Do you ever have one of those nights where it’s not that late, and though it hasn’t been an especially tiring day, you’ve somehow managed to bypass sleepiness and dive straight into the giddy mania of exhaustion? You know, when even the worst joke becomes hilarious, and you wander around the house, tripping over air and leaving your phone in the refrigerator like a career drunk. When I get loopy like that, I think about how much better life might be if I were a little creature, rather than a person with bills and responsibilities. Case in point, on a recent late night while editing this very paper, I attempted to explain to my boyfriend that I would very much like to be a horseshoe crab. These arthropods appeared on the Earth more than 250 million years ago and haven’t really changed in all that time. They’re not actually crabs — or even crustaceans — they’re chelicerates, like arachnids, and they spend most of their lives on the ocean floor until they swim up to beaches to lay their eggs. The shoreline is a dangerous place for horseshoe crabs, who will often get stuck on their backs, waving their little legs at the sky. That’s why the Ecological Research and Development Group developed the “Just Flip ’Em” program in 1998 (with accompanying jingle) to encourage people to give the stranded horseshoe crabs a hand. Ah, to be a little shovel-shaped, armored tank and have a gentle giant lift me up and guide me back into the ocean — that’s the good life.
(To my boyfriend’s credit, rather than judge me, he said that he would choose to be a coconut crab because they’re “a good shape.” I can’t fault him for his choice, even if — according to one popular but unproven theory — those massive crustaceans did eat aviator Amelia Earhart.)
Loopy at 9 p.m.
According to somnologists, people feel giddy when sleep-deprived because the brain’s neurons begin to fire improperly — or basically shut down — affecting cognition, memory and reaction time. Today, the world record for the longest amount of time a human has gone without sleep belongs to a man named Robert McDonald, who stayed up for 18 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes. Pushing the body further would risk psychosis and death, so Guinness World Records stopped recognizing this feat in 1997 to discourage potential record-breakers.
One of the previous recordholders, then-17-yearold Randy Gardner, stayed awake for 11 days and 24 minutes under the supervision of Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William C. Dement and several others. According to the study, Gardner experiences serious cognitive and behavioral changes, such as mood swings, short-term memory issues, paranoia and hallucinations. After setting the record, he slept for 14 hours and 26 minutes and had made a full recovery within a week.
DEAR READERS,
My paternal grandfather was an immigrant who came to America in the 1920s from Sweden. When he settled outside of Chicago on a small farm, he barely spoke any English. He drove a truck for a living (I still have his old driver’s license in a keepsake box) and raised children who fought for their country, worked in government jobs and, in turn, raised their own children with those same values.
One Swedish stereotype that I inherited from my ancestors is my stubbornness.
It’s that stubbornness that forces me not to look away when bad actors attempt to take something that belongs to all of us.
Something is broken inside of us all. It’s bigger than political parties. It’s bigger than right vs. left. We are watching a horrendous shift happen, and the absolute least we can do is not look away.
They can run us through with their knives and shoot us with their guns, but they’ll have to look us in the eye while doing it.
– Ben Olson, publisher
111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 208-946-4368 sandpointreader.com
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About the Cover:
This week’s cover photo was taken by Tom Russell, who captured this image of a group of Sandpoint friends enjoying the Lower Pack River “Horseshoe.”
Sandpoint council tackles lot size minimums, short-term rental regulation
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
Sandpoint city councilors made two votes Jan. 21 that will affect future land use and development patterns within city limits — both related to housing, which is widely regarded as one of the biggest challenges facing residents and businesses alike.
In a 4-2 vote, the council chose to move forward with amendments to the city’s zoning code that would allow a greater percentage of construction on smaller lot sizes, meant to encourage infill development and middle-income housing.
In another 4-2 vote, councilors also approved an overhaul to Sandpoint’s ordinance regulating short-term rentals, eliminating the city’s current cap of 35 non-owner-occupied STRs in residential areas, but also imposing numerous other policies to comply with recent court rulings and Idaho statute, while anticipating potential new state legislation or a potential lawsuit.
Lot sizes
On the first item, Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker walked councilors through a “thought experiment” that imagined what Sandpoint would “look like in 20 years if we stopped housing development today.”
“All of our planning documents in the city anticipate housing demand to grow at 2.5% per year, so this is a very simple math problem here,” he said, going on to refer to a presentation slide that showed 3,600 locals remaining in the city compared to 6,400 new residents, representing a 64% change in population “with enormous displacement.”
That would be if housing development did not keep pace with demand over 20 years. Meanwhile, the slide showed 10,000 locals remaining and
6,400 new residents, for a 39% change in population with “minimal displacement” should building keep pace with demand over the same period.
“Stopping housing growth produces more change, not less,” Welker said. “These code amendments are not about growing Sandpoint faster — they are about ensuring the people who live here today are still here tomorrow.”
According to the Sandpoint Comprehensive Plan, approved by council in 2024, growth estimates show the city will need 2,500 new housing units by 2040, driven almost entirely by in-migration. Meanwhile, there are currently about 5,000 housing units inside city limits.
The code amendments approved by council on Jan. 21 are intended to lower the barriers to construction of small-scale infill development, such as accessory dwelling units, duplexes, triplexes and town homes, on single-family residential lots.
In addition, single-story buildings may exceed the current 35% building footprint maximum.
In residential multi-family zones, the 40% building footprint would be relaxed, clearing the way for adding new on-site dwelling units and keeping new units from being forced into smaller footprints.
The percentage of a multi-family residential lot that can be covered by “impervious surface” — whether living space, paving or other development — is 70%, and that will remain under the amendments approved Jan. 21. However, the new code would also allow 70% impervious surface on single-family lots (an increase of 5%).
Finally, while Sandpoint already has hundreds of lots as small as 3,500 square feet, many were platted a century ago and have since become non-conforming under City
Code. The new code amendments would enable the creation of future 3,500-squarefoot lots — including for multi-family residential — which would accommodate one dwelling unit each. That represents a reduction from the previous 5,000-squarefoot minimum.
“We’re saying let’s just make these standard lots. Let’s make these legal conforming lots, not some weird category of historic lot that we don’t allow anymore,” he said, later adding that the overarching goal is to “loosen the building footprint maximums to enable more living space per square foot of real estate and ultimately to increase the supply and choice, so price pressure is not forced into a small set of housing types.”
Councilor Pam Duquette was skeptical, saying that while land might be cheaper, building prices will remain the same or increase, as would fees and costs to connect to utilities and other infrastructure.
“Those things aren’t going to change. They’re not going to make things more affordable,” she said.
Councilor Joshua Torrez worried that the code doesn’t contain any “safeguards” for affordability, such as deed restrictions or income targets to ensure that new units would serve long-term residents, rather than investors.
“No, there’s no guarantees,” Welker said. “We only have the leverage we have. ... What we know for sure is that
a 5,000-square-foot lot size minimum for a single-family home when it hits the market will be a higher price than a 3,500-square-foot single-family home.”
Public testimony echoed some of those worries, though others saw the code amendments as a reasonable step toward creating greater opportunity to bring more modestly priced residential properties onto the market.
“We all know people are pushed out because they can’t afford the property,” said resident Julie Perchynski. “It’s not because the lots are big; it’s not because the lots are small. It’s because people coming in to buy them have more money than people that are here. So that’s kind of a no-brainer. Lot size didn’t drive people out — housing prices did.”
Anticipating the later vote on Sandpoint’s short-term rental regulations, she added: “[M]aybe we should consider not increasing our vacation rentals, because that — all over the world — is what’s affecting affordable housing.”
Speaking on behalf of the Pend Oreille Economic Partnership, Executive Director Brent Baker said that housing affordability is far and away the biggest barrier to businesses hiring and retaining local employees, and therefore hampers economic development when companies decline to locate in the area.
“We have to do something, whether it’s exactly this or something like this. ... You
can’t do nothing,” he said, going on to highlight alternative affordable housing models like the partnership between Leap Housing, Kaniksu Land Trust, the Bonner Community Housing Agency and others to supply upward of six deed-restricted homes in Priest River.
While collaborations like that help address the problem, Baker said the affordability crunch is even more dire than it seems.
Citing numbers from United Way, he said, “approximately 42% of our population in this county is asset-limited, income-challenged [and] employed. There are 42% of our people who are one or two paychecks away from being unhoused. So we need every option we have to plug the missing middle.”
Resident Rebecca Holland described the code amendments as “a developer’s dream,” adding, “there’s always going to be people who want to come here and live here, but there’s just so much room for everybody. You can’t continue to just fill it up like a big game of Monopoly.”
Developer Derek Mulgrew testified that he could finance a project with smaller lots and “make it up with density.”
“We need this missing middle housing and an opportunity to have different product at a lower price point,” he added. “And if it’s on a smaller lot, it’s going to be less than the same product that’s on a much bigger lot.”
Councilor Joel Aispuro
Sandpoint City Council meets at City Hall in January 2025. Photo by Ben Olson
Board approves expansion design for library’s Sandpoint branch
By Reader Staff
The Board of Trustees of the East Bonner County Library District recently approved the design for a two-level, 4,456 sq. ft. expansion to be located on the northwest corner of the library’s Sandpoint branch. The new addition, in accordance with Idaho Code, will be funded primarily by donations and partially from Bonner County sales tax revenue, not
moved to approve the amendments as presented, though Schreiber still worried that increased infill would reduce the city’s urban tree canopy with impacts on stormwater management — all while altering neighborhood character — and with no assurance that new units would actually be affordable.
“We can develop every square inch of the town and it’s going to continue to be unaffordable,” he said. “We don’t have enough land to supply the demand for luxury and second homes and investment properties.”
Aispuro doubled down, saying the amendments were “tools in our toolbox as an opportunity to give some people a chance” and it can’t — and won’t — fall to Sandpoint to “solve” affordable housing.
“It’s a federal issue, whether it’s a Republican or Democratic president,” he said. “Sorry. They’re owned and they’re run by the Federal Reserve banksters, right? You got JP Morgan and you got BlackRock. And some of you are probably like, ‘Whoa, this guy listens to Alex Jones way too much.’ Actually, no. It’s just basic economics.”
Council President Deb Ruehle seconded the motion, with Councilors Joe Tate and Torrez joining Aispuro and Ruehle
levied tax dollars.
“The library is looking forward to the opportunity to provide more free gathering, learning and working spaces for our community,” wrote the board in a recent news release.
The proposed first-flood expansion will include a large meeting room and a smaller, cafe-style meeting space, which could display books and other items sold by the Friends of the Library. The second story will expand the library’s existing Lifelong
in voting “yes.” Duquette and Schreiber opposed.
Short-term rentals
Following the vote on lot size minimums, councilors took up amendments to Sandpoint’s short-term rental regulations; but, first, Mayor Jeremy Grimm expressed his disappointment that the issue even had to be addressed by council.
“I am not pleased this item is before us tonight,” he said. “The salient point here is there’s an intense lobbying effort to preempt local control and take the ability to manage and regulate short-term rentals out of our hands, which I totally disagree with.
“I think short-term rentals degrade neighborhoods. I think short-term rentals degrade communities and take housing away from our workers,” he added. “The only reason we are proceeding with this tonight is simply because the Supreme Court has spoken in Idaho.”
