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On the Cover: Flowering quince is a beautiful landscape addition, and is drought-tolerant. Photo by Reggaeman, via Wikimedia Commons

6. DIVERSE GROUP FORMS TO OPPOSE ABOLITIONISTS. People from both sides of the abortion debate join in opposition to group picketing with graphic abortion photos. Trish Gannon

8. CHILD SUPPORT AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES What you should know about how these two things come together.

12. SANDPOINT VFW POST REVISITED. Michael Harmelin shares progress made remodeling the Sandpoint VFW Hall

13. VETERANS’ CHOICE & TOXIC REVIEW Gil explains recent changes that allow veterans greater flexibility in health care, and progress in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses due to toxic agents used in recent wars. VETERANS’ NEWS

14. THE FINAL DEATH OF THE DODO BIRD Jody reports on the dodo hoax, the higgs boson, an Ogopogo sighting and asks for

your input on a potential UFO. SURREALIST RESEARCH BUREAU

15. CLARK FORK’S REPRISE Sandy reports on his annual travels into what was once Nez Perce country. THE SCENIC ROUTE

16. DRYWATER LANDSCAPING Yes, the weather is nice, but now might be a good time to think about plantings that don’t require a lot of water. Nancy gives the rundown. GET GROWING

17. RED-TAILED HAWK There’s all kinds of raptors in this area, but Mike says a bright orange tail makes this one easy to spot. A BIRD IN HAND

18. FALL OF THE EMPIRE Kathy reflects on commonalities between Rome’s fall and America’s decline. KATHY’S FAITH WALK

19. SANDING THE INSIDE Ernie sees similarities in continuing his years-long, log home project, and his years-long project in self improvement. THE HAWK’S NEST

20. GONE FISHIN’ With rhyming meter, Scott bemoans his fishing talent and asks, “what the hell’s a burbot?” ACRES N’ PAINS

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Diverse Group Sets Out to Stop

North Idaho AbolitionistsIt all started simply enough, when

Jenny Baker, a young mother of three, posted a question on Facebook’s Sandpoint Local Forum during May’s Lost in the 50s celebration. “Anyone know if the loonies are out holding signs at the car show this morning? Would like to take my kids but am hesitant.”

Seven hours—and 162 comments—later, Citizens for Common Sense had its own Facebook page and, just before we went to print, 239 members determined to respond to “the loonies” —or, as they are officially known, “Abolish Human Abortion North Idaho.” Part of a national coalition, this group of anti-abortionists spreads their message with large, graphic photos of abortions, tends to target young mothers on the street, and in the minds of Citizens for Common Sense, employs harassment, slander, and abusive behavior in order to get their message across. It is those tactics, and not AHA North Idaho’s anti-abortion message, that Citizens for Common Sense is determined to eliminate.

It is a diverse group of people, with members representing both liberal and conservative viewpoints and, perhaps more important, representing both support for and opposition against abortion. They are united simply by their feeling that AHA North Idaho goes too far in taking their message to the public, and that such actions should be banned in public areas where children are present.

“I don’t mind the message I mind the manner in which they promote their message...” wrote Crystal Bertolucci, and Heather DuMars wrote, “I messaged these people a while ago when I was in high school trying to appeal to them to not use the graphic signs in front of schools and was called a murder supporter, was told that God pretty much hated me, and that I was going to hell, just for asking them to remove those signs so school busses of small children and those mentally handicapped at

our school wouldn’t be traumatized.” But it was people who encountered the group with small children in tow who seemed most furious. “One of them yelled at my 6-year-old that her mommy killed babies and was going to burn,” said Amanda Bailey, adding later, “So their children are passing out papers to other children. I just stopped a 7- or 8-year-old from giving my child information on rape abortions. Are you kidding me?”

Local conservative radio personality Dan McDonald, who encountered the group while with his three grandchildren, called them the Bonner County version of Westboro Baptist Church, while others called for the community to come together against the displays in the same way it did when the Aryan Nations was openly active in the area, recalling the message that “Sandpoint is Too Great to Hate.” Common Sense member Heidi Christine said, “the KKK had every legal right to fill our streets with hate too. Did our small town say, hey, come on in, let’s have dinner and get you financially rewarded? Hell to the no! We took a stand and forced them out.”

The group’s early efforts have focused on identifying local members of the Abolitionist group and picketing them in return. To date, Vern Spencer and Scott Herndon have been identified as members of AHA North Idaho. Spencer operates Vern’s Veggies and More in Cocolalla, and generally man’s a booth at the Sandpoint Farmer’s Market. In a standard, libertarian free-market approach, Citizens for Common Sense has prepared to peacefully picket his booth whenever he shows up to the market. “Remember, no confrontation, no interaction, stay focused on informing the public who and what these folks are and what they are up to,” was McDonald’s instruction to potential picketers. The goal of picketers is not to create uproar or even controversy, but to allow people to know the activities of a person with whom they’re spending

their money.There are no current plans to picket

Herdon’s construction business (Scott Herdon Construction), though the group has stated they will if a suitable opportunity presents itself.

Of greater concern to the group is the Abolitionists’ participation in Sandpoint’s Fourth of July parade, and a planned national convention of Abolitionists to be held in Sandpoint on June 26—”Christians, Government and Righteous Resistance,” which, according to an event poster, is a “conference on abolitionism and higher law” presented by the International Coalition on Abolitionist Societies. According to the Facebook page for the ICAS, the “tentative” plan is for the conference to be held at the Sandpoint Events Center.

On the March for Life Events Finder website, it states that in addition to a major community meeting, “there will be local agitation” at the event, and other communications state there will be “agitation” at the Federal Courthouse in Coeur d’Alene on that Friday. It has been advertised that a “local government official,” Matt Trewhella, will be in attendance, along with Chet Gallager and Rusty Thomas. Herdon also shares on his Facebook page that two of our Idaho representatives will also attend. The conference is described on a number of websites as “a great entry point for local Christians to abolitionism.”

Citizens for Common Sense say they are working on plans to respond to any Abolitionist participation in the local Lion’s Club parade, as well as any conference activities.

Additional work by the group is underway to determine what limits might legally be placed on the signage carried by the local abolitionists—the graphic photos displayed where young children are fully exposed to their view.

