Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1023
To the Editor: Rita and I want to thank all those who attended and helped with our wedding on Saturday, August 29. It was truly a special day full of community, celebration, love, and friendship. Many of those who came to help us tie the marriage knot did so to support and recognize the right of those of the same gender to marry, which only became legal a mere 21 years ago. While we both are happy to exercise this long-awaited right, we also hope someday that the stigma of “gay marriage” will be recognized simply as “marriage.” A big ‘thank...
7th anniversary of 9/11 To the Editor: It's hard to believe that it has been 25 years since the 9/11 attack. It was a day I'll never forget and more than just ‘something on the news.’ I was living and working in the Washington, DC, area on 9/11, though I grew up in New Jersey, just a few miles from Manhattan. My parents knew I was flying that day, so when I realized what was happening I tried to call them repeatedly, hitting ‘redial’ for over an hour and a half. Obviously, the communications trunk lines in and out of the New York City area we...
The federal government last week finally, behind schedule and without any plausible reason for the delay, released money that will go toward running the Alaska Marine Highway System. The grant funds, originally authorized by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill during the Biden administration, were expected last year, but the Trump administration dillied and dallied and delayed its decision until this year, just because. The Aug. 21 announcement came with all the hoopla expected in an election year, with Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is...
To the Editor: I walk my dogs a lot. I’m sure many have seen me walking my three huskies. I try to diversify our paths but I do often walk around the ball field, mostly in the early mornings. It’s quiet and lovely with the summer foliage. One morning, though, about a month ago, I was dismayed and incredibly disheartened to walk around the fields and find that a young, healthy tree had been pulled out of the ground, exposing all its roots. It was killed, though its leaves didn’t know it yet. I knew we hadn’t had weather significant enough...
Compared to federal spending, the average American is downright frugal. The federal debt is now at $40 trillion, doubled from 10 years ago. If you add up all the credit card debt, car and truck loans and home mortgages held by Americans, excluding commercial properties, you don’t even get to half of the $40 trillion the federal government owes lenders. It’s hard to think of Americans as thrifty when the average credit card debt is about $6,600 — but compared to the president and Congress, most anyone can look like a responsible spender. That...
To the Editor: My husband Toby is off fighting a wildfire in the Lower 48 – which, around here, is a standing invitation for the gremlins to show up. I’ve stopped blaming coincidence. A vehicle battery dies. Or two. The smoke detector thirty feet up, the one that needs the tall ladder, starts chirping. And my pup Jax saves his most creative accidents for when his dad is in another time zone. They all happen every. single. time. He leaves on a work trip. This time, the truck battery drained – check. Jax fell out of bed in the middle of the night...
In May 2024, when then-Congresswoman Mary Peltola introduced a Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act and Bottom Trawl Clarity Act, the bills drew immediate backlash. Peltola, a Democrat, received a letter signed by 53 trawl interests and nationwide fishery stakeholders urging her to withdraw the proposed legislation saying, “These new federal mandates and timelines are utterly unworkable.” Fast forward to 2026. In her current campaign to unseat 12-year incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, Peltola introduced a similar “Fighting for Alask...
To the Editor: I thank my grandfather for a phrase he used with my siblings and me decades ago, “Check your moral compass frequently.” I was five when I first heard it and had no idea what it meant. I do now. He taught me to stop from time to time and ask myself whether something feels right. I have known Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins since he was a kid. I have watched him grow and generously give his time to Sitka’s high school exchange students during their annual legislative visits. I respect him for running for governor. That is why I have been...
o the Editor: When Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins first announced his bid for governor, it was a breath of fresh air. He reminded me of the times when Alaskans joined together to make things happen, help each other thrive, and build strong resilient communities with purpose and promise. It’s time to restore that Alaska can-do spirit. JKT’s boundless energy, innovation, and enthusiasm for problem solving will revitalize Alaska. Over a decade of public service in the legislature, JKT built a reputation for integrity, humility, bipartisanship, and put...
“There oughta be a law” is a common expression when people are frustrated with the behavior of others, the rules of society, the actions of their elected officials. Well, Alaskans will have an opportunity in the statewide primary election Aug. 18 to approve a new law, limiting the dollar size of donation checks to political campaigns of candidates running for the state Legislature and governor’s office. This is the chance for voters to do something about taking the money out of politics, limiting big-donor influence and fighting infla...
To the Editor: After 2.5 months of writing for the Petersburg Pilot, I would like to take a second to say thank you. Thank you to all the kind people who took me on adventures, were welcoming, and showed a college student from Colorado what island life in Southeast Alaska is like. I learned so much from the great people I had the opportunity to work with and meet, and I feel lucky to have spent time in this amazing location. Petersburg showed me what a small, tight-knit community should look like. Community support, togetherness, and kindness...
To the Editor: I’ve often wondered how the legalized runaway engines of unregulated capitalism and legalized bribery — consuming everything and everyone at all costs — might stir concern among the locally elected representatives of Petersburg. On the one hand, the corporate titans win, by investing millions of dollars into legislative races. That fuels the turning and churning wheels of “progress” and social policy. All this occurring, on our national super highway to living hell. And on the other hand, might their roadkill and maimed “l...
To the Editor: The League of Women Voters of Alaska is a nonpartisan organization. We don’t support or oppose candidates or parties, but we do take positions on issues after reaching consensus based on careful and extensive study. We are supportive of Ballot Measure 1, which will be on Alaska’s primary election ballot, and restores campaign finance limits in Alaska. The initiative will allow individuals to compete more equitably for public office. It also closes the door on unlimited contributions from individuals and reduces the risk – and t...
