A few thoughts… On abortion and sex education
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
In John Prine’s song, “Way Back Then,” he sings, “I am out undoing all the good I’ve done.” That could be a theme for the …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
In John Prine’s song, “Way Back Then,” he sings, “I am out undoing all the good I’ve done.” That could be a theme for the …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
Spring managed to surprise me this year. Again. I walked to the river and discovered fresh-grown catkins hanging from an errant Sitka alder that has …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
“There are men in the world who derive as stern an exaltation from the proximity of disaster and ruin, as others from success.” —Winston Churchill…
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
A bobcat is traveling around the homestead these days, teaching snowshoe hares and ruffed grouse to pay attention, a good and proper thing for a …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
At Oakland Airport, I await a flight to Spokane, the last leg home from Seattle. It’s a roundabout way to get there, but it fits …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
As I’ve grown older, the glistening promise of the winter holiday has become a little tarnished. That’s not to say I haven’t had wonderful Christmases, …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
There’s a joke about Ivano’s Ristorante Italiano, a Sandpoint institution for 37 years:
Question: “Where’s the best Italian restaurant in Spokane?”
Answer: “In Sandpoint.”
Alas, …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
Having survived COVID-19 and feeling sort of — but not completely — immune, I recently traveled down Mexico way. I didn’t go into Mexico, except …
By Sandy Compton
Reader Columnist
I promised myself I would write something light and funny this month. But then, I went to town. I hadn’t been for a while. I’d …
By Ben Olson
Reader Staff
For local author and man-about-country Sandy Compton, writing about his native land and the characters who occupy it is… complicated. Like any steadfast native of …
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.