) were all positive.

That happens a lot with roundabouts, it seems. Initially there’s a lot of opposition then, once people actually experience them, they’re fine. In fact, they tend to become, if not proselytizers for the cause, then at least converts.

Why would this be so? Partly because of their ability to relieve traffic congestion, I would guess. Anyone whose regular commute involves wasting a lot of time sitting at a light might tend to appreciate something that gets them more quickly to their destination.

But there’s other benefits to roundabouts as well: less time spent idling means less money wasted on gas and less toxic exhaust entering the atmosphere; many studies have shown a decrease in traffic accidents when roundabouts are installed, and when accidents do occur, they tend to cause less damage than accidents at an intersection; there are reduced long-term costs; and to most people, they’re simply more attractive in appearance than a four-way intersection with lights.

My friend Ward, whose house fronts on Sandpoint’s new traffic circle, would disagree with my support. He’s been quite fond of saying he’s willing to sell tickets for seats on his lawn to watch what a disaster this will be. And I can’t blame him for being less than positive about it. No one likes to be a guinea pig, and given the high truck traffic at the intersection of Larch and Boyer, this might not be the location I would have selected for our first traffic circle. (Division and Pine— that’s where we need one! Just sayin’, Kody.)

God only knows there’s a learning curve whenever anything new is tried, but I hope, for more than Ward’s sake, that he’s wrong about what a roundabout will mean for Sandpoint’s traffic.

Although traffic at that intersection will increase by one for a while... that will be me, riding around and around and around.

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 17

A Seat in the House

Changes Made in the 2010 Session As I write this article the primary election Idaho Dist. 1B Representative has just ended and idaholeginfo@lso.idaho.gov several local and state 1-800-626-0471 elected positions were determined by this election. One could wonder if higher voter participation might have produced different results in this election, but one can only speculate.

However, even though many elected positions were determined in this primary, the general election next November will be significant in that we will be electing the next Governor of Idaho, a federal senator and two members of the U.S. House of Representatives in addition to many state and local positions.

There will also be three proposed constitutional amendments for the voters to decide on in the upcoming general election.

These three constitutional amendments are being proposed by the legislature in response to a 2006 Idaho Supreme Court decision that “ addressed ‘the ordinary and necessary’ exception to voter approval of financing public debt’.

The court’s decision created doubt on the ability of county and district hospitals, political subdivisions and airport authorities to incur

George Eskridge

debt without voter approval. It also created uncertainty on the legality of municipal power systems to enter into long-term power supply, transmission and other agreements with their power suppliers without the need for an authorizing election.

House Joint Resolution 4 “amends Article VIII, Section 3C of the Idaho Constitution to clarify the ability of county and district hospitals to incur indebtedness without vote, provided that no ad valorem tax revenue is used for the indebtedness.”

House Joint Resolution 5 proposes an amendment that “creates a new Section 3E to allow political subdivisions and regional airport authorities operating an airport to incur debt without voter approval, so long as the debt is payable solely from airport revenues and no tax funding is pledged or put at risk for the repayment.”

House Joint Resolution 7 “amends Article VIII of the constitution by adding a new section 3D to confirm the authority that a city owning a municipal power system may enter into long-term power supply, transmission and other agreements with the Bonneville Power Administration and other suppliers, without the need for an authorizing election.” It also allows the municipal to issue revenue bonds with the agreement of a majority of its electors to finance needed generation and transmission facilities to meet customer needs.

There will be additional information made available to the voters addressing these proposed constitutional amendments at the time of the general election to aid voters in determining whether these constitutional amendments should be implemented.

Unlike other primary and general elections, including the primary election just ended, in the general election next November and subsequent elections, voters will be required to provide certain personal information at the polls when voting that has not been required in the past.

House Bill 496 passed by the legislature this year and in effect on July 1 of this year requires that before receiving a ballot, each elector shall show a valid photo identification or personal affidavit before voting.

The personal identification may be: 1) an Idaho driver’s license or identification card issued by the Idaho Transportation Department; 2) a passport or an identification card, including a photograph, issued by an agency of the United States government; 3) a tribal identification card, including a photograph; or 4) a current student identification card, including a photograph, issued by a high school or an accredited institution of higher education, including a university, college or technical school, located within the state of Idaho.

In the event a voter is not able to present the required personal identification “the voter may complete an affidavit in lieu of the personal identification. The affidavit shall be on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State and shall require the voter to provide the voter’s name and address.” The voter will be required to sign the affidavit and if any person knowingly “provides false, erroneous or inaccurate information on such affidavit shall be guilty of a felony.”

We have not had concrete evidence of voter fraud in Idaho; however many questions have surfaced in the past that raises concern and requiring a photo ID can help avoid a concern of voter fraud. It would seem that having to show an ID to vote would not be an imposition to voters to help preserve the integrity of the voting process. We have to show a photo ID in numerous situations, including withdrawing money from a bank account or boarding an airplane, therefore presenting an ID during voting would not seem an unreasonable requirement in the interest of protecting the integrity of our election process.

Thanks for reading! And as always I welcome your input on issues important to you. You can contact me at my home phone at (208) 2650123 or by mail at P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho, 83825. George

Page 18 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

The Hawk’s Nest

Evan’s Landing Ernie Hawks

photosbyhawks.com ernie@photosbyhawks.com On the south side of the trail was a small cedar grove, dark, the ground covered with duff, but little vegetation other than the giant trees whose branches expanded out and touched each other high above the floor, creating a canopy the sun could barely penetrate. As with nearly every shadowy, damp, musty valley filled with mature cedars, it had an enchanting, even mystical feeling. The shady path took us to the top of a rise; another similarly enthralling draw lay to our north. This was a temporary moment at the beginning of a new walk for us. In a short pleasant saunter, we crossed a slight ridge and a vista opened to the east.

Over twelve hundred feet below us was Pend Oreille Lake and our destination, Evans Landing; in between was a steep, probably eighty percent grade.

We had talked about this trail, just a few miles from our home, several times.

Looking at maps, we knew we would be traversing the nearly vertical west wall of the lake that runs from Maiden Rock south to Cape Horn.

What we had not researched was the trail itself. We tend to go into areas with the attitude “If it gets too tough we will turn around.” Like most people with that attitude, we never have turned around.

Would this be the first time?

Still we are rather philosophical about it. So as we stood at the top looking down at the water below, and across to snowcovered Pack Saddle Mountain, reaching up over 6,200 feet, more than 4,000 feet higher then the lake, we knew the day had already been a success. However, the trek from this scene to our intended destination was still an unknown, yet inviting adventure.

Evans Landing is a narrow gravel beach on the west side of Pend Oreille. Mixed with the clean washed gravel are large, bluishgreen bedrock boulders with deep, rutty glacial scars thousands of years old. For years, I had heard it was only accessible by boat, sometimes with the caveat “Well I guess there is a trail up the cliff but….”

