In the Bee’s first paper for June of 2020, a Tuesday front-page article told the story of an injured osprey’s recovery after being struck by a vehicle on May 14.

The female osprey, which was found injured along Highway 200, was rehabilitated from a laceration across its chest and bilateral shoulder injuries, was rehabilitated at Birds of Prey Northwest in St. Maries.

The osprey, who was paired with the Birds of Prey Northwest education osprey, was released at the Sandpoint Elks Golf Course.

Also on the second, an article on COVID-19 reported that the Panhandle Health District had reached 90 cases.

On the third, an article detailed a march the day before of student and young adult protestors for the Black Lives Matter movement in Sandpoint made the front page, following nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd.

The group denounced President Donald Trump, and called for police reform in the wake of Floyd’s death. Protestors gathered in the parking lot of the Bonner County Courthouse to finish making signs and placards, then marched on the deck of the Long Bridge.

A group of adult Second Amendment proponents, Three Percenters and Oath Keepers, some armed with semi automatic rifles, milled about nearby. Bonner County Commission Chairman Dan McDonald had also mobilized members of his conservative base “to help counter anything that might get out of hand,” before later adding that protesters should be respected if the demonstration was peaceful.

“We need police reform,” said Juliet Harrison. “People are being murdered by police and nobody is really doing anything to help except for the protesters.”

Her father, Will Harrison, said he was hopeful for his daughter’s generation making progress toward issues of racism and police brutality.

“I have the ultimate hope for these children that they can make this happen. Our generation has been unable to,” he said.

The next day, an article on city council covered some of the protest, and the movement’s impact on Sandpoint. Many residents showed up to voice concerns at the council chambers, including Josh Vulkman, a local business owner.

“I just wanted to remind everyone that the reason that all of this is happening is because of systemic racism,” Vulkman said. “We are not trying to do that, but communities like ourselves have to have that conversation to see what we can do to be the better person. Saying you are not racist isn’t enough. What can we do as a community to open the door to someone coming through and show love and not hate?”

On June 5, an article covered the second lawsuit brought by Second Amendment supporters against the city of Sandpoint and the Festival at Sandpoint over the festival’s firearms ban.

Also on the fifth, an article detailed another protest, with more than 100 participants calling for police reform and an end to institutionalized racism following the death of George Floyd.

On June 6, an article covered an online questions and answer session by Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon, which was in response to a wide range of questions that came in from the public regarding the recent protests, said city administrator Jennifer Stapleton.

In that session, Coon said he appreciated peaceful protestors, and that his department had investigated and found no evidence concerning rumors that members of the anti-facist “Antifa” were planning to come to Sandpoint to escalate protests or instigate looting.

On the seventh, the Bee covered the third Black Lives Matter protest, this time in downtown Sandpoint. Roughly 300 people attended, including some of the same young adults and students who had organized a march on the Long Bridge Tuesday.

At that protest, organizers rejected the notion that militia groups who had assembled near the protests and in the downtown area were there for protection.

“The Black Lives Matter movement is about police accountability for killing and oppressing black lives. Vigilantes are even less accountable than police,” said Sam Crossett, one of the organizers. “Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin were killed by vigilantes and we are standing in solidarity with them to prove that their lives are valuable.”

One of the main organizers, Lexa Oraa, announced the night before that she would not be able to attend because of threats she received from an unknown number according to the article.

On June 11, a front-page article covered a 13% increase in funding for Selkirk Pend Oreille Transit, which all members of then Sandpoint city council approved except for councilman Joel Aispuro.

“Talking to businesses about SPOT, I have never heard anything positive, personally talking to business owners and quite often a lot of people,” he said.

On June 12, an article featured the emergency “drive-thru” food distributions by Second Harvest of Spokane and Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. The groups were gearing up for a third distribution after a successful first two rounds.

“This was very successful in getting the food to those who need it while minimizing exposure to those who attend and volunteers,” said Kessin Rasor, event organizer.

Another article published the same day covered a list of demands by local Black Lives Matter protestors to law enforcement.

These included a request that the Sandpoint City Council require and fund ongoing anti-racism training for all police officers and appointed city staff members, as well as regular de-escalation training and the creation of a community police oversight board.

Added to this was a call for the Lake Pend Oreille School District to take disciplinary action against a student who harassed protestors during a Black Lives Matter demonstration on the Long Bridge, which was documented in a video posted to social media.

Further, the group called on LPOSD to develop policies prohibiting racist activities and displays of racist symbols.

On June 14, the front page of the Bee included a feature on Cocolalla’s farmers market, which offers a variety of meats (including yak and emu) as well as soap and milk from local goat farmers, cheese made by mennonites and flour milled from locally grown grains.

On the same day, a court article noted that the county was released from a $45,000 common-law lien that had been filed by a sovereign citizen who filed the claim after his name was used in property tax notice.

On the sixteenth, an article covered Panhandle Health District announcing its first COVID-19 death, which was a man from Kootenai County in his 70s.

On the same day, a feature on the Bonner County Coalition for Health told the story of the organization’s efforts to distribute earth boxes where residents and businesses could grow produce for the Bonner Community Food Bank.

