july 2013 riverjournal web

Because there’s more to life than bad news

Local News • Environment • Wildlife • Opinion • People • Entertainment • Humor • Politics

July 2013| FREE | www.RiverJournal.com

A News MAGAZINE Worth Wading Through

Stoves • Fireplaces • Spas and Saunas • Specialty BBQs • Closeout Specials

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1225 Michigan St., Sandpoint, IdahoTues-Fri 9 to 5, Sat. 9 to 3 or 4

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The world’s first and only Kamado pellet grill made in America. $1799. Stop

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Saturday, August 17 • 6 pm MSTHeron Ball Field • Heron, Montana

Swimming • Sailing • TennisGolf • Water Sports • RoboticsBasketball • Baseball • ScienceSoccer • Arts & Crafts • FiddlingVolleyball • Bicycling • YogaHunter Education • DanceDrumming • Horseback Ridingand much, much more!

1123 Lake St. in Sandpoint • 263-3613www.CityofSandpoint.com • Scholarships available!

At your Sandpoint City Rec Department!

The Summer Activities booklet is available NOW!The Summer Activities booklet is available NOW!

Downtown Sandpoint

CRAZY DAYSSidewalk Sales All Day!

Saturday, July 27

August 1-11, 2013Thursday, August 1st

IndIgo gIrls with shook TwinsMicrobrew Tasting

Friday, August 2nd An Evening with CakeSuper Country Saturday August 3rd

rosanne Cash with The greenCards and devon Wade

Sunday, August 4th FamIly ConCerT“An invitation to the Dance”Thursday, August 8th

John BuTler TrIo with eCleCTIC approaChFriday, August 9th

sTeve mIller Band with maTT anderson

Super Saturday August 10th

The aveTT BroTherswith vInTage TrouBle and marshall mClean

Sunday, August 11th Grand Finale “Festival Fan Fare”spokane symphony orChesTraTaste of the Stars Wine Tasting

FestivalAtsandpoint.com888.265.4554

TheFesTivalaTsandpoinT

SOLD OUT!

All SeasonsGarden & Floral31831 Hwy 200 Sandpoint

Open Daily Monday-Saturday 9 to 6Sunday 10 to 4 208.265.2944

Don’t pay $5 lb for Honeycrisp apples! Our fruits harvest fast! Blueberries, cherries, strawberries,

grapes, peaches, pears, plums, apples, raspberries, apricots, huckeberries, kiwis & more!

Buy 1 plant get 1 HALF OFF! Just bring in this ad before Aug. 31, 2013.

First plant at regular price, second plant at equal or lesser value. Cannot be combined with any other offer or discounts. Ad must be presented and turned over at time of purchase.

Grow More for LESS!

The most incredible edibles

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Admission Free!For more information, call 406-827-5077

Admission Free!For more information, call 406-827-5077

Helicopter Rides & Face Painting

Helicopter Rides & Face Painting

Friday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Sunday:

Pancake BreakfastWorship ServiceDog Agility DemoMore PentathlonBridges HomeHorseshoes“Snow White” by Libby Pitiful PlayersDessert Contest

Pancake BreakfastWorship ServiceDog Agility DemoMore PentathlonBridges HomeHorseshoes“Snow White” by Libby Pitiful PlayersDessert Contest

Pancake Breakfast5K Run for FunHuckleberry ParadeHomesteaders PentathlonDog Agility CompetitionSwing Street Big BandAlbeni Falls Pipe & DrumJam & Jelly ContestFestival AuctionPie-eating ContestDance to the Music of the Devon Wade Band

Idaho Puppet TheaterDave OliverMiss Huckleberry PageantKaraoke in the Park

34th AnnualHuckleberry Festival

Trout Creek MTAugust 9-11, 20135 pm Friday - 4pm Sunday

Pancake Breakfast5K Run for FunHuckleberry ParadeHomesteaders PentathlonDog Agility CompetitionSwing Street Big BandAlbeni Falls Pipe & DrumJam & Jelly ContestFestival AuctionPie-eating ContestDance to the Music of the Devon Wade Band

34th Annual Huckleberry FestivalTrout Creek MT

August 9-11, 20135 pm Friday - 4pm Sunday

www.huckleberryfestival.com

www.huckleberryfestival.com

Idaho Puppet TheaterDave OliverMiss Huckleberry PageantKaraoke in the Park

301 N. First, Sandpoint • 263.3622 • 210 Sherman, CDA • 765.4349www.FinanMcDonald.com

Everything you need for your outdoor summer adventure. Columbia shirts and shorts, Tommy

Bahama sundresses, Ex Officio clothing, Kiss Your Face sunscreen, Chaco sandals, and so much more.

On your way to enjoy the lake or for a mountain hike, stop by to see what we have to help you

experience the outdoors.

TWO CONVENIENT LOCATIONS! • Pend Oreille Shores Resort in Hope

• And now at Sa’Haira Salon in Ponderay(located on Bonner Mall Way behind Sandpoint Furniture)

Natural Balance Massage

Celebrating 20 years of serving the Bonner County area.

Cathryn Cyr, CMT 208.946.3663

Visit my new location, and check out some great deals!

The Travel Connection, Ltd.Land, Sea or Air, We Get You There

New Location across from Farmin ParkSuzanne Wakefield, Travel Consultant/Owner • Proudly

serving the Sandpoint area since 1990231 N. Third Ste. 103 • [email protected]

4. WOULD YOU LIKE MUSIC WITH THAT? Festival at Sandpoint’s wine tasting grows to largest in region.

6. DOWNTOWN CALENDAR Take a look at what’s happening in Sandpoint.

7. VIRGINIA TIBBS This long time and well-loved area resident might be said to be the mother of the local equine scene. BY MARIANNE LOVE

8. IT’S GETTING HOT OUT THERE It might seem like summer just started, but it’s already time to be thinking fire season. THE GAME TRAIL

9. THE COMMON NIGHTHAWK You might not spot this bird, but with Mike’s tips you just might hear it. A BIRD IN HAND

10. HONORING THE LOSS A family dinner reminds Gary that his faith walk will at times be difficult. GARY’s FAITH WALK

11. CHANGING A LIFE Ernie and Linda explore life-changing trails. THE HAWK’S NEST

12. COMMON CORE George explains the legislature’s support for an educational common core of standards. A SEAT IN THE HOUSE

13. WATCHING THE RAINBOWS Sandy warns that if you’re watching the traffic, you might be missing something spectacular. THE SCENIC ROUTE

14. KAREN POGORZELSKI From yellow brick to Santiago, all roads lead this conductor to a Sandpoint production. BY TERESA PESCE

15. BOOTS AND SADDLES Jody explores a western miscellany. SURREALIST RESEARCH BUREAU

16. MOSQUITOES Nancy shares some landscaping tips that not just beautify, but repel mosquitoes. GET GROWING

16. INSURANCE CODES Nancy warns that Obamacare provisions for preventative testing might take a more work than you thought. THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS

17. STILL DELAYS IN VA APPEALS Gils says there’s more work to be done by Congress in approving VA appeals process. VETERANS’ NEWS

18. OBITUARIES

2O. LUMP IT OR LEAVE IT How Scott contracted a GMO-based headache. SCOTT CLAWSON

A News Magazine Worth Wading Through

~just going with the flow~P.O. Box 151•Clark Fork, ID

83811www.RiverJournal.com•208.255.6957

STAFFCalm Center of Tranquility

Trish [email protected]

Ministry of Truth and Propaganda

Jody [email protected]

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not

an act, but a habit.” AristotleProudly printed at Griffin

Publishing in Spokane, Wash. 509.534.3625

Contents of the River Journal are copyright 2013. Reproduction of any material, including original artwork and advertising, is prohibited. The River Journal is published the first week of each month and is distributed in over 16 communities in Sanders County, Montana, and Bonner, Boundary and Kootenai counties in Idaho.

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

THE RIVER JOURNAL

Cover Photo: Virginia Tibbs and Cricket, circa 1965. Photo courtesy Tibbs family.

1513 16

8

July 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 7| Page �

by Trish Gannon

A Taste of the StarsFestival Wine Tasting Event Grows to Largest in Region

In some ways, it was a new beginning back in 1999 for the Festival at Sandpoint. Just a few years past what a concert-goer described in an issue of Sandpoint Magazine as a “crash and burn season,” a major goal for the summer music festival on the shores of the Pend Oreille River was to make a profit, and the symphony was a focus. Although the Festival got its star because of a desire to bring symphonic music to the area, symphony concerts are expensive; following the ‘98 season, the Festival had announced it was cutting ties with Conductor Gunther Schuller and closing the doors on its Schweitzer Music Institute in order to tighten its belt, and make sure the organization never again went so far into the hole its future was in jeopardy. At the same time, there was still a strong commitment to symphonic music and the need to pay for it. And that’s when Jack Eaves, who owned Wine Sellers by the Lake and WinoWorld.com, stepped in with an idea for a fundraiser: a wine tasting included in the price of a symphony ticket.