I had boated in to the little bay a few times, a good place for boat camping with a couple fire pits and picnic tables. I always tied up at one of the mooring buoys and stayed on the boat, so had never been on shore.

Therefore, with only this limited knowledge, we started down the track leading to the beach.

As it opened to an eastern exposure,

the forest changed from cedar and hemlock to mostly Douglas fir and some pine with a mix of birch. Low growing brush covered the ground, as more light reached the soil, still there was plenty of shade from the morning sun.

Most hikers will tell you a downhill is harder on the body than a climb, especially on the knees. Fortunately, for most day hikes the morning is a climb with the day ending coming back down. It allows the ailing knees to sit down for a ride home followed relaxing in a hot tub with a glass of wine in the evening. However, on this day we started with the downhill. I wondered how it would be getting back up if the knees were sore. A little time pondering that and I realized I was losing a wonderful trip down worrying about something that may not happen.

At first we followed a gentle slope crossing the top of the face. The first switchback came after a rather long grade with several openings for viewing the west end of the Green Monarchs on the opposite side of the lake. All the switchbacks were long, making the slope very bearable and several breaks in the trees allowed good picture taking of the Cabinet Mountains to the northeast.

We could have made good time but one thing kept slowing our progress; all the new spring flowers and plants. They ran the color gamut, from light pink to vivid purple and with textures ranging from white lace to brilliant yellow sunbursts all nesting in every hue of green. When we first spotted a Western tanager sitting in an Ocean Spray bush—with red head, yellow body and black wings—he looked like another flower, until he started flitting about.

Closer to the bottom, Maiden Rock could be seen protruding into the west shoreline a mile or so to the north.

The trail was narrow but never washed out or, to our surprise, excessively steep.

That is until we were at the bottom.

That is when I could understand the ominous stories I had heard of the trail “up the cliff.” The last twenty feet or so to the beach was, basically, no trail at all. Still we scrambled down it after doing a little study of the options. Really, it was only bad by the standard that had been set by a thousand or so feet of descent getting to it.

On the beach, we ate our snacks at one of the picnic tables as weather was rolling in over Bernard Peak and around Cape Horn to the south. There was a little breeze making five- or six-inch waves lapping at the shore, giving us perfect lakeside music.

From beach level, it was almost impossible to find the trail we had just come down. We had fun exploring the best route back up that first twenty feet; once

past it the ascent was pleasant even with a moderate sweat index.

One thing that added to the fun was the new pair of trekking poles gifted to me a few days before this hike. I had used ski poles adjusted for walking several times and knew how much easier it makes both ascents and descents. These new ones with cushioned handles and straps and breakaway tips are even nicer.

I don’t know how far the hike was in miles, but it took us a little over two hours each way at our leisurely pace.

As we reached the top, we stopped near the cedar groves we passed through earlier and sat down to meditate.

With a feeling of exhilaration, I remembered the early apprehension about the difficulty of the trail, and gave thanks for the reminder that perceptions can keep us from our goals.

I thanked the magnificent trees that shaded us, the views that pleased us, and the earth, who gave us this wonderful hill. I thanked those who came before and made the trail and finally Great Spirit for it all, and another wonderful day.

Just as we loaded into the car, that weather we had seen coming started pouring spring rain—thanks also for waiting just a few minutes.

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June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 19

9,000 Years

from

Rama

“Half of writing history is hiding the truth.” - 2005 Universal film “Serenity”

Welcome to the first edition of “Shadow Science.” I’d like to take the occasional foray into alternate explanations that mainstream scientists and researchers refuse to acknowledge, much in the world of archeology.

The first is the evidence for a nuclear war in India long before the time of the pharaohs of Egypt. It was in the Paleoindian era, no earlier than 8,000 to 9,000 years ago or about 7000 BC. (Also a bout the time that alternative science dates the forerunner of ancient Egypt, but that’s a topic for our next column.)

About 20 years ago a housing development was under construction in Rajasthan, India, ten miles west of Jodhpur.

For a long time, there had been a high rate of cancer and birth defects around the three-square-mile area under development.

When scientists finally came to investigate before the development was too far along, they found that there was a layer of radioactive ash in the excavated area to the degree that would indicate a nuclear event at least the size of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Digging further, evidence of an ancient city was unearthed of at least 8,000 years of age, perhaps older.

The area described was once part of the Rama empire, now India. Ancient sacred texts describe what sounds like a nuclear— or several nuclear—detonations in the Indus Valley that is now the Thar desert. The 6500 BC verses describe a single giant arrow charged with the power of the sun; that a glowing or incandescent column of flame, bright as a thousand suns, rose in a column and expanded quickly in round blossoms like the opening of giant parasols.

A historian, Kisari M. Ganguli, has found sacred writing is full of descriptions that

sound like the descriptions of nuclear detonations: fighting sky chariots that delivered final weapons that decimated entire armies, the contamination of food, how those not incinerated immediately experienced their hair and fingernails falling out.

At another site in the same region, Soviet researchers found a skeleton thousands of years old with radiation 50 times above normal. Another unearthed city between the Ganges and the Rajmahal Hills appeared to have been exposed to intense heat.

Walls and foundations of the city are fused together. There is no volcanic activity in the area, leaving a nuclear explosion the only likely explanation.

Then there is the quote from ancient Sanskrit literature uttered by Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer after watching the first nuclear test in New Mexico in 1945: “Now I have become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.”

During an early 1950s interview at Rochester University, he was asked if that was the first atomic bomb ever detonated.

Oppenheimer replied, “Well, yes, in modern history.”

India isn’t the only location to show the vitrification, or fusion of brick and stone construction. There is evidence of such intense heat in Ireland, Scotland, France, Turkey and even the upper Midwest of the United States. The Gainey site in Michigan; Thedford, Ontario; Potts, New York; Shoop, Pennsylvania; Alton, Indiana; Taylor, Illinois; and an area near Baker, New Mexico.

Back to India. There’s an ancient nearby circular depression about 275 miles north of Bombay (Mumbai), called the Lonar crater

that has been dated less than 50,000 years.

Thee is no trace of meteoritic material. It is the best known so-called “impact crater” in basalt. It appears to have been subjected to 600,000 atmospheres of intense and abrupt heat based on the basalt glass spherules at the site.

Then there’s the destruction of the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which sounds much like nuclear detonations. A dense column of smoke rose rapidly, a cloud rained burning sulphur, the soil turned to sulphur and salt so that no blade of grass could grow. There are salt pillars still there today which, if they were of normal salt, would long ago have dissolved into the ground.

Deuteronomy 32:32-33 reads: Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison, and their clusters are bitter.

Their wine is the venom of snakes, the deadly poison of vipers.” In other words, contaminated by radiation.

Other cities have been destroyed with similar descriptions. Admah and Aeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:23), Edom and Teman (Jeremiah 49:7-22) and Moab and Amman (Zephaniah 2:0).

“Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean culture, will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them. Babylon will never rise again. Generation after generation will come and go, but the land will never again be lived in. Nomads and shepherds will refuse to camp there or their sheep to graze.” - Isaiah 13:19-20.

To this day, the area remains unoccupied by permanent human settlement.

Museum now open for Summer Hours

Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm • 611 S. Ella, Sandpoint • 208.263.2344 • $3 adults/$1 age 6-18 Page 20 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

From ThE

Files

of The River Journal’s

SurrealisT Research BureaU

The Spirit Lake Seer

bearded, in sandals unwashed, and smoking “wacky-tobacky” and calling for free dope and some “Obama money.” Others are dancing to “Shout,” inebriated and/or singing “give me Obama freebies,” looking for free food and tearing things up willy-nilly in a honkytonk, roadhouse atmosphere. All those North Idaho liberals, Billy S. assures us, wouldn’t add up to a pimple on T-Rex’s behind.

I was astounded and bewildered by Billy S.’s ability to peer into alternate universes and realities, and had just finished an article on modern physics’ and string theory’s vision of multiple universes when suddenly the sheer audacity of this far-seeing seer of alternate realities burst upon me like a supernova, and I immediately penned the following reply to the Bonner Bee (which they chose not to print, though perhaps Billy S. can tell me if it was printed after all in his “other” reality). My reply was: In response to the letter on Tuesday, April 27 commending the tea party patriots I’d like to simply point out that “adding up to a pimple on T-Rex’s behind” begs two points of interest

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At the Bonner County Fairgrounds

I announce, with trembling lip and bated breath, the voice of a North Idaho prophet and seer has arisen from the aptlynamed Spirit Lake environs. His arrival was heralded in the letters to the editor page of the Bonner County Daily Bee on Tuesday, April 27 (it’s worth checking out at your local library, it’s that good!). Space forbids my quoting the entire letter and I’m not sure if he’d want his name broadcast so I’ll refer to him under the neutral “Billy Sphincter.”

Billy starts off congratulating the Tea Party patriots who attended a meeting at Sandpoint’s VFW on April 17 for their decorous behavior. After two paragraphs commending his “God-fearing, Judeo Christian patriots, alarmed at the ominous Chairman Mao direction of our Marxist president,” Billy gets down to foreseeing a completely unknown (but to his eyes) imaginary meeting of “liberals” in an alternate reality or “Bizarro world.”

First, admidst the screaming obscenities, someone named “Angel Baby” is singing, “Men are sexist pigs” while “Nuke Israel Now” signs are everywhere. Everyone is

by Jody Forest to those of us “calling for free dope and Obama money.” Firstly, dinosaurs, including T-Rex, due to their snake-like, saurian skin, were pimple free, even in those pre-Clearasil, antediluvian days. Perhaps he (the writer) meant the band TRex, but if so, that would only leave two ways to know if Marc Bolan (long-dead founder of “Banga-Gong” band T-Rex) had pimples on his behind.

One, some sort of homosexual knowledge of the same or two, the digging up and desecration of the corpse of said Marc Bolan, either one of which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the unamerican, nay despicable proclivities of said tea-baggers.

In conclusion, if you’d have seen the giant UFO flying over Clark Fork last year like I did, then by gum and by golly you’d be carrying a “Nuke Israel” sign too, and Angel Baby would be singing “men are sexist pigs” right along with the rest of us true believers in the Starry Wisdom Cult, all lookin’ out for free food at a honky tonk atmosphere deep in those unfathomable spaces and more, of the spaces between the spaces!”

Thank you, Jody Forest

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June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 21

$149,000 Classic South Sandpoint location Charming home close to downtown, parks and more! Fenced backyard, nice built-ins, 3 bedroom/2 baths.

MLS 21001671 $225,000 Terrific setup for family! Beautiful, two-story home, located at the end of a quiet street with sidewalks, just a short distance to the new grocery store. Four bedroom, three bath, fenced back yard, large deck. Check out this peaceful, spacious setting. MLS 21000511 $75,000 Level and ready to build Trees provide privacy from Highway, yet the access is easy. Room for a home, a barn and outbuildings.

No building restrictions or CC&Rs. Views of the Selkirk Mountains.

Property has been perc tested. MLS 21002026

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$155,000 Great location for this South Sandpoint home near to schools, parks and amenities with a great yard.

Close to being finished. Perfect starter home. Do it Yourself or it can be finished before you move in.

$389,921. Waterfront home on Cocolalla Lake 133 front feet, 2 decks, and immaculate. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, full surround sound system, radon system, circular driveway, 2 car garage and many large mature trees shade this .34 acre parcel. Easy access to Sandpoint or CDA. Affordable waterfront and private.

MLS 20903412 $179,000 Country feel with excellent access. 14.5 acre parcel is one of the larger parcels still available in a highly desirable location. This parcel is divisible and well timbered. MLS 20904773 $89,000 18 acres in Sagle with lots of trees. Nice benched area for a house with views of surrounding mountains. Fenced on 2 sides. Close to Lake Pend Oreille’s Camp Bay and Livermore Lake. Small structure on site which would be good for storage. MLS 21002028

Kathy’s Faith Walk

The Creator or the Creation?

Kathy Osborne

coopcountrystore@yahoo.com “It hurts.”

I remember saying this to the dentist when I got my first filling at 8 years old. I said it when I fell off the horse, got stomped on by a cow, and when my longtime boyfriend decided someone else was more to his liking. I also said it and when my Grandparents died and the day my horse, Sam, who I had for 22 years passed away.

It turns out that after 15 years I still mourn that loss. No one was more shocked than me to discover this lingering attachment to an animal.

Sam was an Arabian-Quarter Horse cross. He was three years old when Dad brought him home and I never had to break him. He loved to be ridden and we communicated without the need for whips or spurs. He just always did what I asked.

Sam’s back feet were crooked and it was always a challenge to keep weight on him because he loved to run. He and I would go to every horse gaming event that we could get to. We always won something and he loved to play the games. And we played for many years until I moved out, got married, and had children. Sam lived long enough for even my kids and some of their cousins to get to ride him. When the little kids rode him they were frustrated because they couldn’t make him run. He wouldn’t run with them. What a horse.

Was Sam my friend? Good question. We spent hours together exploring the trail-less expanse of hundreds of acres surrounding our farm. He was always glad to see me and

I spoke to him as if he were a person. But, he wasn’t a person was he?

If animals aren’t human, but we can still communicate with them on many levels and even experience deep attachment to them, and they to us, then what are they? I have been told in church many times that animals have no eternal soul. That may be true in the sense that animals have no need of the forgiveness Christ offers to us through His death on the cross. Still, animals have life.

In fact, the same life that was breathed into man in the beginning was also breathed into animals. The word for “soul” is the same. So while it may not be an eternal soul, animals do, in fact, have a soul according to Genesis 1:30. I like that.

