Family struggles

On first glance, it appears little has changed for the Bonagofskis.

The family of six still lives in a trailer tucked in a far-reaching corner of Bonner County woods and struggle to survive, living off a generator and hauling water.

Diabetes and degenerative arthritis still force Jerry Bonagofski, 47, to walk with a cane and chronic pain makes sleep difficult and work impossible.

Eleven abscessed and rotting teeth remain in matriarch Carlene Bonagofski’s cramped and crooked mouth, which draws stares from customers going through her checkout stand at Wal-Mart.

Then there are the children. The four still living at home, ranging in age from 4 to 17, pay $3 to bathe at a backwoods market eight miles away on Rapid Lightning Road – a secluded route north of Sandpoint where, behind large llama ranches and fancy creek-front log homes, there are pockets of severe poverty.

The Bonagofskis and other families live off self-sufficiency and luck; luck that disease, hunger or cold don’t kill them during the long, dark North Idaho winters that often deliver snowdrifts deep enough to swallow trucks. But a lot has happened since April, when the family first shared their struggle with the public. The newspaper’s profile reported that the Bonagofskis want help, but negative experiences with the child-welfare system, schools and other providers such as doctors have ended in confrontation. They don’t want the government to take their children just because they are poor.

After a decade of hardship, opportunity finally found the Bonagofskis and lured them to Clark Fork in June. The family opened Bugsy’s Place, a restaurant serving gyros and Philly steak sandwiches on the east side of Lake Pend Oreille. Jerry Bonagofski, who learned culinary arts in the Air Force, finally had his dream.

“People came from all over Idaho,” he said. “We made our own sauces.”

When a rare tornado hit on opening day, knocking out the lights and forcing the family to cook with propane and serve meals by candlelight, it was like a foreshadowing of the downfall to come. Despite a busy summer tourist season and positive word of mouth, their investor backed out and they were evicted from the RV park where their fifth-wheel travel trailer served as a summer home.

They closed Bugsy’s after spending their meager life savings and returned to Rapid Lightning Road.

“It was a dream and a nightmare,” Jerry Bonagofski said. “It was well worth the experience. Next time I know it will be a success. We had followers. This was just a trial run.”

He’d like to open a chain of restaurants named after his 17-year-old daughter Athena, or take food on the road to fairs and other parking-lot events.

Carlene Bonagofski, 36, is less hopeful: “We are probably going to have to go bankrupt.”

They are worse off financially than they were before, she said. They can’t get medical help and the children aren’t always in school. She admitted wanting to spend at least one winter away from the snowy mountainside.

Because they don’t own anything – the 30 acres is held by Jerry’s father – they aren’t worried about losing their few material possessions. It’s just the idea of not succeeding and slipping even further behind.

The season’s first snowstorm hit the day they returned home to the mountain. They borrowed a pickup to pull their home, the travel trailer which Jerry Bonagofski got in trade for a gun, up the nearly impassable road.

Because the travel trailer is easier to heat, the six will live there for the winter instead of up the hill in their half-century-old single-wide.

On a recent sunny December day, the family crammed into the trailer that lists left because it’s been too snowy to level out. That means they can’t yet use the propane refrigerator. Jacenta, 6, Gabriel, 4, and Jacob, 14, busted up generic ramen noodles and put them in plastic sandwich bags. They added a little powdered seasoning and shook the concoction. Lunch without cooking or water.

“We’re hurting,” Carleen Bonagofski said.

“I wouldn’t say we are hurting,” Jerry Bonagofski said. “We have a comfortable place to live.”

All four children sleep in the neck of the travel trailer, except when teenage hostility overtakes Athena and she opts to crash on the floor in the narrow space between the camper sink and built-in table that seats two.

The parents sleep on a mattress on the floor, which doubles as the sofa and living room. Their border collie often lounges on the mattress as well.

A few feet away, in the rear of the camper, is the porta-potty hidden by a curtain that does nothing to mask the sound of Gabriel urinating.

“To me this isn’t anything abnormal,” Jerry Bonagofski said of their unorthodox lifestyle. “To me it’s normal. My kids get to be free.”

Bonagofski thinks his children are fortunate because they have survival skills and can live self-sufficiently. They also have a work ethic from chopping wood, and carrying water, gasoline and other supplies for miles when the road is impassable. To him, that’s more than a good education, yet at the same time he talks about his offspring going to college and getting good jobs.

But for now, schooling is difficult. Athena is attending Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School. Jacob plans to start after the first of the year.

Jacenta loved the extended kindergarten class she started in Clark Fork. She made friends and learned the alphabet and some math. But that ended when the family moved back to the mountain, where her dad plans to home-school her the rest of the year. Jerry Bonagofski has periodically home-schooled his children for years, the last time when a district official complained about the odor of Jacob’s jacket.

“They know they can survive and not have to rely on anybody,” Jerry said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way with my kids. They don’t mind living like this.”

Jacob is quiet with big, dark eyes. He said his lifestyle doesn’t make too much difference and he made friends in Clark Fork. He admits school is difficult, but he imagines going to college and designing video games.

“I think I have ADD (attention deficit disorder),” he said while searching the cupboard for a snack. “I’m really hyper and don’t pay attention much.”

Just like his dad, Jacob dreams and doesn’t dwell on the difficulties.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Jerry Bonagofski said. “I have one tough family.”

In January, his 24-year-old daughter Lashaunda will give birth to her second child, the Bonagofskis’ fifth grandchild.

To the Bongofskis, family is more important than money.