Category: Opinion

Opinion

Politicizing education

By Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise
Special to the Reader

The House Education Committee voted recently to reject and remove every word of Idaho’s education standards in math, English and science …

Human rights for all

By Timothy Braatz
Reader Contributor

Black History Month was created to celebrate the achievements of people typically excluded from the telling of U.S. history. In that spirit, here are three …

How to winter

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day and heard a woman say, “I just don’t ever remember a winter being …

Covenants can be a good thing

By James Richard Johnson
Reader Contributor

When I consider the ecological advantages to trains versus trucks carrying freight across America, I do not find myself opposing a second railroad bridge …

An American dream

By Brenda Hammond
Reader Contributor

“I have a dream … deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning …

The year in advance

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

The year 2000 has always felt like more of a product than an age: Reality 2000, the Next Generation, or something like that. Maybe it

A history of violence

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

On Christmas Day, we woke up to find a pair of posts on our Reader Facebook page that went beyond the typical “fake news” straw …

The time machine

By Sandy Compton
Special to the Reader

I spend a lot of time on the road between Hope and Paradise. I have a home along that road. It’s the initial …

Our best foot forward

By Tim Henney
Reader Contributor

Several evenings ago my 1957 bride, our visiting and aging (58!) adult daughter, son-in-law and dog Tippy were driving home with cartons of Thai and …

Letters

  • Class Act… Editor’s Note: This letter was sent to Barack and Michelle Obama by a Sagle resident, who also wished for it to be a letter to the editor in the Reader: Dear President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, I’m 81 years old and live in Sagle, Idaho, with my husband. I just ...
  • Torture is Never Okay… Dear Editor, Last Monday, on network TV news, I heard the president of the United States condoning TORTURE. I have never been so heartsick for my country. My God, I can’t find the right words for the response demanded by this situation. Certain images keep coming up—that’s all I can put out ...
  • Celebrities… Dear Editor, Just a short reply to Mr. Birnbaum’s “Irony” letter from Jan. 26. Mr. Birnbaum, I will agree with you that President Trump is a celebrity, although I consider him more of a blue collar billionaire. Where I disagree with you in my opinion is that President Trump won the election not because ...
  • You Are Not Alone… Dear Editor and Mindy Cameron, I was deeply moved by Mindy Cameron’s article in the Opinion section of the Jan. 26 Reader. Even though I was in Idaho during the disappointing and shocking inauguration, my feelings and response leading up to Jan. 21 were very similar to Mindy’s. I remember going ...
  • Wilderness Will Not Ban Guns… Dear Editor, In answer to the young man who asked about carrying firearms in wilderness, yes, you did miss something. The Code of Federal Regulations is a lot like a textbook. If you only read one phrase out of context, you may misunderstand the entire chapter. Title 36 has a lot ...
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.