I believe this unique relationship is a two-way street. God clearly instructed man to have dominion (authority) over the animals of the earth but He also demands that we care for those in our charge. And God even referenced the fact that when Jesus died on the cross it removed the need for anymore animal sacrifices, something God was saddened by. (Psalms 40:6-1) If animals are important to God, then they should be important to me. If he made them for me, and they bring me joy, I can be sure that this joy is authored by God. The loss of these animals, over which I have authority and care, teaches me something about the nature of God: sorrow at the loss of a beloved animal is both normal and expected as part of the caring process designed by God. Are you sorrowing over the loss of a beloved animal? It hurts. God knows your loss and invites you to talk to Him about it, complete with deep sobs and tears. He will restore your heart and heal your wound if you will let Him. Don’t miss the

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Page 22 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

The Scenic Route

Closer to the Goal of Wilderness Designation Sandy Compton

mrcomptonjr@hotmail.com www.SandyCompton.com

It’s 6:30 in the morning in the Stanley Basin and we are glassing a freshly-whitened valley surrounded by sage hills. Air temperature is 20 ° F. The small herd of elk we just passed breathe steam in the cold air, and snow is drifting out of the sky even as clouds rise to reveal the newly glazed Sawtooths. Way out, a brown critter moves disjointedly across a meadow. I want it to be a wolf, as do the halfdozen folks with me, but it morphs into a Sandhill Crane.

A Sandhill Crane? In winter? In Stanley Basin? Showing through the inch of fresh snow at my feet are tiny yellow flowers, thousands of them in this big meadow where we are wolf hunting, and they remind me that it’s not December or even March. It’s late May. But, for the 2010 Idaho Conservation League gathering at Redfish Lake Lodge, winter has made an unexpected guest appearance.

Nobody will freeze to death at the conference, but instead of lounging in tshirts and shorts, we huddle at the fireplace in the main dining room of the Lodge dressed in polypro, fleece and Smartwool. I am personally glad to have brought my ski parka and gloves, donned for this wolf-seeking expedition in the magnificent upper Salmon drainage in central Idaho.

Carter Niemeyer is our guide this morning; a tall, blond, man in a blue Cabela’s jacket who speaks “Western,” that mixture of dropped G’s and contractions and who, when properly inspired, can howl like a wolf. He’s often inspired. He has been working among wolves for decades. His laid-back speech belies his education, influence and passion.

He has taught about wolves in Europe and

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

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Kyrgyzstan, and now works as a volunteer wolf-watcher for Idaho Fish and Game.

Carter is part of the program for this year’s 26th gathering of the ICL at Redfish Lake. I’m a first-timer at this event, but the traditional soft opening of Redfish Lake Lodge on the weekend before Memorial Day has been, for a couple of decades, this convention. ICL Exec Rick Johnson of Boise (and Washington, D.C., where he spends way too much time, he says), tells a story about earlier Wild Idahos, during which he and others from ICL showed up early to clear the cobwebs and sweep the mouse droppings out of the cabins along Redfish Lake. This year’s gathering is a bit more urbane than that, regardless of the weather.

Phil Hough and I are here as executive director and program coordinator of Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, respectively.

My friend Gary Payton has come, also, as a representative of Friends of Pend d’ Oreille Bay Trail, and like us, to rub elbows with the experienced wilderness makers of Idaho. ICL has been “Idaho’s voice for clean water, clean air, and wilderness” for 37 years, and we are here to learn from and network with 70 or 80 other folks from all over the West.

It is comforting, first of all, to know by proximity to these people that we are not alone in wilderness advocacy, as individuals or as a group. There are hundreds of years of expertise and enthusiasm in this room, so much so that it seems to heat the place up a couple of degrees, which is good, because the fireplace works well only within about 15 feet of itself. We take turns defrosting to beetle-killed lodgepole as presenters keep our brains and hearts warm by sharing their knowledge and passion about wilderness and the wild things that live there—and not there—and how we are all tied together.

We witness miracles in the field and in the conference hall. Carter shows us two sets of wolf tracks in a snowy road, made by the leftovers of a pack, most of which were killed late last year for predation on livestock. Looking into the Kelly Creek hills, he says, “There’ll be a new litter up there this year.” Two hours later, Republican Congressman Michael Simpson and Democrat Walt Minnick sit right in front of us and admit to working together with the two Idaho Senators to introduce the White Clouds-Boulder wilderness bill.

It seems that this morning, there is hope in the hills and hope on the Hill, for wolves and wilderness here in the great state of Idaho.

If it can cross the aisle at the House of Representatives, it can cross a border, I think. And, here in the Scotchman Peaks, as we move this project of ours further toward our goal of Wilderness designation, we work across a border.

We’re done now, all gone home. Or at least our separate ways. I write this from my brother’s kitchen table in Nampa. Rick Johnson is winging his way toward Washington, D.C. to talk up another ICL project. Phil and Gary are back in Sandpoint with new connections in mind and heart to continue what we are doing to save the planet.

That might seem an overwhelmingly big goal, and I often think it’s arrogant of us humans to think we can do such a thing.

But, if we can save little parts of it, a wolf here, 88,000 acres there, as individuals and members of great groups like the Idaho Conservation League and Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, we just might be able to save ourselves, too.

Ron’s Repair

There’s Hope if you need physical therapy.

There’s also Sandpoint.

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208-264-5529

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 23

A Holistic Approach to

Mold Sensitivities by the Sandpoint Wellness Council www.SandpointWellnessCouncil.com

Mold is very recognizable when it occurs in our living environments, and something we curse as it is hard to completely clean away, often leaving a black or darkened stain on surfaces. It keeps returning no matter how diligent we may be in our household cleaning practices. So what exactly is mold, why does it live with us and plague us, what harm does it create to our health, and how do we get rid of it?

Phyllis A. Balch, CNC and James F. Balch, M.D. define molds very well in their book, “Prescription for Nutrional Healing“ (third edition).

“Molds are microscopic living organisms, neither animal nor insect, that thrive where no other life form can.

Molds live throughout the house—under the sink and in the bathroom, basement, refrigerator, and any other damp, dark place. They also flourish in the air, in soil, on dead leaves, and on other organic material.”

Mold can become insidious and pervasive triggering several types of physical symptoms mimicking various ailments requiring medical intervention.

Most common complaints center on respiratory conditions such as upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, coughing, wheezing, asthmatic challenges, itching, skin rashes, weight loss, dizziness, headaches, various aches and pains, etc.

Often these require medical treatment focused on providing antibiotics to abate symptoms and may not address actual causes.

We are all familiar with mold, the kind we see around our bathtubs and sinks, infiltrating grout, living as a dark

discoloration on window sills, deck railings, fences, or finding residence in damp basements, moist attic spaces, and hidden in closets seeping in from foundation walls to those closed dark spaces, especially where condensation reactions occur from the warm house air meeting the colder outside air. Even our clothes and shoes that have not been properly dried and aired can grow mold and mildew.

