Sneak Peek 28 February 2007

Oh my, oh my, oh my. What an issue.

There's so much to talk about that I'll save most of it for another posting and only talk about one thing right now (I have to leave in 30 minutes for a volleyball game.)

Our two big stories this issue are on the proposed new ordinances for Clark Fork.

Currently Clark Fork has 9 pages of ordinances but, if city council has its way, that's going to increase to a 75 page document.

What a difficult two stories to write. (I wrote one, Jinx wrote the other).

First, I'm impacted by this. If these ordinances are adopted, my property value will likely decrease, because I'll be a non-conforming lot and will be unable to make improvements without becoming conforming. Which I won't be able to do as I don't have the 125 ft of public road frontage required. So I'm not thrilled with some of what's proposed, even though a number of the ordinances are certainly needed.

But I'm less thrilled with the attitudes of city council. I mean, forgive my French, but they're all pissed off 'cause people are upset. And, of course, they're either not happy with me, or won't be when they read our stories. Never a fun place to be in.

But city council needs to pay attention to what the residents of town are saying they want (and don't want) or they're gonna deserve the recall petitions that are already circulating.

Mayor Tommy Shields is one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and I can't believe he would do anything to hurt this community - but he was so un-in-favor of the questions I asked for our story that he told me he didn't think he should talk to me any more without consulting the city attorney. (The Mayor's the go-to guy as far as getting an official statement from the council. Individual council members can only speak for themselves, not for the whole. That's why Tom had to hold the bag on this one.)

I guess I can't blame him because I suggested the council had held illegal meetings. See, I had Jinx go in and request copies of minutes from the meetings where they developed these ordinances. And the city clerk told her (in front of Mayor Shields) that they didn't keep any minutes. Tommy didn't say a word (as in, wait, Jonelle, you're wrong, of course we kept minutes.)

Without minutes, it's an illegal meeting.

I called Idaho Rep. George Eskridge about this and asked him to get an opinion from the Attorney General's office. See, if they held illegal meetings there's a question about how they remedy that. The "remedy" under law is they have to go back and do those meetings legally. But what does that mean? They met for a year and a half talking about this. Would they have to meet for another year and a half - legally - to remedy the situation? Or could they do that in one legal meeting?

Well, Tommy didn't like me pointing that out to him, I guess. And he responded that minutes were certainly kept of every meeting they have. He didn't offer any explanation of why we were told no minutes were taken.

I got this email from him on Sunday around noon, and I told Jinx we had to be there first thing on Monday morning to get minutes - because every cynical bone in my body (which is most of them) didn't like this inconsistency.

9 am on Monday and... there was a note on the door that City Hall was closed. I heard the clerk was sick. I don't know if that's true or not, but the crud is certainly going on.

By Tuesday morning they had minutes (I was told), though when requested they said it would take a few days to provide them.

I'm not feeling really good about this.

If there are good reasons for each and every one of those new ordinances (and I would expect that to be the case for most of them) then the council shouldn't hesitate to be willing to explain to the public just what those reasons are. There's no way the public will support new ordinances without an understanding of why they're necessary. I had hoped to get some of that information for our article, but the response from the Mayor was that ordinances were selected based on what the council felt would be good for Clark Fork. I asked a second time for any objective criteria that had been used, but by then the Mayor wasn't talking to me anymore. And the Mayor is the designated 'voice' of city council.

Anyway.... check out our supplementary blog on the ordinances (www.cforkord.blogspot.com) and see what you think about what's proposed. And we'll keep you posted on the other end of this.

(This posting was modified from the original in order to clarify a few points.)

What Part of Government Don't They Understand?

Our next River Journal will include a story covering the city of Clark Fork's desire to increase zoning regulations and ordinances from the currently-existing nine-page document to a 78-page document (and hold your hats when you find out the kinds of things they want to regulate!). So I won't belabor the points here. But I do want to look at a related issue here, so consider this a sidebar story.

Over 80 residents showed up at last night's "workshop" on the new proposal. In a town of 530 residents (including children) that represents a substantial portion of the public. And city council expressed dismay and resentment at the public's concern.

"Where have you guys been in the year and a half we've been working on this?" is a paraphrase of their attitude.

You hear the same at almost every governmental meeting when something's going on that the public doesn't like, from school boards to planning and zoning to county commissioners. "Why didn't you come to meetings before this? Why didn't you get involved?"

There's a lot of answers to those questions, and, in a perfect world, all people would be interested, informed and involved in every aspect of governmental regulation of their lives. In fact, we'd all "do government" like New Hampshire or Maine or whichever state it is that votes in "town hall meetings."

In the real world, right here in Idaho, people don't have the time and generally don't have the interest or the specialized knowledge. They're more than content to let the people they've elected to make those decisions make those decisions.... until the people they elected make decisions they don't like.

That's life. When will people in government understand that? Quitcher whining already - you knew it was this way before you ran for office and if you didn't like it, you shouldn't have run!

The truth is, all governmental entities struggle with how to get information out and public participation in (though some, it must be said, would prefer not to have the public participation at all). And another truth is, they rarely do much of anything to accomplish that that takes the slightest bit of effort on their part, unless they've decided beforehand that they want to nip any public outroar in the bud. (Which is why you see lots of heavily advertised public meetings right before levies are run.)

Take Clark Fork, for instance. They say they post meeting notices on the wall of the post office. And they said they put a notice in with the water bills. (although it was pointed out that the notice in the water bill said only a meeting would be held, while giving no date, time or location for it).