Fifteen years later, the Taste of the Stars wine tasting is an integral part of the Festival’s traditional symphony finale and has grown, in fact, to become

the largest, one-day wine tasting event not just in Idaho, but also in the Inland Northwest. (Savor Idaho, which takes place in Boise in June, is the next largest wine tasting, serving 900 people. The Festival’s wine tasting, by comparison, serves 2,000 or more people.) Whether your tastes run to tasting a little wine before enjoying the artistry of the Spokane Symphony, or whether your preference is a wine tasting with a symphonic chaser, this is the concert for you.

“People pay good money to go to wine tastings,” explained Rob Carlson, a Festival volunteer who currently, with Festival Board Member Mark Berryhill, is responsible for putting the event together. “Here, we have over 38 wineries in one place where they can enjoy sampling a variety of wines, all included in the price of their symphony ticket. This is a gigantic bargain.”

Not to mention the complimentary glass, which for the past few years has been provided by the Idaho Wine Commission.

You didn’t know there was an Idaho Wine Commission? If not, then you likely don’t know that Idaho is actually a hot,

up-and-coming wine producing region for the United States, which itself only really became successful in wine making back in the 1970s. Idaho’s growing presence in that now financially successful U.S. wine market has a simple explanation, at least according to IdahoWines.org: “Great wines begin with great soil,” they say, and the rich, volcanic soils of Idaho are excellent for growing wine grapes.

“I’ll go out on a limb here, and say the next biggest wine region is going to be down in the Snake River valley,” said Berryhill. “And that means our wine tasting event is only going to get bigger and better.”

Not much bigger, however. Currently, the event attracts over 38 wineries serving over 100 different types of wine—there simply isn’t space for it to get a lot larger. That doesn’t stop the Carlson/Berryhill duo from putting in a lot of hours, however, to keep adding to the experience.

“This year we’re planning on doing a table with some Old World wines,” Berryhill said. “Our focus has been on American wines, but now we want to add the opportunity for people to experience wines from Italy, France, and Spain. We’re


not only going to be the biggest area wine tasting, we’re going to become the area’s biggest international wine tasting,” he laughed.

And of course, nowhere is such a magnificent wine tasting followed by an event as spectacular as the Spokane Symphony performing under the stars of a hot August night, followed by fireworks.

Turning serious, Berryhill remarked, “We’re all committed to bringing the symphony to our community, but it’s expensive. For many years, it’s been the most costly concert we put on. We’re proud that this event supports that goal, and thrilled if it attracts someone to the symphony who might not otherwise have come.” Over the years, the symphony concert has grown from a somewhat sparsely attended evening to very near sell-out status (around 2,200 people). While the wine tasting may not be responsible for all that growth, it certainly doesn’t hurt.

This year’s concert, Fan Fare, is based on favorite performances from the first Festival seasons of music, and features Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante defunte, Tchaikowsky’s Piano Concerto No.2, the last movement of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1, and Beethoven’s Symphony No.7. Conducted by Maestro Gary Sheldon, the evening also features two guest soloists, pianist Francisco Renno, and Sandpoint’s own violinist Jason Moody. Tickets for the show, which include the wine tasting, are $36.95 adults/$10.95 for youth up to age 18. You must, of course, be age 21 to participate in the wine tasting, which begins at 4:30 pm when the gates open.

“Wine tasting is a growing hobby for a lot of people,” said Carlson. While wine has been appreciated and enjoyed throughout the world for thousands of years, “people are surprised to discover the huge varieties in the taste of all the different wines available.” A given wine’s taste is determined not just by the grapes used and the process of wine making chosen, but also by the soil those grapes are grown in. Which means each region has a distinctive flavor to experience.

If you haven’t yet enjoyed that experience, now’s your chance. Call the Festival at Sandpoint at 208-265-4554 to order your tickets, or purchase online at FestivalatSandpoint.com.

Photos: At left... a partial view of the 2012 wine tasting at the Festival at Sandpoint in progress. Above: Mark Berryhill appreciates the opportunity the Festival’s wine tasting gives him to introduce others to one of his favorite past times—he’s shown here with Perky Hagadone and Beth Pederson. Photos by Trish Gannon.

HuckleberryFestival Offers

Old & NewThe 34th annual Trout Creek

Huckleberry Festival will be held Friday, August 9, beginning at 5 pm and will run through Sunday, August 11, until 4 pm.

The weekend will include both old favorites, plus new events. New activities include a performance by the Idaho Puppet Theater on Friday at 5 pm, called “Lookin for a Home.” Puppets include a huckleberry-eating bear in search of a place to live, and the show will entertain the young and the young at heart. Sunday’s performance, at 2:30 pm, will be an original production of “Snow White” by the Pitiful Players of Libby, Mont.

Contests and competitions will highlight all three days of the Festival, with information and entry forms available on the festival website, at www.huckleberryfestival.com, or by calling 827-5077 for more information.

Trout Creek is located on Scenic Highway 200, approximately 30 miles from the Idaho border.

The Scotchman PeaksKeep ‘em wild.

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

Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness


SANDPOINT EVENTSDOWNTOWN

SANDPOINT EVENTSJuly

12-13 Classic Boat Festival. Friday, �:30 Boat Run, Sat. 10-3 Boat Show and activities. 3 pm parade13 Great Sandpoint Flat Water Regatta, canoe & kayak races on Sand Creek13 Queen B. Drag Show, Eagles Club, doors 8:30, must be 21 or older. $� 208-�10-��271� Jacey’s Race begins Sandpoint High School, 8:30 am20 CHAFE 1�0. chafe1�0.org20 Mountain Music Festival at Schweitzer. Schweitzer.com2� Music Conservatory Concert, Panida Theater 2 pm. Guest conductor Antonio Malave. 2�3-919127 Crazy Days. Downtown Sandpoint Sidewalk Sales27 Frances Ha (film) Panida Theater, 7:30 pm. 2�3-919127 Dance Party at City Beach, community dance and potluck, � pm.

August1-11 The Festival at Sandpoint with the Indigo Girls, Cake, Roseanne Cash, Spokane Youth Orchestra, John Butler Trio, Steve Miller Band, Avett Brothers and the Spokane Symphony. FestivalatSandpoint.com3 Long Bridge Swim. LongBridgeSwim.org

� Schweitzer Huckleberry Festival, Schweitzer.com9-11 Artists’ Studio Tour. ArtTourDrive.org

10 Celebrate Life Fun Run/Walk. Begins 9 am on the Long Bridge.

PLUS:• Trivia every Tuesday night at MickDuff’s, 7 to 10 pm.• Tuesdays with Ray, Trinity at City Beach, � to 8 pm.• Club Music, Wednesday �-9 pm at La Rosa Club.• Contra Dance, every 2nd Friday of the month at Community Hall, 7 pm• Winery Music - Live music every Friday night at Pend d’Oreille Winery• Saturday Jam at the La Rosa Club. Live music! 2��-2100• Monarch Movie Night, third Thursdays, 7 pm at Monarch Mountain Coffee.

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

July 12-13

Classic Boat Festival

Boat show, parade, activities and more! Head downtown

to Sand Creek.

Experience Downtown Sandpoint!

July 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 7| Page 7

Virginia Brown arrived in Sandpoint via train from Chicago on Christmas night, 1945, having told her Chicago relatives that she was going to Idaho to “raise horses.”

It took a while for this young mother with a growing family to get settled into her goal, but since her arrival here, she has raised horses and ridden hundreds of miles in parades, shows and trail rides.

She has also shared a lifelong love for horses through beautiful Western art, her involvement in several local and regional horse organizations, and through her exemplary guidance of hundreds of youngsters as a 4-H horse leader for 27 years.

By 1948, Virginia owned Adare’s Countess Largo, a bay Saddlebred-Morgan yearling filly, purchased from Dub Lewis (known for Dub’s Drive-In). She kept Largo in a lot next to the family home on Euclid until her purchase of a 40-acre farm near the airport on North Boyer.

She had also joined the Sandpoint Saddle Club where she met her future husband, Harold Tibbs, owner of foundation Appaloosa stallion Toby I, charter member of the Appaloosa Horse Club Board of Directors and winner of several championships in the first-ever National Appaloosa Show.

When the two were married in 1954, improvements at the farm opened the door for more horses, including a handsome Appaloosa stallion named Ponderay’s Fancy Pants (Largo—Toby

I). The Tibbs showed their young horse extensively and successfully at Appaloosa Shows throughout the Inland Northwest.