While rulings in both the Supreme Court and District Court in the past year have muddied the waters regarding how — or even whether — municipalities can regulate STRs, vacation rental company Airbnb has engaged with lobbying in Boise to see all but the most basic powers of regulation taken from cities. Grimm said City Hall is aware
Learning Center, providing more private studying and tutoring rooms, in addition to a multimedia room, group study space and staff offices.
“This addition will also allow the library to increase the size of critical staff workspaces, particularly the paging room, which has been crowded and overcapacity for several years,” the news release continued.
The board had yet to announce the starting date for construction as of press time.
of at least one piece of legislation moving through the Statehouse this session that would do just that.
Sandpoint’s prior STR regulations were legally indefensible, given that they include a cap of 35 non-owner-occupied units in residential areas, and put the city at risk of a lawsuit from STR operators claiming that the limitation amounts to a prohibition, which is not allowed by law.
The new STR regulations lift that cap, though introduce a number of new policies such as creating a high-occupancy category that puts additional permitting requirements on properties that house 10 or more occupants, enforces new parking standards, and stipulating that non-owner-occupied STR operators must have a representative within 20 miles or employ a local property management firm, among other administrative changes.
While no legal action has yet been filed against Sandpoint over STR regulations, City Attorney Fonda Jovick said, “the adjustment that’s presented tonight is to adopt a legally defensible code.” However, if the Legislature votes to approve legislation such as has been lobbied for by Airbnb, the amendments approved on Jan. 21 would need to be rolled back sometime after July 1, when new state laws
go into effect following the legislative session.
“They’re using Idaho because of the composition of the libertarian slant of our Legislature,” Welker said. “We’re ripe for testing the limits of deregulation and, if they can get away with this in Idaho, they’re going to move on to all the other states and see if they can just achieve full deregulation of STRs nationwide.”
Public testimony was entirely against the amendments, including from Baker — again speaking for the Pend Oreille Economic Partnership.
“I think it’s absolutely horrible from an economic development point of view,” he said, later adding, “It’s totally interfering with our ability to deal with what we’ve already identified as our No. 1 issue here, which is affordable and workforce housing.”
Councilor Torrez agreed, saying, “As we consider removing the STR caps, how are we accounting for the fact that we’re also increasing density? And what tools do we have to ensure new units created through density don’t disproportionately shift into the shortterm rental market instead of serving local residents?”
Grimm responded that there are no guarantees that the flexibility provided by the relaxation of lot size limits and new code encouraging
infill development won’t be taken advantage of by STR operators, but, “We’re just trying to avoid the cost of litigation and to create a code that’s legally defensible.”
Schreiber moved to indefinitely postpone a decision on amending Sandpoint’s STR regulations until it’s actually challenged or the Legislature makes a decision, doubting that the 35-unit limitation amounts to a “prohibition” under state law.
“My view on this is that allowing 35 of something is not prohibition,” he said. “If, you know, if I limit myself to 35 beers, am I as sober as if I had none? I’m not inclined to blatantly violate our Comprehensive Plan based on rumors and when our ordinance has yet to be challenged.”
Duquette seconded that motion and Torrez also voted “yes,” while Aispuro, Ruehle and Tate voted “no,” making for a tie that Grimm broke with another “no” vote.
Calling it a “heartbreaking case,” Ruehle said that while she’d “love to dig my feet in and take a stand ... I’m not willing to spend your taxpayer dollars on this.”
The final vote to approve the amendments as presented passed with Aispuro, Ruehle, Tate and Torrez in favor, and Duquette and Schreiber opposed.
< COUNCIL, con’t from Page 4 >
The Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library. Courtesy photo
City Council set to decide on City Beach RV park redevelopment
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
The Sandpoint City Council is poised to make a decision regarding the City Beach RV park at its Wednesday, Feb. 4 meeting, following a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission to pursue an almost $1 million state grant for planned renovations at the site.
Parks and Rec. commissioners voted 7-1 at their Jan. 14 meeting to apply $950,000 from the Idaho State Department of Parks and Recreation to improve the existing RV park south of Bridge Street and west of City Beach. The city’s Parks Capital Improvement Fund would contribute a further $50,000 to the project.
The recommendation came after months of deliberation and public debate over what to do with the property, which often butted up against the wishes of Averill Hospitality — the Whitefish, Mont.-based company that is developing a luxury resort hotel across Bridge Street to the north.
According to a building permit application submitted by TVA Architects on Dec. 29, 2025, the five-story, approximately 226,000-square-foot hotel will include “162 guest keys” with construction valued at $57 million at the current site of the Best Western Edgewater adjacent to City Beach.
Averill owners and representatives have repeatedly expressed their desire to see the RV park redeveloped in such a way that it will not detract from the experience of future hotel guests. The company has gone so far as to repeat that if the site remains an RV park, its development would be “unviable,” and has offered to contribute financially to converting the property into any number of other uses — from parking to multi-use facilities to a food
truck court.
The question of whether to use state funding to improve the existing RV park, partner with Averill for an unspecified use or pursue other alternatives was the subject of a community workshop on Dec. 13, which drew more than 60 participants and informed by a survey conducted by the city that garnered just over 900 responses. Retaining and improving the RV park scored highest across all categories.
Sandpoint Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker told Parks and Rec. commissioners that the RV park currently grosses about $110,000 a year and nets around $80,000 in revenue, which goes back to the Parks Capital Improvement Fund. Going forward with the state grant would mean the site has to remain an RV park for 25 years.
Averill officials had stated that the company would contribute an amount equal to those revenue numbers if the site could be redeveloped away from RV park use, though no official offer has been made, and many members of the public were skeptical of yoking public property development to a private company.
“I mean, the survey results were pretty clear, and whether that’s a visceral reaction to a developer or not, I do think they were pretty clear that the community does not want to be beholden to that revenue source depending on a private entity,” Parks and Rec. Commission Chair Taylor Long said at the Jan. 14 meeting.
The Sandpoint City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. at Sandpoint City Hall Council Chambers (1123 Lake St.). To attend the meeting remotely, go to sandpointidaho.gov, click on “Calendar/Meetings,” select the Feb. 4 meeting and follow the directions to log in via Zoom.
Bits ’n’ Pieces
From east, west and beyond
A judge ruled that lawmakers can sue for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, the AP reported. The mandated release is more than 30 days overdue, and the Department of Justice estimates they’ve released 1% so far.
Minneapolis witnessed the second killing of a U.S. citizen by federal agents in their state on Saturday, Jan. 24. Alex Pretti, 37, was one of tens of thousands protesting the presence of federal immigration agents. He had no criminal record and was a local ICU nurse. Pretti had been filming border patrol officers carrying out a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” when his ordeal began.
From various media: video evidence shows Pretti trying to help a woman pushed to the ground by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. He was then surrounded by agents, pepper-sprayed, pulled to the ground and punched. An agent pulled a handgun (Pretti had a legal open carry permit) from Pretti’s waistband. Someone yelled, “Gun.” Once disarmed, agents shot Pretti.
“I don’t see [President Donald] Trump winning this one,” said right-wing podcaster Tim Pool.
There were 10 shots. A physician attempting CPR saw “at least three bullet holes in [Pretti’s] back.” People screamed at federal officers. One officer said, “Boo hoo.”
The FBI Director Kash Patel then claimed that people have no right to bring a firearm to a protest.
In 2020, a visibly armed Kyle Rittenhouse attended a protest where he killed two people, and pandemic lockdown protesters came armed that same year to Michigan’s state house, yet none of them ended up dead.
Minneapolis’s police chief said in 2025 his department recovered 900 guns, arrested hundreds of violent offenders and never had an officer-involved shooting. ICE’s “commander at large,” Gregory Bovino, is being removed from Minneapolis, The Atlantic reported.
Federal agents blocked state investigators from the scene of Pretti’s death. When Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tried to obtain a search warrant, the federal government refused them.
Before any investigation, the Trump administration said Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” aiming to “inflict maximum damage” on officers. State and city officials — and many Republicans
By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Contributor
— disagreed. Various media indicates that Trump is now trying to contain the damage to his administration’s reputation.
Minnesota police have refused to obey the no investigation” federal orders and have continued to collect evidence in the case of Pretti’s death. The Department of Homeland Security has said they themselves, not the FBI, will investigate.
Video viewed by The New York Times contradicts the government’s early account of the ordeal, showing Pretti holding a phone, not a gun. After the shooting, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote to the Minnisota Governor Tim Walz to say “law and order” could be restored by handing the state’s voter rolls to the DOJ.
The shooting spurred Democrats to deny DHS funding unless there is reform, making a government shutdown possible on Jan. 31.
Doctors who’d worked with Pretti praised him for being “super nice and super capable.”
Prior to Pretti’s death, Walz noted that, during World War II, people who chose to follow their consciences and defend those hunted by Nazis were actually breaking the law. Now, some people in Minnesota are hiding immigrant children. He told a crowd, “You know what’s right.”
John Mitnick, who helped establish DHS in 2002 and 2003, called out the agency’s “lawlessness, fascism and cruelty,” adding that Trump should be impeached “now.”
The Minnesota National Guard was called in and directed to distribute donuts and warm drinks to protesters, while wearing reflective vests to avoid being mistaken for federal agents.
Historian Thom Hartmann compared today’s federal immigration actions with past DHS actions. Previously, after official notification for illegal residency, no one kicked in doors, made threats, used chemical agents or brutalized people — deported people, he said, were treated “with courtesy,” not terror tactics.
Media reported an additional shooting by border patrol agents on Jan. 27, near Arizona’s southern border. The injured man is in critical condition
Blast from the past: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984
The RV park adjacent to Sandpoint City Beach. Courtesy photo
Idaho state agencies told to submit plans for more budget cuts
Legislature’s budget committee co-chairs ask for plans for additional cuts of up to 2%, bringing total cuts up to 5%
By Clark Corbin Idaho Capital Sun
Idaho state agency directors were told this week to submit plans to cut their budgets by up to an additional 2% for the current fiscal year to balance the state budget, according to a new budget memo released Monday.
In an interview Tuesday morning, Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, said the memo about planning for new budget cuts was sent to state agency directors because of uncertainty over how the Idaho Legislature’s new federal tax conformity bill, House Bill 519, will impact the amount of revenue available to spend in the state budget.
“The big issue right now is tax conformity,” Grow told the Idaho Capital Sun. “And I don’t know where we are, but you saw a bill that came up Friday from the House that essentially conformed (with federal tax changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act).”
In the new budget memo, Keith Bybee, budget and policy analysis division manager for the Idaho Legislative Services Office, gave agency directors until noon on Friday to submit budget reduction plans.
Under the memo, state agency directors must submit two plans – one for cutting an additional 1% and another plan for cutting an additional 2% from their budgets in both this year’s fiscal year 2026 and next year’s fiscal year 2027.
Those new cuts would be in addition to the 3% budget cuts that Gov. Brad Little announced last summer in response to state revenue shortfalls, which could bring the total impact of the cuts up to 5% for both this year and next.
“While JFAC is working through the current budget cycle for FY 2026 and FY 2027, it is evaluating options to balance the state budget,” Bybee wrote in Monday’s
memo. “One of those options is to further reduce budgets in FY 2026 and FY 2027.”