Clark Fork is served by three newspapers - The Spokesman Review, The Daily Bee, and the River Journal. I'm not sure about the Spokesman, but the Bee and the RJ both post calendar notices at no charge. And speaking for myself - the River Journal - not only have I never received a calendar notice, I've also never received a phone call saying, "Hey, Trish, we'd really like to get some information out on this and get some people involved. Could you do a story on what we're doing?" And I LIVE in Clark Fork!

Never once have I seen a city council member hanging out at the gas station or the grocery store or the local restaurant saying "we've got something in the works and I'd like a little feedback." They've also not approached the school and asked "can we put a meeting notice on that huge, new reader board you've got right in the middle of town?" (I don't know if the school would say yes, but the point is, you don't know if you don't ask.)

The truth is, one little sign posted down at Hay's gas station (or even on the post office wall) saying "ATTENTION CLARK FORK RESIDENTS! Your city council would like to increase our nine pages of ordinances/covenants by an additional 69 pages and we want your input!" would have gotten them all the public attendance they wanted.

It's time for government officials to grow up and quit their caterwauling about lack of interest/involvement. If you truly want public involvement, it's really not that hard to get.

Follies Success

"The best one yet!" That's the comment I heard over and over again after this year's Follies - the fifth for the Angels over Sandpoint.

Some numbers... well, the Panida was a sell-out of course. MickDuff's was selling 100 tickets for their live simulcast down the street. I heard they sold out too, and when we did our "walk-through" after our act was finished, the place was certainly packed. The 'nasty nuns' (see picture) collected $1,084 in donations for the Angels, and I think they sold about $800 in raffle tickets. And the bar did a booming business.

This is all great news because the Angels over Sandpoint do some pretty important things for our community. They give out scholarships to students, provide school supplies for students who need them, and provide meals/support/transportation for area cancer patients. The Angels are a wonderful addition to our community, and it's great to see their show be such a success - not just in terms of audience enjoyment, but in the ability to fill the coffers up in order to do more good work in our neighborhoods.

I had a blast with the Snews and people seemed to laugh at all the right parts. I'll have to wait for the video to know how well it went over, though. I do think the audience was surprised and entertained by my special guest - Mayor Ray Miller, who hammed it up perfectly on stage. Jinx was awesome singing "There's Lightnin' in These Thunder Thighs." Gail Fendly was her regular awesome self and Ernie had an extra act (reading literature) that I heard had the audience in stitches . (I was downstairs changing at the time so didn't get to see it). Susan Daffron was a gorgeous Egyptian princess. So all in all, I think we showed that the River Journal features some of the area's most talented people - and not just in writing!

It's Mardi Gras!

Drove into Sandpoint last night to co-emcee the Mardi Gras parade with Dan Young at Dan's invitation. I told him that standing in the truck bed next to him with a mic in my hand kinda made me look for the punchline. You know... "a conservative and a liberal were standing in a truck bed..."

Truth is, of course, that while we tend to look for what makes us different from other people, it's kind of like the DNA of humans and chimps. We have more in common than we do that's different.

It was a fun experience, though I think our biggest audience was when a group of seven people or so gathered on the corner in front of Panhandle State Bank. I think the parade-watchers were all on First Avenue. And I hear through the grapevine that Dan and I just might be asked to co-emcee another event coming up in the not-so-far future. Seems like people think we complement each other well.

I wish our conservatives and liberals in state and federal offices got along as well as Dan and I do.

I'll be leaving shortly to head into dress rehearsals for the follies this morning, with the performance set to kick off around 7 pm tonight. Ernie and I managed one (yes one) practice of our material prior to today. So keep your fingers crossed for us.

I'll be driving into town with Jinx this morning, who's also performing in tonight's show. If you've never heard Jinx sing before, then you've missed a treat. This woman has a voice like an angel.

Oh, my beautiful oldest daughter was in the parade last night, and I got a picture! I won't put it up here, though, 'cause she was doing something weird with her lips and she'll kill me if I share that pic with anyone. She's gonna be a nun in tonight's performance, though, so I'll get some pics and post them of that. Probably not a nun like you would expect to see, however, so be warned if you check this blog in the next few days.

I hear that tickets for the follies sold out in six hours (not the ten I reported previously) so if you don't have one, you're out of luck for seeing the show up close and personal. But as far as I know, there's still room down at MickDuff's on First Avenue (used to be the Whistle Stop for those of you who've been around for a while) and they'll be presenting the show as a live simulcast on their big screen TVs. So stop in and pay the cover charge if you want a glimpse of the hottest show to ever hit Sandpoint. (Okay, those guys from Seattle who danced while taking their clothes off at the Big Boy Ballet were pretty hot - but they weren't locals). Bear in mind, this show is R-Rated (and some parts should probably be X-rated) so don't go to see it if you're easily offended.

Lessez les bon temps roulez, folks!

River Journal 14 February 2007 - Sneak Peek

Better late than never, right?

The latest issue of the River Journal is off the presses and out on racks from Paradise to Coeur d'Alene and points between.

If you're wondering why the text on this issue looks a little dark... the answer is, it is. I had to use a new font for the body text because of my new layout program and, now that I see it in actual print, I can safely say that Cushing was not a good choice. We'll look for something a little less... full for our next issue.

Couple of empty spots on the pages too and I'm not sure how that happened, but that seems to be the only glitches I've seen so "GOOD JOB TRISH!" I can't believe I put this whole thing together using completely unfamiliar software.

By the way, don't read Marylyn Cork's story (Don't Eat the Meat) during lunch. Or breakfast. Or dinner.

Not only is this issue of the paper put to bed, I have my "Snews" script fully written for the Follies, and Ernie and I will be performing it live tomorrow night at the Panida. We've rehearsed it once, so I'm sure we're ready for this. :0)

I'll be heading out shortly to downtown Sandpoint's Round Red Square to emcee the Mardi Gras parade. I know of one entry that will knock your socks off - 'cause it's my own Misty. I'm not sure if she'll be wearing her 'nasty nun' outfit that she'll be debuting on the Panida's stage tomorrow night; but if so, I'll make sure to put up pictures.

