Comments honored longtime friend

The closing night of the Festival at Sandpoint was dedicated to my friend, traveling companion and fellow advocate of world peace and equality, Barbara Veraniam. It seems that I ruffled some feathers in the process of remembering her. Do I want to apologize? No. I said what came to me at the moment

If Barbara were speaking she would have said it in a much more benign way. She would have reminded us that in these tumultuous times it's more important than ever to get out and vote.

Rather than say "vote for anybody but Bush," she would have expressed the importance of checking in with what's going on in your heart, and voting accordingly. She may have pointed out that a vote that promotes continued fear, violence, greed and separation can only take us farther down the road to isolation and alienation from the global community. Which in turn can only result in a more painful evolution toward our final goal: wholeness.

To those folks who claim I ruined their evening of beauty and harmony. Did I ruin it? Is it possible that you ruined your own evening with your belief system? Barbara lived her life with enthusiasm and joy. She would not give you, me or anybody the power to ruin a moment of it regardless of what we might say. The night was marvelous, the music was awesome, we are blessed to be living in such an open community.

Thank you to the Festival board for dedicating the evening to a real "Sandpoint classic:" Barbara Veraniam.

KEN CASLER

Sandpoint