Workers Want King Holiday Off Staffers Say Holiday Needed To Combat Image

The city of Sandpoint has never honored Martin Luther King Day, an official holiday for state and federal workers.

City Clerk Helen Newton wants to change that. She and several other department heads want the City Council to declare Human Rights Day an official holiday for city workers.

The change is needed, Newton said, because of the negative publicity North Idaho recently received from the national media, painting the area as a bastion for whites.

“This holiday is recognized by 49 states including Idaho. It is observed by employees of the state of Idaho and Bonner County,” Newton wrote in a memo to council members.

“In light of the recent additional national publicity we have received which pictures our area as a haven for racists, I believe it is time the city of Sandpoint, out of principle, recognizes this day.”

Mayor Ron Chaney said he supports Martin Luther King Day, but is not in favor of making it a city holiday. Employees already have nine paid holidays and three personal leave days, he said.

“I feel employees already have an adequate number of days off,” Chaney said. “What I would propose is if employees want to take Martin Luther King Day off they use a personal day. I would be supportive of that, but the council makes those decisions.”

The King holiday will be debated at an executive committee meeting Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The mayor said the national media came to Sandpoint last month and showed it for what it truly is - a resort and retirement community, not a city full of white bigots.

“I think Sandpoint and North Idaho have dispelled that stigma,” Chaney said. “I think Richard Butler (the head of the Aryan Nation’s compound in Hayden Lake) has pretty much spent his ammunition on depicting us as racist.”