So lessez les bon temps roulez! folks. It's Mardi Gras time.

The Wrong Kind of High?

I woke up about 1 o'clock this morning when the fire had burned itself almost completely out. Staggering around half asleep I got more wood, and got the heat going again, then laid back down on the couch, where I sleep when I want to make sure I'm not gonna let the fire go out.

Somehow, with eyes barely open, I was at exactly the right angle to notice that the top of my chimney was no longer connected to the piece that leads through the roof and out of the house.

I said a bad word and wondered how long the chimney had been disconnected. And while there was no visible smoke coming out of the rather large gap, I thought about carbon monoxide and how I've been sick this week and how Amy comlained that every time she sat on the couch to do her homework she fell asleep, despite getting plenty of sleep every night.

I said another bad word and, still half asleep, pulled myself off the couch and over to the stove.

Did I mention I had just gotten the fire going again?

The chimney was merely very warm but the stove itself was pretty hot and it wasn't possible to brace myself upon it to get the chimney reconnected. And because the telescoping pipe that leads from the stove to the roof got a little bunged up during installation, bracing was a requirement.

After ten minutes I gave up, opened the window next to the wood stove, shut down the fire and took myself off to bed.

Come morning, of course, there was a stove to deal with, so I worked on the computer for a while, and mopped the kitchen floor. Finally, there was nothing left for it but to tackle the chimney.

First, I took it all apart, because the reason it had come unhinged was because every piece of it was unhinged. The chimney consists of a collar, a small pipe at a 45 degree angle, another small pipe at the opposite 45 degree angle, the telescoping piece that doesn't telescope, and the final run that goes through the roof. All of these were packed with cresote that had to be cleaned out because, if you're gonna move chimney pieces around, every bit of creosote that's in them will fall on your head.

That will happen when you clean them out, too, of course, so by the time I was ready to put it all back together again, I looked like the little match girl.

I took a break to clean myself up, and vacuum up all the creosote that had made its way throughout the living room, and to mop the kitchen floor again where I had tracked soot over to the sink.

I began to put pieces together, but at the end, the telescoping pipe MUST telescope up to the final connection. I couldn't make it do it, no matter how hard I cussed. I waited for Amy to come home.

Amy was thrilled to learn that she was gonna get to help me pull the telescoping pipe apart, and she made sure to garb herself in one of MY sweatshirts before doing so.

We still couldn't do it. Darn thing acted like it was welded together. "Mom, why don't we put some butter on it?" she asked.

NO, I didn't put butter on it. I did that the first time I had to try to get the pipe to telescope, and I learned my lesson as the butter smoked and cooked itself off of the heated pipe. Wax doesn't work, either (second time I took it all apart), nor does baby oil (third time). By the way, the only way to clean the chimney is to take it all apart - this is why I do this so frequently.

And why I never put the screws back in to any of the pieces.

As Amy's strength was not quite enough to help me pull the telescoping pipe apart, it appeared I was going to have to screw in each piece so that I had a strong base to pull against for that final step. This is easier said than done.

You see, from the collar at the stove to the receptacle at the ceiling, the pipes have to match up EXACTLY.

And that's where I'm at now. Screwing pipes in, getting to the end, and discovering I'm off just a quarter inch or so to making it fit.

I think it's time to work on the computer for a while. That way, I don't end up throwing the pipes out into the front yard.

Progress is Being Made

By this Saturday morning, I have over half of the 20 pages of the next River Journal completed, and completed in my new layout program, InDesign. As I said before, the learning curve is steep, but I'm loving this program.

Thanks must go to Sandy Compton, who not only nagged me half to death to use a professional design program for layout, but who took the most miniscule noises of agreement as aquiescence, and ordered the program for me. Of course both Laura Wahl and Susan Daffron, some of the best designers around, have told me for quite some time that I needed to move 'up' in the layout world, but there is that small issue of me and change.

Of course, the paper's only half done, and I might change my mind about how beneficial this particular change will be before deadline rolls around Tuesday afternoon.

The Sweet Smell of Success

Let me say, first, that our River Journal/Keokee volleyball team won TWO GAMES last night! Yay! Combined with our one game win on the first night, we have now surpassed our own own record for last year. Let me give full credit to the coaching given us Monday night by Myra Lewis, former volleyball coach extraordinnaire. Yes, I AM squatting down to make the pass, and the ache in my thighs today proves it.

The success I'm celebrating this morning, however, has to do with writing the final script for the Snooze, the skit Ernie Hawks and I perform for the Angels Over Sandpoint production of the Follies each year. Special thanks to Susan Daffron, who helped by adding in some VERY funny stuff to my basic script. And as a heads up... there's going to be a "Special Guest Appearance" this year during our skit.

Didn't get your tickets to the show? You're not alone - tickets sold out ten hours after the "box offices" opened. But don't despair! Velma, Queen of Fun, has come up with a special attraction this year - the show is going to be broadcast live from McDuff's, just down the block from the Panida Theater. I also hear performers might be making walk-throughs of this Irish bar during the night. Should be a good time for all.

I think my script is pretty darn funny. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I'm right.

Follies February 17

In just short of two weeks, the Follies (a production of the Angels Over Sandpoint) will be performed on the stage of Sandpoint's Panida Theater. It's the fifth year for this annual, Mardi Gras performance, and the word is out - the show is hot! Ticket sales began at 8:30 am last Friday, and were sold out just ten hours later. This is an adults-only show by the way. The Angels say it's rated R - for Racy, Raunchy and Ridiculous. And it usually is.