Eventually, through a friendship with Gene and Etta Balch, the Tibbs started adding Arabians to their herd. They also helped found the Bonner County Horseman’s Association. Virginia served as its historian and photographer. Her collection includes photos of area trail rides, parades and construction of a once-thriving rodeo grounds, now home to Interstate Asphalt and Paving.

Virginia’s 4-H horse leadership began in the late 1950s when her members participated in Bonner County’s first 4-H horse show. Under her tutelage, Virginia’s own children successfully competed in the 4-H horse program. All three daughters, Marianne (myself), Barbara and Laurie, devoted many years

to 4-H leadership and general horse instruction and judging themselves.

A passion for excellence, a strong competitive spirit, a willingness to go the extra mile and continued courage to keep things honest marked Virginia’s tenure as a 4-H leader.

Besides leadership, her 4-H contributions included everything from show-secretarial duties to working the gate as a steward, to publicizing horse activities as well as spearheading fundraising activities for local

youth horse judging teams to attend national competitions.

Virginia rode her horses to North Idaho mountain tops

with friends and on organized rides, including the once popular Pend Oreille Trail Ride. She also promoted and worked the annual St. Jude’s Trail Ride at Western Pleasure.

In later years, finally having the opportunity to use her art degree from Michigan’s Nazareth College, she developed her annual Christmas-card project into a business called Greenhorn Mountain Scenics. Her Western pen-and-ink and watercolor cards of beautiful horses and rustic barns were always favorites at craft sales and local art shops.

This Chicago native has definitely left her mark on horse interests in Bonner County. She has not only raised many beautiful horses, but her devotion to all things equine—through her actions and her art—lives as an inspiration to all who have known her.

by Marianne LoveVirginia Tibbs Gives a Lifetime of Love as a Local Leader of Everything Equine

Virginia Tibbs (in wheelchair) inspects daughter Laurie atop Mani after a reception honoring the horse and rider for their impressive wins at last fall’s Arabian Sport Horse Nationals. Virginia’s oldest son, Mike Brown, is guiding the chair. Photo by Marianne Love

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| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 7|July 2013

As I write this, wild fires are raging across most western states, most notably Colorado and

California. Thousands of acres of forest and grasslands are burning, and hundreds of houses are at risk to being lost. Idaho has been spared thus far this year, but we typically see fires more as summer starts to wane on, usually around August. And the extended forecast for our area calls for unusually hot and dry conditions this summer, meaning the likelihood of forest fires in our own backyard is pretty high this year.

The US Forest Service spends nearly half of its budget fighting fires at the cost of a few BILLION dollars annually, give or take a few bucks. Fire suppression is big business, and the feds aren’t the only ones in it. Idaho Department of Lands will also use significant resources to fight fire on state endowment lands. Government agencies, private timber companies and local land owners want to protect their timber investment and ensure public safety. One way they do this is through responsible timber management and harvest. But even this isn’t always enough; a lightning strike in a dry forest or an irresponsible person leaving a campfire unattended or a careless cigarette smoker can burn vast tracts of land quickly.

So what are the consequences of forest fires? Well, forests evolved with fire, as did the animals living in the forests, and in fact fire is a necessity to a healthy forest. Therefore, in considering the consequences of fire we also need to consider the consequences of fire suppression. Low intensity fires that do not burn out of control are vital to some species-- plant and animal alike.

For example, the cones of lodge pole pine are serotinous meaning they will only open to disperse their seeds if heated

by fire, making them fire dependant. Further, once released by heat (generally at least 120 degrees); burnt soil will best germinate the seed. Low intensity fire also helps clean out the forest floor of debris, makes trees grow stronger, and reduces nutrient competition leading to healthier trees.

Fire also kills diseases and insects that can prey on trees and if left unchecked can change species composition on the landscape. For example, widespread white bark pine damage in the Yellowstone ecosystem has lead to decreased availability of white bark pine nuts available for forage by many species that depend on them, including grizzly bears. Looking for alternative food sources can lead animals into territory unfamiliar to them, including closer proximity to people.

Fire also supplies wildlife with superior habitat. I remember driving through Yellowstone several years after the widespread fires of 1988 that burned almost 800,000 acres (nearly one third of the park). People would shake their head and remark at the utter devastation. And the fires certainly were devastating in many ways. After years of fire suppression, fuel levels had reached levels that resulted in a very high intensity burn that devoured everything in its path. No trees were left standing to grow stronger, and serotinous cones often found themselves consumed by the burn rather than opened by it! However, the habitat that resulted from those fires has in time helped elk herds grow strong and healthy. And as more time passes, the forest will continue to grow. In fact some researchers suggest that declining elk herds in the Clearwater area are due as much to habitat change in the absence of recent fire as to the proliferation of wolves.

Elk are just one species that benefit

from the brush fields that follow a wild land fire. Bears, bats, flying squirrels, hares, woodpeckers and salamanders to name a few, benefit from a regular cycle of low intensity burns in the forests. Wildlife managers encourage forest management through the use of fire-- and sustainable timber harvest in the absence of fire-- to help mimic the natural progression of things.

So what is the natural progression of things in this area? Different ecosystems have evolved to depend on certain naturally occurring events to progress. The general rule is every 50 to 150 years. Forest succession refers to this progression of a forest through time. An area that starts as a brush field slowly gives way to shade intolerant species of trees such as pines, which then give way to hemlocks and firs that grow up in the understory as shade tolerant species and slowly begin to dominate the over story and the landscape. Fire injected into any of these stages will revert to a previous stage, depending on the intensity of the blaze.

Please note the distinction between a low intensity fire that is beneficial and a high intensity fire that will consume every living thing in its path. And if your house happens to be in its path, that can pose quite a problem!

People living in the woods or in the wildland-urban interface should ensure that they are taking steps to keep their dwelling safe in the case of a fire. Removing brush and debris around the house, keeping the roof clean of leaves and needles, and ensuring their home has a buffer of open area from the trees, so if a fire does come knocking in your neck of the woods, your home is spared.

And of course everyone living and recreating out there needs to be ever vigilant to make sure campfires aren’t left unattended, that cigarettes aren’t carelessly thrown out the window (this is also littering and will earn you a hefty fine) and fireworks aren’t set off in wooded areas (or set off at all!).

Although many of our wild neighbors enjoy the benefits that result from a little forest fire here and there, and as forecasters predict a hot dry summer, we should all be responsible when we are out there camping with the kids and enjoying our little chunk of paradise!

Leave No Child Inside

The Game TrailMatt Haag Prepare for Fire Season

Proud to Provide Environmentally

Conscientious Construction and Consultation

“The rumors of my retirement are greatly exaggerated.”

Accepting Selected Projects Only

P.O. Box 118 • Hope, Idaho • 208.264.5621


Most of us, vampires excepted, are light-seeking, day-loving critters who go through life thinking that night time was invented for sleeping. Yes, some of us work the graveyard shift, but no matter how many years you have under your belt going to work when everyone else is going to bed, it never feels right. It always seems backward, because it is. We are wired to be awake when the sun comes up and to go to sleep when the sun goes down. I see a pattern here…

When it is “normal” to be awake during the day this behavior is called the diurnal cycle. And there are a lot of animals that share in the diurnal cycle, such as dogs, gulls, and most songbirds. But some animals “wake” up at night, such as bats and owls, and go about their business of making their way through life when the stars are out. This is the nocturnal cycle. That is why most birders do not have a lot of owls checked off on their life lists. They’re sleeping when these birds are awake.

But there is a third way of sleeping and waking, located somewhere between the diurnal and nocturnal cycles. And a great many familiar animals, such as deer, live in this cycle. This third way is called crepuscular. And so is our bird of the month: the Common Nighthawk. This bird comes out during the hours of sunset and sunrise, and then enjoys a couple of siestas in between. It actually sounds like an ideal life, at least the siesta part.

Consequently, if you want to find the Common Nighthawk so you can mark it off of your life list, you’re going to have to get going right after dinner or before breakfast—you pick. Personally, I see far more of them in the evening than in the morning, but that is probably because I’m more active during that time of the day. For me mornings were meant for drinking coffee, not chasing birds.

So, what is a nighthawk? They are members of the Caprimulgidae family of birds, which is Greek for goatsucker (I swear, you can’t make this stuff up!). The goatsucker family also includes the nightjars, such as the Poorwills and the Whip-poor-wills. They were called goatsuckers because of the ancient and mistaken belief that these birds would suck the milk of dairy goats during the night. They don’t. They’re insectivores, but their huge maws (and I mean, huge) seemed well equipped for being dairy thieves.

