Water & Sewer Board Vacancy

Due to illness, Don Gardner has resigned from the

Bayview Water & Sewer Board of Directors.

Anyone interested should submit a resume to the District's office before April 21^st, 2017.

Sheryl Puckett

4:34 PM (5 hours ago)

to Richard, me, norma, Jackie SENT  to my master email list and POSTED on Facebook. Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward 1.58 GB (10%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 5 hours ago Due to illness, Don Gardner has resigned from the Bayview Water & Sewer Board of Directors. Anyone interested should submit a resume to the District's office before April 21st, 2017. Sheryl Puckett 4:34 PM (5 hours ago) to Richard, me, norma, Jackie SENT  to my master email list and POSTED on Facebook. Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward 1.58 GB (10%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 5 hours ago Details People (4) Richard Doney Show details Details		People (4) Richard Doney

Show details

Growing Old

Growing up is out of the question. Growing old is not. Here I am, one year away from 80 years old. I have had no training for this journey. Suddenly I'm a Geezer.

I have aches and pains in locations I didn't know existed. I woke up this morning with my little finger feeling like it's broke. A couple weeks ago my doctor feeling a lump in my left pectoral, (Tit for you poorly educated)  sent me to Bonner Memorial hospital for a Mammogram.

I thought Brest Cancer only occurred in females. It turns out that it is quit common in men as well. fortunately mine was benign.

There are rumors that Spring may occur soon, but I'm not betting on it. Still I'll start my tomatoes for the seedling faze.

My 79th birthday afternoon March 23, found me watching the Zags make history. I think we have a better chance to beat South Carolina than North Carolina. Go Zags!

What Wait?

Yesterday March 23 was my 79th birthday.That meant renewing my drivers license among other things.

Rising early, an unusual event for this retired old guy. My schedule was as follows: First, a haircut, which due to mostly weather related events was delayed to the shaggy condition, so it was my first stop in Hayden. There was just one customer ahead of me.

Dreading the expected long wait at the DMV, I, believing a lengthy period on my butt. I walked in and behold! while all of the windows were full, nary a seat was occupied in the waiting area. After a ten minute wait I approached the deputy hoping my glasses on order at the VA would not be needed. The lady that served me acted like I needed a white cane and a seeing eye dog. But explaining the glasses on order hadn't arrived yet, she begrudgingly passes me, took my $30.00 and Wallah, I was done.

Unfortunately instead of leaving Coeur d"Alene at two, heading to the Spokane VA for a scheduled CT scan, I had time to burn. So I had an early lunch at a Chinese restaurant. In my car I noticed it was just 12.03. I reached the VA at 1:00, with a 3:00 appointment. I went ahead and checked in and lo and behold, only waited for about 10 minutes to be ushered in.

My adult kids and assorted granddaughters expected me at around 3:00 pm, and it was just 1:30. So I played with my two youngest while waiting for the older ones to get home from school.I got to watch a cd of a school play from last year that I missed.

After a birthday dinner with a birthday blackberry pie instead of cake, I headed for home, reaching Bayview around 8:30. Sucking down a beer at the Captain's Wheel, I pulled in a home with all my chores done including making my reduced Real Estate tax exemption and application for sales tax reduction.

A full day that went off like it should always, ahead of schedule and without a hitch. I now have to wait for the proverbial other shoe to drop. The law of averages suggest I'll have a bad day to balance the ever present karma. Not bad for an old codger, eh?

Standing Rock Trash

I have been following the debate over the Dakota pipeline with great interest. The Standing Rock Lakotas have been very militant about clean water and the potential damage to the  environment.

Well, we all want clean air and clean water. But using that well worn excuse for shutting down just about everything won't wash.

Banks and government entities have been boycotting not only the pipeline, but any company connected to the project.

The real big issue here is extremism in the protection of our environment. This is only justified by those people and groups that trek to the nearest project themselves showing that they are pure in these alleged violations by their own behavior.

Today, in an AP story, the cleanup of the site where all of these people and tribes camped out there left behind 835 commercial sized dumpsters of trash. In my judgment that is not the way to support a cause that charges others with the same thing. Irony? Or perhaps just a cruddy group that doesn't live the lifestyle they preach. Walking the walk is more important than talking the talk.

Cannabidiol Use Medically

"In conservative Idaho, efforts to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot failed last year and two years before that. The only exception is a similar supervised use of cannabidiol oil to treat seizure disorders in up to 25 children, which Otter signed as an executive order in 2015."

