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Alaskans often like to complain — a lot, and loudly — about national groups sticking their noses and opinions into the workings of the 49th state. So, it’s only fair to extend a “thank you” when a national group puts up its money and time into doing something Alaskans like. The National Forest Foundation, chartered by Congress in 1992 as the official nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service, is partnering with the federal agency to rebuild the popular public-use cabin at Anan Bay and, in an even bigger undertaking, building new cabins th...
It seems the governor’s office must like country music. Can’t argue with that choice. The lyrics speak of American dreams and heartbreaks. What makes the songs so popular is that they tell stories, believable or not, such as the famous line: “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.” Sadly, that same line is essentially all the public is getting from the governor’s office to explain his decisions behind a dozen executive orders that will take effect unless rejected by the Legislature before mid-March. While some of the orders are not controver...
To Whom It May Concern: On Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at a meeting of the Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) Tribal Council, a new council president was sworn in, as were three new council members. At the point in the meeting when the floor was opened for comments from visitors, I addressed the council as a private citizen. Since snippets from that address may be entering the wider public domain, I have decided to share my comments in their entirety. “I would like to take this opportunity to address the four newly-seated council members a...
Thank you Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department! To the Editor: January 10th at 2:30 am, we were woken to a sound like a jet engine, only to see one of our outbuildings engulfed in flames. The building that housed our hot tub, sauna and large freezer caught on fire and burnt to the ground. In the building were 4 small propane tanks and one medium sized tank. Fortunately the tanks all vented at the top valve, so there were no explosions, just forge like heat. Even though everything in the building mostly melted from the intense heat, no one was...
Ranked-choice rankles the losers Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel Publisher It’s becoming an increasingly common tactic for election losers to blame anyone but themselves. In Alaska, that means several of the recent losers and their supporters blame their defeat on ranked-choice voting, which took effect for the 2022 elections after the public voted in favor of the change in 2020. But rather than learn from their losses and put up candidates who appeal to a broader range of voters, which is the smart way to win elections, the losers want to den...
The Future of Farming at Point Agassiz To the Editor: My wife and I own 17 acres at Point Agassiz and we’re starting a farm. It’s an amazing place and we love being there; maybe it’s the glacial rebound but something about it feels truly uplifting. A century ago eight families and one bachelor claimed homesteads there to farm. They produced good food, especially dairy from cows grazing the abundant grass. Socioeconomic trends of the 20th century pulled that first wave of farmers back to civilization. But some people still live at Point Agass...
Correcting the wrongs of the past To the Editor: As the Landless Native bill works through Congress and many Alaskans eagerly await its passage and others oppose it, a look at the past provides a broader perspective. In the years prior to Statehood when Alaska was a Territory, there was a movement to repatriate lands to Alaska Natives through the creation of a system of reservations throughout the Territory. At the time, the Governor of Alaska was Ernest Gruening, a wise and learned man who believed strongly in Native rights. He did not...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is starting his sixth year as the state’s top elected leader. Sadly, he’s not providing much fiscal leadership, other than beating the drums for his perpetual political bandwagon that trumpets the Permanent Fund dividend at the front of the parade, with public schools playing second fiddle. It’s sour music, off-key and off-base. The governor unveiled his proposed state budget last week, setting out a spending plan for the fiscal year that will start July 1 and which legislators will start working through when they recon...
The director of the state agency that manages the food stamp program for tens of thousands of Alaskans says the staff is again overwhelmed with work, delaying benefits for thousands of households by months. That’s months without the food assistance they need and that most are entitled to receive — all because the state has failed at its job for more than a year. That’s months relying on friends, family, food banks, or just going without adequate nutrition. It’s not because they did anything wrong. It’s that the state failed to maintain...
Please let all the children have a Christmas To the Editor: I’m writing this letter because The Salvation Army cut-off age is 13 years old for Christmas presents. I can’t believe they have it that way – there are a lot of families struggling that have 14 to 18 year-olds who I think deserve a Christmas too. This isn’t fair and the Salvation Army never did this before. This isn’t right. I’m asking the Salvation Army to rethink this decision. Please let all the children have a Christmas. Sincerely, Tonia Grant...
Clear-cut logging To the Editor: I thank Mike Schwartz for his thoughtful letter to the Editor regarding the Landless Native bill in last week’s Pilot. The point regarding the traditional Native philosophy of Native stewardship of the land was both beautiful and sad at the same time. Beautiful to read how the timeless principle of reverential respect for Mother Earth guided the stewardship decisions of the Native peoples on the lands of S.E.Alaska since time immemorial. Sad to think how that beautiful philosophy from the past played out in t...
To Whom It May Concern To the Editor: I am 82 years old now. My great-grandchildren are seventh generation of family residents growing up in Petersburg. Kay and I were adopted and given Tlingit names by elder Pete Marten, Senior, fifty years ago, into a Tlingit society that has been scientifically and indisputably proven to exist in S.E. Alaska for over 10,000 years and literally hundreds of generations. Thirty years ago, Spencer Israelson, who spent his youth at Point Agassiz, took me to the mainland and showed me many petroglyphs that he and...