Senate Minority Caucus chairwoman says she doesn’t support additional cuts, calls on Legislature to dip into rainy day funds
Idaho Education News first reported on the additional new budget reductions Monday.
Bybee sent the memo on behalf of the co-chairs of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC for short.
JFAC is a powerful committee of the Idaho Legislature that sets all of the state budgets for every state agency and department. Grow and Rep. Josh Tanner, also R-Eagle, are the two co-chairs of JFAC.
Senate Minority Caucus Chair Janie Ward-Engelking, a Boise Democrat who serves on JFAC, said she strongly opposes new budget cuts, which she said will hurt the state coming this late in the fiscal year.
Idaho runs on a fiscal year calendar that begins July 1 and ends June 30 each year.
That means that the current fiscal year 2026 is a little more than halfway over.
“We are already cutting into the bone on some of these agencies,” Ward-Engelking said in an interview at the Idaho State Capitol.
“Half of the year is already done, so half of their budget or more has been expended, depending on if it is personnel, and we could be talking about massive furloughs. I am not in favor of this.”
Instead of cutting state agency budgets deeper, Ward-Engelking said the state should dip into its rainy day reserve funds or make implementation of the federal tax changes effective as of January 2026, not retroactive as currently proposed.
“We have rainy day funds,” Ward-Engelking said. “That’s taxpayer money that
is sitting there. We seeded the clouds. We made it rain. But we can fix this.”
After the Legislature cut state revenue by approving $450 million in tax cuts and tax credits in 2025, Ward-Engelking blamed the Idaho Legislature for the budget issues dominating the 2026 session. Ward-Engelking said legislators cut taxes too deeply, which already reduced state revenue too much.
Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow and House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, both D-Boise, released public statements Tuesday afternoon opposing the new cuts.
“Let’s be clear about what’s happening,” Wintrow wrote. “Republicans created a budget mess with reckless tax giveaways tilted toward the wealthy, then imposed a 3% holdback that is already squeezing the services Idaho families pay for and expect. Now, Republican leaders are demanding another round of cuts in the middle of the year to make room for massive tax breaks for corporations and billionaires, including costly corporate write-offs that reward investments made outside Idaho.”
Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley, worried Tuesday afternoon that cutting state budgets this late in the cur-
rent budget year could lead to furloughs of state employees, which he said would mean less contributions for the retirement program for state employees.
“We can slice ourselves 100 different times with a little knife and think it’s nothing, but every little drop of blood becomes a lot,” Fuhriman said during Tuesday’s House Commerce and Human Resources Committee meeting. “So at what point are we just cutting and hurting ourselves even more down the road?”
Tanner, who is a co-chair of JFAC, told Fuhriman that is why JFAC is asking state agency directors to submit the plans for the new budget holdbacks.
“Why we sent that to the agencies is so that they can actually look where they can actually do some of this stuff at,” Tanner told Fuhriman.
“It’s not like us just going and saying, ‘We’re just going to cut it out, cut straight across the top.’ We want them to come back to us of how those actual cuts are going to look within their agency.”
Idaho’s tax conformity bill has big implications for the state budget
Bybee circulated the memo about planning for additional budget cuts shortly after the
Idaho Legislature introduced a new bill. House Bill 519, that is designed to fully adopt the federal tax changes President Donald Trump championed in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Rep. Jeff Ehlers, the Meridian Republican who sponsored House Bill 519, estimated it would cost $155 million per year to comply with the federal tax changes. The $155 million estimate is identical to the estimate Little provided for tax conformity earlier this month when he delivered the State of the State address.
But there is a key difference between Little’s proposal to comply with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the plan in House Bill 519. Little structured his budget proposal so that Idaho would comply with the tax changes effective Jan. 1, 2026. But Ehlers’ bill calls for adopting the tax changes retroactively – with personal changes going back to 2025 and business changes going back to 2022.
That retroactive compliance could have an additional
The rotunda at the Idaho State Capitol building in Boise. Photo by Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun
Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION:
• “I have a ‘Bouquet’ for the ‘Barb’ by Ben Olson in the Jan. 22 edition of the Reader. I want to thank you for organizing some of the confounding thoughts about ‘the MAGA’ faithful that constantly spin in my heartsick head as we watch our beloved country gleefully evaporate with little to no resistance from those who could stop it. Obviously, he only scratched the surface of mostly current events, but bravo on these concise paradoxical issues. My only additional thought would be about the line, ‘The tyranny is acting in their favor.’ They may favor chaos, pillaging, and cruelty before the tyranny points its barrel at them, but the tyranny most certainly is not acting in their own self-interest unless they already have a few billion dollars tucked away somewhere.”
—
By Jim Imholte
Barbs:
• Every day, it seems a new example of sheer idiocy comes barreling out of Idaho like a rabid buffalo stampeding off a cliff’s edge. This week, it’s the new bill introduced by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, that would impose fines on cities that fly an LGBTQ+ pride flag. Rep. Hill originally wanted to ban local government entities from flying their own official flags, but that language was removed during lengthy debate on Jan. 26 in the House State Affairs Committee and replaced with a system of fines ($2,000 every day the “offending” flag is flying). Rep. Hill acknowledged the bill targets Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who he erroneously said acted alone in making the LGBTQ+ pride flag an official flag of the city (actually, the Boise City Council voted to add the flag, along with organ donation flags, to the list of official city flags in May 2025). With everything else going on in the world (and state), this kind of performative legislation is just asinine, especially from the so-called “freedom” state that they think Idaho is. Find a hobby, Rep. Hill.
America collapsing
Dear Editor, Americans killing Americans on American soil. This is just plain wrong. Kristi Noem and company are out of control, creating unsafe situations in Minnesota, Maine and other states. They are antagonists just looking for an excuse to open fire — remove them from all the “blue” states, and the fighting will stop, because the antagonists have been removed. Interesting that the goon squad hasn’t gone into any “red” states. Trump claims to be anti-drug cartels and yet Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras, who was sentenced to 45 years after bringing 400 tons of cocaine into the US, was pardoned by Trump without any evidence of his innocence. How much did he pay Trump for his “Get-out-of-jail-free” card? Trump is saying we have to stop the cartels in Mexico, but is setting a major drug provider free without evidence. What happened to the Epstein Files? Lots of things are being done to keep them out of the public eye. Trump never wins with Putin; what does Putin have on him? Trump has alienated all our allies, leaving America as an island unto itself, exactly as Putin and China want. What happened to “land of the free, home of the brave”?
Michael Harmelin, Vietnam Veteran Sandpoint
‘The irony is notable’...
Dear editor, Scott Herndon posted on social media questioning whether an individual should be allowed to collect signatures for a ballot initiative at the entrance of the East Bonner County Library, citing that it is taxpayer-funded property and asking whether this was a “legitimate use” of public resources.
He later claimed he was “just asking a question.” But when a question challenges whether constitutionally protected speech should be permitted, it is not neutral. Collecting signatures for a ballot initiative is a core First Amendment activity.
The irony is notable. Mr. Herndon has long relied on First Amendment protections to display large, graphic anti-abortion banners in public spaces, often near schools with young children present. Many in the community found those displays offensive, yet they were
rightly understood to be constitutionally protected. Free speech does not depend on politics.
While Mr. Herndon is free, as a candidate, to express views dismissive of constitutional norms, he should not imply that those views represent the broader Bonner County Republican Central Committee. They do not.
The debate over abortion policy is legitimate. Questioning whether citizens may petition their government is not. Candidates should defend constitutional rights consistently, not selectively.
Sincerely,
Tom Bokowy BCRCC Washington Precinct Committeeman Sandpoint
‘Elmira Store is cabin fever relief’
Hey, Sandpoint and North Idaho, need any cabin fever relief?
The Elmira Store has reopened as of this past August, actually. I had a great January experience with them after lots of wonderful years living on W. Elmira. The twirling stools at the counter and booths are there, along with their great cheeseburgers, huckleberry shakes and cones and plenty more.
Rebekah at the store made it easy and fun for me to receive some of their delicious banana and sourdough breads — plus other homemade Idaho gift items — down here in Nampa near my grand kiddos. (If only the cheeseburgers, huckleberry shakes and ice cream cones could be shipped; I would be on it.)
I wonder if the train engineers who pass the Elmira Store have called in their orders yet? It was so fun being in the store myself a few years ago and watching someone from a stopped train run down the hillside into the store to pick up their huckleberry shakes and orders from the grill, and to hear the train’s whistle on their departure as the engineer waved. Love it. North Idaho for sure!
Linda Shaffer Nampa, ID
BC Dems support Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act
The Bonner County Democratic Central Committee wishes to declare its unequivocal support for the citizen-led initiative to end Idaho’s strict abortion bans and restore
reproductive freedom.
Our endorsement stems not just from the loss of our OB-GYNs in Bonner County (and a third statewide), because Idaho abortion laws offer no exceptions for the health or fertility of the mother and threaten to prosecute doctors for providing care.
Nor is it based strictly on the fact that Idaho is now ranked dead last in the nation for access to maternity care providers, or that patients facing complicated pregnancies are forced to travel out of state or wait until their condition becomes life-threatening.
Or that our laws are out of touch with what most Idahoans want for their families. A January 2026 Boise State University survey found that roughly 60% of Idahoans support the Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act.
While all of these factors play a critical role, the simplest yet equally profound reason for our support is this: as Idahoans who value our independence from overbearing and intrusive government oversight, we believe the most personal health decisions should be made by patients, families and doctors, not by politicians. Period.
Karen Matthee Chair, Bonner County Democrats Sandpoint
If you starve the engine, the engine quits
Idaho does many things right: our budget balances, taxes are low, our public lands are amazing and still public. People want to move here, so we grow.
Growth only stays healthy if you invest in systems that keep you strong.
I’ve worked with large companies at the top of their game. Revenues up, margins look great; executives just kept pressing the accelerator. But systems require maintenance. My job was to help avoid the cliffs before the company barreled over. There is a point when cutting investment hurts performance and systems start to fail.
When the state underinvests, the costs don’t disappear. They get pushed onto families, businesses and local governments. They show up as continuous levies, longer drives and more dangerous roads. Can you feel the engine starting to chug?
This is not “small government.” It’s our legislature starving the engine that runs Idaho. Idaho won’t collapse,
but it is getting weaker and poorer. Many in our legislature have given their votes to lobbyists bent on funneling wealth from communities out of state. Watch carefully. Step back, unfocus your eyes just a bit, and you’ll see the pattern.
Kathryn Larson Sagle
‘If
it were Obama, not Trump’...
Dear editor,
In these tumultuous times, when the Trump administration outrages me, I find it helpful to ask, “How would I feel if it were Obama, not Trump?”
Oops. Sometimes it’s not so bad; maybe even okay.
For those on all sides of the political equation, it is a good reality check to ask, “What if it were ‘the other guy’ doing this?”
Would Trump supporters want Obama to develop national databases of voters, of protesters, of protest organizers and check social media posts and phone records? Probably not.
In our country, please join me in remembering that administrations shift back and forth, and what you like when your guy is in power could be used against you when the opposition prevails. Let’s aim for moderation, privacy and mutual respect.