This is excerpted  from an AP article which appeared in today's Spokesman-Review

I know of a child that was wracked with seizures until given Cannabidol oil, AP or doctor? stopped the seizures cold. Unfortunately her doctor says it is illegal. Who is correct? The Doc? Or the ap reporter?

You can reach me by commenting or through my e-Mail, bayviewherb@gmail.com. 

State of Our Union

Only the most jaded of the left wing proponents can find fault with the president's state of union message. Earlier today, an on line poll dominated by left wing types were asked to grade Donald Trump's presidency. This with just five or so weeks into his presidency and even without his full cabinet confirmed. Every one except me gave him an F.

Tonight, President Trump gave perhaps the most scintillating speech  I have ever heard. He started by honoring black history month then condemned violence against minorities and the Jewish community. He honored our veterans especially those that have given their lives in the line of duty.

Tonight, the president flung the gauntlet down. Either help us govern, or face the voters if you don't.

There were so many positives during this speech that I cannot repeat them all. Congratulations Mr President, today you truly became a president in deed as in name.

I won't go any further with this, since either you didn't watch the address, or you did and were blinded by party politics. Either way, it was your loss.

Cape Horn Road Closed

According to Sheryl Puckett, who sent out an e-mail, Cape Horn Road is washed out east of the summit, just past Terrace Road. A stretch estimated at 30-35 feet long, 6-8 feet wide and 20-25 feet deep has closed the road.

Water lines were severed at the scene and have been shut off. Please avoid the area as it is very unstable.

Update: Cape Horn Road is now open to all traffic and the water lines are secured.

Hate Crimes

A hate crime may be thee only one where the motive outweighs the act itself. If I punch someone in the nose, I'm guilty of third degree assault, a misdemeanor. Conversely, if I utter an ethnic or racial epitaph before the punch in the nose, I'm then guilty of a felony.

Folks, punishing a person for their motive rather than the act is blatantly UN-American. I don't advocate racial or ethnic slurs, but they fall under the category of poor behavior, not felonious crimes.

Why this hasn't been tested in an appellate court  blows my mind.

In this one generation we have allowed people to tramp all over our rights of free speech. Political correctness was born from the left wing press and carried forth by the Democrats.

Freedom of speech has been voided by those that only accept that speech with which they agree with. God help us all as we swirl down the proverbial drain of a people who once was free..

Mexican Farm Workers

Back when I was a teen, way back,in the 1950's, we had no fast food outlets at all. The route to teen income was either an allowance from parents, or in Summer, the bean fields.

Flashing forward 60 years, the valley that stretched from Renton, Washington to Puyallup, Washington, some eighteen miles, was solid bean fields. There weren't enough teen age workers that could pick fast enough to overcome the youth grab ass tendencies. After all, pursuing the opposite sex was paramount in our minds, bodies, and dreams. What to do?

Braceros. Braceros were Mexican farm workers that could pick three times as fast as we slothly teens.  They were paid by the hour, since by our scale it would have cost the farmers more than they wanted to pay. First mistake, but then this was the 1960's where our sense of justice did not extend to our neighbors to the south.

From time to time I spoke with some of the Bracero's I much admired them for their ambition and productivity. The way it worked, was that the Mexican farm worker were imported for a season's work in he fields. When that season was done thy could, if sponsored,  follow the crops north to fruit orchards. etc. The bottom line here, was they were imported by employers, then taken back by them as well. When winter came, they rejoined their families in Mexico.

I do not know what happened to that program. Perhaps it was the farm workers union of the 1960's. That is a valid concern. Importing alien workers must not be allowed to undercut the living wage of resident farm workers who are here legally. Importing lesser wage workers would first not be right, and secondly, would create wars in the farm community.

Why hasn't ts occurred to our government?

Winter From Hell

Something told me this winter was going to be a challenge. It is. While 2007-2008 had more snow, the below zero weather followed by more than a foot of snow has stopped people in their tracks.

For those that still believe in the groundhog predictions, stuff it.

At this point, with the snow being rained on, we now have a foot of slush, too deep to drive through. I can only hope that the Mercantile delivers, because I'm going nowhere fast.

As it looks now, and it's 10:00 am Sunday, that the rain is going to change back to snow. I see ice ruts in our future.

As always, be safe.If you do not absolutely have to be somewhere, don't go. Besides, you get great gas mileage when not driving your car.

Total page views to date 500,333

Thank You

As I see 499,163 page views, since I started this blog 11 years ago, passing 500,00 tomorrow, I realized after reflection that I haven't thanked those most responsible for this success.