The reality is that these members of the Caprimulgidae family use their huge mouths as effective aerial insect vacuums. When open, their mouths seem to resemble those of a largemouth bass rather than a bird; the opening of their mouths are encircled with rictal bristles: long, stiff hairs that serve to expand the “capture-area” of their mouths. Quite impressive. Interestingly, when their mouths are closed they sport these preposterously tiny little beaks, disguising the fact that these birds are truly flying mouths.

Nighthawks also have huge eyes, fitted like oversized marbles in their little skulls. Obviously they use these large orbs to find their airborne prey in the low-light conditions of dusk and dawn.

If you’ve never seen a nighthawk, you’ve probably heard them on many occasions. These are one of those species that you can better first spot by sound than by sight. Their call is a repetitive, electric-sounding peet. The males will also make a booming noise by flying in a steep dive toward the ground, allowing the air to breeze through their primary feathers. This generates a sound that, to me, sounds like a bull snorting. This sound helps to explain the other common name for this species: bullbat. This sound is used to both court females and to scare away intruders, whether other nighthawks or birdwatchers.

You are probably only going to be able to catch a glimpse of this highly maneuverable species, partly because they come out when viewing conditions are not very good and when binoculars become worthless. But they are distinctive and if you are in a good habitat, you’ll see plenty of birds. These cryptically brown birds are about robin-sized, but with much longer wings. Indeed, the wings are very distinctive, aptly described as being “scythe-like:” long, narrow, and pointed. Toward the tips (on both top and bottom) are distinctive white patches and these patches seem to flash when reflecting the light of a passing car or street light.

Prime observing habitats include rivers and deserted areas with tall street lights, such as industrial parks near urban areas. The street lights attract flying insects and these, of course, attract their predators, such as nighthawks and

bats. Listen first for their distinctive call and then position yourself so you have a clear, unobstructed view of the airspace above the river or street lamps—all the while trying to protect your night vision. They do not fly high, but neither do they come near the ground like bats will. But really, my experience has been that by the time the bats begin to show up for work, the nighthawks are already calling it quits. They are equipped for low-light conditions, not no-light such as the bats.

The Common Nighthawk ranges all across North America during the summer months, but they migrate all the way to South America for the off season. So I guess they live in perpetual summer. Some bird authorities warn that this species seems to be declining in population, probably because one of their primary prey—mosquitoes—is widely targeted by humans as a pest to be eliminated. But by eliminating mosquitoes we eliminate nighthawks; not a good trade in my estimation.

Summer is here and now is the time to track down the Common Nighthawk to add to your life list. They’re really not that hard to find, but they do require a bit more effort than, say, a house sparrow. But they are worth it. They zip around like WWI fighters as they chase insects in the growing night sky. Pretty cool. Happy birding!

(Visit AllABoutBirds.org online to hear the sound of the Common Nighthawk.)

Michael TurnlundA Bird in Hand The Common Nighthawk:

Birding by Sound

Clark Fork Baptist Church

Main and Second • Clark Fork

Sunday School............9:45 amMorning Worship............11 amEvening Service...............6 pmWednesday Service.........7 pm

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“Honor your father and your mother…”

The tears come at the most unexpected times.

We’d gathered for dinner around the small wooden table in our son’s Missoula apartment. It was a fine summer meal: green salad, fresh beets, rice, wild salmon, and a glass of wine. Yet as I settled into my chair, I realized the last time I’d shared a meal at this table was one year ago. It was my 83-year-old mother’s table, and so long as she had the strength last June, she and I had breakfast together at that table in her Independence, Missouri home. The table was still the same. The chairs were the same. But now she was gone, taken by the cancer that ended her life in July. So, just as she wanted, the table with all its memories now belongs to her grandson in Montana.

The tears came later en route home to North Idaho as I shared the intense emotions of that moment with my wife.

It’s been a difficult year. In my immediate family three close relatives died. Within my circle of adult friends, two parents died. Each person who passed away left behind adult children to move through the valley of grief.

Across the months, I’ve often found solace in a passage from “The Losses of Our Lives: The Sacred Gifts of Renewal in Everyday Loss,” by, yes, Nancy Copeland-Payton, my wife.

“The only way to embrace the rest of our lives is to journey completely through this valley of grief. The choice is ours. We can cling to our loved one and bury our future with him or her. Or we can

unclench our hands and let this person go. Mourning is the lengthy process of accepting the finality of physical loss of our loved one, so we can continue our journey in the land of the living. Eventually, we will come out on the far side of grief. Towering canyon walls shorten into rounded hills that flatten further still. And the valley floor widens out into a light-filled land of acceptance.”

In my faith walk, I vividly recall words from the Ten Commandments, “Honor your father and your mother…” (Exodus 20:12) And, I recognize the wisdom of suggestions to both honor our parents and to move through our valley of grief when they are gone.

When the time is right, we can reflect. Can we visualize the person we have lost? Can we name all the things we loved about them? Can we name some of the most challenging characteristics of the person we loved? What did we lose when our loved one died? And is that loved one a part of our life today—not in a physical way, but in a sense of felt presence? Can we describe that presence? And, how does that loved one’s presence influence us today?

In these July days, I’ll be reflecting on these questions. The reflection, as it continues over time, helps reduce the pain of loss. And, I know the “hooks” into my emotions which prompt the tears will diminish as well… the birthday card no longer sent, the Mother’s Day flowers not ordered, the phone calls with news of family or travel not made.

How will I mark the year? On July 27, the anniversary of my mother’s passing,

you’ll find me enjoying a quiet meal at the Café Bodega in the Hope Marketplace, in Hope, Idaho. I’ll drive along the shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille. I’ll enter the café with walls lined with local art. I’ll sidle up near the wood stove (now thankfully cool on a summer’s day). I’ll order and enjoy a sandwich and a soda. And, all the while the presence of my mother, who enjoyed this place on each visit to our family here in Idaho, will accompany me.

For me, the towering canyon walls of grief have shortened in the year. Indeed, I travel now on rounded hills, and I know that somewhere out there is a valley floor which widens into a light-filled land of acceptance. I honor my mother, and her presence travels with me on this part of life’s journey.

Honoring the LossGary PaytonGary’s Faith Walk

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The Hawk’s Nest

When we came to the fork in the trail it had just started raining. As Linda pulled the hood of her raincoat up she eyed the tracks ahead.

“The one to the left will have us back to the car in ten minutes, the one to the right will be well over an hour.” I said. “How are you feeling?”

She said “Fine, let’s go this way,” and turned right.

We were in a fairly dense conifer forest with a few openings but no expansive views. Even with the nearly closed canopy the rain was getting to the vegetation on the floor along with the rain gear we had on. Nikki, our dog, followed close behind.

It was after dinner before we had headed out for a refreshing and stretching walk. Almost as an afterthought we grabbed jackets and stuffed them in a daypack. Since it was only a couple days after the summer solstice, light still filtered through the trees, even though it was well into evening.

We had been out for about a half hour when we came to the junction in the trails so her decision, which is the one I had hoped she would make, added considerably to the overall walk.

Not much was happing in the woods since the weather kept most animals and birds under protection. They, no doubt, wondered what the emergency must be for us to need to be out.

It really was not an emergency but it was important that we walk. Linda had just had her right knee replaced two weeks before. This wasn’t the first walk since then but would prove to be the longest.

Three-and-a-half years ago she had her left knee replaced, and it changed our lives. For a couple years she had no pain. It allowed for some very extensive hiking and snowshoeing, including several mountain hikes and camping trips in the Cabinets and the Coeur d’Alenes, as well as the Canadian Rockies. Rivers and streams had been crossed and she was victorious over some challenging elevations. In Hawaii she swam in the ocean and, with a granddaughter on her back, climbed to the top of Diamond Head. She covered the entire historical city of Williamsburg, Virginia while keeping up that same child.

I think the most important thing it let her do, pain free, was be a grandmother. Now, in September, there will another grandchild to keep up with.

For the last several months the right knee was giving her the same discomfort the first one had, so it was time to see the surgeon again.

He told her that the first procedure had been quite difficult yet her recovery had been incredible. “That may not happen this time,” he said. “There is always a chance for complications.”

Linda thanked him and said she knew that, and she knew he had to tell her that.

Then she said, “I am going into this with the intention that it will go as well or better than the last one. And I want you to have that intention also.”

He said he was “all in” with that attitude and they, once again, formed a partnership in her healing.

So the walks that we greeted summer with this year are slower and shorter then other summers, but each one had

been a challenge that has been met with enthusiasm.

The first one was a lap around the hospital room in late afternoon the day of the operation. Each one after has progressed until now we are back to walking in the woods we love so much.

