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A big part of a well-functioning democracy is running for office or, if you don’t want your name on the ballot, backing a candidate, taking a position on a ballot issue, and writing checks for the campaigns you support. Writing those checks to elect your favored candidates and contributing to campaigns to win, or defeat, ballot propositions that do, or do not, serve your interests and align with your beliefs is everyone’s constitutional right. Freedom of expression includes the freedom to spend your money to promote your own self-interests and...
A note of thanks To the Editor: We’d like to recognize everybody who contributed to the Welcome Back Vietnam Warriors: starting out with Home Health, Petersburg Medical Center for putting on the breakfast on the morning of the 29th. The Moose got into it by doing hamburger night for all veterans. Then after the ceremony the Elks put out finger foods for all the Vietnam Vets. Also thank you to the Petersburg School District for the use of the gym, and Jamie Cabral, Dino Brock, Jim Engell and the baseball team for helping set up the gym and t...
Maybe Alaskans were tired of hearing the all-too-familiar refrains: Good candidates don’t run for public office anymore; it’s too expensive; ill-mannered social media posts go after their families and disrupt their lives; voters are too easily swayed by misleading attack ads; and no one wants to hear the truth about solving the country’s problems. So why bother running for office. Clearly, 51 candidates to fill the seat of the late Don Young, Alaska’s congressman for the past half-century, decided to ignore all the reasons not to run. Or maybe...
This year’s switch to ranked-choice voting in Alaska is something new, maybe even surprisingly new for those who missed or forgot about the 2020 statewide ballot initiative that put forth the change. But new, while exciting for some people, can be scary and disconcerting and disruptive for others. This coming from a 70-year-old who is stuck so deep in his own comfort zone that I wear the same button-down cotton shirts (never white), same two-tone saddle shoes, use the same hair shampoo and same original flavor Crest toothpaste. Hey, nothing w...
Keep the Ocean Rangers program: Together we can have a voice To the Editor: Whether you are a commercial fisherman or just an Alaskan who enjoys recreating in Southeast Alaska’s waters fishing for salmon, halibut, crab, shrimp, digging for clams or collecting seaweed, you should be deeply concerned about SB 180 which will eliminate the Ocean Ranger program that was put into law by voters in 2006. In mid-summer of 2019 Governor Dunleavy vetoed funding for the Ocean Ranger program just after Carnival Corporation was fined $20 million for i...
No, this column is not directed at oil producers. They are not the guilty party in this tale of cost escalation. Nor is this column about the many businesses around the world stressed by energy prices that have shot up faster and higher than fireworks on the Fourth of July. As crude oil has jumped, surged and spiked from just over $65 a barrel on Dec. 1 to painfully over $100 a barrel this month, consumers have been paying more at the pump — whether the corner gas station for a dozen or more gallons to fill up a car or pickup, a couple h...
Many Alaskans will be hurting under $5-a-gallon gasoline, and rural residents who pay even higher prices will hurt even more. The state treasury, meanwhile, is flush with higher oil production tax and royalty checks, depositing tens of millions of dollars more each month than expected at the start of the year. Oil at $100-plus a barrel is guilty on both counts — making people poorer and making the Alaska checkbook richer. To use one to help the other, many Alaska lawmakers seem to be nervously coalescing around the idea of using much of the a...
The state of Alaska, Congress and the president, individual companies and people do not all have the same capabilities and authority to show their disgust and dismay at Russia’s unprovoked, murderous attack on Ukraine, a sovereign nation at war with no one until Russian President Vladimir Putin decided he had to prove that he is the toughest, meanest kid on the planet. But everyone needs to do something. The world has suffered far too many deaths, ruined countries, poverty and famine due to wars over the centuries to sit by and watch more of t...
Thank you to the clinic staff and to the community To the Editor: We wanted to take a moment to thank the staff at Joy Janssen Clinic, particularly Dr. Hess, as well as the radiologists, medical technicians, and Rexall Drug, for their diligent care last week. Their thoughtfulness and professionalism made the heartbreak of miscarriage easier to bear. We also wanted to thank our community for all the ways they have shown support in this difficult time. On dark winter days it can be easy to daydream about all the places we’d like to go, but on t...
More than a month has passed since Sen. Mike Shower claimed that he and other Alaska legislators were so busy they didn’t have time to deal with campaign finance legislation this year. He was not telling the truth. It was just something Shower said to conceal the effort to allow unlimited campaign donations in Alaska, which is what Gov. Mike Dunleavy and others in the Republican Party want. Shower is the chairman of the state affairs committee in the Senate, a committee that is responsible for dealing with this topic. He hasn’t done any...
It’s not often you hear political debates that invoke religion and booze but have nothing to do with temperance, the social ills of alcohol or strict adherence to church teachings. In Alaska, those points are being offered in the context of the state budget and oil prices — both of which are similar to alcohol and religion in the 49th state. They can be intoxicating, debatable and divisive. High oil prices of recent months — and even higher in recent days after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine — have made Alaska rich again, for now....
My hometown in Poland, Chelm, is 20 miles away from the border with Ukraine. My mother called me last Saturday. She told me that the refugees are coming already to my hometown, most of them are women with kids. It looks like most of them are just passing by to get far away from the war, but some of them are deciding to stay and wait for friends or family that are still waiting in the Ukrainian traffic. So far, since the invasion began a few days ago, Poland has taken in over 500,000 refugees from Ukraine. My hometown’s population is around 6... Full story
To the Editor: If you are a commercial fisherman, like we are, or just an Alaskan who enjoys being on the water for sport or subsistence, you assume we all care about protecting our beautiful state and its resources for generations to come. Right now, the Governor has proposed SB 180 and HB 303 with complicated wording but with the goal of getting rid of the Ocean Ranger program. If these bills pass, this globally praised program will be off the books and most likely never to be returned. The Ocean Ranger Program was approved by voters in 2006...