First,none of this would have happened if Dave Oliveria hadn't urged me to do this thing. Dave is ring master at Huckleberries on line, the North Idaho blog sponsored by the Spokesman-Review. When Steve Smith, former editor of the Spokesman-Review expanded to North Idaho with the Handle Extra  then the Prairie Voice, he recommended me as a correspondent for Northern Kootenai County, a position I held for about five years. When the S/R pulled in it's horns, discontinuing the Idaho editions, I was done. In my area of coverage, between Athol and Bayview,  the paper lost 60 subscribers. People that liked me to write about them and those events that were important to them.

The format for Bayviews, was designed for me by StebbiJo. The design that I still use.  She was a wealth of information and assistance during those early days where my computer skills were practically non-existent.

Then there was Bill McCrory, retired secret service officer. I must have called him at least three times a week for technical advise. He never hesitated to patiently help me over those hurdles.

While there were many more, these were the ones that made it all possible. Most likely, I will cross the half million page views tomorrow. Thank you all again. I just wish I would have done this way sooner.

Justice Gorsuch, Nominee

The nomination of 10th circuit court judge, Gorshuch came as a surprise to nobody. He was approved at the circuit court level by acclimation.

The issue of Constitutional Constructionists vs. going with the flow as progressives have favored bring up an important issue. Has society evolved and they want to go with them, or did starting with the Warren Court, push them into this evolution.

As was president Trump's remarks reflect, many voted for him solely on the basis of keeping the supreme court to the original job of following the U.S. Constitution. This is a heavy mandate. One that will bite democrats on the butt if they fail to realize why they lost and why he won.

Some in the progressive wing will commit political suicide if they ignore this. My hope is that the Senate does not have to use the nuclear option to shut down the negative voters. If they do, it will be on the heads of the recalcitrant Democrats.

Obamacare Replacement

In the world of trite phrases, one stands out today. "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Two proposed changes in government controlled health care are impossible to make together.

One is to continue to cover people with pre-existing conditions, the other is to eliminate fines for not staying in the program. The key here is adverse selection. If fines are eliminated, you will see a mass defection by young healthy people that cannot afford the insurance to begin with.

Throw in the ones who stay, most of which would be sick people without any options and you have a failed program.

One truth is we can't after creating a health plan for already sick people, throw them out on the street.Backing out of this flagrant attempt at socialization of medicine is going to be more complicated than most think.

While I'm not famous for supporting welfare programs, I see only one solution.

Go back to qualifying health and age wise as always was the previous criteria, and expand Medicaid to include those who cannot qualify for health insurance. Radical, yes, but how else can health insurance return to sane costs.

We must also reform prescription costs to match what other countries like Canada has or allow importation from other areas.

Misogynistic Behavior

Misogynistic behavior seems to be wildly bandied  about regarding the Trump victory. What is missing is those examples of really bad examples.

What should be leading the discussion would pretty much include the entire middle east, excepting Israel. Where a rape victim can be stoned to death by her family and many other outrages.

Let's look at our own examples in the presidencies:

Prior to the end  of WW11, then General Eisenhower commissioned a buxom English woman  in the U.S. Army. She was his driver... and more. (Non-citizens may not be commissioned officers in our military.)

President Kennedy routinely played with young ladies in the White House Swimming pool and of course the bedrooms as well. He even shared with his brother, Bobbie, the sexual favors of Marilyn Monroe.

Then we have Bill Clinton, who left only one child from his marriage, apparently due to his unavailability to the marriage bed.

Now, A Republican is being chastised for having an active sex life. Well, if he wants to shed Melania,  come to me, sweet thang.        

Inauguration Day

Inauguration Day has arrived. Regardless of one's political leanings, this is an historic day in our country's history. We have one of the few countries that consistently change governmentspeacefully with ceremonious atmosphere.

In a poll featured on Huckleberries on line, the Spokesman-Review's North Idaho Blog, which asked who would watch the inauguration. 36.02% said yes, 56.52% said no. I can only hope that the majority have to work and cannot watch. On the other hand, it may represent the political left, filled to the brim with Snowflakes. People that refuse to accept any other outcome than the one they prefer.

Answering strongly against representations that Trump is a racist, several black performers have stepped up to appear. In Talladaga, an all black college band will play in the parade. They weren't asked, they asked the transition peoplefor permission ot play.

These acts of patriotism suggest that plain spoken people like Trump and many of his supporters are being regularly wrongly accused of being racists by black and liberal leaders as knee jerk accusations against anyone they disagree with.