Molly O’Reilly Sandpoint
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BOCC denies building permit for Panhandle Bike Ranch
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
The Bonner County Board of Commissioners voted 2-0 on Jan. 20 to deny an application for a building location permit for the Panhandle Bike Ranch in Sagle, reaffirming an administrative decision made by the Bonner County Planning Department in November of 2025. The proposed commercial building would have housed the property’s welcome center and bathrooms.
The Ranch’s more than 170-acre property is zoned Rural 10, meaning commercial uses require a conditional use permit approved by the BOCC. However, developers argue that, though the proposed building is labeled as a “commercial nonprofit accessory structure” in the application, PBR — which the Internal Revenue Service is considering for nonprofit status — is not a commercial entity.
PBR applied for and received a CUP in 2024, giving owners Scott and Jennifer Kalbach authority to construct a downhill mountain biking course classified as a commercial “recreational facility” under county code. Nearby residents repeatedly challenged the approval, and in June of 2025, the First Judicial Court of Idaho found that the county “failed to list facts
< BUDGET, con’t from Page 7 >
budget impact compared Little’s plan to begin compliance in 2026.
“If the Legislature is going to go ahead and put (conformity) back in 2025, that’s at least $155 million, and that wipes out that increased revenue that we tried to have,” Grow said Tuesday.
The state budget is built around revenue collections, and the largest sources of state revenue are tax collections. Cutting taxes reduces the amount of money that individuals or businesses pay and
supporting its decision” to approve the permit and subsequently vacated the CUP. The park operated throughout the summer without the CUP by accepting donations, rather than user fees and subscriptions, and thereby eliminating the commercial aspect of the organization. During that time, the county issued one notice of zoning violation due to language on the organization’s website that required an “obligatory donation,” which the county considered an “admission fee,” according to the notice.
Rather than reapply for the CUP, organizers filed articles of incorporation with the state to become a 501(c) (3) nonprofit in September of 2025. The application was still pending as of press time; however, PBR’s land use counsel, Elizabeth Koeckeritz of Boise-based Givens Prusley LLP, said Jan. 20 that “there’s no reason why they wouldn’t receive” nonprofit status.
PBR subsequently requested that the county change the organization’s land use designation from a recreational facility to a “park,” which Bonner County Revised Code 12-816 defines as a “noncommercial facility designed to serve the recreational needs of the residents of the community.” Because a park is already an approved land use in Rural 10 zones, PBR would no lon-
reduces the amount of revenue collected by the state to pay for programs and services in the state budget such as funding for roads and bridges, funding to fight wildfires on state land, funding for the state’s K-12 public school system and funding for the pay and benefits of more than 20,000 state employees.
The state budget has faced a revenue shortfall for fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027 following five years of income tax cuts approved by the Idaho Legislature that reduced state revenue by a combined
ger require a CUP to operate or apply for a BLP.
The Planning Department and Interim Planning Director Alex Feyen denied the request to reclassify the organization, and subsequently denied the BLP for a commercial building due to the lack of an approved CUP.
Though Koeckeritz argued that the BOCC had the final say in the classification, county legal counsel advised that, as per BCRC 12-331, the planning director “shall have the authority to make the final determination based on the
total of $4 billion, according to the nonprofit Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.
Revenue collections rebounded in December thanks to strong corporate income tax collections that reversed the projected budget deficit for fiscal year 2026.
Grow said Friday’s deadline for agency directors to identify new cuts of 1% and 2% represents a quick timeline. But Grow said tax conformity has a big impact on the state budget, and he wants to understand the revenue impact before JFAC moves
characteristics of the operation of the proposed use.”
“The applicant’s appeal appears to be in direct conflict with BCRC 11-1169(b), which provides that an administrative appeal shall not be granted if it would function as a grant of special privilege or to provide an exception to the regulations contained within this code,” said Feyen at the Jan. 20 meeting. “By challenging the planning director’s final determination of the proposed use, the applicant is effectively requesting an exception to the regulations.”
forward setting maintenance budgets for state agencies or begins cutting budgets through recissions.
Grow said approving new, additional budget cuts could allow the Idaho Legislature breathing room in the budget to conform to the federal tax cuts and still pass a balanced budget that leaves a positive ending cash balance.
“(Fiscal year) ’26 has got to be strengthened as far as the bottom line,” Grow said.
The federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes about 39 tax changes, Idaho House
Commissioners Brian Domke and Ron Korn agreed that the applicant could not appeal the planning director’s ruling to the BOCC and voted to uphold the staff decision.
Commissioner Asia Williams was absent.
According to a Jan. 26 newsletter, PBR has already filed a “legal challenge” to the interpretation.
Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, said. Some of those tax changes for individuals include no tax on workers’ overtime pay, no tax on workers’ tips, an expanded deduction for senior citizens and no interest on borrower’s car loan interest.
This story was produced by Boise-based nonprofit news outlet the Idaho Capital Sun, which is part of the States Newsroom nationwide reporting project. For more information, visit idahocapitalsun.com.
One of the trails at the Panhandle Bike Ranch. Photo courtesy of Panhandle Bike Ranch
Science: Mad about
american cheese
By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist
American cheese is a bit of an anomaly in the food world. It’s cheese that isn’t cheese and a culinary landmark for one of the most developed nations on Earth.
That being said, it’s also considered a disgusting travesty by much of the world. What is American cheese, and how is it different from other kinds of cheese?
American cheese is processed cheese. This is a pre-existing cheese, like mild cheddar, that is mechanically processed with the emulsifying agent sodium citrate to give it the unique rubbery texture associated with American cheese. Sodium citrate helps preserve the cheese while also making it easier to melt on burgers or over pasta. Regular cheese will have its fats separate and burn if not carefully tended to while heating, but American cheese will simply melt under normal cooking temperatures due to the sodium citrate binding them to its structure.
American singles are a form of American cheese product, sold in individually wrapped slices. This is an incredibly wasteful packaging method, but the individually wrapped slices do allow the cheese to keep for much longer. An alternative to individually wrapping your slices of cheese is to just eat them faster to avoid waste.
The slices are not made individually. They are sliced from a larger block, as it’s more economical to create a batch and cut it down than to craft individual slices.
Larger blocks resemble Velveeta, another form of
American cheese. It’s generally easier for the consumer to purchase pre-sliced American cheese than it is to cut uniform slices for sandwiches due to the nature of the product’s consistency. While it’s extremely wasteful to wrap individual slices, in the context of convenience, it begins to make some sense as to why the manufacturer would do this.
That being said, traditional cheesemakers have also packaged theirs in a plastic sleeve and separated it with cuts of parchment paper.
The invention of American cheese is remarkably modern.
The first patents for it were filed in 1916 by James L. Kraft, founder of Kraft Foods. This was a lucrative time for Kraft to develop this cheese, as America entered World War I on April 6th, 1917. The logistical challenge of delivering fresh food to 4 million U.S. soldiers abroad was staggering, but Kraft was able to deliver with American loaf cheese.
Twelve years later, the Great Depression solidified Kraft’s market presence by providing an inexpensive, long-lasting food solution. Even after the end of the Great Depression in 1939, Kraft remained a culinary staple throughout the United States, as food often does after long periods of necessity. Kraft’s acquisition of the Velveeta cheese company in 1927 further bolstered its market share ahead of the greatest economic downturn in history.
Kraft macaroni and cheese came about during the 1930s, offering consumers a little more substance with added carbohydrates in addition to their cheese. At 19 cents to feed a family of four, this proved irresistible for many Americans
well beyond the ’30s.
Between enforced rationing and supplying the U.S. military with food again for World War II, the reach of Kraft grew further yet. In 1950, Kraft discovered how to slice its cheese uniformly and, by 1965, began individually wrapping slices in plastic to preserve them for longer.
The 1980s saw American demand for cheese explode, doubling consumption from the 1950s to nearly 17.5 pounds per person per year. This meant big business for Kraft, but unbeknownst to them, their nearly century-long day in the sun was coming to a close.
The early 2000s saw a cultural shift towards food. Processed foods —after decades of feeding American families — were under scrutiny. Part of this shift seems to be from manufacturers changing the base ingredients of their processed foods in attempts to make food cheaper. Kraft was no exception and was called out by the FDA for using concentrated milk protein instead of actual cheese to make their American cheese product. This violated the legally established definition of what could be called a cheese food product and required Kraft to rebrand its product as “Kraft Singles,” because it wasn’t technically cheese.
The soap industry has faced a similar scrutiny. Cleaning products that don’t contain organic fats can’t legally be called soaps, as they are technically detergents. Dove bars are a notable example of this rule at play.
Public appetite for less processed food opened up markets for smaller manufacturers at the expense of big
producers like Kraft. Wider recognition and an industry increasingly catering to people with food allergies meant new foods were entering the market at higher price points and were able to leverage this expense to appeal to a more health-conscious and wealthier clientele. These brands were able to skew Kraft as “poor food” by offering a “healthier” alternative.
In 2015, Kraft and Heinz merged with Warren Buffett’s money, an attempt by the billionaire investor to grow the
product’s revenue by cutting costs and reducing overhead. Interestingly, the buildup to the merger artificially inflated the value of Kraft, while the actual actions to “save” the brand fell flat on its face to the tune of $15.6 billion.
KraftHeinz’s stock price has continued to fall, settling around $23 per share over the past several years, hitting a historic low of $22.28 in 2020, likely due to shipping disruptions during the pandemic. Stay curious, 7B.
Random Corner
• Fire is a chemical reaction in which substances combine with oxygen from the air, typically giving out light, heat and smoke.
• Earth is the only known place in the universe where fire can burn, because nowhere else has enough oxygen.
• The color of a flame depends on the oxygen supply. Low-oxygen fires contain a lot of uncombusted fuel particles and give off a yellow glow. High-oxygen fires burn blue.
• Spontaneous combustion is a real phenomenon. Some fuel sources can generate their own heat, by rotting, for example. Haystacks, compost heaps and even piles of old newspapers can simply burst into flames.
• During wildfires, trees can explode if water deep inside quickly turns to steam.
• No one knows who invented the fire hydrant, because its patent
was destroyed in a fire in 1836.
• Why is a fire hot? When fuel and oxygen interact, a combustion reaction occurs and, as a result, carbon dioxide, water and more energy are produced. Carbon dioxide is what makes the smoke during a fire, and the excess energy is thermal energy, or heat.
• The Ancient Greeks used sunlight to start the Olympic torch. Speaking of the Olympics, firefighting was once an Olympic sport. During the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, firefighting was part of the competitive games. Both professional and volunteer firefighters participated in the event.
• Fire can double in size every 30-60 seconds, meaning in eight minutes, a fire can grow by 64 times.
• The deadliest fire in American history took place in 1865 when the steamship Sultana’s boilers exploded, killing 1,547 people.
By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist
“Are you okay?”
These were the last words of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse from a local VA hospital, before he was gunned down in the streets of Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Moments before, a mob of masked agents pushed toward him, knocking a woman to the ground — someone Pretti instinctively moved to help. As he reached his arm out to her (his other arm filming the event on his phone), he asked, “Are you okay?”