The signs clearly fall under the category of freedom of expression, and are protected by the First Amendment right to free speech; the ability to

by Trish Gannon

June 2015 Page �

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speak freely without government intervention is predicated on the idea that someone will find that speech offensive. Nonetheless, the government has exercised the right to limit speech in certain restricted areas. For example, the right to free speech does not include the right of slander or libel; the right to lie (say, to a court or police officer); the right to threaten; or the right to appropriate “speech” that belongs to others (i.e., violation of copyright). In all those cases, however, there are punishments that can be applied for the speech in question after it occurs; at the heart of the issue of Abolitionist signage is the concept of prior restraint—preventing the speech from occurring to begin with.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a similar case regarding Westboro Baptist Church, where members were picketing at military funerals holding signs reading, for example, “God Hates Fags,” that the speech was protected as it “was at a public place on a matter of public concern,” and “is entitled to ‘special protection’ under the First Amendment. Such speech cannot be restricted simply because it is upsetting or arouses contempt.” (Snyder v. Phelps)

But Citizens for Common Sense is looking closely at a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court in a case specifically involving Abolitionist images. In that case, abolitionist protesters had picketed at the Palm Sunday services of St. John’s in the Wilderness Church, and the church had filed suit against them. Part of the trial court’s ruling prohibited the Abolitionists from “displaying large posters or similar displays depicting gruesome images of mutilated fetuses or dead bodies in a manner reasonably likely to be viewed by children under 12 years of age attending worship services and/or worship-related events at plaintiff church,” a decision which the defendant Abolitionists appealed to Colorado’s supreme court.

In their opinion, the Supreme Court in Colorado stated, “we recognize the presence of a compelling governmental interest in protecting children from disturbing images,” and then laid out the limited manner in which the government may impose a prior restraint on speech: when it is “necessary to serve a compelling state interest,” and when the restricting regulation is “narrowly drawn to meet that end.”

In preventing the display of the graphic images, the court ruled that both those conditions had been met.

Although the Court stated, “Blanket bans on signs with images of aborted fetuses have not survived the narrow tailoring requirement,” in other cases, this particular case managed to meet those requirements because of the limits within the ban; specifically, that “large” posters could not be shown (though small pictures on pamphlets to be handed out would be allowed), and that the ban was limited to a specific place and time where the children might be exposed and traumatized. The ability to carry those signs at other places and times remains in place.

This decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. That means the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling holds valid as law.

At some point in the future, the group plans to present their concerns to Sandpoint’s City Council (and potential

other city/county councils) in the hope that some similarly limited types of bans might be possible locally.

It’s an effort that the Abolitionist group—local, national and even international—would oppose, as for them, the images themselves are the message they want to convey. As they state on their Facebbook page, “The reason abolitionists are active in our communities is because we are trying to get the culture to recognize the humanity of the preborn being slaughtered. We are attempting to awaken the apathetic and get them to act like thousands of children are actually being murdered today. We are attempting to convict the consciences of those who support the slaughter of the innocent.”

Herndon’s Facebook page links to a 14-page defense (published by Restoration Press) of the use of graphic images in opposing abortion, relying on historical and biblical precedent for doing so. As to the presence of small children—one of the issues that has Citizens for Common Sense riled up—the pamphlet states “Activists with several years of experience on the street with the signs have noted that the pictures do not adversely affect children as long as the parent remains calm and reasonable,” and adds, “Christians who have exposed their own children to the graphic materials, some nearly from birth, report no ill effects in their children.” It concludes that “The public display of graphic photos of aborted babies is a proven and effective tool.”

Page � June 2015

Senate Bill 1067April started out warm and ended

up warmer, but if political pundits thought they could collapse like cats into a torpid puddle as the Idaho legislature wound its way down to sine die, they learned differently on 10 April when the House Judiciary and Rules committee tabled what seemed to be an innocuous bill amending existing laws regarding the collection of child support.

Although the bill had passed the Senate easily, nine members of the House committee—self-styled upholders of the Constitution and guardians of state sovereignty—objected to the bill, stating that Idaho was being forced to place foreign laws above its own, including that most dreaded of foreign laws, Sharia—a legal system derived from the Islamic religion. While this concern dominated the committee’s discussion and public testimony, the “Group of Nine,” as they became known, later stated they “didn’t have time” to understand the full ramifications of the bill, and insisted they were “not allowed” to make any changes, and had further concerns about data protection as reasons for tabling it.

Local Rep. Heather Scott, a vocal part of the Group of Nine, stated on her Facebook page after tabling the bill that doing so was a “victory for Idaho citizens” and that “This is what happens when Idaho citizens elect State Legislators who have the guts to stand up against bribes & bullying by the Federal government and the Department of Health and Welfare.”

Others saw the action differently, given that tabling the bill meant

Idaho would lose federal funding that provides a substantial portion of the state’s efforts to collect over $200 million in child support every year. Loss of that funding would also have resulted in a reduction in force of close to 100 of the 160 employees in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare who work on child support collection, and would have further jeopardized an additional $30 million in Temporary Aid to Needy Families. In addition, Idaho would have lost access to the federal systems that it uses to track down payee parents, establish income withholding, and both track and process child support payments. Effectively, it would have shut down the current operations of the department, which would have then been left with trying to put together an entirely new system of child support collection, along with negotiating numerous interstate and international collection efforts with other territories. Scott and her committee did not address these ramifications when they tabled the bill.

Richard Armstrong, director of Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare, spoke to the concerns of parents who rely on child support to make ends meet: “All of this rhetoric and anxiety doesn’t put groceries on the table. It’s absolutely wrong for the legislature to get in the middle of the household budget when it’s their money, when it’s the household’s money, not the legislature’s money.”

Scott’s “victory” was also a concern for Governor Butch Otter, who responded by calling the legislature back to Boise for a special session on 18 May, at a cost to Idaho taxpayers

of approximately $36,000. Both the House and the Senate held a joint hearing on the bill, with 36 people speaking both to pros and cons regarding its wording. The same committee that voted to table the bill during the regular session then voted 12-5 to send it on to the House with a recommendation to pass it. (Once again, Rep. Scott voted against the bill.) The House approved the bill 49-21 (with District 1 representative Sage Dixon now voting against it); a Senate committee then approved the bill (now called HB-1) and sent it to the Senate for a vote, where it passed 33-2. Governor Otter signed the bill into law at 3:24 pm on 19 May.

Rep. Scott again took to Facebook, writing that the process meant “your voice is being limited,” and calling the special session “a top down bully attempt by the federal government and the Idaho establishment...”

So what was really going on here with this bill? You might want to grab some caffeine, because it’s not the most enthralling story. Idaho’s legal code can make for boring reading at the best of times, and when the legislature undertakes amendments to it is generally not the best of times. Nonetheless, this process captivated the state, and even the nation, when an update to the rules and regulations governing child support became a cause célèbre for a handful of Idaho representatives.