Molds grow in many conditions we daily encounter. As we garden, mold can exist in soils and decaying matter. Molds emit spores into the air we don’t see yet we breathe in. Broken skin surfaces become receptors of undetected mold residues that enter our bodies setting off an inflammatory response by our immune system.

Pets traipsing over lawns and in our gardens can pick up mold in their fur and paws and bring it into us while we lovingly caress and snuggle them, brush their coats, and even sleep with them allowing molds to infiltrate our bedding and furniture.

Draperies long overdue for cleaning can harbor mold on their linings, between layers of fabric, and go long undetected.

Food products such as grains, cereals, seeds, and nuts can harbor mold even when we believe we have purchased them fresh from the market. We are encouraged to buy in bulk to save money believing these products, being “dry goods” have long shelf lives in our cupboards.

Sensitivity to molds can lead to chronic discomforts if not properly addressed and eradicated. Doug A. Kaufman, in his book, “The Fungus Link,” provides the following discomforting statistics: “...

Estimates place the probable, final total [of recognized fungi species] at a whopping 1.5 million species!

Of those pinpointed thus far, about 400 have been diagnosed as the cause of human disease.”

As we look around our

homes and yards and search for evidence of mold, and understand that molds are everywhere emitting their spores, it becomes easier to recognize the potential of mold sensitivities as the trigger for nagging symptoms. Just leave a piece of bread out on the kitchen counter and see what happens in a day or two!

Just as important, mold is an outside invader to the body. This begins a cascade of events triggering our immune system to send out its specialized cells to surround the “enemy invaders.” Oftentimes what happens is the creation of byproducts

known as “free radicals.” These molecules are highly unstable, having lost an electron and seeking a new one, and in this destabilized state, cellular damage often occurs. Neutralizing free radicals becomes a strong focus of attention and can be accomplished by many positive interventions such as eating a whole foods diet, specifically directed nutritional supplementation, exercise, adequate fluids, and rest.

Mold clean-up usually begins by our cleaning with bleach, wiping and scrubbing it off that can distribute spores into the air to begin growing elsewhere.

Mold loves moist warmth to begin its life cycle. Stagnant air in homes contributes to its ongoing efforts to colonize. Heat, dryness, and good air circulation inhibit the growth of molds.

If someone suspects mold exposure as the cause of their symptoms, it becomes important to undertake a comprehensive program to eradicate mold from the environment, detoxify the mold families from the body, support the body detoxification systems with a diet restricting mold susceptible foods and beverages, increase exercise patterns to support a more rapid release of toxic components to improve the immune system and general health, and to become committed to these diligent efforts as new and lifelong behaviors to remain symptom free.

The purpose of a mold sensitivity/ eradication program is to eliminate Page 24 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

sources of irritation and to cleanse the body of the toxic byproducts produced by mold through inhalation or physical contact through supporting the organs of detoxification. Education on dietary do’s and don’ts for getting rid of mold reactions will provide strong support for digestion and organ detoxification by having the daily load reduced. Nutritional supplementation and herbs will be included to support repair, healing, and recovery. Beginning or stepping up an appropriate exercise plan that can become sustaining and fun will not only support detoxification, but strengthen cardiac and pulmonary functions often the most stressed with allergic reactions.

Finally, the program provides an avenue for addressing any barriers to commitment for keeping mold and its triggering spores out of one’s environment, remaining on the dietary plan until symptoms have abated prior to reintroducing foods on the “avoid” list, assessing health progress, and sustaining new behaviors. I have created handouts as referenced in this article I would be happy to share for anyone interested in addressing this challenge they experience.

Step 1: Environment Clean Up The first step is to clean up the environment. This includes home, garage, basements and attic spaces, yard, pet areas, and includes all work environment spaces you can control. If mold infestation is quite severe, a professional service company would be a good beginning to properly identify and completely eradicate existing mold.

Mold Eradication Guidelines including Health Cleaning Products/Procedures handout will enable participants to safely and effectively cleanse their environments of molds without further challenging or compromising the immune system with harsh cleaning chemicals.

Mold plates may be considered if specific exposures need to be identified.

Step 2: Detoxification/Dietary Do’s and Don’ts Once the environment is free of the cause of symptom triggers, the body can begin to heal itself. Detoxification Program Basic Information provides an overview of the importance of physical detoxification to lessen and/or eliminate symptoms. All our body systems participate together to eliminate toxic substances. Supporting these functions through dietary control, adequate supplementation, exercise, and rest will reflect in speedy recovery.

A. How each system participates in detoxification. This is an important handout helping us learn that our body systems act together for maximum effect. Supporting these systems with diet, supplements, herbs, exercise, and rest insures success in a mold eradication program. Our

detoxification systems include skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, liver, and kidneys.

B. Elimination of mold susceptible foods. Follow Yeast/Fungi Eradication Diet Guidelines and Yeast/Fungi Eradication Diet Food Alternatives for supporting the immune functions by lowering toxic load of moldy foods. Maintain a food journal noting menu items ingested and any reactions experienced. It may become necessary to also address food sensitivities should symptoms continue to occur even on the mold/yeast eradication diet. Emphasis will be the elimination of sugary foods, moldy food sources, and to increase protein intake, lower simple carbohydrate intake, maintain complex carbohydrates in the forms of lots of fresh vegetables rather than fruits, and maintain adequate healthy fat intake by ingesting nuts, seeds, and oils from suggested list. With molds/yeasts not having access to their fuel source, die off of their toxic residues will begin quickly.

C. Supplementation. Along with an appropriate dietary protocol, the body can be assisted in its fight against mold infestations by the addition of specific supplements supporting healing and antifungal ingredients. I have prepared a list of basic supplements supporting immune function, gastrointestinal health, the cardiovascular system which in turn improves mental clarity, and antioxidant support suppressing free radicals and their damage. Several herbs also support healing and detoxification. Some of these ingredients are easily added to smoothies and in general cooking recipes, such as garlic and onions in nearly everything.

The goal with supplementation is to support our body’s processes to obtain the most from our nutritional sources and to heal any damage experienced from toxic exposures.

Step 3: Exercise for health and well being.

As toxins begin mobilizing out of the body by the support of an appropriate diet and removal of sources of exposure, the body will benefit from routine exercising to support strong functioning of all involved detoxification systems, all cells, and tissues with the increase of oxygenation and movement of bodily fluids toward the elimination destinations.

Improved cardiovascular and pulmonary functions strengthen with regular exercise, and nutrients necessary for healthy cell functions arrive in a more timely fashion and toxins move out more quickly when movement and activity occur. Exercise should be fun and engaging, easy to adapt into one’s busy schedule with family and work, and something looked forward to every day. Walking, jogging, and yoga are easy to begin and attach to the benefits of feeling better, clarity of thinking, and feeling

more alert and alive. Advanced workouts could be incorporated as healing occurs including weight training, kick boxing, and “hot yoga.” Exercise provides a great daily tool for managing stress, important in itself to reduce toxic byproducts from stress hormones, that can have an accumulating effect on the body.