He was pepper-sprayed, shoved to the ground, beaten and disarmed. Once totally subdued — his only remaining movement an attempt to protect his head, as his medical training had taught him — he was shot ten times in the back. He was later labeled a “domestic terrorist” by the federal government.
I’ve been thinking about what I can contribute to this conversation that hasn’t already been said. As always, people have picked their “sides,” replacing humanity with talking points; with MAGA loyalists blaming Pretti for not identifying that he was carrying. Maybe he could have done so with a mouth full of pepper spray, or mid-kick to his body. Maybe Renée Good could have turned her car a bit further to the left. Maybe then, they wouldn’t have received the highest punishment under the law: execution.
I could state that people are being ripped from their homes, detained in overcrowded facilities, put to work for cents
Emily Articulated
Midwest nice
an hour and separated from their children. That peaceful protests are met with tear gas and labels like “agitator” and “insurrectionist,” while constitutional protections — speech, due process, equal protection — are bent or discarded in plain sight.
But people have heard all of that already — versions pre-packaged by the news stations they subscribe to — and they’ve decided how to react: with horror or with a sense of righteous indignation. So, what I keep coming back to is the instinct of a Midwest man reaching a hand out to a woman on the ground, and the rallying of Minnesota as a whole, showing us what solidarity in the face of adversity looks like. This is what I know, and what I can speak to with certainty and pride.
As a Wisconsin native with family in Minneapolis, being “Midwest nice” and being a “good neighbor” are baked into the fabric of my existence. It’s a foundation laid early: Always shovel your neighbor’s driveway after shoveling your own, drop off a hot dish in hard times and good ones, “Ask how your mom is doing, and tell her I said ‘Hi’ while you’re at it.”
What I’ve seen over the
past few weeks in Minnesota is that niceness being forged into something sharper, harder — something closer to resolve. The hands that grew up in perpetual extension, reaching out in greeting, are now clasped together, locked in protection and togetherness that threatens to be impenetrable.
Midwest nice has been activated into Midwest rage, a collective “do wrong to ours, and we’ll show you what taking care of our neighbors means.” It looks like peaceful protests spanning city blocks, with more than 50,000 people gathering at a time. It means interfaith prayers and Indigenous American songs at vigils for those who have lost their lives.
It looks like thousands-strong sing-alongs and all-night marches in severe winter conditions. It means people donning the clothes they reserve for ice fishing or NFL games on frozen tundra, layering up like battle gear against twenty-below temperatures, against an invasion of everything they know to be moral and just.
Minnesotans are standing together, buoyed by their governor and mayors, reminding us what people-first leadership looks like. The National Guard, once activated, spent time handing out coffee and donuts while police stood watch, protecting protesters — showing us what it really looks like to protect and serve.
Through all of this, we’re witnessing not just outrage, but real-time resistance that is creating change. It’s shaping how people of all backgrounds and across party lines see what’s happening, from deepening calls for accountability to widespread demands for justice and transparency.
We’re seeing a resuscitation of a democracy that has been creeping closer to its untimely end, and hope for our capacity to make a difference, fluttering back into existence.
So, I’ll end where I began: People are afraid for their lives, their families and their communities; of being profiled on the street and mistaken for caricatures of political rhetoric. Others are rising to that fear by assuming some of the burden; the familiar but
now sharpened weight and responsibility of being a good neighbor. What I hope we take from this, even in the face of adversity, is that our deepest instinct — to reach out with care and ask, “Are you okay?” — remains worth holding onto with fervor.
Emily Erickson is a writer and business owner with an affinity for black coffee and playing in the mountains. Connect with her online at www.bigbluehat.studio.
Retroactive By BO
Emily Erickson.
BONNER GENERAL IMMEDIATE CARE
Cough,
Sprains
Lacerations/Minor
Headaches
Dental
Minor
Minor
Nosebleeds
Back
Minor
Puncture Wounds
STD
Work
Sports
PERSPECTIVES ‘Dear Commissioner Korn’
By Hope Keenan Reader Contributor
Dear Commissioner Korn,
After consuming the Reader’s article on the Panhandle Health District audit presentation to our county commissioners, I was left with the impression that you could use a grounded perspective and factual information from someone with a serious, vested interest in this topic — a uterus-containing Bonner County resident with young female children.
This audit discovered that 70% of the clinic’s current clientele is female and that the “niche that we’re currently serving” in North Idaho is “women’s health care, gynecology, [and] family planning.”
As the Jan. 15 article outlines, these services are filling a void left by the migration of women’s health professionals out of this area, as a direct result of legislative restrictions dictating how those professionals could and could not practice medicine, which took effect in 2022.
The need is clear.
The audit’s goal, as stated by PHD Medical Director Gregory Pennock, was to better understand how to cater to the local needs going forward. The goal of PHD itself, as found on its website, is to “deliver vital public health services to keep every member of our community well.” Lovely. Health Districts in Idaho were created by our state legislature in 1970 to “ensure all Idahoans have access to local public health services.”
Mon-Fri : 9am - 6 pm
& Sun: 10 am - 5pm No
Commissioner Korn: For those of us with uteruses, pap smears, contraception and breast exams are not luxuries that we can afford to toss out the window because one of our county commissioners doesn’t “want to be responsible at a county level to look like we’re funding a Planned Parenthood service.” PHD does not perform abortions. These are basic healthcare services.
Please refrain from whipping up fear-based paranoia and be willing to face the reality that although I and the 50% of humans walking around with vaginas in this area may not enjoy going feet-up for a pap smear or surrendering our breast tissue for examination, we respect that accessing these health measures helps identify and combat cervical cancer and breast cancer (the latter being the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women). It helps us plan when we will have our next child so that our bodies, psyches and financial lives are at least somewhat ready for that sacred undertaking. These services are basic and indispensable.
You are a man of action. Being a county commissioner, I can imagine, is not a particularly easy job nor one that comes with adulation, and I respect the service you have given yourself to. Please, as my commissioner and as a human being, see the need and help defend my rights, the rights of my daughters and the rights of all other bodies with uteruses in our county to live in a place where they can access basic health care services.
The goal of PHD is clear.
Kaniksu Land Trust moves headquarters to Aster Garden Center
By Reader Staff
Volunteers with Kaniksu Land Trust moved 15 years of history to its new headquarters at Aster Garden Center (924 W. Superior) on Jan. 16, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the local nonprofit. To celebrate, KLT will host an open house on Thursday, Jan. 29, from 3-6 p.m., welcoming the community to the new space.
“The newly renovated shop building now serves as KLT’s working offices, brought to life by generous donations, skilled hands and community goodness,” announced KLT in a recent press release.
The open house gives attendees an opportunity to tour the offices and
garden center and hear from KLT employees about the company’s future, all while enjoying complimentary food and drink. For more information, visit kaniksu.org.
Hope Keenan is a Bonner County resident.
Courtesy photo
A ‘niche’ service is optional; healthcare is not
By Jen Jackson Quintano Reader Contributor
Women’s healthcare in Bonner County is having a rough go and, by extension, so are patients. Yet, instead of seeing access to care for half our population as an ethical imperative, some public officials seem ready to wash their hands of reproductive healthcare entirely.
That reality was laid bare when Panhandle Health District Medical Director Gregory Pennock described women’s healthcare as a “niche” service during a recent discussion of PHD’s clinical audit with the Bonner County Board of Commissioners. After noting that 70% of clinic patients are now female, he said, “Women’s healthcare, gynecology, family planning — that is the niche that we’re currently serving,” adding, “whether we should be or not.”
Let that equivocation sink in. It frames essential healthcare for most clinic patients as discretionary. As if cervical and breast cancer screenings were an extravagance. As if sexually transmitted infection treatment were an unfortunate matter that should really be handled by someone else. As if the health of women is, at best, a frivolous matter and, at worst, immoral.
This seems less a conversation about service delivery than it is a statement about community values, and it’s hard to square with Boise State’s recent Idaho Public Policy Survey, which found that six in 10 Idahoans support a ballot measure protecting private reproductive decisions and care.
In response, Commissioner Ron Korn remarked that PHD’s current services “sound a lot like Planned Parenthood.” He went on, “I don’t want to be responsible at a county level to look like we’re funding a Planned Parenthood service.”
By invoking conservatives’ favorite whipping post, Korn exposes the equation underpinning Pennock’s equivocation: Abortion is bad. Planned Parenthood provides abortion. Therefore, Planned Parenthood — and everything it offers — must be bad. This is stigma by association, and all women’s healthcare suffers for the supposedly unsavory company it keeps, though PHD does not, and has never, provided abortions.
Abortion is so freighted with decades of legislative moralizing that it’s become a singularity dense enough to draw all adjacent matters into the abyss. The whole of women’s healthcare is more than adjacent; it’s intertwined. Abortion is one of its essential procedures, something providers use to treat nonviable pregnancies, severe infections and other urgent medical complications. It turns out you can’t vilify, stigmatize and criminalize a single pillar of healthcare — one that a quarter of all women will need in their lifetimes — without the entire edifice crashing down.
“Defund Planned Parenthood” has been a rallying cry for the right for years, their preferred pathway to blocking abortion access. However, Planned Parenthood isn’t an abortion boutique; instead, it’s a one-stop shop for all your reproductive health needs. According to the organization’s 20222023 annual report, abortion makes up only 4% of all health services provided. The overwhelming majority of clinic visits are instead for STI testing, contraception and cancer screenings. Thus, Planned Parenthood (like all reproductive care clinics) is supporting people’s well-being, regardless of means, not single-handedly destroying American civilization.
Yet Pennock and Korn view the care of vaginas, uteruses and ovaries
as a political hazard, perpetuating the stigmatization of women’s bodies and sexuality. Such resistance is less about anatomy than it is about morality. The message: Women’s bodies are just as much the birthplace of sin as they are of babies. Better to control those bodies than to care for them.
PHD’s mission statement leads with the imperative “to prevent disease, disability [and] premature death.” However, if your disease, disability or death is derived from sex — and you’re a woman — you’re somebody else’s problem, in a place with few others to turn to.
This debate comes nearly three years after Sandpoint lost all four OBGYNs, along with most local reproductive health services. Many people focus on the impacts to birthing, but the fallout extends far beyond delivery: no care for endometriosis or uterine prolapse, no cervical or uterine biopsies, no hysterectomies and monthslong wait times for routine hormonal or gynecologic care from a healthcare system now stretched dangerously thin.
If PHD stops serving the “niche” of women who flocked there after other gynecologic services disappeared, where will these patients go? How will they afford care? Does the rest of Bonner County share Pennock and Korn’s dim views about caring for the body parts from which we all emerged?
Based on a recent gathering facilitated by The Pro-Voice Project, the answer is, “No.” On January 22, over 50 people convened at the East Bonner County Library’s Sandpoint branch to discuss the dearth of women’s healthcare here, concerned about politicization and a lack of a plan to rebuild access. The crowd spanned ages and ideologies, genders and backgrounds, and included regional clinicians dedicated to this care. In light of the numbers and passion present in the room, women’s health seemed less a niche concern and more a necessity: one worth fighting for.
