Idaho Voices

POST FALLS – Freshman Congressman Walt Minnick, representing Idaho’s first district, took to the road this week, visiting with his constituents in North Idaho. At Thursday’s town hall meeting at Post Falls City Hall, he fielded questions for almost two hours on topics ranging from health care to alternative energy. “It’s a sobering time to be there,” Minnick said of his first stint in Washington D.C. “It’s very, very important to make thoughtful decisions.”

Nature has its own way to mark the seasons. Summer provides the rich scents of sweet grass and patches of pungent herbs, sights of summer harvests of fruits and vegetables and the buzz of honey bees collecting honey. Fall arrives with trees and shrubs glowing in yellows, reds and oranges. The stillness and white blanket of deep snow makes no doubt that winter has arrived. The wildflower display with its rainbow of colors mixed in with the new hue of green leafy plants announces that spring has finally made its presence known. Spring just may be the best season of the year. Wildflowers can be seen erupting, some pushing through the remaining snow, all around the Inland Northwest. Years ago the Native Americans had to be thrilled to find fresh food sources after surviving through the winter on a dried mixture of buffalo meat and the previous year’s mashed plant bulbs called pemmican. For the Indians, spring wildflowers were much more than just a pretty sight. They provided the essential source of carbohydrates that we now associate with potatoes.

In 2002, Mick Coon strapped his guitar to his back, walked into the Festival at Sandpoint office and asked the staff what it would take to hire him to play at the popular summer music festival. “I told them I’d play for them right then,” said Coon, now 25 years old. He still can’t believe he was so bold.