For five years, Ernie Hawks and I have performed a skit in the Follies called "the Snooze." Think of the Saturday Night Live news broadcasts with a local flavor (though Ernie has refrained from ever saying "Trish, you ignorant bitch.") (Actually, Ernie missed the first year)

Eleven days 'til performance... and I still haven't written the skit. This is not unheard of - I generally don't get it written until ten days before the show, but I have to tell ya, I'm getting a little nervous. To write that kind of comedy you have to enter into a different wavelength... and I haven't found it yet. I'm hoping I'll hit on it soon. Lucky for me, Ernie spent 20 years in Coeur d'Alene Little Theater so he's fairly calm about performing with little or no rehearsal.

I'm gonna be looking for those 'perfect waves' the next few days, and am happy for any suggestions that come my way about local happenings in the last year that just beg to be satarized.

If you didn't get your tickets, stay tuned. The Angels have some plans up their (wings?) that just might make your Saturday night an R-rated experience after all.

What I did on my Vacation

It was a vacation week for me last week, and what I did on that vacation is probably less notable than what I did NOT do. Because I didn't work. Not really.

I had plans to work. I was going to print off the relevent financial information for last year and take it to my accountant so he could file my corporate and personal taxes... but I didn't. I was going to write my skit for the upcoming Angels Over Sandpoint Follies production... but I didn't. I was going to clean and organize my office... but I didn't. I was going to sort through my clothes and take to goodwill everything I don't wear... but I didn't. I didn't even post on this blog. (Sorry, Marianne.)

I did read and re-read a number of books, some quite good (make sure to check out Thunderstruck, a non-fiction book about the late 1890s and the lives of Guglielmo Marconi and Harvey Crippen. And Laurie Garrett's Betrayal of Trust is a perennial favorite for me). I watched a tournament of 10-12 year old girls playing club volleyball in Spokane. I attended the Erika Luckett concert at DiLuna's (AWESOME!). I played our second game of volleyball (losing both matches and thereby continuing our dead last position). I watched my favorite football team get creamed in Superbowl, and competed in Karaokee competition with my beautiful girls. I watched the last home basketball game in Clark Fork for our girls (again, awesome. Rayna Allen went out with a blaze!) and I visited with my son, who was down in our area for a week.

I also worked... a little bit. I taught my classes at Clark Fork (their newest newspaper should be out this week), and organized a meeting on our extra-curricular programs for the Booster Club. I did my bookkeeping work for the mad scientist. And I bought a new design program to do layout on the River Journal, and then lost myself playing with it on the computer for a couple of days, learning how to use it.

If I can figure this program out, it's going to save me a lot of time when putting together the pages for the paper, but until I do, the learning curve is going to be costly in terms of time spent. For example, it took me 35 minutes one day to figure out how to center text in a frame. And I still didn't actually figure it out - I mean, I didn't learn where the software stores that information. But I did find out a keyboard shortcut that works.

I have been putting together template pages for the next issue of the paper, and hopefully I'll be able to put those pages together without too much difficulty and in time for meeting my next deadline (next week). Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Volleyball update

Last Tuesday night, the River Journal/Keokee co-ed volleyball team played our first matches of the Sandpoint City Rec season. After losing our first match (0-3) we realized our game problems were stemming from a complete lack of skill in, well, the fundamentals. That would be the bump, the set and the spike. Oh, and there were a few problems with serving, too.

I suspect the serving problems will iron out fairly quickly once we get used to having to hit the ball over the net on a full-length court. Our practice sessions on Sandpoint West's raquetball courts don't quite get you up to speed for sending a ball sailing over a net that's about 30 feet away from you.

And that net! About 8 feet high for co-ed, or a foot or a foot and a half higher than what we've practiced on. It doesn't seem that high until you're next to it, or until you see our teammate Carol Curtis (all 5 feet 1 inch of her) standing next to it. It intimidated the heck out of me. At least, that's my excuse for why I wasn't able to pop the ball over it when I was playing in the front row (much less jump up and slam the darn thing into the opponent's court).

We lost our second match, too, though we did win the final game. I had thought we had a chance in the first game until their power server took the court and aced us something like 14 straight times. Well, he didn't actually ace us, as we were connecting with the ball. We just weren't connecting with the ball correctly, as was evidenced by its wild path through the air and into the other courts out at the fairgrounds.

We practiced again last night, again at SWAC on the little court. I think I might have ticked everyone off a little bit when I insisted we work some passing drills. It just seemed to be that if we can't get control of the ball, then it's not gonna matter whether we can set or hit as we'll never get the chance to. Go ahead. Call me a volleyball nazi. I mean, I like to get out and play to have fun; don't get me wrong, it's not about winning. But I don't like losing! (I should mention, by the way, that if I had to rank my teammates in terms of their passing skills, I would have to place myself pretty near the bottom of the list. Like, right AT the bottom.)

I think we made some progress with the drills, and before our next game Tuesday night I'm hoping to have a little 'talk' about how to move your body from one part of the court to another, and where your feet and your shoulders should be pointing while you do it. I now appreciate the high school girls' drills on "shuffling." I'm kind of weak on that, too. I shuffle well enough from side to side, but when I have to go forward or back, I forget all about shuffling and try to run to the ball - which usually results in me tripping over my own feet.

We'll see whether they go for my 'pep talks' or whether they kick me off the team. I'll let ya know after the next game.