Here’s what our community understands that some state legislators and local officials seem to have lost sight of: Women’s bodies aren’t partisan. Our health isn’t an issue of vanity or morality, and we are not receptacles for any outside influence — be it semen or sermonizing — without explicit consent. We are human beings, much beloved by family and friends, much needed by this community, and ne-
The group that gathered for PVP’s “OB-GYN Care on the Line: A Community Conversation” was ideologically diverse, yet united in one belief: Women deserve accessible, compassionate, quality healthcare. We may differ on how that care is delivered or by whom, but those differences make conversation, collaboration and the search for congruence essential. As Chuck Palahniuk writes, “All souls come here to rub the sharp edges off each other. This isn’t suffering. It’s erosion.”
Let’s erode our shame and discomfort and see what we uncover. Rather than dismiss women’s healthcare wholesale, let’s do the essential work of dreaming something better amidst the current disarray. Rural hospitals like ours are hanging on by the most tenuous of threads, and further Medicaid cuts will make things worse. Provider shortages are deepening, amplified by abortion restrictions and dwindling recruitment. Political attacks on reproductive care are muddying the waters, distracting us from solutions and deepening stigma that only serves to harm women. Let’s write a new chapter now, before the current one gets worse.
So much in the world is beyond our control, but this story is not. Healthcare is a shared responsibility, and it is within our influence, if only we add our voices to the mix. Thus, the first step is simple: We share the stories of why reproductive healthcare matters. Only then can we engage PHD, elected officials and regional providers not with shame, but with clarity about our needs and worth.
I invite you to continue the conversation. “OB-GYN Care on the Line” is poised to become a series, allowing us to work together, thinking outside the box — and beyond the stigma — about the kind of reproductive healthcare Bonner County deserves. If you’re interested in joining us, email me at jen@theprovoiceproject.com.
Let’s move the conversation from whether women deserve full-scope healthcare to how we provide and safeguard it.
Jen Jackson Quintano writes for and runs The Pro-Voice Project, a reproductive rights organization, in Sandpoint.
Jen Jackson Quintano. File photo
Top left: Around 150 people gathered at Farmin Park on Jan. 24 to participate in a candlelight vigil to honor Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis earlier that day. Photo by Soncirey Mitchell.
Top right: Protestors met along both sides of Fifth Avenue on Jan. 24 to protest the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Photo by Zach Hagadone.
Middle left: “Mother Nature’s work on Rapid Lightning Creek,” wrote photographer Lori Getts.
Middle right: Ice skating on Brown’s Inlet in Dover. Photo by Guy Lothian.
Bottom: Unique ice formations along the water’s edge at the Third Ave. Pier in Sandpoint. “The golden light is captured by those portions of the ice sheet that can see the sunset, located off frame to the right,” wrote photographer Ron Bedford.
The ‘Service Being’
By Tom Kramer and Robens Napolitan Reader Contributors
I asked this visitor who he was and where he’d come from, and he said, “I am Service Being, and I come from far, far away. I am a roving ambassador who, on my planet, is grown as a Planetary Gardener. It is my job to visit planets that need my help with planting peace seeds.
“I carry the innate ability to awaken latent intentions of peace and service in humans and other life forms. I have been alive and doing my work for eons, but alas, the resistance I run across is somewhat disheartening. I wish I could say that I am one of many, but I am not. My planet is small and can only afford to send a few of us to needy planets. Your planet is more in need of peace and true service to others than most we know of in the many galaxies.
“It must be a human flaw that needs serious mending. I can only do my part, and each human must tap into their own heart center and find the inner peace that can be brought forth to heal your off-kilter planet. I will stay as long as I am needed, but there are others who await my attention. You must now do your part.”
And so it is...
Tom Kramer and Robens Napolitan are artists based in Sandpoint.
Illustration by Tom Kramer and Robens Napolitan
By Sandy Compton Reader Staff
Trumpery
n. pl. trump·er·ies
1. Showy but worthless finery; brica-brac.
2. Nonsense; rubbish.
3. Deception; trickery; fraud.
— The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
For the past four years — maybe five — I’ve been reading the above-mentioned dictionary, word by word. I’m three-quarters of the way through “T.” With just “U,” “V,” “W,” “X,” “Y” and “Z” to go — which combined don’t have as many words as “S” — I’m closing in. It’s been an interesting trip. This week, just over a year into the second term of Donnie Boy as president — in which he still ain’t very presidential — I came upon the word “trumpery,” which seems to me a serendipitously
and incredibly accurate word.
Perhaps by spring — not that we really seem to be having winter — I will have completed my journey through late 20th-century English.
Some modern definitions are missing from the ’96 AHD edition; not omissions, but words and meanings that have been added in the past 30 years; “internet,” for instance. The AHD goes right from “internee” to “interneuron.” “Google” was neither a noun nor a verb. “Spam” was just a canned meat product. And there’s no mention of “Trump,” with a capital “T” at all.
Ah, the good old days.
The internet was invented before the ’96 AHD was released — sometime in the 1970s — but it hadn’t yet made the jump out of academia. By the time Y2K rolled around, though, we could panic online. AOL was a thing, and in the depths of Microsoft, Hotmail was being gestated.
Ah, the good old days, again.
Things have changed since my seven-pound, 2,140-page, Godknows-how-many-word dictionary was printed, including the definition of “trumpery,” although the basic meaning remains.
Trumpery
1. Attractive articles of little value or use.
2. Practices or beliefs that are superficially or visually appealing but have little real value or worth.
a year into Trumpery II
3. Showy but worthless: trumpery jewelry.
4. Delusive or shallow.
— New Oxford American Dictionary
For the second adjective definition, The New Oxford uses this example: “That trumpery hope which lets us dupe ourselves.” The 2024 Presidential election comes to mind, and this old saw: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
I’m impressed with the prescience of those long-ago Middle English linguists who anglicized “tromperie.”
How could they have known how appropriate the word would become? And that’s all I have to say about that. For now, at least.
The Seahawks beat the Rams on Jan. 25. I’m happy to take the 4-point win, but LA is kinda lucky it wasn’t 18. If that kid (I say “kid” because he’s maybe 22 and I can’t remember his name or jersey number) hadn’t been called for taunting on fourth down, the spread would have been wider.
[Editor’s note: 26-year-old Seattle Cornerback Riq Woolen incurred the penalty. He wears No. 27.]
I watched the game in a brew pub with the sound off. In that situation, the visual becomes important, and what unfolded on the Seattle sideline after the taunting call was interesting. First, the kid’s peers got in his face. Then a coach got in his face. He now seemed somewhat ashamed.
Another coach (there are so many nowadays) came and talked to him, and by the expressions on their faces, it seemed conciliatory.
Maybe the coach said, “Hey, we all make mistakes; just remember what it cost. You’ll be fine.”
The kid listens. He nods. Soon, he’s standing back with the other players. It’s over. Thankfully (if you’re a Hawks fan), it didn’t cost the game — but it could have. Then how would that kid feel? When the game was over, he came across the field and said something to the LA coach. Maybe he was apologizing. I’d like to think so.
“We all make mistakes,” he might have said.
True that, and contrition is painful. Still, what I think I saw expressed on the sidelines was the process of condemnation, denial, acceptance, compassion, repentance, forgiveness and redemption.
Maybe we can climb out of trumpery via that same route.
Go, Hawks!
Sandy Compton, when not watching football, is working on yet another book, Growing Up Wild: A Family in Several Acts. It is the prequel/sequel/interquel to Alex’s Restaurant, available at Sandpoint Books, the Ledger office in Thompson Falls, and online at bluecreekpress.com or amazon.com.
Sandpoint library kicks off gardening season with ‘Natural Connections’
By Reader Staff
The East Bonner County Library, in partnership with the University of Idaho, will host the newest installment of the “Natural Connections” educational series on Saturday, Jan. 31, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the library’s Sandpoint branch (1407 Cedar Street). The free program includes four parts: “Soil Sprouting for Everyone,” “Fire Prevention for the Home,” “Planning for a Bountiful Harvest” and a showing of Seed: The Untold Story.
“Soil Sprouting for Everyone” begins at 10 a.m. and explores how to grow easy, nutrient-dense greens at home. Taught by Alicia Alexander and Joan Poppino — two U of I master gardeners and food safety advisors —
the class will give attendees a step-bystep demonstration on how to germinate, harvest and cook with sprouts, and students will even take home an indoor container to grow their own.
The fire prevention program follows at noon and will be taught by three members of the Sandpoint Fire Department: Troy Badeaux, Tennille Toussaint and Connor Nelson. The class will include professional recommendations for fire detection and suppression; kitchen, electrical and heating safety; and emergency preparedness. Students can also pick up free smoke detectors and chimney sweeping gear and, if they’re lucky, practice using a fire extinguisher.
Red Wheelbarrow Produce owner and operator Emily LeVine will teach
“Planning for a Bountiful Harvest” at 1 p.m., walking attendees through the process of growing food from seed to plate. Focusing on tomatoes and lettuce as her examples, LeVine will demonstrate how to layout a garden, prep the soil, grow crops, harvest and, finally, store the food properly.
The day ends with a screening of the documentary Seed: The Untold Story, which follows farmers, scientists, lawyers and indigenous seed keepers working to save heirloom seeds and maintain genetic diversity in crops. In that spirit, attendees are free to take home different seeds from the seed library to help keep smaller varieties alive in their home gardens.
For more information, visit ebonnerlibrary.org.
COMMUNITY
‘Inspiring a very kind and loving community’ Valentine’s
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
for Seniors program collects thousands of cards each year
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, volunteers with Bonner County’s Valentine’s for Seniors program have begun to set up baskets all over the area to collect cards, drawings and decorations for these beloved members of the community. Simply drop off a store-bought or handmade card — or 10 — at participating locations by Friday, Feb. 6, and founder Donna Price will deliver them to people at local senior centers, home healthcare programs, assisted and senior living homes and hospital and hospice rooms.
“What started out as a simple gesture towards our seniors at the Sandpoint Senior Center has turned into a complete Bonner County program,” said Price. “Last year, I collected over 2000 cards and pieces of art that the facilities can also use to decorate.”
Inspired by a similar program in Coeur d’Alene, Price started up the local Valentine’s for Seniors program six years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. For many of those original recipients, the valentines were a lifeline to the outside world during the lockdown.
“Many of those people didn’t make it to the next year, which meant that was the very last valentine that they ever received,” said Price. “What touches my heart is knowing that our seniors know that they’re still being thought of.”
The annual program has only grown since, with local schools and churches, as well as the clients of Panhandle Special Needs, Inc., all donating thousands of valentines every year.
“What I have learned from this whole experience is that we have an amazing community that comes together and remembers our seniors, who sometimes are shut off in the world and don’t get visitors or don’t get out very much,” said Price.
Anyone looking to contribute can reach out to Price at iamprob@gmail. com or visit Bonner County’s Valentine’s for Seniors’ Facebook page. Drop-off locations include:
Priest River — Jo Mamas, Greenhouse Coffee Co. and Infinity Cafe; Sagle — Buckin’ Beans, Fry Creek
Animal Clinic and Pierce Auto; Cocolalla — Cupcake Baker Coffee Co. and the View Cafe; Sandpoint — Creations for Sandpoint, Evans Brothers Coffee, Eve’s Leaves, Finan McDonald, Miller’s Country Store, Missi Balison Fitness, Panhandle Cone & Coffee, Sanctuary Seconds, Sandpoint Super Drug and Trudy’s Hallmark;
Ponderay — Cafe 95, Great Clips, Hoot Owl Cafe and Perfection Tire.