To the Editor: What you don’t know can kill you. Thanks to this newspaper, I recently learned of a new, disturbing danger. Is it safe to pick the flowers, or eat the blueberries on Mitkof Island? Not anymore – if some reed canary grass happens to be uphill of your blueberry bush, then Forest service employees may have recently toxified those berries. In the name of “invasive” species they’ve decided to begin spraying highly carcinogenic herbicides on Mitkof Island! Using glyphosate based herbicides, and “milestone” (Aminopyralid...
Celebrating our country’s 250th birthday on July 3rd and 4th here in Petersburg was fun and exhausting. This town knows how to put on great community celebrations! I appreciated the folks, festivities, and fun, especially hanging out at the voting rights group’s booth, enjoying the volunteers there and the people passing by. I also appreciated the fact that some people were passing out pocket U.S. Constitutions. So I decided to take a deep dive into my pocket U.S. Constitution. What an amazing, enduring, evolving, 239 year old document! I not...
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone whose actions saved our son Tausani’s life. We are forever grateful to the swift actions of Trevor McKay, Mike Doyle, Brent Birchell and Mark Severson of the F/V Odin and neighboring boats for their quick mobilization in initiating rescue services and engaging the U.S. Coast Guard. So many things went right after he went overboard, starting with Tausani’s own actions underwater and the incredible skill and herculean effort taken by Trevor to retrieve him and never let go, for Mark bei...
Just as mosquitos, outdoor barbecues and sometimes even sunshine and warm skies return every summer in Alaska, and just as king salmon used to return in abundance and many Lower 48 relatives visit in too much abundance, Alaska experiences a special summer event in election years: The return of the dividend-promising political candidate. More persistent than swarms of malicious mosquitos and nasty no-see-ums, the PFD pledges are immune to citronella candles, aerosol sprays or mesh nets to cover your face. They spread on social media at a faster...
Update on Girl Scouts in Petersburg To the Editor: This is an update to the community on the status of the Girl Scout Organization in Petersburg. I have been a Girl Scout volunteer in Petersburg for over 25 years and truthfully, I have loved every minute of it. For the past 20 years, I’ve served as Service Unit Manager for the Petersburg Service Unit, working with Girl Scouts of Alaska to support all Girl Scouts in Petersburg. Over the past several years, the number of volunteers we’ve been able to recruit has steadily decreased to the poi...
State primary elections are happening and the midterm general elections are fast approaching. Lacking evidence of widespread voter fraud claims, it seems our POTUS is escalating his efforts to get the US Senate to pass the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, already passed in the House. (Question: what, or who rather, is this act really looking to safeguard?) The pretense is election security, the intended effect is disenfranchisement of millions of eligible citizen voters, and consequently, the Republicans stay in power, and...
Until last week, Alaska voters were facing one important decision on this year’s ballot to choose elected officials who work for the public, not political parties. That decision would be to uphold the system of ranked-choice voting and open primaries that has been state law since 2022. The system takes away from political parties the power of selecting candidates and lets Alaskans make their own decisions on who can lead the state in open primary elections. Vote no on the ballot question in November to block a return to the days of partisan p...
The state ferry system’s mainline service to Southeast Alaska remains intact under the draft schedule for the fall/winter season of Oct. 1 through April 30, at one sailing a week. The rest of coastal Alaska is not so fortunate. The Prince William Sound communities of Cordova and Valdez would be left without any service for five months Oct. 1 through March 5 while the Aurora is in the shop for annual winter maintenance and to replace rusted steel on the 49-year-old ship. Gulf of Alaska service to Kodiak, Homer and a couple of small c...
I’m sorry to say this column is about taxes. Oil and gas taxes. Corporate taxes. Legislative debate over taxes. If you want to read about the World Cup or salmon fishing or summer recipes for the best potato salad, this is not your cup of iced tea. But what better to talk about on the week of the nation’s birth than taxes, one of the major gripes of the colonies against England. In the week before the nation’s 250th birthday, the Alaska Legislature is embroiled in its own debate over taxes. It has nothing to do with tea and everything to do wi...
I think the general perception of our nation’s founders is of a grouping of bespectacled, white-haired old men speaking an antique language that sounds almost foreign to our modern ears. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of our Declaration of Independence, was a youthful 33 years old when he drafted the document in 1776. John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress that approved it, was 39 when he applied his flamboyant signature as the first to sign it. The original document, its words inscribed with a quill pen in e...
What reasons do you have to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday? What thoughts come to mind thinking about Independence Day – fireworks, hot dogs, picnics, fun gatherings, blind rowboat races, log-rolling, bubble gum contests? Imagine two hundred and fifty candles on a gigantic birthday cake that says Happy Birthday America! Pondering the semiquincentennial, the following also comes to mind for me. I think of our democratic republic, governed by the U.S. Constitution, an incredible, enduring document born out of blood, sweat, tears, har...
To the Editor: The celebration of Amy Hallingstad Day reminded me of an experience my dad told me about. Gordon Jensen was twelve years old and working in the cannery before the days of child labor laws. It was a warm summer day and there were a lot of fish in. He was pushing cans into the retort when he noticed everyone was leaving the fish house. He followed them and sat on the dock with all the workers. Amy had called a strike and he remembered that management argued with her and shouted at her for hours as the sun got hot and the fish got...