Behind the Scenes - 24 January 2007 River Journal

It's 4:39 an I aim to be done with this post by 5 pm so I can call it a day. As I didn't start working until 7:30 this morning, it's a rather short one, especially considering that today was deadline. Yep, another paper has been uploaded to the printer - you can pick one up on Wednesday, or check it out here. You'll love Sherry Ramsey's investigation of the area's wine culture, and Marylyn Cork's sneak peek at the newly restored Naccarrato House in Priest River's Settlement.

That the paper is done is especially amazing given how I woke up a couple of mornings ago to find my computer had crashed and I have to say, it's not a nice way to start the day. (Read about it here)

It's also amazing as I've had just the slightest difficulty moving my arms. Yes, after waiting a full year to practice, the Keokee/River Journal volleyball team finally got together to practice last week. Surprisingly enough, we haven't improved over that year of no practice, which will make tonight's games (the first of our season) rather interesting.

Marianne Love's column this issue is a fascinating look at a term in the Peace Corps, seen through the eyes of Sandpoint's Betsy Dalessio. You can read it here, or at Marianne's blog (see the link to the right to Slight Detour) just as soon as I let her know she can post it.

We feature another new columnist this issue. Michael White, a Realtor with Sandpoint's Coldwell Banker Resort Realty and an estate land manager with a BS in Forest Resources and Ecosystem Management will endeavor, once a month, to keep our readers posted on the information that will help them manage their property wisely. Read his first column here.

Finally, we'll be sharing with you each issue a recipe from the Community Assistance League's new cookbook, "Savoring Sandpoint, Recipes from Across the Bridge." Here's a tasty treat to get you through the cold days of winter:
ELEGANT WINTER SOUP
Serves four to six
1 ½ C Onions, diced
3 T Olive oil
1t Garlic, minced
6 C Chicken broth
1 C Carrots, peeled & diced
1 C Sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
1 C Rutabaga , peeled & diced
1 C Celery root, peeled & diced
2 Chicken breasts
3T Tarragon
Salt & pepper
In a large saucepan, sauté onions in olive oil until soft. Add garlic and cook on medium heat until golden. Add broth, carrots, sweet potatoes and rutabaga, Partially cover and cook until vegetables are tender (about 20 minutes). Add celery root and chicken, cook about 5 minutes more. Add tarragon, salt & pepper to taste. Cook another 5 minutes until vegetables are soft but hold their shape. Serve immediately.
The above recipe is one of over 250, double tested, recipes in Savoring Sandpoint, Recipes Across the Bridge, a cook book published by the Community Assistance League. Copies of the book may be purchased only at the Bizarre Bazaar, 105 Vermeer Drive, Ponderay, Idaho 208-263-3400

10 Jan 2007 River Journal - a Behind the Scenes Peek

The inhalation of the last Mounds candy bar leftover from the Christmas stockings coincided with the last file of the current issue of the River Journal being uploaded to the printer. You can read it here, but first, how about a sneak peek at the 'behind the scenes' action with this issue?

Of course, where to start? First off, you might notice I've been tinkering with the look of the front page again. I do that a lot, mostly because I'm self-taught at design and layout and figure it can always be improved. If you like how it looks, let's give credit where credit is due - to the never-ending thoughtful advice of Keokee's design wizard Laura Wahl, who is responsible for the wonderful look of Sandpoint Magazine.

A big change is the "where in the world is the River Journal?" photo is now just one column wide, leaving room for a timely picture of happenings in our area on the front page. This is another item I've avoided, mostly because I didn't want to make the time commitment to attending enough events to make sure each issue had a photo. And then it hit me - why not let our readers provide the photos? And so the "River Journal Hot Shot" was born. Bonner Awards is making the mugs as I type, and let me encourage each and every one of you, right now, to submit those photos!

This first issue of the year kicks off with the first column of our newest columnist - historian extraordinnaire Nancy Foster Renk. Her column, Backtracking, will take us through the last 100 years of happenings in Bonner County, in honor of the county's centennial this year. Look for her column in the first issue of each month.

Cassandra Cridland took on, without hesitation, the stories of the CIRCLES project, despite my crediting the last story she wrote to Sherry Ramsey. We got her name in there correctly this time, and she did a great job explaining how a small group of people in Bonner County are working to eliminate poverty in our area.

Jinx may have a few surprises in store for people when they read her story on Family Violence, as she talks about her own experience in living through such a situation. It was her hope that in describing some of what she lived through herself, she can encourage others in that type of situation to take the action necessary to get out.

You won't see it online, but the print edition of this issue kicks off our first-ever (I'm pretty sure) crossword puzzle. I'm not sure why so many readers have requested a crossword puzzle, but I was never that excited about providing one - I mean, you pay for those things and it didn't seem worthwhile to me. But some folks, at least, want one and it finally occurred to me - why not make up my own? And make it all with local questions? It's kind of a 'local trivia contest' and I thought the questions might be too easy - but so far, no one who got a 'sneak peak' has been able to get them all right. It will be interesting to see what people think of it.

Another new feature is the "Top News Stories" of the last few weeks. Kind of a USA Today approach to the news - my attempt to provide our readers with at least some information on what's been going on, without trying to find the time or the room for in-depth features. As lots of people keep telling me, "you know, not everyone reads the Bee." (or fill in their local paper.) One thing I like about RJ is we're still a free newspaper - so we provide access to information to any who want it.

Jody got his "Surrealist" column ("Reel" Good Bad Films) in early, as he took off for a week in California, taking my now 16-year-old daughter with him. It was a great trip, he said, and never fear - he's back in time to get the print edition delivered to Bonners Ferry and other points north of Sandpoint on Thursday.