For me, I'll watch hoping tht the 50 or so congresspersons will enroll in a citizenship class soon.  If disruptive groups use violence to break up the inauguration it would be helpful for them to contemplate the act not as free speech, but as a criminal act of subversion. Sedition is the name of that game. Until authorities treat these acts of inciting to riot seriously, they will continue as unpunished crimes with no serious consequences.

Talladega Integrity

Last night, the president of Talladaga College rewrote the book on integrity, as they petitioned the Trump Inaugeration Committee to march in the Inauguration parade. Talladega is a black school, fighting back against undeserved race baiting by the left.

The following article from "The Root," pretty much says it all.

Want to know how you know you’re on the wrong side of history if you’re an HBCU president?
First, you agree for your school, Talladega College, to play at the incoming president’s inauguration—a gig so despised the lineup includes a 16-year-old second-place reality-show contestant, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (because nothing says hotness like a tabernacle choir), and the Rockettes (and rumor has some of them don’t even want to perform).

Then, you appear on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor and mention that the band hasn’t raised the funds needed to participate in the inauguration event. And, shortly after that appearance on Fox News, whose demographic doesn’t look anything like the students who attend your school, your GoFundMe page runneth over. Before the appearance, you barely had the $75,000 to make the trip, now you’re swimming in $500,000 and counting.

Such is life for Talladega College President Billy Hawkins, who not only wants his band to play for a demagogue’s celebration, but also believes it will be a learning experience.
“As many of those who chose to participate in the parade have said, we feel the inauguration of a new president is not a political event but a civil ceremony celebrating the transfer of power,” he said in a statement, according to Fox News.
It’s worth noting that two former slaves started the Alabama college in 1865.

So much for the so called racist, bigots and other undesirables.

Pump Overload

Continuing the story of the Sewer District pumps being overloaded, we now find out that the float homes that are tilting are exposing their discharge pumps, causing alarms to go off.

My source believes that it is not the dribbling of faucets that is overloading the system, but these pumps that are operating under duress, are pumping huge amounts of lake water into the sewer system.

While Trump is planning to drain the swamp, it appears that Bayview Water & Sewer may be draining Lake Pend Oreille. This may not be the case, but an investigation is in order, as alarms have been going off for days.

This post is available for other journalistic use, but attribution must be honored, unlike the first go around by the CDA Press.

What is needed now is transparency and action to either repair the pumps or to disconnect these float homes from their power source. I called the Sewer District phone earlier today getting a message that the office would be closed for several days.

Someone from the Sewer District needs to do more than tell people to stop dripping their faucets while hundreds of gallons of lake water may be using up the capacity. We need action to correct the problem and better communication as well.

The Sewer district in no way has the authority to order people to stop using the system as some have suggested to me.   

Float Home Roofs

I received an e-mail this morning from a friend who said, "my float home is slowly sinking from the snow on my roof. Do you know anyone who does roofs?"

Well, yes I do. If you e-mail me at bayviewherb@gmail.com or call me at 683-9107 I will refer you to someone that can help.

Roofs on float homes do not usually collapse. They just add weight which can sink the house if not removed. If you own a float home in Bayview, I strongly urge you to inspect the roofs or get someone to remove the snow. 

Since I wrote this earlier, I have identified at least two float homes that hav capsized. One in Scenic Bay Marina and one in J.D.'s Marina

Third Icy Plunge

When I said the other day that two Arctic outbreaks in one Winter is unusual, I didn't dream of a third.

But here it is. After the snow quits, if and when, Tuesday through Saturday is predicted to be: 25-5, 17-3, 16-5, and finally 20-11 for Saturday.

That is just Bayview. It will be at or below zero in other locations. While it won't be as long, we will still find it prudent to drip faucets as single digit temps can freeze everything up in a hurry.

Stay warm out there. If you are old and feeble like me or have a heart condition, or overweight, please get someone else to shovel you out.

Bayview Sewer District

I ran across a flyer put out by Neil Peck, manager of the Water and sewer department. In it, it asked all members to desist from dripping their faucets during this cold weather emergency.

What we have here is a classic case of differing perspectives. He claimed that the additional waster water was overloading the capacity of the system to handle the volume, due to multiple households dribbling water throughout the below zero temperatures.

There are two issues here. First, in the design and maintenance of the sewer system, there should have been an additional capacity planned for  in the case of extreme weather.

The other, is the duty of all homeowners and renters to safeguard their domiciles from serious damage due to frozen pipes that eventually thaw, causing  severe damage to these homes.

The bottom line with me is until the sewer district indemnifies all members from frozen pipe damage, this citizen is going to protect his property. Poor planing does not put the onus on the users.