Uniform laws to address the collection of child support across state and national lines have been drafted and amended since 1950, beginning with the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA). URESA eventually became the Uniform Interstate Family Security Act (UIFSA), which has been further amended throughout the years. States adopted these rules voluntarily over time, but in 1996, the U.S. Congress passed welfare reform – the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 – and mandated that states must enact the UIFSA complete with the

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the Boring Reality

June 2015 Page �

amendments that were being proposed at the time in order to receive federal funds to support efforts at enforcing child support orders, as well as subsidies for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Idaho, along with every other state, enacted the 1998 version of UIFSA, providing for uniform procedures for the collection of child support obligations across state lines, and in foreign territories (primarily Canada). Additional amendments to UIFSA were then made in 2001, and in 2008, though Idaho did not update its own regulations to match those amendments.

According to the Uniform Law Commission, which wrote the UIFSA, in 2008 amendments were made in order to bring the federal government into compliance with provisions of the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.

From 2003 through 2007, over 70 countries met in The Hague, Netherlands in order to develop a uniform, international agreement relating to the collection of family maintenance fees. This agreement used UIFSA as its basis. The Convention was signed for the United States by then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on 23 November, 2007. It was this treaty proposal that drove the 2008 amendments to UIFSA, as the amendments included new features to address the processing of international cases.

Because this was not a self-executing treaty, federal legislation was required for treaty implementation, and the U.S. Congress had to ratify the treaty. In 2010, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification, and both the House and Senate approved the legislation required to implement the treaty’s provisions. It was signed and approved by President Obama on 29 September 2014.

This law required all states to come into compliance with the most recent amended version of UIFSA (2008) after the close of the regular legislative session in 2015 in order to maintain their federal funding.

Meanwhile, back in Idaho...Senate Bill 1067 amends Idaho law

regarding these family maintenance issues. It first did so in 2011, to include provisions relating to the Idaho DNA Database Act of 1996. Didn’t I warn you this was boring?

In 2015 the bill was introduced to the Senate on 12 February for proposed amendments that would bring it up to date with UIFSA, and passed with all in favor on 20 March. The bill was sent to the House on 23 March where it was referred to the Judiciary, Rules, & Administration committee. It was after three hours of testimony on 10 April, much of it focusing on Sharia law, that nine of the 17 legislators voted to hold the bill in committee, effectively killing passage of the bill in the regular session. Which brought us to the situation the state was facing that required Otter to call for a special session.

Scott’s (and other’s) stated concern about Idaho being subjected to foreign law comes out of the fact that UIFSA requires Idaho to implement the collection of a foreign support order—that is, a citizen of Idaho who was required under a foreign order to pay child support (generally because they had parented a child in that foreign country) could not escape that obligation by moving to (or returning to) Idaho. EXCEPT... and this is important... when the state doesn’t have to make those collections. Both UIFSA and SB1067 contained the following language regarding the times when Idaho (and other states) are NOT required to enforce a foreign support order: when “Recognition and enforcement of the order is manifestly incompatible with public policy, including the failure of the issuing tribunal to observe minimum standards of due process, which include notice and an opportunity to be heard...”. (Emphasis mine.)

We don’t require our representatives to be legal scholars, but it seems hard to fathom how Rep. Scott, who stated in a legislative update on 15 April that “The committee wanted to add language to protect Idaho from enforcing objectionable foreign orders,” could fail to understand that this language within the bill specifically protects Idaho from enforcing objectionable orders. What language did she want to add—”Ditto”?

Other objections to the bill stand on equally shaky ground. In fact, Idaho’s office of the attorney general drafted a specific, point-by-point response to those concerns, pointing out that the issues raised had already been addressed, or were invalid on their face. His rebuttal, however, carried no weight with those who continued to oppose the bill.

Both Rep. Scott and North Idaho’s other local Representative for District 1, Sage Dixon, voted against passing the newly named House Bill 001. Senator Shawn Keough voted for it. In District 7 (which covers portions of southern Bonner County), Representatives Shannon McMillan and Paul Shepherd voted against it, while Senator Sheryl Nuxoll voted for it.

Despite the efforts of the Group of Nine and their associates in the legislature, Idaho’s ability to collect child support payments on behalf of the nearly 155,000 families in Idaho who receive them is not currently in jeopardy. But the fact that it ever was in jeopardy should be a reminder that there are consequences to our actions, and when it comes to political grandstanding, the consequences may be large, and paid by those who can least afford it.

-Trish Gannon

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Daniel James Brown’s book The Boys in the Boat is one of the best reads I have had in years.

I am not alone in thinking so. The tale about the 1936 Olympic rowing team from the University of Washington was recommended to me by Gov. Butch Otter who shared he polished off the 400-page book basically in one sitting last year.

Everybody I know is talking about this best-selling book and it is in the national spotlight. In a coincidence, the Idaho Legislature also gathered national attention this session, but not for anything remotely as positive as winning an Olympic Gold Medal.

So it isn’t inconceivable Gov. Otter may have had the book’s plot in mind—as well as lofty goals—on Jan. 12 at the start of the 1st Regular Session of the 63rd Idaho Legislature.

The book follows Joe Rantz’ hard-scrabble life that took him from a mine from north of Bonners Ferry to being abandoned by his so-called family and left at a stump ranch in Sequim, Wash. in high school. He finds his way to the University of Washington with barely enough money or self-esteem to attend. Rowing crew didn’t necessarily come

easy to Joe but in the end, it changed his life.

Each of the eight rowers who comprised the crew came from humble backgrounds in an economy wracked from the Dust Bowl and the Depression. What they did have was an elusive magic called flow.

Flow is the moment when all the rowers in a 60-foot boat that weighs up to 2,300 pounds work as one and the boat sails along a body of water as if it is being pushed along on the wings of angels.

Our citizen legislators also come from varied backgrounds and had the best intentions when they arrived in Boise for the session. Unfortunately, for most of the session, flow was nowhere to be found.

More often than not, a crew never finds that flow state and instead any assortment of bad things can happen. The faster the boat goes, the more that can go wrong. It is bad enough when an errant oar skips above the water but it is a disaster for the team when one of the oars goes deep into the water and “catches a crab.” This accidental maneuver can stop a boat cold, killing any momentum or any chance of

A Year of “Catching the Crab” in the Idaho Legislature

• The Way I See It David Keyes •crossing the finish line first.

The legislators flirted with flow at the end of the session as all 35 senators voted in

favor of increasing funding for public education by 7.4 percent as well as promising five years of raises for new teachers and some other goodies like mentoring. Gov. Otter signed this into law. Smooooth.

