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

  • 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 ...
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