The trail had some steeper slopes, both up and down, than she had done post-op, yet still we trekked on. The only complaint was she did not feel comfortable looking up since there were so many roots in the trail. Finally, a half-mile from the car, our course leveled without as many obstacles to trip over and the pace picked up a bit. The rain did not let up and we marched on, feet getting wet from the grass, but in good spirits.

Back at the car, Nikki jumped in and laid on her blanket. I started the fan to keep the windows from fogging and we peeled out of wet jackets. It had been a fun, good and challenging hike and Linda, once again, triumphed.

Back home, ice was applied to the knee and ibuprofen helped with some soreness. She has not taken any other painkillers for several days—says she doesn’t need them.

I checked Google Earth and calculated we had gone about two and quarter miles. That is not a long hike but, under the circumstances, it was a very successful trek that could very well change our lives.

Changing LivesErnie Hawks

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The quality of our public school education system continues to be an important issue in our state. This is in part because of a concern that our students graduating from our high schools are “unprepared for the rigors of postsecondary education or the workforce.” As an example, just 47 percent of our Idaho high school graduates continue on to higher education and of those, “nearly half need remediation once they get there!”

In an effort to improve the K-12 education success of Idaho students, Governor Otter and Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna joined other states in developing higher standards known as the Common Core Standards Initiative; new academic standards in mathematics and English language arts “that are higher, more in depth, and comparable with any other country in the world.”

Idaho teachers will begin teaching under these new standards beginning in September of this year. Given that these are higher standards than are in existence now, the State Department of Education is providing support to assist teachers to become proficient in teaching to the standards. Professional support includes professional development workshops and other resources provided by the SDE and our state universities.

In response to a question I asked the state superintendent’s office, I learned that the workshops have been well attended and more have been scheduled than first expected because of the interest of educators in attending the workshops to learn more on implementing the new standards.

The intent of Idaho’s involvement in the common core effort is to improve the quality of our education system

by elevating the math and English requirements to increase the success of our graduating students going into the workforce or pursuing higher education opportunities. This is the goal; however, adoption and implementation of common core standards in Idaho to achieve this goal is not without controversy.

There are those who believe that the federal government has required that Idaho adopt the Common Core State Standards and that implementation of the standards is a push for federal control of education that will lead to “less education choice and competition and is ultimately a push for federal control of education—public and private.”

Others say that “standardization of education is not the answer for what ails education,” implying that schools should have independence in how they approach education.

Another argument against adopting the standards is that the standards will “dumb down education in Idaho.”

The Idaho Department of Education’s website provides responses to these and other concerns with implementation of the standards. As an example, in response to the charge of the federal government requiring Idaho to adopt the standards, the Department states:

“Idaho voluntarily chose to adopt the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and English language arts as Idaho’s new Core Standards in these two subject areas. The federal government has never reviewed a state’s standards, and they have not reviewed these standards. These standards were the result of a state-led effort. Idaho signed a Memorandum of Agreement with other states that clearly defines this as a state-led effort. Specifically, the MOA states: “The parties support a state-led effort and not a

federal effort to develop a common core of state standards.” The state-led effort also is evident in the fact that not every state has adopted these standards. Each state reviewed these standards and made its own decision.”

As I have stated, adoption of the Common Core Standards continues to be a controversial issue, but the fact remains that less than half of our graduating seniors go on to post-secondary education and of those, a large percentage who enter a higher education institution require some kind of remediation, including math and English, and many drop out because of their inability to handle the higher level course work.

I believe that we need to increase our standards for our public school students to ensure they can be successful in the workplace or pursuing higher education opportunities and that increasing our standards of learning will help insure their success. The Common Core Standards appear to be a positive movement in this direction.

Given, however, that this is a controversial issue I would recommend that readers of the Journal who have an interest in this issue refer to the Department of Education’s website at sde.Idaho.gov to learn more about Common Core and to form your own opinion on the positive or negative benefit of Idaho’s implementation of the Common Core Standards.

Thanks for reading and as always feel free to contact me at my home email at geskridge(at)coldreams.com, by phone at (208) 265-0123 or by mail at P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho 83825. George

Idaho & the Common Core StandardsA Seat in the House

Rep. George Eskridge

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I’m outbound from Sandpoint, waiting on a red light with others cars and drivers at the corner of Idaho 200 and Kootenai Cutoff Road. As we wait, a bright fragment of color appears dead ahead, over the top of the Coldwater Creek parking lot away out against the Cabinets. It’s the disconnected north end of a rainbow.

Just beyond the signal, the highway swings due east for the passage through Kootenai. After the light turns green and our lineup begins east, there appears out past Kootenai Point, maybe as far as the Green Monarchs, the opposite end of the unbuilt arc, bright against a blue-black wall of rain beating its way into the mouth of the Clark Fork. The footings have been laid for a local version of Bifrost.

In the meantime, a burgundy Land Rover or Land Cruiser or whatever it is that was directly behind me at the light—with “H” prefixed 7-B plates—swerves right and accelerates smartly past me in the outside lane. The SUV swings back in just before the right lane quits at the entrance to Lignetics and falls in behind the rest of the row of traffic. It tucks in 30 feet behind the car in front of it and stays there.

“Smartly,” in this sense, has nothing to do with intelligence. The driver is in a hurry, I think, and I wasn’t proceeding quickly enough to suit him—or her.

As we move past Kootenai, I hang back several hundred feet from the mob and watch a couple of things simultaneously: the road and the impending rainbow. I feel safe doing this, because the bumper

in front of me is a long ways away; much farther than 30 feet. While the driver of the SUV watches the bumper of the car in front of him or her, and the driver of the car in front of the SUV watches the bumper of the car in front of him or her—also about 30 feet away—I watch a rainbow happen.

It fades and flares as the light changes. A segment grows in the sky. Another shrinks away. It hints that it might be a double if it was to reach full maturity.

Rainbows, in their physical form, are sunlight reflected prismatically by falling rain. The colors are the spectrum of visible light, beginning at the top of the bow with red and progressing downward through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and finally, violet. As a natural phenomenon, they are very explicable and somewhat predictable. When the sun gets to a certain and relatively low degree above the horizon and shines through and reflect off of water droplets traveling through the air, rainbows happen.

As a bit of Ma Nature’s handiwork, they are much more than predictable events. They are awesome pieces of magic. Ask any kid. They happen in late afternoon and early evening most often, because that is when the sun is in the proper aspect. But they sometimes happen in the morning, too. Just not as often. Which makes morning rainbows more magic. Through rarity, you understand.

But evening rainbows are still fully magic. Especially big, bright double rainbows stretching unbroken across the sky. We make wishes on such things. And

think of pots of gold and God’s promise—particularly the one to never drown us all again. Although for a while there in mid-June, I thought She might have forgotten.

The Norse believed the rainbow was Bifrost, the bridge from the mortal world to Asgard, home of the gods. The Aboriginals of Australia see the rainbow as the snake who is the Creator in the Dreaming, the never-ending period that began with the creation of the world and continues forever into the future. For Bhuddists the rainbow is “the highest state achievable before attaining Nirvana, where individual desire and consciousness are extinguished.”

After I chased bits and pieces of it across the top of the lake, the bow formed into a continuous but mostly hidden sky bridge behind the trees at Carter Creek, faded completely away at Cougar Creek, and finally revealed itself fully above Clark Fork before taking the rest of the evening off.

The driver of the SUV—and the person directly in front of them—turned off the highway at the east end of Sunnyside road. When they did, I began counting—one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three. After one zipped past me like they were going to a fire in Kootenai and riding their neighbor’s bumpers for about six miles, they beat me to their turn by six seconds. It’s anybody’s guess if either of them saw any vestige of a rainbow. Or how green our world is right now. Or the wild, dark fury of a rainstorm cresting the Cabinets. Or anything at all, for that matter—besides their neighbor’s bumper.

The Scenic RouteSandy Compton Watching Rainbows

Dr. Seuss is on the Loose at the

85th Bonner County Fair • August 20-24 Visit our traditional country-style fair with displays and exhibits from area residents, businesses, organizations and 4-H members. Enjoy elephant ears, sno-cones and other traditional fair food while viewing livestock shows, the small animal barn, the Lehman Wildlife Building,

and more. Be sure not to miss: • Cow Chip Bingo • Dutch Oven Cooking • Chili Cook-Off • Salsa Competition• 30/30/30 Art Fundraiser • Classes & Demonstrations •

Kids Activities SEE YOU AT THE FAIR!