It could also be argued that state leaders also figured out a way to start funding improvements along Idaho’s deteriorating roadways. The $94.1 million bill passed at 1:20 a.m. on the last day of the session. This amount is far short than what was recommended (or needed!!!) but a small increase in the gas tax and registration fees kept farmers, truckers and others from going bonkers while digging in to solve a huge issue.

There were a few other highlights during this session but what will be remembered was how the 63rd Idaho Legislature ended up catching more crabs than an entire season of “Deadliest Catch.”

Big crab: On March 3, three lawmakers refused to attend the Idaho Senate’s daily invocation after objecting to the offering of a Hindu prayer. Rep. Sens. Steve Vick of Dalton Garden, Sheryl Nuxoll of Cottonwood and Lori

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June 2015 Page 11

Den Hartog of Meridian found their way back into the statehouse after the prayer was over.

“Hindu is a false faith with false gods,” Nuxoll said.

Biggest crab: With the finish line of the session almost in reach, Rep. Heather Scott and eight others caught the biggest crab of the session. After the Idaho Senate unanimously passed a bill that brought the state into compliance with federal guidelines in order to continue using the federal child support enforcement program, an oar went down... way down.

Rep. Scott’s committee decided it couldn’t pass the bill and as a result, the state’s ability to make sure child support is paid almost came to an end in mid-June. The state is part of a national and international network and would be the only state not onboard with this agreement.

This move should pretty much lock down the deadbeat dad vote in Rep. Scott’s next election.

In March, for example, 2,466 children received child support in Bonner County at the tune of $285,396. Boundary County has 701 children depending on $94,000. This is every month. If there is no enforcement or cooperation with other states and countries, this could dry up.

Oh crab: The governor, attorney general and nearly everyone else said they had to fix this – with a special session of the legislature that cost Idaho taxpayers approximately $36,000. It is obvious Rep. Scott and others on the committee who killed SB 1067 were led off the rail during a private meeting with Shaham Hadian, a Muslim-turned-Christian pastor.

The special session was expensive but had to be done to protect Idaho’s children.

When the solons returned to Boise and okayed what Scott’s committee killed, the committees’ actions were seen as nothing more than an expensive political stunt. Rep. Scott, however, held to her stance and once again voted against the bill.

At the conclusion of The Boys in the Boat, Joe and his mates overcome some shenanigans by east coast universities as well as gamesmanship by hosts

Nazi Germany to win the gold by the slimmest of margins in front of Adolph Hitler.

Unfortunately, our legislators couldn’t get to the finish line without a “do-over” on keeping Idaho children safe—a fundamental job description for legislators, one would hope.

The Boys in the Boat is a national bestseller while this year’s session—if it were in book form—would be banished to the free bin at the monthly book sale at the East Bonner County Library, where it would gather dust.

Stay tuned…David Keyes is the former publisher of the Bonner County Daily Bee, Bonners Ferry Herald and Priest River Times. He also serves as the vice chairman of the Idaho Lottery. Reach him at davidkeyes09@gmail.com.

Over the years, the River Journal has welcomed many of the area’s finest writers to our pages. That tradition continues with the addition of David Keyes, my longtime friend and colleague, to our list of columnists. Look for David’s view of our always-interesting political scene each month. -Trish Gannon

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Page 12 June 2015

Welcome to the new interior of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2453 located at Pine and Division Streets in Sandpoint. The 250-person capacity Hall interior has been painted; we’ve added additional ceiling insulation, conserving energy, bringing the ceiling insulation factor up to R -38. The parking lot will have the cracks filled in and be seal coated May 18th, and we will line-out the parking lot a few days after the seal coating is done. The aforementioned improvements are courtesy of our VFW Post Ladies Auxiliary. Additionally, all the old lights have been replaced with newer, more energy efficient lighting.

A very special “Thank You” along with our “Grateful Appreciation” goes out to John Cloud of John Cloud Construction for donating all his time, labor and expertise in re-remodeling our Ladies restroom, making and

installing the arch in the entry to present a brighter, lighter and more open Hall presentation upon entering the building. Along with John Cloud, the following businesses and personnel contributed to this secibd phase of our remodel: Northstar Plumbing – Matt McCoy, Ron MacDonald, Gary Worley; Done Right Drywall – Shane Carnegie, Matt Tillberg; Eagan Flooring – Mike Eagan; Burnett Electric, Inc.(BEI) – Wade Burnett; and Zeke The Painter - James ‘Zeke’ Solsvig.

The Hall is available for multiple venues, for example: Private parties (with or without alcohol); Memorial services; organization functions; as a meeting place for various groups; and so much more. To reserve the Hall for your specific use, please contact the VFW Hall at 263-9613 and our “Hall Donation Fee” schedule will be provided to you.

Sandpoint VFW Post Revisitedby Michael Harmelin

My thanks to all who participated in the DAV Van Fundraiser on Memorial Day, the 25th of May. We raised $2390.10 - all of which goes help areas vets. Special thanks go out to Safeway, Super 1 Foods and Yokes Fresh Market for allowing us to be at their front doors for six hours in this worthy cause. At the risk of running out of space I’d like to list the names of all the volunteers. They are Carrie & Dan Logan, Jessica Chilcott, Bob Wynhausen, Vance Adelman, Martin

Chilcott, Ross Jackman, George Eskridge, J.P. Carver, Laura Bry, Larry Pedersen, Maggie Mjelde, Jim Ramsey, David Broughton, Trish Gannon, Donna Brundage, Wayne & Martha Henderson, Vera Gadman and Randy Quinn. Ross Jackman told me that Martin Chilcott deserved some special recognition so here it is – “Thanks, Martin” My thanks to all of you for “Shaking Your Cans for the DAV.”

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June 2015 Page 13

Boy, go away for a couple of months and you end up with a lot of ‘catch up’ stuff to do. Over the past two months I’ve spent some time going through old reports, bulletins and emails trying to glean some gems of information I think will be of use to area veterans. What follows is the result of that culling and winnowing.

Much of the information that appears here I’ve found in bulletins that come from the national veterans service organizations like the VFW, DAV and American Legion. This info may not be easily accessible to veterans—or their families—that do not belong to any of these invaluable associations.

