Category: Opinion

Opinion

The morning after the election

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

The morning after the election, I took a walk. The dark computer screen across the room beckoned me to waggle the mouse and wake it …

My mom is kind of a big deal

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

There’s not enough room on this page — maybe even in this paper — to adequately praise or even describe my mom. She’s kind of …

TV moms got nothing on the real thing

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

A significant portion of my formative years were spent watching television families. As a child whose parents both worked full time to ensure my two …

Passenger seat past

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

It is a spring evening, nearing sunset, after a warm day. The smell of sun-baked lakebed and blooming skunk cabbage fills the car, carried by …

The small, good things

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Every job has its stresses, no matter if you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or the dishwasher in a small-town diner. 

Journalism is …

Setting the record straight on wolves

By Don Gay
Reader Contributor

In my opinion, the Reader opinion article on wolf trapping [“Trapping is a legal, useful tool to manage wolf populations,” March 31, 2022, by Eric …

Hot take on Earth Day

By Kelsey Maxwell
Reader Contributor

My childhood “wild place” was nowhere near extraordinary by an outdoor enthusiasts’ standard. It was a truly tiny strip of forest between my best friend’s …

Farewell Mr. Marker

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

It’s common for people to point to “that one teacher” who made a big impact on them when they were young. I’ve been lucky to …

Letters

  • Levy Goes Beyond Ideologies… Dear Editor, The upcoming levy goes far beyond your feelings toward schools and how they should be run. It goes beyond your political ideologies or allegiances as well. This levy is an economic issue for our entire community, and needs to be recognized as such. Families that care about the wellbeing of their ...
  • Vote Yes for LPOSD Levy… Dear Editor, LPOSD needs your vote on March 14.  Like most districts in Idaho, supplemental levies are necessary to maintain existing staff and programming.  This levy funds one-third of all district staff, all academic and extracurricular activities, technology and all curricular materials, and professional development. It provides for teaching, learning and ...
  • Protect Natural Resources… Dear Editor, I wholeheartedly support designating Scotchman Peaks for wilderness because protecting the natural resources in this area for future generations is extremely important to me. We would be providing wilderness in North Idaho, where none exists; which would designate as wilderness only one-half percent of the 2.5 million acres that ...
  • Tired of Untruths with Scotchman Peaks… Dear Editor, OK, I cannot standby and let policy be set by untruths in regards to the proposed Scotchman Peaks wilderness, including claims by Dave Reynolds of Hope that fishing, hunting, huckleberry picking, etc. will be eliminated. This shows that Mr. Reynolds is either ignorant of the true facts or lying. ...
  • Small Schools are Good for Kids… Dear Editor, What does it say when a community supports their schools? It tells us that the children of the Hope, Clark Fork, Northside, Kootenai, Sandpoint, Sagle and Southside areas are important to those communities. We are all fortunate to live in an area that has so many small local schools. ...
Close [x]

Want to support independent local journalism?

The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned, in a partnership between Publisher Ben Olson and Keokee Co. Publishing, the media company owned by Chris Bessler that also publishes Sandpoint Magazine and Sandpoint Online. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.