Sorted by date Results 1001 - 1025 of 1031
Apparently we’re wealthy? To the Editor: It should give us all a comforting feeling to know that we live in a community so wealthy that we can pay someone $20,000 to totally destroy and haul away to be burned or dumped a building worth in excess of $500,000. If we tore down every building on the island 29 years old or older there wouldn’t be much left, especially on main street. Mike Schwartz...
We like Skookum To the Editor: Last week’s letter about our town’s vet really bothered me. I understand that letters are people’s opinions and everybody has one, so I thought I would write an opinion of my own. I don’t care that Dr. Hill bought a house in town, or that he bought the clinic. I will not take my pets to him. I tried that once and was turned away. He told me, very rudely, to go home and give her some water. Well I had already tried that and a vet was my last resort, she was not eating or drinking and I wanted someone to help. S...
Hello again from Juneau. We're down to crunch time now, with the major focus being on the budgets, education funding, and oil taxes. The House is now primarily hearing Senate bills. The Senate is doing the same, by hearing House bills during the last week and a half of the session. There will be hundreds of bills that will die at the end of this session. Less than ten bills have passed both houses. The Senate passed their version of the Operating Budget, changing the House version in hundreds...
Fundraising drive a success To the Editor: Rae C. Stedman Elementary recognizes the combined efforts of many toward the success of our fundraising drive entitled, “Reading with a Meaning.” From local businesses to community members, from parents to students, we linked efforts and stood as one to give the gift of a lifetime to the children of Wondo Genet, Ethiopia--an education. Our brightly decorated little yellow donation boxes were accepted and displayed at local businesses. Many businesses then showed their support with a generous don...
Last year the Sons of Norway Fedrelandet Lodge #23 celebrated their 100th birthday as an organization. This year, the SONs celebrate the 100th year of their hall’s construction. The amazing thing about the Sons of Norway Hall is that it was built in just three months. That is an incredible feat given the state of construction technology in 1912. Given the size of the structure, an incredible number of volunteers must have showed up for the work party to get such a project completed in such a short time. Today, the same can-do attitude prevails...
Hello again from the Legislature. Now that we’re down to the last two weeks of session, the pace is really picking up and the hours getting longer. I was very pleased that my resolution to recreate the state’s dedicated transportation fund received approval of the House on Friday. House Joint Resolution 4 would put a constitutional amendment before the voters in November to amend the Alaska Constitution - reinstating a dedicated Alaska Transportation Infrastructure Fund (ATIF). As the state’s po...
A spring time thank you To the Editor: With spring just around the corner I would like to thank the City of Petersburg, especially Jesse O’Connor and his crew for the way they have been taking care of the cemetery these past years. I have loved ones up there and when I spend time there, it seems more like a park then a cemetery. Also I would like to give a big thanks for the flowers and hanging baskets all over town. This really beautifies Petersburg during the summer months. Jim Stromdahl Requesting information To the Editor: My name is E...
Plans for making construction improvements to the Blaquiere Point boat launch ramp will be met with outright glee by those who have used the largely unimproved site. Getting onto the Stikine River via the Blaquiere Point launch site defied the oft quoted phrase, “getting there is half the fun.” Likewise, retrieving your boat, particularly at low tide, was an adventure. Finding pickup trucks stuck in the mud as the tide rolled in; seeing broken down vehicles and boat trailers abandoned on the rocky slope; removing beached deadheads prior to usi...
Hello again from Juneau. By the time you read this report we’ll be entering the last 22 days of the session, during which we will be focusing on passage of the bills that we really feel are the most important. The House has passed the Operating Budget, which is our only constitutional duty. Now we’re waiting for the Senate to share the Capital Budget with us, so that we can carefully review and hopefully add to it before adjournment. There’s been a lot of discussion lately about Energy. With...
Sea Otter Crafts To the Editor: Under the Marine Mammal Protection of 1972 Alaska Natives are exempt and allowed to harvest marine mammals for subsistence and to make and sell crafts made from the animal parts. This exemption was included to protect and insure that our traditions, culture and art can continue. The Fish and Wildlife Service is implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act by using gray area regulations that we can't understand with severe legal penalties that is causing many to not participate in sea otter hunting and skin...
Hello again from the Alaska Legislature. Well, it’s still snowing and we’re still debating Education Funding, Oil and Gas Taxes, and lots of other issues that are so important to Alaska’s future. I hope we’re able to get it all done within the next 38 days. The high cost of energy is one big issue that impacts all of us. The mission of the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) is to “reduce the cost of energy in Alaska”. To that end, the AEA worked with Southeast Conference to produce the Southeast A...
Issues with biomass use To the Editor: The Southeast Integrated Resource Plan comment period ends March 19. The SEIRP lays out various scenarios for conversion to alternative sources of heat energy for the region. We believe the plan wrongly favors conversion to biomass sources of heat energy while ignoring or downplaying the effectiveness of other alternatives. The plan calls for an 80% conversion from oil and electric heat across the region to wood pellet stoves and boilers. It largely ignored the use of heat pumps as a highly effective and e...