Step 4: Recognition for adequate rest.

The body accomplishes most of its repair work at night when stressors are not present and the body and mind are quiet.

Adequate time for rest is important to maintain health and vibrancy. It is generally recognized that eight hours of sleep is most essential; however, everyone’s needs vary, whether genetically or from levels of physical exertion. When illness occurs, more hours of rest are needed. Undergoing a detoxification program with toxic dieoff may require more rest time until nutrition begins to incorporate into cells from available receptors now free of toxic interlopers.

Step 5: Barriers to Commitment/ Accomplishment of Goal I recognize two main barriers to following through with a program to eradicate mold and its attendant symptomology. The first barrier comes from the physical eradication in home, yard and office. This may take time and it is hard work. Incorporating the appropriate food choices can begin as clean up efforts begin, but a sense of recovery may not be recognized while exposures are occurring. Barrier 2: People tend to want “instant” results to stay motivated. It will be important to provide support and information that while “nothing” appears to be happening, in fact much is going on as cells and tissues shuffle out mold/ allergy contaminants and begin receiving nutrients and repairing damage from toxins and free radicals. Barrier 3: Once success is experienced with the reduction/ elimination of stressing symptoms, mold will still be ever present as a predator in the home. Diligent efforts will have to be maintained to keep up with it to not experience a recurrence of symptoms. This is ongoing, tedious, and frustrating. But the long term results will be a healthier life experience. Suggestions for upkeep may be to share cleaning tasks with friends who have the same problem. We women always seem to enjoy cleaning someone else’s house—so sharing the tasks together is a lot more fun, supportive, and gets positive results as everyone benefits from a clean environment and improved health.

Krystle Shapiro, LMT, is owner of Touchstone Massage Therapies and Nutrition Plus! She is founding member of The Sandpoint Wellness Council and is presently completing her Masters of Science in Holistic Nutrition. She can be reached at 208/290-6760.

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 25

Coffelt Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.CoffeltFuneral.com

HARRY E. “ED” WESSELMAN, SR. Harry E - “Ed” Wesselman Sr., died June 2, 2010. Harry E. “Ed” Wesselman, Sr., 75, passed away at his home, in Sandpoint. A complete obituary for the retired logger will be posted later online.

DIXIE NADINE MACHADO Dixie Nadine Machado, November 1, 1922 - June 1, 2010.

Dixie Nadine Machado, 87, passed away in Sandpoint, Idaho. A complete obituary for the retired librarian, will be posted later online.

PAUL WESTFALL Paul Westfall, February 26, 1924 - June 1, 2010. Born in Burlington, Colo., moved to Bonner County as a child. Paul operated a general farming operation on Gold Creek, also raising Hereford Cattle and Shorthorn crosses

BRUCE ASHTON LEITH Bruce Ashton Leith, March 23, 1916 - May 31, 2010.

Bruce Ashton Leith, 94, of Sandpoint, died at his home.

Private services will be held at a later time.

ANETTA CURTIS Annetta Curtis, September 7, 1907 - May 29, 2010. Born in Coldwater County, Mich. Held a nursing degree with a graduate course in obstetrics.

CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM HART Christopher William Hart, December 24, 1929 - May 28, 2010. Christopher William Hart, 80, of Sandpoint, died at Valley Vista Care Center. Private services will beheld at a later time.

EDWARD ERNEST “ED” OLSON Edward Ernest “Ed” Olson, September 26, 1917 - May 26, 2010. Born in Coeur d’Alene, ID, raised in Dover, served in the CCC. Worked as a logger.

WILLIAM “BILL” BROCKWAY William “Bill” Brockway, July 16, 1928 - May 22, 2010. Born in Circle, Mont., served with the U.S. Army. Worked as a saw filer, moved to Sagle in 1994.

Lived in Canada for 8 years, then returned to Sandpoint.

Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life. ~John Muir

FLORENCE “IDA” RAGLAND Florence Ida Ragland, April 1, 1931 - May 22, 2010. Born in Weatherford, Texas. Moved to Sandpoint in 2000 to be near her son. Enjoyed raising horses and gardening.

JOHN PETER DOMINO John Peter Domino, November 11, 1942 - May 21, 2010. Born in Windsor, Ontario Canada. Worked as a transport driver, last job was with Litehouse Dressings.

Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get complete obituaries online at

www.LakeviewFuneral.org

NANCY ELLEN CATON Nancy Ellen Miller Caton, October 22, 1936 - May 19, 2010. Born in Clinton, Ind. Held a B.S. in education.

Taught in Guam and lived in Hawaii for 20 years. Divided her time between Sandpoint and San Diego.

DELORES MARIE PHILLIPS Delores Marie Kruger Phillips, December 30, 1925 - May 18, 2010. Born in Fingal, N.D., worked in the Bremerton shipyards in WWII. Moved to Post Falls in 2004.

ALICE MAE EWING Alice Mae Schultz Ewing, May 16, 1929 - May 16, 2010. Born in Wallace, Idaho, moved to Bonners Ferry in 1945, Colburn in ‘72 and Sandpoint in ‘77.

Worked at the Norway Lodge, Western Auto and Ryder Truck Rental.

ROBERT H. “BOB” DOMES Robert H. “Bob” Domes, October 23, 1928 - May 11, 2010. Born in Seattle, Wash. Served with the U.S. Navy.

Worked in the film industry, moved to Hope in 1979 and owned and operated Pend Oreille Landing Resort.

VERNA JUNE JACOBSON Verna June Lock Jacobson, February 17, 1927 - May 10, 2010. Born in Walsh, Colorado, moved to Sagle as a young child. Moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1974 and back to Sandpoint in 2008.

ROBERT MARK KELLOGG Robert Mark Kellogg, July 21, 1922 May 10, 2010. Born in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska. Moved to Laclede, Idaho in March of 1958. Owned Keg’s Mexican Chow House in Sandpoint, managed the Panida Theater, local newspapers and the Sheriff’s office. Published 50 True Tales of Northern Idaho.

JESSE DONALD VANHORN Jesse Donald Vanhorn, September 9, 1923 - May 10, 2010. Born in McCool Junction, Nebraska. Served in the U.S. Army Air Corp. Moved to Kootenai, Idaho and worked in the planer mill.

Was considered one of the top lumber graders in the Pacific Northwest Retired in 1986 and went to work for Murphy Saw Shop in Sandpoint, ID. Later opened his own small engine repair shop.

MARION “JAY” HARTLEY Marion “Jay” Hartley, May 5, 1949 - May 7, 2010 LLOYD EUGENE DUNKEL Lloyd Eugene Dunkel, (September 30, 1921 - May 5, 2010. Born in Hopkinton, Iowa. Joined the CCC, served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years. Moved to Sandpoint in 1975, was a gentleman farmer.