Clear Answers to our Petersburg Medical Center, Part 1 To the Editor: Like many in Petersburg, I didn’t understand specifically why we needed a new facility and how it would be paid for. I addressed the facility problems in the previous two letters. Apparently the decision to build a new facility was made over twelve years ago. Our CEO, Phil Hofstetter, was hired almost six years ago to rebuild by the hospital board. The 2015 architectural report (8 years old) cites $43 million to repair the systems. This is not possible with patients there a...
Thank you To the Editor: Thank you to Hammer & Wikan for re-establishing the footpath from the grocery store to the post office. Right now, the path is better than it ever was. Good job!, Sam Bunge Change the ferry LeConte’s name To the Editor: Do you believe in equality? Do you believe in human rights? Please sign the petition in the link below asking the Alaska Marine Highway System to change the name of the ferry LeConte. Joseph Leconte was a slave owning Georgian who believed in racial superiority and never once stepped foot in the state of...
Local support makes VSC auction a huge success To the Editor: Viking Swim Club would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our wonderful community for their overwhelming support of the Viking Swim Club Auction. The success of this event would not have been possible without the incredible generosity and dedication of our friends and neighbors. First and foremost, we want to thank the many donors who contributed items, services, and experiences to our auction. Their willingness to give back to the community is truly inspiring. The local and...
Unconscionable. Indefensible. There are many words to describe the disrespect for the public and disregard for honest government by the actions of the governor’s office to block publication of a factual report on teacher salaries in Alaska. Even for the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, this is a low point in putting politics ahead of good government. And that’s saying a lot for an administration that has been criticized by the court for firing state employees who refused to pledge political loyalty to the governor. State government should...
What is wrong with the PMC buildings? To the Editor: Part 2 continued from last week. My understanding of the 2015, 50-page architectural report. I imagine some of these problems have been resolved in the past 8 years. Thanks to the valiant efforts of Mike Boggs and his team PMC is still operational and structurally sound. We are blessed to have all the PMC employees/staff who keep our hospital/clinic going. In fact, our LTC just received a statewide award for excellence. The biggest issue for staff and patients seems to be SPACE. There is no...
Alaska officials who say the stars are aligned for the long-dreamt, long-on-the-odds multibillion-dollar North Slope natural gas project are confusing shiny stars with black holes. Like the black hole the state already has poured close to a billion dollars into over the past two decades, thinking that international markets would like expensive Alaska gas better than lower-risk, less costly gas from anywhere else. But unlike black holes, where the force of gravity is so strong that nothing escapes, the Alaska gas line dream continues to survive...
What is wrong with the PMC buildings? To the Editor: After reviewing the 50-page 2015 architectural report and visiting with the current Petersburg Medical Center employees, I am sharing my understanding of this issue in two letters. The hospital consists of three separate constructions: the long-term care, built in 1959 is cement. The acute care building in 1983-84 is steel and wood. The clinic consists of 5 modular sections. They are wood and connected in 1994. The architectural design is amazing with the available space. Renovations include...
Jews in Israel and Palestinians in Gaza are embroiled in the deadliest fighting in decades, prompted by an organized assault by Hamas soldiers who murdered innocent people in Israel on Oct. 7, while also taking hostages. Israel has followed the Hamas raid with deadly retaliatory attacks on Gaza — military targets but also more innocent civilians caught in the war. I am losing hope for a lasting peace in the Middle East, even though I was always told it was possible and always wanted that to be true. I am Jewish — culturally, not rel...
Thanks Jeff! To the Editor: With the election over, I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Jeff Meucci for his many years of service to the community. I’ve known Jeff a long time, but really got to know him through his excellent marine biology tours on the Kestrel that he gave to my 5th grade class for many years. As a mayor and assembly member, I can think of no one who worked harder to understand complex problems and look at all sides of issues. He was relentless when asking questions – some found this off putting, but as a cit...
Negative stereotype To the Editor: In the spirit of free enterprise, Sig and Ambre Burrell are trying to address the demand for affordable housing in our community by developing a manufactured home neighborhood on their privately-owned land. Some people argue that Petersburg should not give up this beautiful open space; they also complain about ugliness and lack of cleanliness in mobile home parks and of prevalent crime in these neighborhoods. One individual believes that people who live in trailer homes neglect their pets and are outsiders,...
Do we really need a new hospital? To the Editor: When I first heard about the hospital project, like many of you, I had a lot of questions. Do we really need a new hospital? The clinic, which is the part I mainly visit, looks great. And, how in the world would we pay for an $85 million facility? Phil Hostetter and the hospital board informed me on both questions. First, they started with a study of the current hospital. The original hospital, where Long Term Care is located, dates to the 1950s and is failing rapidly due to poor plumbing and...
The night before my team and I were scheduled to fly from Juneau to Haines on Seaplanes with the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, I did something I’ve never done before when traveling in Southeast. I wished for rain and wind. I secretly hoped our flights would be grounded so the secretary would get a real taste of transportation in our state, where we often have to pivot to Plans B and C to get where we’re going. As luck and weather would have it, my prayers were quickly answered when we got the updated forecast at 4:30 a.m...
When I was much younger, hallucinations were an affliction of college students who figured drug-assisted education was the answer to life — or at least worth a try. Not me (honest). I found it more entertaining to stay sober and watch everyone else act stupid, and then tell them the stories the next day and at reunions for years to come. I had figured that self-inflicted hallucinations were in the past, an unhealthy phase of life, much like eating four hot dogs, with fries, in one sitting. It was my favorite weekend meal with high school f...
