Category: Opinion

Opinion

A North Idaho pandemic: Then & Now

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

For everyone alive in North Idaho today, the novel coronavirus outbreak is uncharted territory.

Across the world, leadership is suspending gatherings, closing schools and encouraging …

A few thoughts…

By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist

Darn! It’s already March. November is coming up fast, and I declared my 2020 candidacy for president back when the Trump got elected, but then …

Taking a shot — Part 1

By Marjolein Groot Nibbelink
Reader Contributor

More than 97 guns are owned per 100 people in the United States. Serbia is second, with 58 per 100, and Yemen third with …

Happy [bleep] year

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

I received a breaking news alert on my phone on Feb. 2, 2020, announcing the fact that the day’s palindromic date (02/02/2020) is the only …

I want my America back

By James Richard Johnson
Special to the Reader

I want my America back! I grew up in the Midwest in the 1950s and want back the America that stood for …

Love is a Dog From Hell

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

The headline of this article comes from a book by poet and author Charles Bukowski, who lived a bitter, drunken existence periodically punctuated by moments …

Letters

  • Need EIS for BNSF Bridges … Dear Editor, I am asking that the United States Coast Guard do a full Environmental Impact Statement in the hope that it will show that three new railroad bridges adjacent to the existing ones across Lake Pend Oreille near Sandpoint, ID will too greatly contaminate the water quality, lake bottom and ...
  • Need Analysis of BNSF Second Bridge Project… Dear Editor, I am disappointed the Reader has not done a more critical analysis of BNSF’s enormous Second Bridge project. Safety and congestion issues are just a BNSF public relations ploy on its proposed second bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. Have any of you looked at their draft permit (online) which ...
  • Responsibilities of County Commissioners… Dear Editor, I recently read in a local paper that the county commissioners adopted a resolution, of their own making, opposing a wilderness designation for Scotchman’s Peaks and also called out the U.S. Forest Service to cease managing the ground as recommended wilderness. First, I would like to include a link to ...
  • Liberals Need to Develop a Sense of Humor… Dear Editor, I normally do not respond to negative articles about SPORTS, a premier fire and police association and social club I am privileged to serve as club president, or the greater law enforcement community. But Lawrence Fury’s 5-18-2018 article demeaning military and police needs to be addressed. Liberals need to develop ...
  • R.I.P. Cecil Taylor… Dear Editor, All who have seen Cecil Taylor, like him or not, never forget the experience. Cecil is arguably the greatest pianist to ever live. I think so. Pianist Cecil Taylor (March 25, 1929 – April 5, 2018), a pioneer of free jazz and icon of the avant-garde for more than half ...
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.