Finally, Lou Springer sent in a great piece on a little happening in Heron this holiday season - when a community came together to make sure teacher Kathleen Huntley, widowed this year, was kept busy thinking about her "12 days of Christmas surprises." As Kathleen was quoted in the article, "This is why I choose to live here. The community is filled with caring people..." Yep. That's why I choose to live here, too. What a wonderful group of people we share our surroundings with. Kathleen, by the way, was a teacher's aide at Hope Elementary back when my almost-20-year-old son was in first grade. And as a left-hander, she was able to teach both my left-handed children how to tie their shoes, something I had been totally unable to do. (Thank goodness they'd come up with velcro by then.)

That's it for this issue. I head to Spokane bright and early in the morning to pick up our newest issue "hot off the presses" and get it delivered from North Idaho College to Clark Fork. (Jody gets it to Bonners Ferry... and my mama takes it out to all the Montana delivery points. Yeah, it's a family newspaper all right.)

Some feedback

I sent my little "weekly" idea off to the River Journal writers, and some of their feedback is too precious not to share.

From Boots: "We're right behind ya!" (So don't bend over.)

From Jinx: "You are the RJ God, you can do what you want to." (Did you get that - the RJ God! I may have to change my title!)

From Lou: "Can you live with a weekly deadline? And a (boatload) of more work? If so, go for it!"

From Jim Tibbs: "Would that mean a weekly cartoon? I'd be happy to oblige."

From Susan: "That would be interesting. My advice: outsource everything!"

Looking for Feedback

It's that time of year when I look over what the paper has done in the year before, and what I'd like to see it accomplish in the coming year. And I'm always looking for feedback. We're already making some changes, so look for 'em next week when the first issue of 2007 hits the streets.

Here's the big question, though: should the River Journal go weekly? That's the number one question I get asked about the paper, for the last five years.

I've always responded "Never," because it's too much work. But what if we did a smaller RJ every week, say, 12 pages as opposed to 20?

There's a lot of pros and cons to work out and, as always, I'm looking for feedback. What do you think? What do you see as the pluses and minuses of doing that? I'll be interested to hear from you.

I won't make a decision right away but if we do it, the target date is July 1.

Special for Tony

If you want to comment on a post, simply click on the link at the bottom of each one that gives a number of comments (usually it says "0 comments"). That will bring up a screen that lets you leave a comment, or a pithy observance, or a sarcastic remark, or an explosive exposition... good thing I don't know where my thesaurus is, I'd go on all night.

Are these resolutions?

I chained myself to the computer today as part of my goal to organize my time just a bit better this year, and got a number of pages of next week's River Journal laid out and ready to go. I also spent quite a bit of time on a new feature we'll be debuting. No, I'm not gonna say what it is, you'll have to pick up a paper to see. But I'm really excited about it. I also got to lay out our newest columnist's debut article - local historian Nancy Renk is joining our fold as of 10 January. I thought I would get 1099s done and ready for tomorrow's mail, only to discover, when I opened the envelope, that the IRS sent me 24 copies of the instructions for the 1099 instead of the 1099 itself. Hmm. Guess I'll be stopping at Vanderford's tomorrow.

I haven't quite kept up with the house stuff like I was planning to, but the night is still young. It's just possible the Christmas tree will come down and I'll fix that dryer vent yet tonight.

I'm back on the ab-buster (150 times a day) after getting ready for New Year's eve and discovering everything I own to wear is clingy. Even things that aren't supposed to be. The challenge now is whether I hate exercise even more than I hate my flab. Okay, the truth? 150 times on the ab-buster yesterday, none yet today. But as I said earlier, the night is still young.

I was thinking I would try to worry less about my kids this year, but so far it's not happening. The Princess (Amy) is on a trip to California with my brother Joe. They're in San Francisco tonight... and, of course, she's driving. Tomorrow she'll celebrate her 16th birthday in the big city and then the next day they'll head down the coast to Santa Barbara. I told her that it was up to her but, on the drive down (they flew into Portland, then rented a car there) I would prefer it if she didn't drive across the bridge at Lake Shasta. Lucky for me, she slept through that part of the drive. I would also prefer if she skips most of the coast (if they take 101) around Carmel, etc.., but I guess she's got to learn sometimes - and call her mother frequently to check in.

Then the Boy (Dustin) called tonight to let me know he's in the emergency room at Kootenai Medical having his leg stitched up. Seems he fell at work on a wet floor and landed on something not so comfortable. He told me he'd "text message" me a picture of the wound. I can hardly wait. I'm being good though... I'm not driving down to Coeur d'Alene. Yet.

I'm so glad we have New Year's. I might never make resolutions without it.

Happy New Year

And 2007 begins.

Although I've been waiting for Ernie and Linda to post the news of their New Year's Eve activities (they said they were planning to be in Venice for the show) their blog still has some wonderful information/stories/pictures about their days in Italy so far. Check it out here.

Marianne Love has posted actively throughout the holiday season. Catch up on the Love family news (and check out the new spotted filly roaming the Central Valley) here.

Despite my grandiose plans for the holidays (all the stuff I was going to get done) I spent most of it sleeping. When not asleep, I was reading or watching movies. Didn't do much more than that, and boy, do I feel better than I have for a while.

My pics: check out (in theaters) Night at the Museum. Hilarious... one we'll buy when it comes out on DVD. On video/DVD: Invincible. (the story of Vince Papale and the Philadelphia Eagles.... and yes, Dustin, I cried.) In books: (hard to pick just one but...) Gerry Spence's Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power: the Rise and Risks of the New Conservative Hate Culture. It will make you think... and not just about conservative hate, but how we respond to it ourselves. (I haven't spotted any great non-fiction books I wanted to read in the last month, so I re-read Terry Brook's Shannara series. Yes, a lot of ideas stolen from Tolkien but still a good read after all these years.) Music: I've been enjoying the heck out of the Corinne Bailey Ray music Misty got for me.