One of the biggest and most recent announcements concerns the Veterans Choice Program. In April the VA made the decision that one of the major determinants in the authorization of using outside providers will no longer be an “as the crow flies” 40-mile radius of a VA facility. It will now be “as the crow drives.” The best quote I found to explain this major difference is from the VFW’s National Commander. He said, “The north rim of the Grand Canyon is roughly 10 miles away from the south rim—well within the 40-mile radius rule bubble—but it is 200 miles away “as the crow drives.” This change, that was effective immediately, has a large impact on veterans living in rural areas. There are nearly 300,000 veterans nationwide affected by this change who should soon receive a letter informing them that they are now eligible. If you believe you are eligible and have not yet received a Choice Card in the mail, you can contact 1-866-606-8198 for more information.

Next up is a bill that was recently introduced in both houses of Congress by Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Dick Blumenthal (D-CT), and Representatives Dan Benishek (R-MI) and Mike Honda (D-CA) with the daunting title of “New Toxic Research Act of 2015.” The gist and purpose of this bill is to recognize and accept

responsibility for the damage caused to military personnel by toxic chemicals and materials during the wars in Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The VVA has long sought action on this overdue front.

Veterans all over have suffered and died from unexplained illnesses that have long been suspected to be the result of exposure to everything from Agent Orange in and offshore Vietnam to chemical agents in the ‘burn pits’ of the Middle East. These illnesses are not only afflicting our servicemen and women but their children and grandchildren. National Vietnam Veterans of America President John Rowan said, “This legislation, when enacted, will establish within the Department of Veterans Affairs a national center for the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions of the descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their service.” Hundreds of veterans have died or had their quality of life severely degraded due to their exposure. These veterans and even their children have been affected by their service and it is mandatory for their government to finally step up and do the ‘Right Thing’ for the less than one percent of Americans that enable the other 99 percent to live the way they do.

Moving on to local events, here’s a list that should be on everyone’s

Veterans’ Choice and Toxic Review• Veterans’ News Gil Beyer ETC, USN Ret. •

calendar for this summer. All veterans and their families are encouraged to participate in these events.

• Veterans Annual Yard Sale August 1st at the Sandpoint VFW Hall. Contact Mike & Ann Rhoads if you have items to donate. Funds go to assist Veterans in Need.

• Career and Resource Fair – presented by Inland Northwest Hiring Heroes – 27 August 2015 – Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana, Spokane, WA

• Honor Flight Breakfast Fundraiser September 12th at VFW Hall. Contact is George Eskridge 265-0123

• 8th Annual Elks Patriotic Golf Scramble on September 20th. If you would like to be a hole sponsor please contact local Veterans organizations.

• Veteran Stand Downs supported by Spokane VAMC and the Spokane Veterans Center 2015 – Various dates and locations – more info forthcoming.

As always, my thanks and the thanks of area veterans to Yokes, Super 1 Foods and Safeway for allowing our veterans to “shake the can” and gather donations for our local, Disabled American Veterans. This year’s volunteers (see our thank you on the facing page) once again gave their time in support of those who supported us all. All monies raised are spent locally for local vets.

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Page 1� June 2015

In the April TRJ I relayed the exciting (to me anyway) news that a wildlife sanctuary trail cam video from Costa Rica had apparently captured on film a supposedly extinct-for-300-years Dodo bird cavorting through the rain forests. Though I did mention a few caveats (such as how the flightless Dodo managed to travel from the island of Mauritius to Costa Rica), I’m sad to relate the trailcam video has been exposed as a clever CGI hoax released by a conservation group (who shall remain nameless here) to help publicize the near extinction of other rare and endangered species. As distasteful as the video now appears to me, I must admit it was really masterfully done. To see it yourself check out www.cryptomundo.com.

In the Homer-Simpson-as-the-new-Einstein category, in the 1998 episode “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,” of the Simpsons, Homer wrote an off-the-wall calculation on the blackboard giving an equation of the mass of the then-hypothetical Higgs Boson, which turned out to be only a tiny bit larger than the nano-mass of what a Higgs Boson actually turned out to be. A really weird coincidence!

In Ogopogo news, two women boating on B.C.’s Lake Okanagan recently had a memorable sighting of a 50-foot-long snake, two feet around with three humps trailing behind it. “It does exist, I saw it with my own eyes and now I believe,” said Susan St. Cyr Cowley. Her boating partner, Marie Letourneau, had never heard of the beast before and had just arrived in town from Quebec. She yelled out, “Susie, Susie, there’s a great snake in

the water!” Because they were in shock and afraid, they forgot to take a picture before the animal sank beneath the surface once more.

Finally, in the found pictures category, I should mention my brother

Clay, a shyster lawyer I only half-jokingly refer to as working for the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe, who recently vacationed in Ireland. While taking a series of photographs of famous ancient churches in Dublin, he found on his return home that near the dome of one such cathedral there was a strange object in the sky. Neither Clay nor his companions had noticed it while they were there, but after magnifying the image later it became obvious it wasn’t a bird, kite, drone,

wind-blown debris or far off aircraft. Further, look closely in the photo above (aided by our helpful arrow) and you should be able to make out what appears to be a double vapor trail streaming behind the object. You can

check out the original picture on the River Journal’s Facebook page.

So, with the vermouth-lipped duck of Doubt slowly roasting in my oven of Truth, I bid you adieu. Keep spreading the word: Soylent Green is People! All Homage to Xena.

Photo above by Clay Presley, who is decidedly NOT a shyster, though he is a lawyer. (Clay: it really wouldn’t be fair to sue me for what Jody says.)

• Surrealist Research Bureau Jody Forest •The Final Death of the Dodo Bird

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June 2015 Page 15

Niece and I spent a night last month in one of my favorite places on the planet, the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone canyon, where the other river named for William Clark egresses the Absaroka batholith, makes a feint to the south, scribes a big arc to the north and runs off to join the Yellowstone River at Laurel. Here, in 1877, the non-treaty Nez Perce bands defied logic and topography, fooled the US Army once more and escaped again in their attempt to just be allowed to be Nez Perce.

The lower Clark’s Fork Canyon is just one small part of the Nez Perce journey to their surrender at the edge of the Bear Paw Mountains 300 miles to the north. From where the Nez Perce dropped into the canyon from the top of Dead Indian Hill to where they turned north out of the canyon and began toward Laurel, is one percent of the distance they traveled from the Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon to the Bear Paws. But, it is a spectacular one percent.

Standing half that distance up the canyon from our camp, I imagine them riding and sliding down the precipitous crack in the canyon wall they used to

get to the river. I visualize a cavalcade of 750 men, women and children — with 1,500 horses and what is left of their worldly goods — picking their way through the boulder-strewn canyon floor; splashing across the late-summer river. I wonder if they could see it as I do, beautiful beyond words — though I try — fearsomely rugged and of such a rare nature as to be precious in itself.

