Trip to Georgia includes meeting with former president

Were you surprised by the results from Tuesday’s election?

I was pleased that we had a 10-percent higher voter turnout than the rest of the state but 39 percent is still too low.

I was alarmed that 182 people voted for Shaun Winkler but it was gratifying to realize that he only received 3 percent of the votes for sheriff. My dog could get that many votes and I am pretty sure he would lose the cat vote all together.

I was also unhappy to see some of the slash-and-burn negative ads seep into the Bee from some of these PACs.

I am unhappy that I didn’t vote for the first time since I became 18. More about that some other time.

This grand experiment to close the primaries didn’t work if the idea was to disinfranchise voters or to keep Democrats from jumping over to the Republican primary ballot. My guess is the negative ads plus the thought that voters might get locked out, stoked up the democratic embers and actually brought more folks out to vote.

Congratulations to all of the winners on Tuesday.

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Sandpoint resident Susan Drinkard recently had a dream come true. She and her sister, Barbara Pemp, met Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at a church in Plains, Ga. They met the Carters at their Maranatha Baptist Church on April 29 where they fulfilled a longtime wish to hear President Carter teach Sunday School.

“I have admired the Carters all my adult life. Under his presidency I was able to attend college because of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant for low-income students, a grant that was abolished under President Reagan’s administration,” Drinkard said.

“He was the first president I campaigned for, and he made many decisions that were unpopular, but wise. Rosalynn Carter (we were told it is pronounced Rose-a-Lynn) has written two books on mental illness, books which have been helpful to me in my work with local mental health clients.

“Even though they are both 87 years old, the Carters continue to shepherd huge crusades for humanity through the Carter Center. They have effectively eliminated the guinea worm parasite in Africa and Asia that had infested 3.5 million people at one time; they continue their work with Habitat for Humanity, and President Carter said the next chapter will be about ministering to prisoners, as instructed in the New Testament gospels.

“When I walked down the hallway in the back of the church, I saw the Secret Service men and woman by the bathroom. But I also spotted a list of deacons on the bulletin board, and in small type there was Rosalynn Carter’s name and the names of the seven or so families she serves there in Plains. It touched me. These folks are truly inspiring,” Drinkard said.

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The Daily Bee has been running ‘I took the Bee with me” photos since 2000. We started soliciting photos about a week after I started as publisher. Since that time we have received more that 600 photos of people — or inanimate objects — holding up the Bee in a variety of unique locales. The closest photo was taken at City Beach last year. The furthest away was a photo taken at the South Pole.

Why not take the Bee with you on your next adventure?

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Taste of Home is coming. If you don’t know what the Taste of Home is, please skip this message. I’ll bet most readers know all about this multimedia juggernaut that distributes millions of magazines and hundreds of thousands of cooking books every year.

A Taste of Home cooking show is coming to Sandpoint on June 4, courtesy of your favorite newspaper, Yoke’s Fresh Market, Sears, Sandpoint Furniture, Trinity at City Beach and a whole host of other local sponsors.

Chef Michael Barna will cook up at least four meals and will keep the audience entertained for two hours. There will be many drawings and goodies for the gift bags for every ticket holder are already starting to show up at the Bee.

The reason I am mentioning this is to remind you that general admission tickets are only $10 and there are a limited number of VIP tickets for $45. The last time we had Taste of Home here, it sold out.

I want to let you know that Sears has some awesome drawing prizes and Dan has a special event up his sleeve. The term “you have to be present to win” comes to mind.

Call or stop by the Bee or Yoke’s to purchase your tickets. There are 800 tickets available and we sold more than 90 on the first day they were offered.

We’ll see you at the Taste of Home!

All the best!

David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.