Hello again from the capital. This week we passed the mid-point for this year’s legislative session, so we’re on the downhill slide for the end of the session – with a lot of work yet to be done. Friday was another good day for my office. House Bill 216 passed the House unanimously. It will greatly improve understanding of the regulation process for the public as well as legislators. All departments will be required to write a brief descriptive summary, in easy to understand English, of every...
Field inventories needed To the Editor: The Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan FEIS of 1-23-2008 provides for the sustainability of the resources of the Tongass National Forest yet the proposed Tonka Timber Sale only provides for viable populations of deer for subsistence. Definition of these 3 key words are (1)Sustainability- to provide for support of and sustenance or nourishment for. (2)Resource- something that lies ready for use or that can be drawn upon for aid to the care of a need. (3) Viable- able to live and likely to survive....
The buzz in the hallways, here at the capital, is all about Education funding. We all recognize that if we’re going to keep America’s workforce strong, today’s students need to be getting the best education possible. There are those who believe that the state hasn’t raised education funding in several years. This is not so. In fact, in Fiscal Year 2009 the House of Representatives instituted forward funding education with a three year increase that just ended two years ago. In addition to incr...
Alaska’s current petroleum tax system, Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (or ACES, for short), was an ill-conceived policy pushed through by then Governor Sarah Palin in 2007. When ACES was voted on in the Senate, I was one of only five Senators who voted against it. My reason was simple: I felt then and I still feel that ACES is anything but “equitable” and that under ACES the government take at high oil prices is excessive. Those who voted for ACES did so with the best of intentions and I don’t hold that vote against them. Instead,...
The plow man is missing To the Editor: What ever happened to the city’s road grader? We know the plow man retired years ago. Why haven’t we replaced him? I’ve seen (working in his place) as many as four men, two trucks, one loader and two shovels, wow. How is that as effective or inexpensive as one man and one grader? It’s not. Our streets are horrible. Ira II looks like a dry river at the bottom of the Rockies, 6th Street like area 51 bomb range, and 8th Street more like prairie dog mounds in Nebraska. We could save an enormous amount of mone...
While we understand the reasons many feel the Town Hall Meeting with Deputy Attorney General Richard Svobodny was not productive, the meeting did benefit Petersburg. Face-to-face meetings are good for all parties. It’s easier to deal with people you know and with those who know you. It is pretty evident that folks attending the meeting will be calling Mr. Svobodny in the not too distant future. Frankly, there seems to be undisclosed reasons why Juneau D.A. David Brower has sidestepped any efforts to improve communications with Police Chief J...
Hello again from the Capital. We’ve now completed the first thirty days of the session. There’s a lot to be done yet, and I’m concerned about whether we’ll get all the important legislation accomplished. These ninety-day sessions are a real stretch. The week began with a rush and ended with a new piece of legislation being introduced that will be of great interest to District 2. I have joined with a group of coastal legislators in introducing Coastal Management Program (ACMP) legisla...
A concerned tribal member To the Editor: It is with troubled emotions that I write this letter concerning the outcome of the unemployment hearing of Susan Harai and Petersburg Indian Association. Tribal members have not been able to get clear information of what is the financial condition of the tribe. Profit and Loss statements have only been let out to board members for review then required to return them before the meeting closes. The exhibits listed on the unemployment hearing site are alarming especially when the hearing officer states in...
Thank you for your letter dated February 6, 2012, regarding the District Attorney's office that provides criminal prosecutions for the residents of Petersburg. I am happy to attend your town meeting and discuss the issues that you identify in your letter. Your letter identifies these issues as – "extremely disturbing statistics related to the dismissal of a high number of charges, extraordinary plea bargains and in all honesty, a seemingly lack of concern on the part of the District Attorney's office." I do want you to know that because of t...
Picked, clicked thanked To The Editor: A couple of weeks ago the Pilot carried a nice article about Alaskans’ sharing their PFDs at unprecedented rates through the PickClickGive option on their applications. As possibly the smallest non-profit organization in Petersburg, WAVE wasn’t really expecting much of a response when we sent in our paperwork to participate in this program. What an amazing surprise when we received a check in the mail at the end of December. Twenty-five individuals, half of whom chose to remain anonymous, donated a total o...
Our community is quite blessed. The weekly police reports are short and smattered with inconsequential notations of our winter existence in a small town. While big city felons wreak havoc elsewhere, our police respond to reports of birds impeding traffic while being fed on city streets. (We wonder why good old-fashioned stationary bird feeders won’t do the trick.) Gathering teens are reported acting suspiciously, and responders discover all is well. The police report is also our lost and found column. Everything from cash to jewelry to cell p...
Hello and welcome to week three of Peggy’s Corner of the House. This has been a busy week, with four of my bills being heard. Bills don’t always pass out of committee on the first hearing. Sometimes there are questions or details that need to be worked out. This week, three of my bills were held over in committee until next week. House Concurrent Resolution 20, which will designate February as American Heart Month in Alaska, did successfully pass the House of Representatives on Friday – unani... Full story
Hello and welcome to week two of Peggy’s Corner of the House. The pace is really picking up as legislators jockey to get their bills into committees early so that they can get them passed before the end of the session. Any bills that don’t pass this year will have to start over from scratch during the next two-year legislative cycle. One of the bills at the top of my stack this year is House Bill 216 that deals with how we adopt, amend and repeal regulations. The first part of the bill req...