Football Highlight of the New Year: No, I didn't watch the BSU game (no TV, remember?) but here's what David said: "what a game !! Boise St was beating OK, then OK came back and took the lead. then on 4th down Boise pulled off a touchdown to tie it with like 7 seconds left. then it went into overtime and Boise St went for two, after OK had already scored and gone for one extra point. It was win or lose and Boise won. The are undefeated, wow!"

Football Highlight of the Old Year: I'm not sure how they pulled it off, but Barb's Kansas City Chiefs are in the playoffs. Yay for Barb! (da Bears would have been my highlight, but they went and lost to the stupid Packers at Soldier Field. I'll never hear the end of it.)

Vacation's over so it's back to work for me. The next issue of the River Journal comes out January 10, plus I have to close out the year and do all that tax stuff. Gonna be a fun week.

A Tale of Two Trees. No. Two Tales of One Tree

Trish's Story:
anyone who has read the pages of the river journal for very long already knows that Christmas trees and I have a slightly adversarial relationship. Whether it's breaking out in hives while decorating because I'm allergic to the needles; spending hours and hours (and sometimes days and days) getting one to an upright position in a stand; finally getting them up only to discover they're ALREADY DEAD and may catch on fire at any moment; or simply the adventure of finding the tree and transporting it home, there's hardly a season that goes by that Christmas trees don't give me something to write about.

This year, I thought, might be different. My grandson Tyler, and his godmama Susan, took on the task of obtaining a Christmas tree for me, and after a delightful hike in the woods on godmama's property, they found me a perfect one and delivered it to the house. It did lay on my dining room floor for a week, as I scrambled to finish the newspaper in time to print it, but when I finally got around to decorating it I could lift it with one hand, it rested in its stand perfectly on the first try, and I didn't break out in little red bumps when I decorated it. Finally, a Christmas with no tree trauma.

Of course, I forgot about the tree at Clark Fork High School.

Taking a page out of Kinderhaven's book, the booster club (which turned out to be me and my daughter, Amy) decorated a tree for the kids at school, then sold raffle tickets for it so that some lucky resident of eastern Bonner County would have a nice tree for Christmas at a minimal price.

Of course, I was busy, so I didn't actually have time to sell any raffle tickets.

On raffle-ticket-drawing-day, when I saw the pitifully few tickets that had been sold, I dug into my non-existent pile of money and bought some myself. After all, the tree had been MY idea. I won't tell you how many tickets I bought, but suffice it to say there wasn't much chance I was gonna lose in this drawing. Unless, of course, it were a drawing for something I actually wanted, in which case I wouldn't have had a hope in hell of winning.

At drawing time, surprise, surprise, my name was drawn. And drawn again. And again. I kept "donating" the tree back, but every name that came out of that can was mine. Finally, I gave up, and tried to come to terms with having TWO fully decorated trees for Christmas, plus the fact that one of the trees was going to have to be transported from the school.

The only thing to do was donate the tree to someone else, which I did. I signed a Quit Claim Deed (okay, no I didn't) transferring the tree's ownership to one Stacey and Banjo Service.

Which left delivery.

Now, I'm not as stupid as I might first appear. I knew ahead of time that delivery would be a pain in the butt, so I made sure that job got assigned to the men of the Booster Club, Barney Ruen and Dex Vogel.

Well, maybe I am as stupid as I appear. Because on the day of delivery, Dex was coaching the girl's basketball tournament all the way over in Newport, Washington and Barney (like always) wasn't answering his phone. (Darn that caller ID.)

Lucky for me, Stacey is the daughter of River Journal columnist extraordinnaire Jinx, and Jinx is almost as nuts as I am. She didn't hesitate when I told her she was gonna have to help me get the tree delivered. Welcome to the Booster Club, Jinx!

She didn't even hesitate when she realized we were gonna load and deliver it in Amy's Saturn, as my truck was out of commission for the day.

Have you ever tried to load a six-and-a-half foot Christmas tree into a Saturn?

Take my advice - don't.

Given the angle at which the tree was jutting out of the trunk, it was obvious that someone was going to have to ride in the trunk with it and hold it in. Jinx, who I guess is not as nuts as I thought she was, got herself behind the wheel of the Saturn so fast my eyeballs were burning from the friction of her movement.

And given that my arms are not four feet long, I had to take the extension cord for the tree, loop it around the trunk, and hold the tree up off the ground with that as I wedged my butt into the trunk of the car.

As I cracked my head against the trunk lid, I tried to pretend all the pretty stars I was seeing were decorations on the tree.

"Please drive slow," I asked Jinx, right before she jammed her foot down on the accelerator and screeched out of the parking lot.

Greg Flint once told me that God gave me a gift for telling stories and that's why She makes sure I have stories to tell. I love God.

I think the tears streaming from my eyes were from the wind howling past my face as we made the trip to Stacey's house, but maybe not. Maybe they came from the sheer fear gripping my heart as I watched the pavement race by, mere inches from my face as I hung onto that tree and the trunk lid for dear life.

Rather bravely (if I do say so myself) I sang "Santa Claus is coming to town" at the top of my lungs during the trip. I did. No matter what Jinx says.

Needless to say, I'm writing this now, so we got there in one piece, as people in their yards and on the street watched us pass in awestruck bemusement. (Is bemusement a word? It should be.) And God, in her almighty wisdom, made sure I had a Christmas tree tale to tell.

Jinx's Story:
Christmas time. A time of love and warmth and laughter, a time of fun andgiving and receiving. Nowhere in there does it say a time to laugh at Jinx. Nowhere.