Here’s the try. Rock of every color, but muted by age, stacked every which way in piles reaching thousands of feet toward the sky encase the space of the canyon in insurmountable walls about a mile apart at its widest. The walls are connected by a parabola of alluvia ranging in size and color from fine black sand to red, cubic boulders as big as a small house. In the center of this arc built of 120 centuries of accumulated detritus meanders the river, murkier than I have ever seen it on this trip. It carries a load of silt from somewhere upstream, and I suspect the Cooke City vicinity was where it was loosened. Between here and there are not many places with enough soil to stain the river chocolate brown, for the route of the Clark’s Fork is most often through solid rock or something freshly derived from such. Griz tracks populate the sandy edges of the stream. Mountain goats and big horn sheep leap up and down the canyon walls. Rattlesnakes leave winding

Clark Fork’s Reprise• The Scenic Route Sandy Compton • impressions in the dust of the trail and

my imagination.The river changes mood several

times between where the Nez Perce came to the canyon bottom and its exit from the canyon into the miles-wide, flat lower valley. At the upstream end, it runs swift and quiet, 40 yards wide, 3 feet deep. The slope is such that it hurries without running. It then makes a big left turn and slows, spreads into an expansive, braided collection of gravel banks laced with dozens of varieties of granite and the occasional

agate as big as a fist and channels five to 100 yards wide. It drops many of the fines it’s been carrying, and scours new passages for itself with each passing year. Brave cottonwoods attempt to get a footing over the years, but not many survive more than a couple of decades before the river betrays them and takes their water away.

Bored and aimless after this respite, the stream takes a direct interest in getting out of the canyon and jumps into a slot, boiling mad, it seems, rumbling over rocks, growling and roaring. The sound fills the canyon, echoes off the walls, creates a wall of white noise which will lull us to sleep — and cover the sound that any critter, slithering or lumbering, might make as it approaches the tent.

I don’t mention this to Niece, but I do make sure every bit of anything a bear of any sort might be interested in is secured in the car.

As the sun lowers, the angle of light makes the place even more lovely, if possible, and I find myself thinking again of the Nez Perce. For the crime of wishing to stay in a homeland they had occupied for centuries, to live as they had lived for all of their communal history, to mind their own business and try to tolerate the new neighbors as best as they could, they were forced into an exile they never returned from. This place was witness to a tiny part of their travail. And that makes it more precious still.

And, I know I will come back again. Many of Sandy Compton’s explorations

of the Nez Perce Trail are chronicled in Side Trips From Cowboy. Visit sidetripsfromcowboy.com to read an excerpt.

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Page 1� June 2015

As we enter our real summer, following a mild winter and dry, warm spring, you might well be looking around your property wondering whether you’re going to be able to keep everything watered—and alive—in your landscape. NOAA’s 3-month forecast says to expect a warmer than normal summer this year which creates higher water needs for plants. With extremely low snow pack this winter, streams and rivers and well water reservoirs we may rely on are already low. It sounds like the perfect year to try out some drought-tolerant plants in your yard.

Let me emphasize that we’re not talking fruits and vegetables here. Edible plants need plenty of water to flower and set fruit, so your best preparation for potential low-water situations is drip irrigation (soaker hoses) applied to the base of plants as to not waste water and mulch, mulch, mulch! You can reduce your water usage by 30 percent with 3 inches of mulch around plants.

When it comes to decorative plants, however, and even a green “lawn,” there are plenty of options available in our area that are light on water requirements and, as an added bonus, provide flowers for pollinators and are deer-resistant as well.

In the ‘lawn’ category, if you’re not hosting the neighborhood little league for games on your grass, replace the grass with less thirsty perennial alternatives that are beautiful and need NO MOWING! Creeping thymes, sedums, Irish moss, herniaria, lysmachia, mazus, ajuga and cerastium are all creeping groundcovers to use as flowering lawn alternatives. Planting is

generally done from established plants (though it can be planted from seed), planted 8 to 12 inches apart and, in the beginning at least, keep it moist. All plants need a chance to get established. If you must have a lawn, seed drought resistant varieties of grass seed with a high percentage of red and hard fescue instead of Kentucky Bluegrass.

The great thing about Quince, Spirea and Potentilla shrubs are after coaxing them through the first transplant season, they seldom need additional water. They also come in so many great colors of flowers for everyone’s palette like the new Double Orange Storm Quince.

Oaks, Ash, Linden, Gingko, Horse Chestnut and both the gold and purple Locust are all great shade trees that are also drought tolerant once established. Plant as early in spring/summer as possible and when you water try to make it a deep soaking water once a week instead of a couple gallons 2-3 times a week. Consider the new 20 gallon watering sacks by DeWitt used by city parks across the country where no irrigation is available. These wrap around the trunk and take just 5 minutes to setup, fill and then slowly drip the 20 gallons of water right where you need it... not around the thirsty grass that sucks up all your sprinkler water.

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June 2015 Page 1�

Our area is rich in raptors; that is, birds of prey. Raptors are the lions of the bird world and come in all different shapes and sizes—all specialists for exploiting some particular niche. Birds of prey are also some of the most satisfying birds to add to your life list, as they are frequently the most spectacular to observe and identify. They are often strikingly arrayed in coloration and are all athletic on the wing. And they got talons... oh man, those talons! I mean, what’s not to love about a feathered killing machine?

Our list of area raptors includes a handful of falcons, a pair of eagles, an outlier (the osprey), a single harrier, a plethora of owls, and lastly, two distinct groups of hawks. And don’t forget a representative species of vulture, if you are inclined to include them in our list. As for the hawks, there are two sub-families: accipiters and buteos. Accipiters tend to be more lithe and sporting whereas the buteos are, well, a bit more robust. But both groups get the job done; they just do it in different styles.

Of interest to us for this month’s column is what is probably the most common hawk of them all: the red-tailed hawk. But don’t think that common means boring, because this bird packs it all: good looks, a sleek carriage, pretty plumage, and talons. Can’t be a hawk without talons, and the bigger the bird, the bigger the claws. It’s a law of nature, I suppose.

The red-tailed hawk will be about the biggest hawk you’ll ever see, and subsequently one of the biggest birds in the air. Yes, there is one bigger hawk—the Ferruginous—but the differences in size are slight and impossible to determine in the field. So be content. The red-tailed hawk is towards the top end when it comes to hawks specifically. Among raptors in our area only eagles (or turkey vultures) are going to beat it

for size. And as is common with raptors,

the female is significantly larger than the male, often by 25 percent or more. As hawks are at the top of the food chain in their respective pyramids, a single hawk needs a lot of territory from which to support itself. Imagine what two hawks keeping a common nest must need in territory. In order to minimize competition

between the male and the female while they cohabit the same hunting grounds, mother

nature adjusted their sizes. The birds are

monogamous and mate for life.If you’ve ever

seen a large, soaring bird with a bright, orange-colored tail, you’ve probably seen a red-tailed hawk. Yes, the tail is actually orange, in varying shades. But “orange-tailed hawk” just doesn’t roll off the tongue, so the color red was substituted in the naming of the bird. I’m sure that is the reason. Undoubtedly.

