Watchman told to cease and desist

BONNERS FERRY —- Boundary County Watchman, a blog and social media site, has been ordered to stop using Boundary County’s official seal.

At the Jan. 3 county commission meeting, Boundary County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tevis Hull said he sent out a cease and desist letter in late December to the Boundary County Watchman to remove the county seal from their website and any other publication they have. As of Jan. 3, Hull had not received any response.

Adrienne Norris, of the Boundary County Watchman, told the Herald that she had not received the document.

“I have not received a letter or any communication in regards to using the county flag. Should I receive this letter or any other communication I will be glad to investigate the claim,” she said. “Should I be at fault, I will be glad to remedy the issue.”

However, Norris said after research of the use of a municipality flag, a similar case has already gone to trial and that court “deemed that a municipality insignia cannot be trademarked.”

She stood by statements posted on the Watchman’s social media page.

"We are citizens of Boundary County standing guard, watching. We post events, meetings, openings for jobs and other positions. Also, potential accountability issues and more,” she wrote to the Herald. “Disclaimer: We are not endorsed, authorized or sponsored by any entity or government agency.”

The Boundary County Watchman also has a YouTube channel, which as of Jan. 4, still uses the Boundary County seal as the channel's image. In September 2022, the YouTube channel first popped up under the name Boundary County.

On Sept. 13, the YouTube channel’s first video was the Boundary County Library board members meeting with Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, the library’s insurance company, for their insurance non-renewal appeal. The video has since been removed from the channel.

This meeting was in response to ICRMP’s executive director Timothy L. Osborne letter in August that the library district’s insurance is set to expire on midnight of Oct. 1, 2022 and will not be renewed. Increased risk exposure and potential for adverse claims were cited among the “numerous factors” behind the decision, he wrote.

In September, Boundary County Public Information Officer Andrew O’Neel was contacted by the Herald to confirm if the YouTube channel was affiliated with Boundary County.

“I do not believe so. I know nothing about one, but I will check to make sure. Odd that the county seal is being used,” O’Neel wrote via email.

On Dec. 16, Hull told the Herald that his office has been made aware of the social media sites and was researching the issue. “We will take appropriate action based upon the research,” he said

Boundary County Watchman’s operates out of boundarylibrary.org, which was the staging ground for the Boundary County Library board recall. The website is not owned or managed by the library; rather, it is operated by Andrienne Norris, who is the author of the blog posts and was a petition circulator for the recall.

In September 2022, Norris along with Tiffany Nichols, Fay Almond, and a local real estate official, Donna Capurso, filed a tort claim against the library for $5 million dollars in damages on grounds of religious discrimination. They wrote they have been “seriously stigmatized in their small communities and are now considered militant Christian fundamentalists due to the libraries coordinated smear campaign” against them.

Also in September, Norris wrote a letter requesting assistance of any agency or elected official to “properly handle […] serious matters of public concern.” She lists concerns of the past library director, Kimber Glidden, and wrote Glidden did her best to “discredit the efforts” of the community member working on the recall.

Glidden resigned in September stating it was due to “the political atmosphere of extremism, militant Christian fundamentalism, intimidation tactics, and threatening behavior currently being employed in the community.”

In the letter, sent to a number of local and state officials, Norris went on to list community members that opposed the library recall and their assumed place of employment.

ICRMP is a member-owned carrier created by Idaho local governments to provide property and casualty insurance for public entities. The carrier provides all insurance coverage for BCL, the city of Bonners Ferry, Kootenai County, Bonner and Boundary counties and other jurisdictions also use ICRMP.