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

  • Not a Partisan Issue… Dear Editor, If you are sick, or injured, and you seek the medical help you need, nobody will ask you what your political beliefs are. They will ask you, though, if you have any health insurance. For many people in Idaho, the answer is still no. The Medicaid expansion petition is ...
  • Worst Terrorist Organization in the World… Dear Editor, What is the worst terrorist organization in the world? ISIS, per the CIA. There is an estimated 80,000-100,000 members. ISIS has killed about 2,100 people outside of Iraq and Syria AL Qaeda/Taliban have about 200 to 1,000 core members, but possibly tens of thousands of followers. Between 1992 and 2008 they have ...
  • Jim Woodward for District 1… Dear Editor, Jim Woodward is the perfect fit to replace retiring Shawn Keough for District 1 Senate. Jim supports the same issues, principles and concerns of the constituents in the district. He favors and prioritizes education, water quality, small business, timber and efficient government which allows for a lower tax burden ...
  • Signatures Needed… Dear Mr. Olson, When my husband and I moved to the Sandpoint area in 2002, the future looked bright. At last we had the home in the country he’d wanted for so long. But five days after he retired he was diagnosed with stage-three cancer. An aggressive treatment plan was laid ...
  • Institutionalized violence… Dear Editor, I thought it remarkable that a performance at the Oscars called out the NRA (“...NRA/You stand in God’s way...”) until I recalled that Hollywood is one of the largest enablers of gun violence after the NRA. When we choose to watch violent movies we are endorsing institutionalized violence. In ...
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.