And that is where you’ll see most red-tails—soaring in lazy circles over a field or other open area. Their main prey is rabbits and rodents. But, like the opportunists and non-specialists that they are, they’ll take just about anything living and breathing that comes their way: birds, reptiles, skunks, maybe even a stray cat. Traditionally, these birds were called chicken hawks, though taking a chicken was probably atypical.

But by being generalists, red-tails have ensured that they can exploit almost any terrain at almost any latitude. That is why these birds are so common. The only place you’re unlikely to find them is in the Arctic, in deserts, or in deep forests. Anywhere else, there they’ll be. They are most often spotted sitting at the top of a power pole or fence post; or soaring above, riding the warm afternoon thermals. They range across North America, from Alaska to the Caribbean.

Red-Tailed Hawk:The easiest hawk to identify... maybe

• A Bird in Hand Michael Turnlund • In most latitudes they are year-round residents, though the more northern birds might come south for the winter.

In spite of the red-colored tail (I mean, orange), this big hawk is not always easy to identify. First, there are many subspecies (12 to 16, depending on the authority), which reflects the diversity of this adaptable predator. But as with other large raptors, there is a lengthy juvenile period. This means that the bird in sight, though full-sized, will not sport the coloration of a mature adult. This might take three years to develop. Until then, these young birds can be rather nondescript, their coloration being a molted pattern of browns, buffs, and whites. And possibly even some tail stripes. Even the adults can be highly variable, ranging from being very light in color to almost chocolate brown. You really need to get a good guide, e.g. Sibley’s, in order to wade through the options.

So there you go, now you’re on your way to becoming an expert! Just remember, all hawks with red tails are probably red-tailed hawks and that not all red-tailed hawks have red tails. Happy birding!

Have a question to ask or a comment to share? You can write me at mturnlund@gmail.com. I also have a website where I post pictures of birds that I’ve captured with my digital camera. You can find them at birdsidaho.blogspot.com.

216 N. FirstSandpoint208.265.8996

Page 1� June 2015

I have been attempting to be a disciple of Jesus for a very long time. Some days are better than others and none of them have been perfect. It’s a good thing He knows that about me ahead of time. It is getting harder to serve Christ in this my homeland as the days go by. Although no radical way of thinking is ever really, truly new, it has been disheartening to see the trends of thought move steadily away from the rule of law and the laws of Yahweh, my God. Everything He set in motion was for the good of the human race. But it continually chooses the lesser path of existence. It’s like a homeless man getting excited about a piece of pizza in a dumpster when a banquet has been set before him.

As we move through history as a republic-based culture the trends toward our own demise are enough to make anyone queasy. Based on historical evidence I wonder why anyone would believe the United States is headed down a good road. Back in college I remember asking my history professor just exactly why Rome fell. After he got done laughing and scoffing at my “too large” question he proceeded to tell me that for all intents and purposes “it rotted” from the inside out. Although this was not an adequate answer, it was largely true. The United States is following the very same path… eerily the same.

Rome had been a spectacular empire. Strong in battle and huge in expanse the western portion of the empire encircled the Mediterranean Sea. The rule of law brought stability everywhere it conquered but there eventually came a time when the conquered began to push back. Rome had relied on cheap or slave labor pulled from conquered lands as well as tribute to build the empire. But the costs of constant wars, the flight of the people from high taxation, and the dwindling military began the erosion process. Basically, the Roman Empire was an illusion by the end of early first century. Roman citizenship had been offered to anyone born into the empire

but it lacked the finances to support growth or to protect the outlying lands it had conquered. The economy was in decline due to numerous factors. The empire had spread too large, spent too much, taxed too heavily, played too much, and attacks from outside began to take a toll on the weakened entity.

The Roman Empire had been largely accepting of the local deities of conquered people, understanding that this helped keep the fabric of the merged cultures stable. But this changed as Rome began to come apart. New leaders felt that changing to a single religion would stabilize the failing culture. All anyone had to do was regard Caesar as God and go along with the state religion. To reject this new faith was basically treason. It was easy: worship the Emperor or die. Naturally, Christ Followers had a problem with this and the first and second centuries found quite a few of them ending their lives in the Circus Maximus or on crosses lining the main roads. The empire of tolerance had itself become intolerant… toward Christ Followers in particular. History has a funny way of repeating itself.

The thing about Rome or even the Greek culture is that strength and wisdom were valued as long as the human being was the focus. That appears to be true in this culture as well at first glance. Yet the continued degradation of the family unit, the likewise willingness to discard infants, the lack of respect for women and children (to be used primarily as sexual objects) as well as the love of money and power tell the real truth. No one minds if I am strong or wise as long as I credit myself with the achievement, not the God who created me. If I credit God for helping me be wiser or stronger then it means I believe there is something beyond myself, something greater than myself that transcends my human capabilities. This culture cannot abide such a concept. Man must be the center and his transcendence to a godlike plane the next frontier. In fact, to reject humanism in all its

• Kathy’s Faith Walk Kathy Osborne •Fall of the Empire

manifestations is to invite accusations of “bigot,” “intolerant,” “unloving,” “close-minded,” and “standing in the way of sociospiritual progress.” Left unchanged and absent a voice of Godly truth the bigots and the intolerant must be removed so the rest of humanity can transcend, or at the very least not have to ponder a God to whom all must answer. Now that really is an inconvenient truth. And we as a culture are moving violently toward it.

So my Faith Walk… my faith walk has been whittled down to a single, narrow, rocky path. This is where I put up or shut up. This is where I tighten my grip on the commitment to follow Christ no matter what the cost, be that losing the respect of friends and family, or losing my head. This is where I embed in my heart that the Bible, the Living Word of God is my guide. That Christ has the words of life and none other will receive my worship… words to die by probably. The world is changing and truth will not be tolerated much longer. Specifically, Jesus said He Himself (is) Truth. (John 14:6)

Jesus loves all of us and extends the invitation to follow Him; to accept His payment for your and my sin; to mimic His behavior; to become like Him; to tell the truth about everything that matters. I have already decided. You

get to decide too. No matter how it plays

out, tears may last for the night but if our souls are safe in the arms of God, joy comes in the morning.