Since he officially began his reelection campaign last August, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has spent nothing on personnel for his campaign. He’s paid for food, processing fees for fundraising, office supplies, postage and travel, but nothing on any campaign staff from August until the end of January. One way he has managed this is by using state resources for campaign purposes. For instance, his campaign spokesman, Andrew Jensen, is a state communications employee in Dunleavy’s office. Jensen’s state job is to sing the praises of Dunleavy and attac...
If at first you don’t succeed, it’s not always better that you try, try again. But try, try again is what we do well in Alaska. Well, not so successfully, but we are consistent in trying the patience of common sense and fiscal restraint. For Alaskans, that could apply to the long-proposed, longingly dreamy North Slope natural gas pipeline project — a $39 billion quest in search of customers, partners, investors and lenders. Other than that, it has all the free political support it needs. The state has poured about $1.5 billion into vario...
Come fly your flags with me Americans To the Editor: I’ve recently found myself in many interesting conversations with my six year old about patriotism and what that means. Last week as we watched the big trucks and American flags stream past our house, I was reminded that no matter which side of the Covid aisle you stand on, so to speak, we are all united in one way: patriotism. My son and I started discussing the idea, “what does patriotism mean to me?” We explored many ideals and shared meaningful conversation on the topic, and I invit...
Cultural Richness of Petersburg To the Editor: Petersburg’s inaugural Séet Ká Festival happens February 10-16. This is such an exciting thing to see! It’s an incredible opportunity to learn about the Tlingit culture that has been present on these lands for thousands of years and will be for thousands more. Whether they are new to you or deep in your blood, Tlingit social and artistic practices are available to you in person or by Zoom during this festival. Take full advantage! Like so many of you I had the benefit of being born and raised in Pe...
Those who don’t like Alaska’s new voting system have a couple of choices. They can go about their divisive path, appealing only to the far sides of issues, and hope that someday they can convince most voters that their way is the only way to life without taxes, liberty without responsibilities and, of course, larger Permanent Fund dividends. Or they can see the reality that most voters want a better way — consensus, compromise and solutions. Regardless of what choice they make, ranked-choice voting is coming to the Alaska ballot starting with...
A well deserved recognition To the Editor, This letter is recognition of Sammy Parker and Lee Newton who announced the retirement of Petersburg Business Services in last week’s Pilot. I’m proud to have been a regular customer at your Beech Boy hamburger joint in the 1970’s, when your Big Boy burger, large fries and cola were under 2 bucks, to have worked with Lee at the barite mine in Duncan Canal and enjoyed Sammy’s wonderful cooking for the hungry 20+ crew of miners. Thank you for your time as chef at Mountain View Manor, and for 50 years o...
To the Editor: My wife and I, Marja Smets and Bo Varsano of Farragut Farm, are the founders and organizers of the Southeast Alaska Farmers Summit. This conference takes place in a different Southeast Alaska community every other year. The original event was held in Petersburg in 2015, it migrated to Haines in 2017 and then to Sitka in 2019. It was supposed to take place again in Petersburg in February of 2021 but was rescheduled (because of Covid-19) for February 2022. Unfortunately, we are sorry to announce that Covid-19 has again forced the...
I’m Ed Wood, and I’d like to discuss the recent completion of the Alaska Mental Health Trust/US Forest Service land exchange, and the impetus since December 2005 behind our group the Mitkof Highway Homeowners Association’s opposition to the proposed timber harvest on the slopes above our homes and property, Mitkof Highway (State Highway #7), and the Tyee hydroelectric utility corridor. These slopes are demonstrably steep and unstable, and logging of any type is likely to exacerbate that instability. “In the event that the Trust elects to purs...
After closing for the day last Friday, the team at the newspaper gathered around two boxes of pizza and celebrated our first week with yours truly as the new publisher. Despite equipment malfunctions due to super cold temperatures, the team had managed to produce a quality on-time edition, and we were feeling pretty good about it. We were polishing off our slices and discussing everyone’s snow shoveling plans for the coming weekend when a text message came in, then an email notification, and l... Full story
Why all purpose vehicles should be legal in Petersburg To The Editor: I’m 74 years old and live on Sandy Beach Road. In recent heavy snow and icy conditions, I found it much easier and safer to get around on my ATV than my car or truck. An ATV is no louder than a typical motorcycle. A 50cc mini scooter is street legal. I feel much safer on my ATV than any of my motorcycles. You have much better situational awareness driving on an ATV than a car because of your wide open 360 degree unobstructed view. You won’t see people texting on a moving mot...
Every year, before the Legislature convenes in Juneau, lawmakers submit their “pre-file bills,” a chance to tell the public which important issues they want to work on during the session. Just as cities and boroughs statewide submit their annual wish lists of local projects for legislative funding, the pre-files are a wish list of each lawmaker’s priorities. And just as most local projects will not receive state funding, most pre-file bills will fail to become law. Most will not even get a hearing before a legislative committee, which is OK. L...
I was nineteen when I first rode the M/V Columbia up to Petersburg, back in 2003, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I parked myself on the ferry's starboard side and watched the landscape grow wilder the further north we sailed. The scenery was more spectacular than anything I had ever seen: Mountains plunged into the sea and mist ribboned through forested shores. As we passed through the Wrangell Narrows the trees seemed close enough to reach out and touch. A passenger near me... Full story