My friend, Patty Speelmon told me that someone turned my girls infor a Christmas box, which was so nice, I was thrilled and the girls were soexcited. Not only that, but GRANDMA would get a picture of Billie Jaye andKelsie with Santa. How great was that?

Off to Hope Community Center we drovein the little Sunfire, borrowed from Carolyn Vogel. Jamie and I in the frontseat and Stacey wedged in the back seat with Billie Jaye and Kelsie in theircar seats. It was a tight fit, but Patty said they would get their picture made and have to pick up a turkey or a ham, so off we drove.

We arrived and unloaded the car, which was no small feat. Billie Jaye and Kelsie immediately wowed Santa with their cuteness and Patty sent me off to "shop"for gifts from the babies to their parents. It was so much fun and watching all the kids pick presents and they even had "Santa's helpers" to help wrap them. Then came the time to get our turkey and ham, finding out the Patty put my name in the mix and oh, could we deliver a turkey to another young lady in town? Well of course I said yes, I mean a couple of turkeys and aham can't take up THAT much room, can it?

I didn't pay much attention, just went out and opened up the trunk, turned around only to realize they were bringing Yokes to my car. My mouth had tohave fallen open, looking at the fruit and potatoes and everything they and brought to the car. Even Santa's helpers began laughing at me. They filled the trunk to its small capacity and I instructed Jamie and Stacey to go ahead and get in, so we could pack around their feet. Kelsie propped her feet up on one of the turkeys, Stacey held a box in her lap and looking out the back window was not an option.

I thought we were ready to go, but then a bright red Santa hat popped out the Hope Community Center doorway. "Wait", they called," you forgot your gifts!" Gifts? We were packed like stinky sardines in this poor little vehicle, its sides were already bulging. I laughed out loud, because we truly looked like the Beverly Hillbillies after Santa's helper handed us 3 garbage bags full of gifts.

We drove back to ClarkFork giggling hysterically, excited because Christmas was going to be quite the event at our house this year. Of course, that whole loaded to the gills with gifts and groceries wasn't to be my only embarrassing incident of the season.

It would seem that my friend Trish Gannon decorated this incredible tree forClark Fork High School, sold the tickets to herself and oh what a surprise, she won it!! However, Trish had already scoured the mountains and cut down a tree that her kids almost liked, so she didn't need the Wampus Cat tree. Mydaughter Stacey thought the tree might just be perfect, so Trish gave it to her.

I happened to pull up in Stacey's yard at the wrong moment and Trish coerced me into delivering it to Stacey. That doesn't really SEEM like that big of a deal, does it? Unfortunately, we were delivering it in Trishs' Saturn. You never realize how small a small car is, until you try to get a 6 and a half foot fully decorated tree in its trunk. Wrestling the tree out the school door was pretty difficult, putting it in the trunk, only to realize that Trish would have to ride back there WITH it in order to hold itup, now THAT was and experiment in terror.

Trish used an extenstion cord to hold it up with one hand and held the trunk with her other hand. "drive slow" Trish cautioned me. Drive slow? All I could think of was trying to answer the sheriffs questions. "Uh, ma'am, can you tell me again exactly how the Christmas Tree and the owner of The River Journal became one with the Saturn?"

Down Main Street we drove, I was singing Christmas Carols to Trish and she was shouting "Hail Mary" at the top of her lungs, which was mildly amusing even then because I know she's Baptist.

It's only a few blocks to Stacey's house from the high school, but it seemed like it was 10 miles at least. People were waving, pointing and it didn't help that Trish was still praying"oh my GOD, please don't let Jinx hit any bumps"! I didn't go fast, never even used the gas pedal, was terrified to even tap the breaks, and a corner was coming up. Exciting, huh? I could see Trish in my mind, flying around the corner, hanging onto the Christmas tree for dear life, cussing at me and praying to God and thinking what a great cartoon that it would make for Boots.

We made it back to Stacey's without incident though and I was pretty proud of myself as we set the tree up in her house. Proud that is until a little knock came to the door and LuciAnne Stevens was standing there, laughing at me, thanking me for giving her such an amusing moment. Tis the Season to be Jolly, I suppose, but couldn't we just this once find someone ELSE to laugh at?

Simpler times?

The other day, while scrolling through my photos on the computer (my grandson and I were making a Christmas present) I came across one of David and myself this last Fourth of July (see below). In the picture, we look tired, but happy, and I put it on as my computer wallpaper for a while. I look at it every now and then and think back to "simpler times."

Of course, they weren't simpler - they just weren't right now, as I struggle to deal with all the year-end things that need to be dealt with. But I recall that prior to the picture being taken, I had spent nine straight hours working in the booster club's food booth. (You wouldn't believe how many people are willing to order hamburgers at 9 am on the fourth.) I'm sure I wasn't thinking of the day as "simple" while it was occurring.

What I really find myself wondering, however, is what things I might have done differently if, then, I could have known how the rest of the year would go, and just how doggone tired I would be here with just three weeks (more or less) left to go in the year.

For one, I would have gotten my firewood a heck of a lot sooner, so I wouldn't be struggling this morning with trying to keep a fire going with wet wood.

I would have written my columns for the newspaper much earlier in the week than I actually ever did.

I would have fixed those leaky tires before they went flat on me, and probably turned down some of the extra projects I instead said "yes" to.

In fact, I would have done a lot of things earlier, instead of putting them off until they became even more of a burden to accomplish.

Of course, it doesn't do us any good to spend a lot of time dwelling on the past and thinking about what we could have done differently then. The point is to figure out what we can do differently tomorrow.

So I wonder. At this time next year, will I look longingly at a picture and wishing my days were just a little simpler, or will I be proud of taking a lesson from this picture and staying on top of things a little better?