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

Council website at tristatecouncil.org.

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June 2015 Page 1�

Spring-cleaning time is here. The people who know me will be surprised – shocked! – that I know those words, or what they mean.

But this year I am getting into it in a big way. After years of living with rough logs on our log home, we finally had the outside blasted and refinished last summer. This summer, after watching the pros, we decided we could do the inside ourselves. So we have begun sanding the interior log walls of our home. Over 90 percent of the work is the preparation. We had to purchase the tools to do the work, including massive amounts of sandpaper. To aid our work my wife and I both have face shields, and masks to stop most of the dust before it becomes part of our eyes or lungs.

We started with the bathroom because it’s the smallest room and we thought we could close it off and prevent most of the dust from escaping into the rest of the house. Have you ever tried to mask off a room? We moved all of the furniture out of the bathroom and covered what we could to keep at least some of the dust off. The floor collected about 2 inches of rust-colored dust from about 2 hours of sanding. We were covered in dust and when we opened the door, found that the rest of the house was wearing a fine covering of dust. Spring-cleaning is not always as simple as “they” tell you!

While dressed up in my “outer space” outfit and manhandling a disc sander on the logs my mind wandered to the metaphysical meaning of sanding down the inside.

The outside, the place most others see, is done and looks good; now it is time to work on the inside, the place

where we spend most of our time but few others ever see.

Of course there will be a big mess; in fact as we get further into the project we will have to move out for a while.

As I take off the rough dark outside, the inner beauty of the wood is revealed. It is much the same as when we start working on our own inner self, cleaning and polishing by removing those pockets of dramas and traumas that keep us stuck and unable to be present.

Often times the outside, the part we show the world, can be cleaned without much inner turmoil or mess. Maybe even

a new haircut would do. Identifying what needs to be sanded off from the inside nearly always brings up memories or perceptions that we may not even know are still there, but are influencing out current behaviors, and not allowing our inner beauty and abilities to shine.

The forces and energies of nature

Sanding the Inside• The Hawk’s Nest Ernie Hawks • had colored the outside of the logs.

The energies of the residents have and will influence the vitality of the internal structure both of our home and of ourselves.

All of the preparation is time spent revealing that inner beauty which is already there but covered with age. For me it seems to be the same as I work to sand off those feelings of anger, inadequacy, and inferiority. Often, when we see them as they are, they become just like the piles of dust on the floor, something to sweep up, then allow the logs, our inner self, to shine.

Just as I will no longer be able to say “those logs have been unattractive since we bought the house,” or “It is hard to keep the walls clean and looking good because of their condition,” I am no longer a victim of circumstances that happened in the past as I choose to let go of them.

We are not finished and there will be a big mess as we move into the more open areas of the house, which is why we will move out.

One thing about sanding the logs of our home is the job will end and be finished. Though we are not naive enough to think that we won’t ever have to dust again. The cleaning we do with our inner selves is a process and will continue long after the logs are smooth and shiny.

Ernie Hawks is the author of “Every Day is a High Holy Day: Stories of an Adventuring Spirit” available at your favorite bookstore, Amazon.com, or on Kindle. ernestmhawks@gmail.com

DiLuna’s presents

Hilary ScottIndie-Americana singer/

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Friday, June 12Doors 5:30/Concert 7:30

Tickets $10/$12 at door

220 Cedar St. Sandpoint 208.263.0846

Page 20 June 2015

• Acres n’ Pains Scott Clawson •

Gone Fishin’Here I sit, all weak and tiredOf these rules, my mind is miredIf I die before I takeEven one damn fish, my meal to makeThen bury me here beside this lake

And pray to God my soul to slakeFor all I want is to catch a fishThat is all, my singular wishTo cook it here o’er an open fire

While I gaze upon sweet nature’s attireI’m never one for being wastefulOr doin’ stuff considered distasteful I simply want to catch a fish

And have it on my dinner dishBut what I got along with my tagWas a manual thicker’n a Hollywood ragA booklet so big I thought I might gag

Before even thinkin’ of settin’ my dragThe pictures are nice, some are quite prettyBut I can’t help thinkin’ it’s some kind of pityFor what it’s done to my mood ain’t fun

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So I wrote this little dittyThe first thing I caught was on page 13A warning ‘bout something I’d never even seen“NO BURBOT ALLOWED”, it solemnly vowedWithout image for me to glean

So I turned to my phone for a different “net”In hopes of getting some fishin’ in yetBut the signal was lax, not to mention the factsGettin’ outa bed, I was startin’ to regret

I should have studied this back on the farmWhere it would have caused a lot less harmCould’ve taken my time with a wedge of limeWhich normally works like a charm“NO Harvest of Cutthroat” covers this holeI patiently read by my fishin’ poleBut will a hybrid cross cause me a loss?

Through these rules, I still had to trollIn pursuit of avoiding an expensive infractionI sat there in study of this little distractionDeliriously missin’ some serious fishin’My mood shutting down in reaction

Then I noticed my wife’s dripping lineNo hang-ups at all, just doin’ finePerched on the rocks, no frets, shoes or socksHer cares drifting downstream without mine

“What the Hell’s a Burbot?!” I yelled at my honeyShe just smiled and thought I was bein’ funnyAfter forty-three years of blood, sweat and tearsHer love still makes my nose runny

I wish it weren’t such a pain in the buttTo tell just what the hell’s what from whatAll’s I want is one nice catchNot a heap, a horde or even a batch

I’m not bein’ picky, a bass or a troutBut to put it back would force me to poutA “too little” Largemouth would send me a reelin’At this stage of the game, I know I’d be feelin’Like burning this book, removing the hook,

Get out some spuds and start peelin’But a conscience is a terrible thing to wasteIn order to have “just a little taste”Of a “Bull” or a “Cut” or a Burbot in rutOn account of my humanly haste

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June 2015 Page 21

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It isn’t as simple as throwing a hookIf everyone out there kept what they tookBe fewer to spawn until they were goneNo traces ‘cept those in a book

Fishing’s a lot like salve for our soulsWhether out on a lake or a few favorite holesBy catching sunrises or sunset surprises While casting from the ends of our poles

The tranquility alone in itself is a lotBut working a riffle just hits the spotTo clear the mind and let it unwindWater being the solvent of thought

FISH ON!

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CHALLENGE OF CHAMPIONS VS. BULL RIDING

Saturday, June 20 • 7:30 pmGates open at 6:30 - Al Parsons, announcer

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BARREL RACING

Wednesday, June 17

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