July 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 7| Page 1�

A Yellow Brick Road Runs Through Karen Pogorzelski’s Life

“I always dressed as Dorothy at Halloween,” she says, “even though every year, my mother would ask me if I would like to be someone else.” She so immersed herself in the “Wizard of Oz” movie she could recite every line of the dialogue. And her first time to conduct for a musical was “The Wiz,” a famous funk version of the original. Her musicians consisted of a guitarist, a drummer, a bass player, a keyboard player, and a horn player.

Fast-forward to 2013, and Karen Pogorzelski is conductor for an orchestra of 20 in Sandpoint’s summer musical, “The Wizard of Oz,” produced by Sandpoint Onstage and directed by Deborah McShane. “ Any other musical I could have said ‘no’ to, but not The Wizard of Oz.”

Karen studied violin since the age of 4, and also oboe and electric bass. A move to Montana introduced her to bluegrass, and an 80 year old fiddler completely upended her thoughts about music from formal and classical to American dance and folk music. From performer to teacher, she was asked to give violin music lessons to a friend’s son. This expanded to teaching music classes at The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint and Twin Eagles Wilderness School.

Pogorzelski’s life path then disguised itself as a detour on the famous Road to Santiago, a 500 mile pilgrimage from the Pyrenees to the ocean of Northern Spain. Because anchors and sails don’t go together, Karen bravely “quit her day job” and embarked on the 1,000 year old pilgrimage, with her next step unknown. “All I took with me was my backpack and my violin. The violin was my way to participate, the one thing that stayed the same for me as the landscape and the people changed.” Music has always been the constant in Pogorzelski’s life.

Sharing the song of her life in Spain preluded sharing more of it at home. The day before she was to board a plane for Sandpoint, an email from Rachel Gordon of the Music Conservatory invited her to fly home and land in new creative territory. She said yes.

“Rachel invited me to teach and to be assistant conductor for the LPOSD 5th and 6th grade bands,” recalls Karen. At the conservatory, Pogorzelski learned

even more deeply about conducting from Rachel and Pend Oreille Chorale conductor Caren Reiner. So when Sarah Caruso, vocal director for Sandpoint Onstage’s “Oz,” asked her to conduct the Oz orchestra, Karen parted the waters in her schedule and made a way to say yes.

Karen proceeded to place more than 100 recruiting phone calls, and the musicians who ultimately gravitated to the project are all “gifted, hardworking and committed. Everyone who said yes has followed through and shown up, gotten the word out and helped get music stands,” says Karen. “They come straight from work and school to rehearse. That’s more than talent and means as much or even more than talent.” She describes the high schoolers as “enthusiastic and talented,” and the other musicians as patient and extremely knowledgeable, some having played in orchestras all their lives.

The Sandpoint spirit of support for community theatre infuses the process. “Tom Walton,” she recalls with grateful amazement, “a teacher here for 30 years and leader of a jazz band called ‘Swing Street Big Band,’ dropped by to sit in on the trumpet because my trumpeters were detained by a professional commitment in Arizona!”

Actors attending “Oz” rehearsals waft through the doors on waves of music already high-spirited and beautiful. “We worked with Sam Richardson recently, who plays the Cowardly Lion,” says Pogorzelski, “and he was a little nervous because he hadn’t perfected ‘If I Were King of the Forest’ yet, but we played it anyway, and I got to see everyone’s face light up! It was that moment when the singing and the music unite, and the energy surges, and everyone is supported, and it’s just magic.”

That magic can still be heard on the Panida main stage on July 12 and 13 at 8 pm. Tickets are available online at sandpointonstage.com, and at Eve’s Leaves and Monarch Mountain Coffee. Prices are $17 adults, $15 seniors/students and $12 for children 12 years old and under. Advance purchase is recommended due to sold out performances.

Ray Allen is available for private parties, weddings, restaurants, and all corporate events. Ray Allen plays acoustic guitar and sings jazz standards, pop tunes, country, and originals from the 30s through the 70s. Music for all ages. Includes use of my PA system for announcements. Clean cut and well dressed for your event. PA rentals for events. Call for my low rates and information.

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July 2013| The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 7| Page 1�

“Better smile when you say that, pardner!”

Those classic sardonic words from the 1902 Owen Wister novel “The Virginian” was but the opening salvo in the building of the Mythos of the Western Frontier. Featuring the strong, silent stranger with a six-gun, it saw its greatest surge in the 30s and 40s with the pulp novels of Louis L’ Amour, Zane Grey, and yes, Texan Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), whose shoot-em-up western tales far outnumbered his sword and sorcery sagas. (His friends Clark Ashton Smith and H. P. Lovecraft nicknamed him “Two-Gun Bob.”)

The films of John Ford and others cemented the mythos and raised it to archetype status, though my own favorites would include Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece The Wild Bunch, Shane, Valdez is Coming, and possibly even (for a Fortean like myself) Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

It’s fascinating to speculate that Butch and Sundance might have escaped their final, Bolivian shoot-out and a local Spokane resident seemed to have the best shot at being the still-living bandit Butch for a number of reasons too long to get into here. (Check out “Robert Leroy Parker” online for the reasons why many believe he was actually Butch Cassidy.) Alas however, one must go where the evidence leads us and the sad, inescapable fact is that the Pinkerton Detective Agency actually intercepted and read all of Butch’s and Sundance’s letters to their families and friends, including those from Bolivia, and their chatty missives all ceased totally after that final, bloody shoot-out.

I’ve told the tale in a column here before of the not-so-heroic O.K. Corral

Gunfight, and how reading the official inquest of the incident (easily available at a number of online sites) can only lead one to the conclusion the killings were the result of a squabble between the Earps and Clantons for control of Tombstone’s lucrative gambling concessions. Far from the Earps being the outnumbered underdogs (5 to 4) of lore, it should be noted that one of the Clantons was unarmed, one was trapped on a wildly bucking bronco when the first shots were fired, and one was cut down immediately by notorious gambler Doc Holliday, who fired the first shot. So in the first seconds the Earps actually outnumbered the Clantons 4 to 2. History remember, is written by the victors.

The wealthy perpetrators of the infamous Johnson County War, along the Wyoming/Montana border, got away virtually scot-free. Though in films it’s usually portrayed as a victory for the little guy, as in virtually all of the Old West sagas truth was, and is still, the first casualty. That Johnson County War was immortalized in a number of Western films (the best of the bunch starred Tom Berenger) but is perhaps rightly or wrongly remembered for being one of the worst films ever made, Heavens Gate, which caused the downfall of the studio that financed it (United Artists) and cost some $50 million to make ($200 million in today’s money). I agree, by the way. I watched the whole three hours of it, boggled by its ineptitude, flabbergasted nearly beyond endurance, in stunned awe of its sheer... weirdness, with scenes hanging on the screen far past their usefulness, interest or reason.

The women of the Old West, too, deserve far more respect and recognition and need to have their stories told

more fully. Many years ago I read a small press chapbook, Calamity Jane’s Letters to her Daughter and it was heartbreaking, reminding me these Old West ladies were real, living flesh and blood women in a violent, hardscrabble world, not the painted caricatures we’ve come to ignore, gloss over, idealize or place on an impossible pedestal. Etta Place for example: what a subject for an enterprising investigative biographer. Lover of the Sundance Kid, who leaves him in Bolivia shortly before his death, what stories could she tell? What letters and memories are even now lying dust-covered in some great-great-granddaughter’s trunk?

Mark Twain, to my mind, though not strictly in the Western Mythos tradition, with the stories “Roughing It” and others fits in comfortably within the mythos, and I agree with Norman Mailer, I believe it was, who said, “American Literature begins and ends with Huckleberry Finn.”

Boots Reynolds is another authentic, classic writer/artist of the Old West Mythos. I first met him years ago when he donated a piece of his artwork to the local Disabled American Veterans Chapter. He appeared to step out of the pages of my beloved pulps, out of Louis L ‘Amour or Zane Grey, and it was an honor to shake the firm hand and catch the smile and the twinkle in the eye of a real American Cowboy. Hope you like this column, Boots!

‘til next time, keep spreading the word: Soylent Green is People! All Homage to Xena!

FROM THE FILES OF THE RIVER JOURNAL’SSurrealist Research Bureau“Boots & Saddles” (a Western Miscellany)

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� | The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol. 22 No. 7|July 2013

It’s been a relatively mild year as far as mosquitoes are concerned, but that doesn’t mean a big hatch isn’t coming. Did you know there are a variety of plants you can add to your landscape that not only offer beauty and scent to your outdoor surroundings, but that also repel mosquitoes?

Citronella, for example, is not just an additive to candles and oil torches: this wonderfully aromatic disguise, which can help keep mosquitos from smelling your presence, comes from a gorgeous, clumping grass that can grow five to six feet in height.

In our area, citronella grass is a container plant, as it won’t survive the cold winter weather. Find a spot in full sun for a large pot or two, and don’t forget to bring the plant inside before frost hits in the fall.

