Category: Opinion

Opinion

How real estate shapes a community

By Raphael Barta
Reader Contributor

In a prior existence, I lived in Vancouver,  British Columbia, where I was a vice president for the ski resort development company Intrawest. At the …

Our turn: Together we can do better

By Mark Sauter
Reader Contributor

Last month the Bonner County Fire Chiefs Association (BCFCA) held three public forums. The BCFCA pointed out, in multiple, evidence-based ways, how Emergency Medical Services …

Engage Sandpoint: A missed opportunity

By David Phillips
Reader Contributor

Projects fail for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes the expectations are set too high; sometimes the allocated time or resources are insufficient; sometimes the tools …

City waterfront giveaway

By Kody Van Dyk
Special to the Reader

The city of Sandpoint draft Parks Master Plan identifies disposing of city-owned green space located east of the Edgewater Best Western Hotel. …

The Baloney Detective

By Tim Bearly
Reader Contributor

Images of an Orwellian dystopia are often evoked when we hear the term “big government.” The mere uttering of the phrase can function as a …

Touched by the change

By Robin Lantrip
Reader Contributor

It started with a brisk chill in the morning air. The meadow began dressing in longer birch and fir shadows. The evening scent held a …

Working toward civil discourse

By Brenda Hammond
Reader Contributor

The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force recently sent a questionnaire to all the candidates for city office, asking their positions on a number of …

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 ...
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