I haven't really felt the urge to write lately. I've thought about re-posting more Creative Commons articles I found interesting while declining payout and offering appropriate attribution, but it's a lot of work. I have used PeakD Snaps for odd thoughts, snapshots, and local news. I also try to curate and comment. I'm not entirely absent, just feeling uninspired.
In local news, it seems a transient either deliberately or accidentally started a wildfire on Canfield Mountain in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. You can read more from the local newspaper and regional affiliates of national networks.
CLINT SCHROEDER/Press Smoke can be seen from a fire on Canfield Mountain on Sunday afternoon. There were reports of an ambush attack on firefighters called to a brush fire on Canfield Mountain.
It seems his truck is registered in Sandpoint, a town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the north, and he is described as a transient who was armed with a shotgun. Was this a premeditated mass murder attempt? Was he having a bad reaction to prescription medication? Was he under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs? Many questions and few answers surround the whole disaster. I hesitate to join the crowd spewing misinformation and half-truths, but I still want to try to sort my half-formed thoughts on he matter.
There's still some time before the press conference where the fire department is scheduled to announce the victims of the shooting. It seems two firefighters are dead, and one in critical but stable condition.
All of this at least feels like another facet of the changes I have seen in the region. There has been a massive influx since we moved here. Last century, we were initially suspected of being part of the Californian wave at that time, and only our midwestern bona fides allowed us to escape that stigma.
Since then, the Golden State expatriates have come north in waves, bringing wealth, but also higher expenses for locals. They also don't seem interested in assimilating to the local culture. Most recently, this has also included a lot from a particularly authoritarian branch of conservatism who are suspicious of foreign* immigrants while exhibiting the very behaviors they fear. They want to seize political power to protect locals from assorted boogeymen they believe lurk around every corner. I've written before about the North Idaho library networks and the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee accusations of secret drag queen story hours and claims of literal pornography.
I lived in both Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene. Thise places still feel like home to a degree, but a lot has changed. The Rathdrum Prairie is filling with tract homes and subdivisions where I remember fields. Traffic is awful, and the roads are overburdened with this population boom. Spokane and North Idaho housing prices are outrageously high.
People are feeling the pinch of poverty where there was once prosperity, and blame is being spread everywhere, especially along Partisan lines. It's all Trump's fault because if the tariffs. It's all Biden's fault because of his COVID policies. It's all Trump's fault because he kicked off those COVID policies, but he also didn't do enough then. People want to blame past administrations at least as far back as Reagan, and to at least some degree, they're right about those failings, but they also pretend their party's involvement was what kept it from being worse instead of contributing to these problems.
All of this circles back to the shooting. Was this a disturbed individual poorly responding to the pressures of poverty and a lack of mental health care? Or was this a victim of the pharmaceutical industry and their antidepressants creating yet another tragedy from a bad drug reaction? Was this just a tragic case of something entirely outside our control to treat or even detect? Everyone wants to leap to a conclusion based on their prejudices and preconceptions, and if there is a real answer, I fear this will be drowned out.
About half an hour after I post this, there should be a press release about the slain firefighters. You can check Spokane outlets KHQ, KREM, KXLY, and the Spokesman-Review in addition to the Coeur d'Alene Press for more information and updates.
Followup: I decided not to write another post, but I did want to add that Battalion Chief Frank Harwood (Kootenai County Fire & Rescue) and Battalion Chief John Morrison (Coeur d'Alene Fire Department) were the murder victims, and Engineer David Tysdal (Coeur d'Alene Fire Department) is recovering from several surgeries but is in stable condition.