Catnip will not only keep your felines happy around the house, it’s also been found to be up to ten times more effective than DEET for repelling mosquitos. Catnip, part of the mint family, is a relatively easy plant to grow if you can keep cats away long enough for the plant to establish itself. It’s a perennial

herb related to the mint family, and likes full sun, though it can stand a little shade. You can crush catnip leaves and apply directly to your body for an added repellent boost but beware: cats are as attracted to the scent on you as they are to the plant when it’s growing.

Basil will not only provide you fresh goodness in your kitchen, it also works as a mosquito repellent, particularly some of the varieties with a stronger aroma, like cinnamon and lemon. Basil likes well drained soil, so if you’re planting it in pots, make sure you have plenty of drainage. And like roses, the more you prune it, the faster it will grow. Prune frequently and you’ll find yourself with some monster plants to boost your spaghetti sauce and keep the critters away from your tender skin.

Lavender is another multi-purpose plant that keeps mosquitoes away. Growing up to four feet high, this is an excellent planting for around seating areas, and in the fall, dried flowers can be used for many purposes.

Marigolds offer so many benefits to the gardener that you might not know their smell also repels mosquitoes. Marigolds

are readily available and easy to grow so it’s worth sticking them around in every spot you can find for them.

Marigolds contain pyrethrum, but did you know you can also grow pyrethrum itself? This is a well-known mosquito repellent that offers a beautiful flower as a bonus. (It looks like a daisy—in fact, a common name for it is the painted daisy.) Pyrethrum can also tolerate a little (not a lot) shade, and is a hardy perennial that comes in several colors.

Mosquitoes are not only annoying, but carry viruses (like West Nile) that can cause serious illness. Putting out a few plants can not only beautify your yard and garden, but offer important protection against these critters.Nancy Hastings grew up on a 300+ acre farm and now is co-owner of All Seasons Garden & Floral

in Sandpoint, She and her husband John have been cultivating community gardens and growing for 16 years in North Idaho. You can reach them with garden questions or sign up for classes at [email protected].

Keep Those Mosquitoes at Bay!Get Growing!

Nancy Hastings

In my last article on Obamacare I said, “It’s a certainty that the law will be phased in by 2014, and everything will change.” Wrong again.

This spring I had a wellness evaluation from my medical provider. She ordered lab tests done for my usual: thyroid, cholesterol, a blood panel.

A month or so later, I received a bill from the lab for $78; the individual costs for physician services and tests were each “more than free.” Geez, I thought these tests are free under Obamacare! I looked at: https://www.healthcare.gov/what-are-my-preventive-care-benefits online and, sure enough, I was covered.

Then I called the lab. They told me that the tests had been coded in such a way that they were ineligible for coverage. They had called Blue Cross and were told that the insurance company could not legally give them the proper codes, because of laws concerning patient privacy.

I called my provider’s office, who told me that she had called Blue Cross, who said, “We can’t tell you how to run your

office.”I called Blue Cross. No, I was told,

they are not legally allowed to give me the proper code either! Moreover, there are thousands of codes corresponding to thousands of different circumstances, and it would be too confusing and time consuming to figure it out; there would be no guarantee that they had given me the right one. Would they rather create all this extra paperwork? Didn’t that cost a lost of money?

Blue Cross also told me that there was no record of my provider having called the provider number in the last two months.

Hmmmm.But wait, there’s good news! Blue Cross

agreed to call my provider and give her the provider number she needs to get the right codes.

And here is another tidbit of information you may find useful when you go through this process (and I would be surprised if you don’t). It wasn’t the codes for the tests that were wrong. It was the code for the diagnosis. My provider

had used a code for a diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia, instead of a code for a wellness check. (Side note: interesting that the insurance company accepted a diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia as justification for thyroid and cholesterol tests!)

The provider’s office called me to say that they would resubmit the order to the lab with the correction.

What concerns me is not just the $78; the real concern is that people will just go ahead and pay for tests that they don’t have to pay for. They will then notice that Obamacare does not provide free wellness tests and that nothing has changed.

EVERYTHING WILL NOT CHANGE, UNLESS WE AS CITIZENS AND PATIENTS INSIST THAT THE LAW BE IMPLEMENTED.

We can defeat these pesky detail-devils! I am available for free consultations and will be more than glad to help you resolve these paperwork issues. DON’T PAY FOR WELLNESS TESTS. Email me a [email protected], or phone me at 208-304-9066.

Obamacare & Insurance CodingThe Devil’s in the DetailsNancy Gerth


June has been a very busy month at many levels and on many fronts. Since it is officially ‘Summer’ here in North Idaho—also known as ‘Construction Season’—that means we have visitors arriving from near and far to enjoy our piece of paradise. I expect that it will continue until Labor Day. To quote a columnist for the Spokesman Review, “Moving on.”

On the local political front, our long time County Clerk, Marie Scott, is retiring and will in fact be officially retired by the time this article hits the newsstands. The news of Marie Scott’s retirement has reverberated loudly within the Bonner County Administrative Building and has even been felt within the offices of the GOP and Democrat parties. The primary question being asked is, “Who will replace Marie in that office?” And, more importantly, will whoever it is that sits in that chair be re-elected come November 2014? The vast majority of county residents have no idea of the importance of that job or of its impact on our daily lives.

Some people say that the job of County Clerk is more important than any one of the County Commissioners alone. The Clerk oversees all elections, the courts and many other functions of county government including Veterans Services. It is imperative that the person in the Clerk’s job be highly organized, have a very good knowledge of Idaho Code as well as people and managerial skills of a very high order. I wish whoever assumes that role later this month all the best and good luck—they’ll need it.

On the national front, our Congress is dithering along in the same fashion that has made them the laughing stock of the nation for the past few years. Even used car salesmen have a higher approval rating than our congressional men and women. That paragon of the Tea Party—after just barely retaining her seat in 2012—Michelle Bachman, has decided not to run in 2014. Seems that questions are being raised about her use of campaign funds for unauthorized purposes.

Some things that have come to my attention are the actions—or should I say inactions—of Congress on addressing the delays in the VA appeals process. Currently it is estimated that there are over a quarter million appeals that have been pending for more than 18 months. The VA has neither the staff nor funding to alleviate this backlog.

Another thing we can lay at the doorstep of Congress thanks to the ‘sequester’ and their inability to accomplish the most rudimentary of tasks.

If there ever was a Fortune 500 company that had a management team as dysfunctional as our Congress, the shareholders would rise up as one and toss the idiots out on the street! Without any ‘Golden Parachute’ either. But wait a minute—we the voters are the ‘shareholders’ of this dysfunctional group of buffoons leading our country! We need to remember that come the primaries in early 2014. And again in November 2014 if the buffoons manage to eke out a win in their primaries.

The only bright spot I saw in the news was that the House passed the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. This bill, H.R. 1960 passed 315—108, and contains very strong provisions relating to sexual assault in the military including: requiring mandatory, two-year sentences for service members convicted by a military court of rape or sexual assault and removing from commanders the power to overturn such convictions. Service members who commit rape or sexual assault would be dismissed or dishonorably discharged, under the bill.

The House bill differs significantly from the Senate bill. The Senate version of the legislation (S. 1197) has been approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee and is awaiting consideration by the full Senate. Neither bill authorizes the increases to TRICARE enrollment fees for military retirees (Prime, Standard and TRICARE-for-Life) that were requested in the Administration’s FY 2014 budget. The bills also differ on military pay: the House authorized a 1.8 percent pay hike, while the Senate capped the increase at 1.0 percent. The House bill also requires the Defense Department to make a one-time offer of continuing coverage for TRICARE Prime beneficiaries who live in areas where the Prime option will be discontinued as of October 1, 2013. The House-approved version of the bill also authorizes “veteran status” for members of the Reserve Component who served 20 or more years. The Senate bill mandates the Military Lending Act be enforced by the Department of Justice and allows retirees participating in the Survivor Benefit Program to designate that benefits go into a Special Needs Trust for disabled children.

Both versions have extensive, albeit different, provisions aimed at preventing sexual assault, improving prosecution of perpetrators and protecting victims of sexual assault. Currently, both bills reduce overall military end strength by 40,000 (7,100 cut in Marine Corps manpower, a 900 increase in Navy end strength and an reduction of approximately 34,000 over the other services) and provide additional Impact Aid ($25 million) for public schools serving children of military personnel. Although the full Senate has yet to debate its version of the legislation and Senate floor amendments are yet to be filed, neither bill addresses improvements for concurrent receipt; repeal of SBP/DIC offset, reform of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act. And neither version accounts for FY 2014 DOD sequestration cuts of $52 billion that will take effect if alternative spending cuts are not approved prior to September 30, 2013.