“Seeing this program grow the way it has — I had no idea that I would be able to continue it after the first year,” said Price. “I actually have people contacting me to make sure we’re doing it again, and that’s
what inspires me — is knowing that we’re inspiring a very kind and loving community.”
A few of this year’s valentines. Photo by Donna Price
Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com
THURSDAY, january 29
January 29 - February 5, 2026
Live Music w/ Liam McCoy and friends
7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Live Music w/ Waterhouse
5-7:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co.
Live Music w/ Tim G.
6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Live Music w/ Wiebe Jammin’
5pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Live Jazz w/ Bright Moments
5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Live Music w/ Whalien
9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge
Seattle-based electro jam fusion band
Live Music w/ Corn Mash
7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Rock, swing, blues, punk, funk, more!
Live Music w/ Chris Paradis
6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Live Music w/ Rhys Gerwin
5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Live Music w/ John Daffron
5:30-8:30pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs
6-8pm @ Baxters on Cedar
Live Music w/ Sydney Dawn
6pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Sandpoint Chess Club
9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee
Magic with Star Alexander
5-8pm @ Jalapeño’s
Live Music w/ Chris Paradis
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi
7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Trivia w/ Alaina 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
SHS Dance Team community fundraiser
5-9pm @ Sweet Lou’s (Ponderay)
FriDAY, january 30
Live Music w/ Carli Osika
6-8pm @ Smokesmith BBQ
Music w/ DJ Cruize 9pm-midnight @ Roxy’s Lounge
Live Music w/ Truck Mills
5:30-8:30pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Hannah and Ezra
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
SATURDAY, january 31
Live Music w/ Chase Champagne
6-8pm @ Smokesmith BBQ
Music w/ DJ Sterling 9pm-midnight @ Roxy’s Lounge
Play: Cheaper By The Dozen
1 & 7pm @ Panida Theater
Fast-paced, funny and heartfelt play by Honey Pearl Productions. $20/$25
Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Music w/ Ian Newbill
5:30-8:30pm @ Ice House Pizzeria (Hope)
Drop in swing dance class
4-6pm @ Barrel 33
Learn the country swing dance. $15/ person. 208-920-6258 for more info
SunDAY, february 1
Live Music w/ Sean Bostrom
2-4pm @ CREATE, Newport, Wash. Classical mixed with jazz. $15/$20
Play: Cheaper By The Dozen 3pm @ Panida Theater
monDAY, february 2
Outdoor Experience group run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome
tuesDAY, february 3
20% of dinner sales will support the Ponderettes’ costumes, travel, competition fees and training
Free calligraphy class • 10-11am @ Sandpoint Library
Free beginners calligraphy class. Register by emailing peaceanjel@gmail.com
Fast-paced, funny and heartfelt play by Honey Pearl Productions. $20/$25
Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 6-8pm @ Baxters on Cedar
Free Lacross Clinic
Various times @ Sandpoint Middle School
Learn to play lacross with Sandpoint Cutthroat Lacrosse. Times are as follows: Girls (1st-8th grade) 8:4510:15am; Boys (1st-4th grade) 11:301pm. Please arrive 30 minutes early
Peaceful protest of ICE overreach 12-2pm @ Outside courthouse on First Ave. More information at SandpointIndivisible.org. From organizers: “Come with love in your heart. Peacekeepers will be present. Stay on the sidewalk, do not block public access, stay out of street and use the crosswalks”
Sandpoint swing dance and lessons 6-9pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall
One-hour swing basics dance lesson at 6pm, followed by general dancing from 7-9pm. $10/person. All are welcome
Support the Ski Patrol Resiliency Team with this party for locals, mountain staff and patrol members. Theme is “Space Cowboy and Intergalactic Desperadoes.” No cover, all donations go to Ski Patrol
Family Night and Live Music w/ Firshi 5-7:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co.
Bingo w/ Dusty 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
From a $50 seed to $14,900
How a fourth-grade gingerbread house became a lesson in community, legacy and multiplying good
By Reader Staff
By the time the pizza boxes were opened and the checks handed over, six fourth-graders at Priest Lake Elementary were already grinning. What they didn’t know was that the gingerbread house they built for the Festival of Trees had raised $14,900 at the gala auction — more than any gingerbread house in the competition’s three-year history.
Community Resource EnVision Center volunteer Connie Reed and Executive Director Katie Begalke recently presented the kids with a pizza party, a $200 classroom check and a $2,000 donation to the students’ chosen nonprofit: the Priest Lake Elementary Foundation.
The students had started their gingerbread project with $50 in seed money. From there, the first bidder at the 2025 Festival at Trees, Todd Otte, purchased the gingerbread house for $8,000 — then donated it back. The second bidder, Fred McLaren, bought it for $5,300 — and also donated it back.
The final bidder, Erin Riseborough, purchased it for $1,600, bringing the total to $14,900.
The students learned that their original $50 didn’t just grow — it was multiplied 298 times.
Reed and Begalke talked with the students about how their time, creativity, teamwork and determination helped create something that went far beyond their classroom, supporting 254 Community Resource EnVision Center clients — nearly one-third of the organization’s annual client base.
Then the students learned something else: Their gingerbread house had become a community favorite. Unlike many competitors, not a single student from the class was able to attend the Festival of Trees. Their votes weren’t boosted by classmates, siblings or parents. Their house won on its own merits.
The gingerbread house itself told a story. Designed by Ms. Rachel Gilbert and her six students, the creation was inspired by the historic Lamb Creek School, a one-room log schoolhouse built in 1934 with a $60 Works Progress Administration budget. Local residents cut, peeled and hauled the logs themselves.
The school served Priest Lake children until 1961. In 1974, it reopened
as a volunteer-run library “to assist in the education of our children and provide enjoyment for the community and its visitors.” In 1999, it officially became the Priest Lake Public Library and was placed on the National Historic Register.
As Reed and Begalke arrived at the school, a man followed them through the doors, carrying a box and smiling. His name was Bryan Riegel. He explained that he had come for the gingerbread house — and to share why it mattered so deeply to him and to the Priest Lake community.
Riegel’s wife Lisa, who passed away earlier this year, had been one of the volunteers who read children’s books at the Lamb Creek Library as part of her job as assistant librarian at the Priest River Public Library for more than 10 years. That included reading to the students who built the winning gingerbread house.
“With thoughtfulness and dedication, she developed a wonderful weekly preschool story time that introduced many children to first books, reading and crafts,” according to Lisa’s obituary. “Building upon that experience, Lisa poured her heart into the annual summer reading program. She loved working at the library and opening little minds through early childhood literacy.”
Top: Members of the Priest Lake Elementary fourthgrade class gather with community partners to celebrate their award-winning gingerbread house project. Pictured with the students are Bryan Riegal (husband of the late Lisa Riegal), teacher Rachel Gilbert, Community Resource EnVision Center Director Katie Begalke, and CREC volunteer Connie Reed. The class includes Bryan and Lisa Riegal’s grandson, Emmett Horlacher.
Above: The gingerbread house at the Festival at Trees auction and gala. Courtesy photos
Riegel shared that Riseborough had contacted Gilbert to ensure the gingerbread house made its way back to the classroom.
Riegel opened the box and unveiled the gingerbread house once more, showing the students photos of it displayed at the gala auction. He told them he plans to display it again at Lisa’s celebration of life in June — a gathering postponed so their blended family of seven children could all be together.
The Priest River students were the smallest classroom to participate in the gingerbread house competition and never saw the Festival of Trees lights or the gala room.
One of the students in the class made Begalke pinky swear that their story would make the news — in part because it’s been all they’ve talked about since November, when they started building something small while not knowing how big it would become.
BY THE NUMBERS
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
$1.1 billion
The projected amount of taxpayer money that will have been spent by President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard to six Democratic-led cities in 2026 if domestic deployments remain in place, according to data released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Over $496 million in taxpayer dollars has already been spent in 2025 for deployments in Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Memphis; Portland, Ore.; and Chicago. The cost for a single service member per day — including health care, lodging, food and transportation — ranges from $311 to $607 per day, all in taxpayer money.
Nearly 15,000
The number of threatening statements, behaviors and communications against members of Congress and their staffs the U.S. Capitol Police investigated in 2025, up from 9,474 during 2024, 8,008 in 2023 and 7,501 in 2022. USCP Chief Michael Sullivan released the figures around the time a man squirted an unknown substance on Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar during a town hall meeting on Jan. 27. Just hours before the attack, at a rally in Iowa, President Trump waged yet another bigoted attack on Omar — just one of the countless times he’s fixated on the lawmaker in recent months.
1
The total number of tickets sold to the premier screening of the documentary Melania about first lady Melania Trump at a London flagship cinema, according to the chief executive of Vue, one of the country’s biggest cinema operators. While the 3:10 p.m. premier of the documentary has only sold one ticket, the 6 p.m. saw double the number of tickets sold with a total of two. Amazon MGM Studios bought the rights to the film for $40 million — which purportedly included a considerable sum to the first lady — and has spent an additional $35 million on a global marketing campaign.
‘The play is joyful’ Honey Pearl Productions performs Cheaper by the Dozen
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
For its second theatrical undertaking since its creation in 2025, Honey Pearl Productions will put on six performances of the heartwarming play Cheaper by the Dozen, based on the 1948 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. The play — following a year in the life of the Gilbreth family in the 1920s — will debut on the Panida Theater stage (300 N. First Ave.) on Friday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m.
Additional performances will take place on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 1, at 3 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $25, depending on location, at honeypearlproductions.com.
“The play is joyful,” said HPP cofounder Connie Kiehn. “There is drama to it, but there are lots of funny parts, lots of laugh-out-loud moments, lots of silliness. The dad is a hoot and a half — Ken Wood plays him, and he was born for this role.”
Through a series of vignettes interspersed with a few musical interludes, the two-hour, family-friendly show follows engineers Frank and Lillian Gilbreth as they try to raise 11 rambunctious children as efficiently and lovingly as possible.
“Frank Gilbreth invented motion study, and he was very interested in how to make things as efficient as possible,” said Kiehn. “How can we accomplish the most using the least amount of resources and time? He ran his family that way. Part of his fascination with having a
large family was, ‘How can I run a large family really efficiently?’”
As with the novel, the play is told from the perspective of two of the couple’s adult children — Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey — as they look back on the year before their father’s untimely death. The story explores themes of family and love — themes that extend into the production itself.
“It’s really important to me that these plays feel like a family affair,” said Kiehn.
“Even if you’re not cast, but your child is, or your sibling is, everybody in the family should feel like they’re a part of the show.”
With a cast ranging from babies to adults to trained dogs, Kiehn says the play “makes you giggle” while remaining sincere, ensuring attendees of all ages can find something meaningful in the performance.
“With Honey Pearl Productions, we’re only two shows in, but I have been absolutely floored by the response and the support that
the community has given us,” said Kiehn. “Be it with lots of people signing up for auditions and then participating in the show, helping out with costumes, helping out with sets, helping out with props — and the people buying the tickets to support the show — I’m just so grateful.”