GARY CROSS Gary Allen Cross, July 11, 1955 - May 6, 2010. Born in Manchester, New Hampshire. He honorably served his country as a Sergeant in the United States Marines, as a guard at Leavenworth, and during Vietnam as a helicopter gunner.

A local chef, he also worked 8 years at Lignetics and 5 years at Valley Vista.

CATHERINE SORIA-FEHSEL Catherine Lagazo Soria-Fehsel, May 30, 1958 - May 7, 2010. Born in Baguio City, Philippines. Moved to Sandpoint in 1989. Ran her own baking business, Spring Creek Cobbler Co. Final employment was as a senior accountant with Litehouse.

Passed away from cancer.

JOSEPH ALLEN Joseph Ray Allen, October 24, 1921 May 20, 2010 Born in Topeka, Kansas.

Moved to North Idaho in 1943. Settled in Clark Fork on West Spring Creek Rd; later lived in Hope. Local landscaper and home caretaker.

ANTHONY DAILEY Anthony Reed Dailey, July 31, 1938 - May 22, 2010 Born in Covington, Louisiana.

Served in the U.S. Air Force. Settled in Sagle, Idaho and worked as a mechanic at Paul’s Chevron in Sandpoint.

SHARON CELIUS Sharon Irene Celius, December 1, 1952 - May 25, 2010 Born in Sunnyside, Washington. Moved to Sagle, Idaho in 2006 to be close to her sister. Deaconess at the Sandpoint Seventh Day Adventist Church.

MABLE DOYLE Mable Irene Gardner Doyle, August 4, 1920 - June 2, 2010. Born in Harrison, Idaho, made her first home in Colburn with her husband, later moved to Sandpoint in 1957.

Worked as the clerk at Bi-Rite, spent 20 years as a volunteer at the Sandpoint Senior Thrift Store.

ENID GRUENEWALD Enid Marie Ryberg Gruenewald, May 1, 1927 - June 4, 2010. Born at White River, South Dakota. Graduate of Methodist State Hospital School of Nursing, served in the nursing profession for over 40 years. Lived in Idaho the last 30 years.

Page 26 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

Scott Clawson

acresnpains@dishmail.net There’s simply a downside to everything; look at MTV if you want a good example! But seein’s how it’s almost summer, my thoughts this month turn to the topsoil inside what I’ve cleverly nicknamed ‘a garden fence’ but soil around here is a very loose term; what ours actually is could more closely be described as North Idaho loam, or even more simply put... decomposed granite with some pine needled worked in for a little aeration and texture. It grows daisies, lupine, sage and many other groovy things, just not garden vegetables. At least, not anything you’d recognize or wanna eat, ‘cepting morels of course.

Our tiller ran away from home ten years ago but I found it halfway to Bayview and out of gas. It might’ve made it too, but it was dragging the rear bumper of an old Volkswagen in its mouth. I had to bring it back ‘cause I’ve got so many fond memories of trying to hang onto it, not to mention that I’m still waitin’ for it to pay for itself. I’m thinkin’ one more fence line inadvertently ripped out of the ground ought to put me over the top. I discovered early on that ‘PTO’ stands for ‘Power to Outwit’ (regarding machinery behavior).

Anyway, what’s any of that got to do with gophers? Well, just this: “Build it and they will come.” I love this phrase as it describes gardening so well. Bugs, moles, voles, rabbits, gophers, bears, moose, deer, elk, turkeys and even feral Pomeranians all greatly appreciate anything you might introduce to the neighborhood in the form of food, shelter or entertainment. They’ve been here since time out of mind and here we come expecting to merge our plan with theirs without rubbing bumpers or tossin’ insults at each other.

Ever since I was a little crumb grabber able to pick out a decent rock and try to match my older brothers’ incredible marksmanship, I’ve associated gophers with target practice. As my arsenal graduated from one thing to the next, so did the death toll. I actually harbor a few guilty feelings for the pain and suffering I’ve caused the species in so many decades, but that pretty much goes away when I till it in with garden soil.

Out here where that elusive substance is firm enough to bend a Pulaski and make a tiller act like a horse’s ass, seeing your carrots pulled under is akin to watching one of yer own kids go through the ice! The first time you experience this, you may just

stand (or kneel) there, with jaws agape and noodle wonderin’ if it’s a cartoon flashback pulled out of your childhood memory vault.

The second time around, you’ll notice your hand and forearm go in after it before your brain gives any consent to do so. You may find your carrot or you could also draw back a rabies infection and a bloody finger.

So I’ll never do that again.

You can try stuffin’ a signal flare down the hole but what that’ll do for your topsoil shouldn’t be confused with soil augmentation. Same with running one’s tiller exhaust down their holes and you’ll also be surprised how fast you can melt a perfectly good garden hose that way... I assure you.

And if you have any fireworks layin’ around that you can’t fire off above grade... here’s yer chance to make your garden smell like Garfield Bay on the Fourth of July!

Or you could try, and this is one I haven’t, piping obnoxious music (such as Barry Manilow) into their burrows but there again you’ll just end up with severely fouled soil and gophers wearin’ ear plugs.

So what’s a gardener to do? Move?

Ha! This is not an endangered species we’re talkin’ about here. They are simply everywhere! They survived Mt. Saint Helens blowin’ her nose on ‘em, they will certainly outwit your meager attempts to control their habits. Unless...

Unless you get a mouser and not just any ol’ furball either, but one that delights in ‘gophering’.

We had a spell of a few years where we were ‘between cats’ and in that time the gopher population went beserk, prompting raised beds with metal bottoms ($). Althoug this has worked out well for the lower back(s) factor, to do this on a scale adequate to supply a family’s needs would require some serious investment!

Cats are far cheaper than lumber and labor and often more entertaining as well, like when you drop a tree on the greenhouse they’re takin’ a nap in and you get to witness just how fast a cat can move when the notion strikes their fancy (so to speak).

So far we’ve only had three cats in 27 years of ‘gardening with gophers,’ all free, female and spayed and most of all talented.

Our current mousetrap, Kirby (who will probably never again go inside a greenhouse for the rest of her nine lives), was named and bequeathed to me by Jerry Luther after it vacuumed up a dozen of his pet “golden mantles,” one of which I have a picture of on my Mac extracting peanuts from Jerry’s ears.

(Until he managed to train replacements, his understanding and mighty thoughtful wife,

Becky, has had to perform this important and life-saving function.)

Well, I was just takin’ a break from all this penmanship and lookin’ up words ‘n stuff and went down to my neighbor’s for a brew and our weekly think tank, humor fest and burp festival. Asked what I’d been up to, I replayed that paragraph on raised beds with particular emphasis on the ($) part. Pat, Mark, Rio, Guy, Lowell and Festus (just over half a tank!) simultaneously (a rarity given their IQ spread) pointed at the pickup bed we were yackin’ over. “Here’s the perfect raised bed! Cheap, portable and eclectic!” There’s just no tellin’ how far this group could go. We oughta be on radio.

