FAMILY RELEASE – Lisa Teas Conaway accompanies her sons Niko Conaway, 5, and Adrien Conaway, 7, as they carry plastic fish tanks of coho fry from the SJ Hatchery to the shore near the Sitka Sound Science Center Saturday. Scores of children and adults turned out for the annual Salmon Release Party. The event included information about the center’s hatchery program, grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and a bonfire on the beach. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Alaska Department of Education is taking public c [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka’s pent-up demand for swim lessons was in full [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Racing against schools from across Southeast in the l [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka’s softballers split a three-game series with Juneau-Douglas Friday a [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
Members of the Alaska Senate approved a bill that would increa [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
May 13
At 12:43 a.m. an out-of-town caller [ ... ]
Robin Klanott, 61
Dies in Anchorage
Longtime Sitka resident Robin Klanott passed away at Anchorage Reg [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly is winding up work on the city budgets f [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Alaska state lawmakers are preparing for a final vote on a bill t [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Playing in variable weather in the last regular seaso [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House of Representatives voted 22-18 late Sunday to ba [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
Alaska lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to support a federal pro [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
May 10
At 12:19 a.m. a man was reported to [ ... ]
Native Artist Residency
Program at SJ Museum
Sheldon Jackson Museum has announced the participants for [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly voted 6-0 at a special meeting Thursday [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka Police said today that officers responding to a report of a man found unrespo [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A week and a half after passing an initial budget for [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka High routed the Thunder Mountain Falcons on the baseball diamond Thurs [ ... ]
Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the U.S. Forest Service, Sitka Ranger District, signed a memorandum of und [ ... ]
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Alaska Beacon
Members of the Alaska Senate have killed, at least temporarily, a [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
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Alaska Beacon
The regional corporation owned by the Iñupiat people of Northwes [ ... ]
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Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Supreme Court proposed hearing the state’s appeal [ ... ]
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Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board of trustees is conside [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Capt. Cook Statue Faces Comedown in Anchorage
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Some Alaska residents have questioned whether a statue of a British explorer in downtown Anchorage should be removed as monuments to historical figures are being dismantled across the country.
The statue is of Captain James Cook, who came to Alaska in 1778 in what is now known as Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet while searching for the Northwest Passage as an explorer for the British government, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Cook and his crew were the first Europeans to set foot in the region and were credited with discovering land that was already inhabited by Indigenous people.
The statue located at downtown’s Resolution Park was a gift from oil company British Petroleum to the city as part of the American Bicentennial Celebration in 1976 and is a replica of one in Anchorage’s sister city of Whitby, England.
Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said Wednesday that he would like to modify the monument, agreeing with the Anchorage Sister Cities Commission, which suggested engaging with the community to decide how to modify the monument to also reflect the history of Alaska Natives.
“The Commission recognizes that the statue alone excludes the history of the indigenous people in what is now Anchorage,” the commission said in a letter Monday. “Rather than remove the statue, the Commission feels this situation can be instrumental as an opportunity to support a positive dialogue between us and our Sister City Whitby, as well as continued conversation and education among Anchorage’s diverse population.”
Some residents have continued to call for the statue’s removal, saying it may not be securely attached to its base. Others have asked Berkowitz and Police Chief Justin Doll to guard the statue to protect it from being demolished.
“To me, taking down the statue is a missed opportunity. In an ideal world, the statue would have never gone up,” said Aaron Leggett, Native Village of Eklutna president, Anchorage Museum curator and commission member. “We want to see more information there, we want to be acknowledged there, but we don’t necessarily want to see the statue taken down.”
He added: “Taking down the statue won’t change the name of the hotel across the street, or the Cook Inlet.”
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20 YEARS AGO
May 2004
Sitka Community Hospital has drawn $193,000 on its line of credit from the city to make payroll, which will be paid back within 60 days, hospital officials told the Assembly Tuesday.
50 YEARS AGO
May 1974
Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, has announced that Sitka has received an Airport Development grant from the Department of Transportation for $4,201,166 for paving the runway extension, runway lights, a runway embankment and other improvements at the Sitka Airport.
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