“I just picked over $400 worth of beautiful produce, tomato plants, that I will be deliver- ing to a number of people in town to people who have earth boxes,” said Volunteer School Garden Coordinator Michele Murphree. “People have been donating plants, have been donating seeds and it’s a great way for people to participate in helping our families.”

On the seventeenth, an article in the Bee featured a story from the late Ponderay Police Sgt. Mike Victorino. Victorino had written on Facebook that he was feeling downtrodden when he met a two-year-old girl at Walmart.

“She saw me standing there and kept motioning toward me to her dad. He put her down and she ran, arms raised, across the [Walmart Vision Center] clinic to where I was standing. I leaned over and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me the biggest hug ... and wouldn’t let go,” Victorino wrote.

The experience made him feel a bit emotional, Victorino wrote.

“For in that tiny moment, the entire world melted away,” he wrote. “There was only the unconditional love of a two-year-old being shared with a complete stranger.”

On the same day, an article featured three Idaho anglers who caught an award-tagged fish in the Pend Oreille walleye lottery, and with it $1,000.

To enter the lottery, anglers submitted fish heads to Fish and Game, where they were kept in a freezer. The fish were given tiny tags on their snout, which could only be read by a scanner. Mike Gordon, who caught the winning fish, said he had a good feeling about it.

“I told my father-in-law this is going to be the one,” said Gordon.

On a June 18 article, the Bee covered a city council meeting in which public comment regarding issues including the removal of chalk graffiti from the underpass of the Sandpoint City Beach, the Sandpoint-based Love Lives Here campaign, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Blue Lives Matter movement, the assessment of Sandpoint police officer’s capabilities and protocol, the presence of guns at protests, according to the article.

In total, the public comment lasted over an hour and 20 minutes, broken up briefly by the council's consent agenda.

Although members of the public were asked to refrain from disruptive behavior, there were numerous cases where cheering ensued following comments, both by those for and against Black Lives Matter and for and against supporting guns at the protests.

That day’s articles also included a story on the Lake Pend Oreille High School’s socially distanced graduation, and a story on a Coeur d’Alene woman who had fallen ill while awaiting a trail for first-degree murder.

On June 19, an article in the Bee covered Police Chief Corey Coon’s response to the tenants of the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign, which advocates police departments do de-escalation training, implement the Use of Force Continuum, a ban chokeholds and strangleholds, require warning before shooting, ban shooting at moving vehicles, exhaust all alternatives, implement the duty to intervene and implement comprehensive reporting.

According to the article, Coon suggested a ninth tenant requiring at least one council member at a review board to deter excessive use of force by evaluating complaints made by residents.

Coon told the council that in the past 10 years, there was an average of 6,000 calls per year in Sandpoint, and around 10 use of force complaints per year. That statistic does not include car checks, traffic stops or other general offenses.

Another article on the ninteenth reported that a lab employee at Bonner General Health had tested positive for COVID-19, and another reported that a Newport man who had been implicated in a 2006 murder case in Washington state was arrested in Bonner County for allegedly violating his parole.

On June 20, a column covered a local group’s commemoration of Juneteenth, a holiday recognizing the date when the last slaves were freed in Texas on June nineteenth, 1865.

“I have been hearing about a lot of different workplaces and the ways that different colleagues

of color are or are not given the same opportunities as their white coworkers,” said Danica Lauden, a seventh grade math teacher at Aptos Middle School. “I think teachers of color are really valued on one hand for being able to represent those students that we teach. But also, I think people don’t realize being racist could include putting a huge burden on those teachers to speak up for students of color.”

On June 21, the Bee reported on Father Dennis Day’s retirement from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, who served as a parishioner in Sandpoint for the past 24 years.

At 70 years old, Father Day planned to move back to his hometown of Boise, the article reported.

Another article reported on a lighting strike that caused a fire at the Weiss family’s home, and the efforts by the couple and their neighbors to save it, and still another reported on the introduction of the Love Lives Here campaign to Sandpoint.

On the twenty-third, an article covered the request for a summary judgment over a lawsuit by a group of Native American and environmental entities against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service alleging that the proposed Rock Creek Mine would jeopardize bull trout and grizzly bear populations in northwestern Montana.

An article on the same day noted a jump of 14 COVID-19 cases over the weekend, and a third covered North Idaho College’s move to virtual learning.

On the twenty-fourth, an article detailed the case of a Washington state man charged with the theft of more than $8,000 worth of tires, and another covered the West Bonner County School District’s work to secure facility funding.

An article on June 25 noted that the Lake Pend Oreille School District would be paying more in the coming school year due to added COVID-19 related expenses, and LPOSD added new furlough language in which the district is required to furlough teachers and staff if reserve funds drop below 9.5%.

On the twenty-seventh, the Bee reported on the relocation of 127 Canadian Geese from City Beach to a property owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outside of Coeur d’Alene.

A June 28 article told the story of local soap maker, Kim Spencer, and her plans to begin selling at Winter Ridge Natural Foods and Cedar Day Spa. Another article covered plans for Sandpoint’s fourth of July celebrations after almost being canceled.

A June 30 article told the story of an injured arborist who was rescued from a tree 60 feet above ground by the Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS, and another covered the continued tension between different groups including Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter and the Love Lives Here campaign in Sandpoint.