The Cheaper by the Dozen cast includes Malakai Bever, Audrey McKinney, Ethan West, Lillian Maus, Ireland Egan, Ambree Smith, Amy Smith, Suzie Kiehn (baby), Oldinn Hale, Ken Wood, Robilyn Phillips, Ronan Byers and Eliana Aispuro.
Photo by Hailey Weber
MUSIC
Schweitzer Ski Patrol invites Sandpoint community to third annual XYZ Hoedown
By Reader Staff
The Schweitzer Ski Patrol Resiliency Team recently announced the return of the third annual XYZ Hoedown, scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at the 219 Lounge (219 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint).
This annual celebration is designed to bring together patrol members, mountain staff and the community to celebrate Sandpoint’s unique outdoor culture. After a season of challenging frontier conditions and a lack of fresh snow, the team invites attendees to “blow off some steam” and enjoy an evening of camaraderie.
The theme of the event is “Space Cowboys & Intergalactic Desperados.” Partygoers are encouraged to dress in their best Western-meets-sci-
fi attire for a costume contest with prizes.
Benny Baker and Sheldon Packwood will provide the live music and the event is free and open to the public for those aged 21 and up.
While there is no cover charge, the XYZ Hoedown provides an opportunity for those who wish to support Schweitzer’s first responders. Information will be available for attendees who would like to make voluntary donations through the Friends of Schweitzer Ski Patrol 501(c)(3). These contributions directly support the Resiliency Team’s mission to maintain a healthy and sustainable culture for those working on the mountain.
“This is purely a night to say thank you to the community and to invite friends of our patrol to come celebrate with us,” state patrol member
Brian Hilland. “We’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly this season, and we’re ready to see everyone and for a great time with those who enjoy our mountain. We’re extremely
Whalien, 219 Lounge, Jan. 31
By Reader Staff
There must be something in the water in Seattle, because the city churns out funky bands at a frenetic pace. In that spirit, Whalien is landing their airship in Sandpoint and will play from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, Jan. 31, at the 219 Lounge (219 N. First Ave.). You have been warned.
The eclectic jam fusion band has developed a reputation for high-energy shows featuring surprise trombone solos, energetic disco breaks, honky-tonk shuffles and ska suites about cryptids.
The quartet has released two studio albums — For Realien in 2022 and Whale Tales in 2023 — and has shared the stage with artists like Green-
sky Bluegrass, Lettuce and Big Gigantic. Members even founded their own festival called “Splish Splash,” highlighting renowned artists from around the nation. Let the boys cook, and they’ll make you a feast. Listen on whalienmusic.com and visit 219lounge.com for more information.
grateful for the 219 Lounge offering us a place to connect and celebrate”
For more information, contact Brian Hilland at briandhilland@ gmail.com.
Nick Wiebe of Wiebe Jammin’ is more than just his fantastic name — he’s a oneman band with more than 30 years of experience performing solo and in groups throughout the Pacific and Inland Northwest. Wiebe’s country-esque folk vocals pair perfectly with his masterful use of the acoustic guitar, and so, with a little help from his loop pedal, he can easily fill up a venue
with new takes on the greatest hits from the last 60 years of music. Drop into Connie’s Lounge on Friday, Jan. 30, and you may just catch a few of his original pieces as well.
— Soncirey Mitchell
5 p.m., FREE. Connie’s Lounge, 323 Cedar St., 208-2552227, conniescafe.com. Listen on nickwiebe.com.
Coeur d’Alene-based multi-instrumentalist Rhys Gerwin brings the sound of an entire band to his solo performances by live-looping guitar, percussion and more to complement his vocals. Though he’s well-versed in bass, piano and drums, his first musical love is guitar — a craft he’s been honing since he was 12 years old. When he’s not teaching, Gerwin records and produces his own albums,
This week’s RLW by Soncirey Mitchell
READ
Sometimes it’s fun to go down research rabbit holes for the sake of it. When I get that urge but can’t think of a topic, I type en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random into my browser. This little internet cheat code produces one of Wikipedia’s 7.1 million articles in English at random. If I find the topic interesting, I then skim the article before jumping to the bottom to find and read the more credible sources it cites.
LISTEN
including Collocations, Integrants and White and Grey Matter. Each track blends jazz, blues and rock with electronic alternative elements, giving his original music a retro yet refined sound. Listen to both his unique compositions and covers of popular hits on Saturday, Jan. 31.
— Soncirey Mitchell 5-8 p.m., FREE. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar St, 208-2658545, powine.com. Listen at rhysgerwin.com.
Fans of electronic dance music — hop on your favorite streaming platform and listen to The Halluci Nation (if you haven’t already). Formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, the Indigenous Canadian duo blends hip hop, reggae and EDM with First Nations’ vocal chanting, drumming and other musical elements to create what’s been dubbed “powwow-step.” Start by listening to “Electric Pow Wow Drum” to get a feel for their style, then dive right into their four studio albums.
WATCH
The much-anticipated third season of the Japanese anime Jujutsu Kaisen has recently debuted, and the first four episodes maintain the high-quality writing and animation that the series is known for. The story follows teenager Yuji Itadori, who, after becoming a vessel for a powerful evil, joins an elite high school of sorcerers. Together, the friends fight grotesque manifestations of negative human emotions — all while dealing with regular teenage issues like crushes. Watch on crunchyroll.com.
A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint
Courtesy photo
From Pend d’Oreille Review, January 28, 1926
NEWPORT BRIDGE PLANS APPROVED
Any doubt as to the building of a bridge across the Pend Oreille river at Newport has now been removed, when Fred L. Wolf, former president of the Washington State Good Roads association, received a telegram from State Highway Engineer Hoover that the plans prepared had been approved by the engineering departments of both Idaho and Washington and the federal government.
Two plans are being prepared to submit for bids. One estimated to cost approximately $217,000 calls for a permanent structure of concrete and steel, with four spans of 18- feet each supported by concrete piers, the approaches to be of steel and concrete resting on concrete bents. The alternative plan carries the same center steel spans but about 500 feet of approaches would be of timber structure on piling. The estimated cost of this plan is $174,000.
There is money available to build on the second plan but in order to get the permanent structure it is necessary to raise about $15,000 locally which sum would be matched by Idaho federal aid. The Pend Oreille County commissioners to help meet this situation, met Monday of this week and passed a resolution appropriating $7500 from the general road and bridge fund and the Bonner County board will meet Monday and consider similar action.
Building of the bridge in 1926 seems assured and there is every reason to believe the permanent structure plan will be adopted.
BOOK
Something is rotten in the state of America
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
In the Jan. 22 edition of the Reader, I used my Bouquets and Barb column to wonder about the seemingly incongruous nature of the Republican party since President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement has taken it over.
Now, after the murder of a 37-yearold intensive care nurse named Alex Pretti by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, I am repeating my original question: Where are the Republicans protesting the tyranny and erosion of rights we are all seeing across America?
Scroll through the social media channels of right-wing influencers and you might see the trolls explaining away Pretti’s brutal killing with claims like, “Don’t bring guns to a protest,” and others saying, “Just comply.”
Either Republicans think the rest of us are too stupid to remember the saber-rattling and name-calling that has come from that side of the aisle for decades, or they just don’t care that their words now invalidate everything they once supposedly believed in.
Pretti was legally carrying a pistol, for which he held a permit, just like so many people we see walking around Bonner County every single day. Also, he never brandished the weapon or approached ICE agents. Instead, Pretti was pepper-sprayed after attempting to help a woman who an ICE agent violently shoved to the ground. He was filming the agents — also a legal activity — with one hand and had his other hand held in the air when the federal agents took him down to the ground, piled on top of him, removed his weapon and shot him 10 times from point blank range, ending the life of an American citizen who was standing up for his rights, as well as the rights of others. Countless videos are available from a multitude of angles, all showing the gun removed, Pretti’s hands up, no resistance,
and a tragic, disgusting murder of an American citizen by federal agents.
To make a terrible situation worse, the Trump administration responded to the killing with the usual gaslighting and deceit we’ve become accustomed to. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Pretti “showed up to a law enforcement operation with a weapon and dozens of rounds of ammunition,” and that “He wasn’t there to peacefully protest. He was there to perpetuate violence.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin.”
The truth is, Pretti was a nurse who worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He worked with veterans. He had no criminal record. He held only a cell phone in his hand when agents took him to the ground and shot him for “defensive” reasons, according to Noem.
I’ll ask again: Where are the Second Amendment-loving Republicans standing up for a U.S. citizen murdered by feds in broad daylight?
“Don’t bring guns to a protest,” they say. Let’s take the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, who illegally brought an AR-15 style rifle and shot three men, killing two of them during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisc. in 2020. Rittenhouse was found not guilty of the killings and was subsequently lionized by the right. Why is Pretti not afforded the same support, especially since he was legally carrying a weapon and was not brandishing it in any way?
“Just comply,” they say. That’s not what the right was saying during the pandemic. If you look closely, you can probably still see the words, “We will not comply,” burned into the pavement outside the Sandpoint Library during one of many protests when people claimed they would “never comply” with government officials’ mask mandates to help the spread of the disease.
Why does the right continue to scream about their rights, while also diminishing or belittling the same rights for others
who don’t share their political point of view? Is it yet another case of “rights for me, not for thee” at work here?
Trump himself waded into the issue, offering a confusing answer to a reporter’s question on Jan. 27 about Pretti’s killing: “With that being said, you can’t have guns,” Trump said. “You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t. You can’t walk in with guns. You can’t do that. But it’s just a very unfortunate incident.”
Where is the outrage from the right? Conservatives have so closely tied their ideology to the Second Amendment, it seems insane that they’d just swallow this latest load of hogwash from the president without pushing back. Yet here we are.
What makes matters worse is the fact that ICE doesn’t need to be in Minneapolis, marching through the streets like Nazis, violently pulling people from their vehicles and homes and handcuffing children. After Pretti’s killing, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a demand letter — more like a ransom note — to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, claiming that if Walz turned over the state voter rolls, the surging federal immigration enforcement presence in the state would end.
This is tied to the Department of Justice suing nearly two dozen states for not turning over their full, unredacted voter files containing partial social security numbers, full dates of birth and driver’s license numbers. Minnesota’s top election official, Steve Simon, said his answer to Bondi’s request is “No.”
“Her letter is an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. citizens in violation of state and federal law.”
I’ll let you all wonder what the federal government under Trump wants with this private data on Americans.
Something is rotten in the state of America. Republicans, where are your voices? Why don’t you stand up against this tyranny, once and for all? Or was it all just bullshit?
Laughing Matters
Solution on page 22
By Bill Borders
Word Week of the
Corrections:
Ernest Hemingway wrote, “Find the best writers, pay them to write and avoid typos at all costs.”
Well, we managed to avoid any mistakes in the preious edition, so we’ll just have some grappa with Hemingway’s ghost. inure /in-YOOR/ [verb] 1. to cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate
“We must never become inured to the murder of U.S. citizens by federal agents committed in broad daylight.”
If I come back as a horsefly, I think my favorite thing would be to land on someone’s lip. Even if they smash you, ick!, you’re all over their lip!