Once both chambers approve their respective bills, a conference committee made up of representatives from both chambers will try to reconcile the differences between these two measures. At this time there is slight chance that the bill will get to the Senate floor but it does not appear likely that the bill will get there until after the August recess, once again illustrating how dysfunctional our Congress is when a subject as important as national defense can’t even get to the floor for discussion and introduction of amendments before the Senate goes on vacation.

Until next month, take care, stay informed and be very skeptical of things you hear or read until you independently verify their truth. There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation floating around on the ‘Interweb.’

Veterans’ NewsStill Delays in VA AppealsGil Beyer

The River Journal - A News Magazine Worth Wading Through | www.RiverJournal.com | Vol 17 No. 18 | November 2008 | Page 5

increase nutrients, such as nitrogen and

This septic pilot project is being introduced in order to comply with water quality standards as determined by the Federal Clean Water Act. Designated to protect water quality, the plan, known as a “Total Maximum Daily Load” for Lake Pend Oreille, addresses nutrient issues

In addition, many lakeshore homeowners participated in a survey in 2007 concerning a variety of water quality issues. As is turns out, their

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And they don’t have to—after all, don’t we Americans believe if it’s ours, it’s ours and we can do with it what we want? Or

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you have to give it to us and if you don’t, then you sponsor terrorism and we’ll

By the way, China wants that oil as well. Remember China? The people who loaned us all that money? China’s oil consumption is around 6.5 billion barrels a year, and is growing at 7 percent every year. It produces about 3.6 billion barrels every year. Does this math look good to anyone? Can anyone other than Sarah Palin and George Bush believe we can drill our way out of this problem? Anyone who doesn’t think we better hit the ground running to figure out how to fuel what we want fueled with something other than oil probably deserves to go back to an

: I could go on forever, but you’ll quit reading. So one final discussion for the American public. First, let’s have a true, independent analysis of what happened on September 11, 2001. The official explanation simply doesn’t hold water. This is one of those “who knew what, when” questions that must be answered—and people/institutions must

Speaking of accountability, you might be surprised to learn that I would not support an effort to impeach President Bush after the November elections. First, because that’s too late, and second, because more than Bush have been involved in crimes against the American people. What I would like to see are charges (at the least, charges of treason) brought against Bush, Cheney, et al. Bring the charges and let’s let the evidence of

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From the Mouth of the RiverBoots has been too ill to write. Please keep him in your prayers.

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The other day, as my wife knelt over me with a rolling pin trying to break down a charley horse occurring above my eyebrows, I came to realize my personal threshold for pain in the form of a little research.

It started innocently enough on Facebook one morning, where I’d found dozens of posts, stacked one above the other, sort of like a modern totem pole of our society’s demeanor. Politics, religion, food, love, hate, relationships, nature, pets, cars, boats, bikes, jokes, etc., a fair representation of my tribe of friends as a whole. A little scary sometimes, but fair.

The one on top asked me to ‘like if you love your country,’ of which I promptly obliged. Then reservations in my frontal lobe spoke up reminding me that love isn’t always blind, at least not with me. I love my cat but not entirely her claws. I didn’t ‘un-like’ that post nor have I unloved my cat either, I’m simply cautious whenever her backfield goes in motion.

Skepticism and its little brother ‘guarded optimism’ are healthy attributes to have in a free capitalist society. Jefferson and Eisenhower felt this in their bones and so do I. Hell, next to bullpuckery, it’s the hottest commodity in our nation’s capitol, even on holiday! Some sources seem even to be ‘fracking’ for skeptics using high-pressure gas and raw sewage. Inasmuch as a jack of spades has but one eye to appraise the rest of the hand he’s in, finding the truth of any important matter can be as headache generating as a two-year-old with a new violin, especially if you think the deck might be evenly stacked and in no one’s

particular favor. You would be wrong. Whoever coined the phrase “The truth will set you free” may not have been thinking along the lines of politics. Or, maybe they really meant us to hear, “The truth will set you off, but it isn’t free.”

The second post, from a different friend, came courtesy of “Occupy Monsanto” and, with that, ensued hours long and uncounted clicking link after link and taking notes upon notes until my eyebrows finally collapsed under their own weight.

In this journey into a ‘Dante’s Inferno” of the American experience, I’ve come to feel sorry for the founding fathers who worried and lectured of the dangers of too much power in any one circle, for they put in place important checks and balances to protect us from despotic interests both in and out of government. This sometimes even works.

But how about when those circles are conjoined to form an impermeable pile of political/industrial clout so big, so dense, so encompassing that it can never be reversed in time to avoid complete disaster in the form of corporate fascism?

In my humble but far from lonely opinion, Monsanto is the biggest elephant in the newsroom (or congressional lobby) and also the largest spreader of destructive reasoning and political contributions our country has ever seen, producing some of the biggest despots the corporate mindset has ever generated. No easy feat! The prize must be truly something, worthy of that much effort! I seriously hope that I’m wrong here but intensely doubt that I am, considering what stuck to my shovel lately.

Do you recall “The Ugly American?” I barely do but it struck in me a chord still reverberating in my soul after some fifty years, vibrating the notion “your way may not be the right way for everyone or even yourself for that matter.” Time repeatedly points this out to those who pay attention.

When new or critical information comes to light, we’re supposed to adjust our trust accordingly with our voter pamphlets and if that doesn’t work, with our money.

The burning of trust has promoted more power and abuse worldwide than any other source in history and it didn’t start with the Trojan Horse, although this example points directly at a sizable herd of them stabled in our nation’s capitol.

Typing in “Monsanto Protection Act” on your search engine will fetch you a headache lurking within, as it did for me, large enough to survive a bottle of painkiller of even the 25-year-old variety.

When a corporation, farting rainbows and passing gas through channels of our government, is allowed to pollute not only our cropland and food supply, but also our very fabric of existence, our future becomes a single rut on a downhill run into desperation and famine. How we treat our topsoil now will be how it treats us later. I’m worried about later. I can see a future without the likes of Monsanto but not one without good topsoil.

You can also find an enlightening and thought provoking list, put together by “Occupy Monsanto,” of some rather serious corporate/government connections. Dig this up yourself, as there

Scott [email protected]

isn’t enough room here for illustration. It’s that big! From the Supreme Court to the White House, the FDA to the USDA, DOD to the EPA, all underwritten by our friends at the Defartment of Commerce and Profligation.

The current state of our food production and supply and the hallowed grounds from which they come can only be looked upon with doubt, dismay and that old dog, skepticism. The poisons we and every other critter ingest are what we have become; sick, tired and complacent toward change in a real and meaningful way.

Change is possible, however, through public outcry in the marketplace, as long as that remains legal or even still possible to do, starting today.

Our country was declared by dissidents 237 years ago and the best progresses it has made so far as I can tell are on account of a steady stream of them ever since, possibly the only true checks and balances of a system so heavily weighted on the side of greed and corruption in a free market society.

Meanwhile, if you think industry will do no harm, as Reagan and his ‘omics’ convincingly implied, then you’ve ignored your homework and perhaps your butt needs to be unscrewed from your shoulder blades where you’ve been meditating the dark interior of your own moon for all too long.

If we can’t bring ourselves to avoid the endless tides of preconceived wars and the unsustainable “crapiculture” of corporate farming and redirect that effort toward a way of life biologically sound, fair and equitable, then we have little hope of passing anything on but trouble and disappointment.

Next month, if there is one and my headaches subside, I’ll try once again to be humorous far beyond this next thought: “What do you get when you give a loaded paint brush to a pet

politician?”“US painted into a corner.”Here is but a smattering of the rocks I looked under that

generated such a muscle spasm on my forehead. You owe it to yourselves, if not your innocent progeny, to do this. Shake off the crap that makes you not care. Turn on your computer, take some preemptive pain medication, open your mind and start digging, then make your voice heard. Ignorance will be no excuse but instead quite painful, far beyond a damn headache, I assure you.

Inasmuch as I can tell, our lives and freedom depend on it. Dig, dialog, do!

Here is a very partial list of places I went for information, I dare you to do the same. The sooner, the better.

Monsanto Protection ActFoodandwaterwatch.org/MonsantoMonsanto/agent orangeMitt Romney/MonsantoSmokeandmirrors/MonsantoSafefoodfoundation/MonsantoGlyphosatesRoundup ReadyJust label itScientists under attack/MonsantoCornucopia Institute/Food Democracy NowRoundup resistant beesPcb/MonsantoSustainable pulse.comGmo myths and truthsWater.USGS.gov./pesticide use maps/glyphosateGmwatch.orgOrganic Watergate white paper/cornucopia

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