Category: Opinion

Opinion

An exercise in frustration

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

It’s official: traveling is back. Though the number of people passing through TSA checkpoints hasn’t quite reached pre-pandemic levels, the seven-day average is the highest …

Two years of COVID

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Two years ago on this day I was out of a job — and, for the first time in my job-hopping life, it was involuntary. …

I stand with librarians

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

A few weeks ago, in preparing for my turn to formulate an article for the Reader’s “Back of the Book” section, I thought of our …

Letters

  • Our Lake is at Stake… Dear Editor, I wrote the following letter to our Congressional representatives in Washington, D.C. (Sen Crapo, Sen Risch, Rep Labrador). They need to hear from us soon, please write. Dear Sir: I just read that the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision to exclude hard rock mineral mining from the NEPA ...
  • Another Fourth… Dear Editor, My love of flag, country, and National Anthem is wholly separate from my visceral distrust of our elected legislators in D.C., who, in my humble opinion, are all corrupt, duplicitous narcissists who care not a whit about what’s good for our country. They care about power and reelection. Having said ...
  • Dear Leftists… Dear leftists who read the Reader, I’m writing this before Agent Orange announces the Supreme Court nominee, so I ask: How many of you will ask yourselves, “Maybe the court is too powerful?” Instead of getting triggered at whoever he picks.  As we all know, it’s impossible for you to be happy. ...
  • Today’s Journalists Face a Daunting Task… Dear Editor, Cameron Rasmusson’s eloquent opinion piece in the Reader — chronicling  the bravery of the Annapolis, Md., newspaper staff’s vow to publish a newspaper after five of their members were killed by a gunman — resonates with anyone who ever worked at or dreamed of being a journalist in this ...
  • Who Chooses The Bullies…? Dear Editor, The Reader and Ben have made a pledge to identify and brand a bully when they see one. Just after the 2016 elections Ben called out President elect Trump as a bully and explained why. I agree with Ben regarding President Trump, he uses the bully pulpit to the ...
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.