And talk about the ultimate raised bed! Last year about this time, I wrote about using my big red van for a tomato hothouse, as well as a way to get to work and it occurred to me I could grow a crop, take it to Farmin Park and sell U-Pick toms at curbside. Would almost pay for the gas to go to town!

When it comes to gardening, as in most of live, all we can do is what we can do... which is usually a lot more’n we actually do do.

Thank God.

The Sandpoint chapter of the Disabled American Veterans thanks their Memorial Day Forget-Me-Not helpers outside of a rainy Wal-Mart this year: TRJ’s Trish Gannon, KPND’s Jonny Knight, K-102’s Derik Walker and Jeff McClean, Blue Sky Broadcasting’s David (WIA) Broughton, Bob Wynhausen, Jim “Under Duress” Murphy, Mrs. Wasil Moroz, Rick Wilfert and Mayor Gretchen Heller. Thanks as well to all those who stopped to put money in the can. Your donations go to help our area’s Disabled American Veterans.

June 2010| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| Page 27

From the Mouth of the River

God created charcoal grills so Texicans can sacrifice large chunks of meat by burning it beyond recognition. And barbeque sauce was invented to cover up that burnt meat and make it edible. Barbeque has been a tradition ever since the cave woman forced the cave man to do his cooking outside so as not to stink up the cave with that smell of burnt meat which would attract hungry bears. Which, by the way, was also entertainment for the kids watching dad fight off the hungry beast. Sorta like trying to keep the dog or your brother-inlaw away from the grill today.

I am, like all the other Southern cave dwellers from my family’s past, quite fond of meat cooked over an open fire. It is said that if you ever eat barbeque on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee the taste will follow you to your grave. In fact, young mothers will rub that sauce on their breast so the first thing a baby tastes is barbeque sauce from Memphis and their children will always come back home. Of course, trying to keep its daddy at arm’s length is sometime a problem.

An old black man used to tell the story that God had some of those scrumptious ribs on Beale Street and liked them so much that it inspired him to create a woman out of a rib so as mankind everywhere would have something just as sweet. Of course, it was also said that old man had been sampling the “sauce” up and down Beale Street all night.

I have always said, that if I had the money, I would put in a smokehouse barbeque right here in Chipmunk Falls so as people here in the great Northwest would know what it was like to have food so good it would make you slap your own Momma if she reached for that last rib.

Texicans have self implicated themselves as great barbequers and in some cases they might be. But they live

too close to Mexico, a country that prides itself in hot peppers, the special ingredient in salsa that sets a white man’s butt to blaze. You can’t toss a white hot coal in your mouth and expect to detect any flavor from it. The same with Mexican salsa. That’s why you won’t find any thing in their medicine cabinet but a comb.

Also, on the east side of Texas is Louisiana, the home of Louisiana Hot Sauce which is to be eaten on everything. However, in Louisiana’s defense, because of the heat and humidity, road kill possum starts to go bad shortly after its demise and the hot sauce kills any bad taste along with any possibility of side effects that may occur.

Texas, not wanting to be outdone, stands alone in the barbeque sauce world, by including both Mexico and Louisiana as ingredients in their attempt to make a special sauce. It’s one that will remove hair, paint, and tattoos from anywhere on the body. Texans are under the impression that if you can actually taste the sauce, it’s not hot enough. Any chef worth their salt will tell you that whatever kind of a dish you create in the kitchen is supposed to have its own flavor, aroma, and taste, not that of its ingredients. Like Texas barbeque sauce, there’s just a hint of something sweet on your tongue before your mouth explodes into flames. And this is nothing compared to their chili cook-offs. Texas law requires that each contestant’s cooking space be a minimum of twenty-five feet apart. That’s enough room for a fire truck to pass between them safely.

But, alas, Chipmunk Falls is not ready for such culinary excitement. We here at the Falls are much more laid back, or, just don’t give a damn. We have five or six different eateries locally, one for every person who wants to go out for lunch. Sometimes two or three will show up at one place, which means no one showed up at one of the other places. It seems everyone in this small town has owned an eatery here at one time or another.

“Hell, I can put out better food than they do. I think I’ll open up a restaurant.

How hard can it be?” It usually doesn’t take long to find out.

First they hire a high school girl and tell her, “You are now a waitress. All ya gotta do is put out a glass of water and a menu and take down what they ask for and bring it to me. You’ll make a fortune in tips and we will split everything over minimum wages four ways.”

The first people to enter the establishment will be her

Boots Reynolds

school friends, who she will spend a half an hour discussing who is having whose baby, but none of them will order anything but a glass of water. Then if a real customer comes in and leaves without turning in an order or leaving a tip she gets upset because they were interrupting her conversation!

The kitchen is always blocked off from the clients’ view. There’s a reason for this. While you may have stood by your mother’s apron strings and watched her prepare your family dinner, you don’t really want to see the chaos going on in a kitchen that’s trying to prepare eight different meals for six different tables in fifteen minutes. Extend this for two or three hours through the dinner hour and there’s not a kitchen in the country that could pass a health inspection.

The delusion of the grandeur of owning your own restaurant starts to go by the wayside on the first morning you wake up with a hangover and decide you don’t want to open up because you don’t feel up to it. Or the cook shows up drunk, or, worse yet, has run off with the waitress and you’re stuck with all the work and her dad blames you for what’s happened to his little girl. At the very best it’s a problem just to keep a kitchen as well as a dining room clean and presentable at all times.

Naturally, the day that everything goes to hell will be the day the health inspector will show up in your kitchen and ask for a clean spoon to test the soup. Of course, you didn’t make soup. That’s a stew pan you have soaking full of dish water and the next morning there’s a for sale sign in the front window.

When we go out to eat in Chipmunk Falls it always depends on what we are interested in having. Do we want to eat where they’re always friendly, laid back, and talking to everyone? Or where sometimes you have got to wait on yourself or ask if the cook’s up yet just to give ’em a hint you want lunch?

Or some place where the cook, waitress, and proprietor may join you at your table for lunch or dinner? Or a hamburger and chili place where you just ask for catsup?

There is one place that just fascinates the hell out of me, though. This fellow cooks outside on an old smoker and by the time that food gets through his small kitchen and to your table it’s fantastic. I had to ear him down and ask where he gets those tender Porterhouse steaks. Turns out, they come from corn-fed beef back in Iowa. Oh sure, they’re a little pricey he says, but if you want good beef with the flavor still in it, ya gotta pay for it. People don’t mind spending big bucks for a lobster from Maine he says, and it’s just a “water bug”!

It doesn’t matter where you eat in Chipmunk Falls because you will always come away full and satisfied. For such a small town there really are some good cooks living there it’s just that not all of ’em are cooking at restraints.

Page 28 | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 19 No. 6| June 2010

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