FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Students on Election

Dear Editor: I have two Pacific High School students who composed thoughtful essays for our government class. The prompt was: Who I would vote for and why. One students supports Obama and one student is undecided.
 Hillary Seeland

   
By Veronica Nelson
The Bigger The Better:


 Obama Has My Vote
The 2012 election has been the most expensive election in history. With the ongoing battle between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney there have been some serious uprisings throughout our country. Romney and Obama have very different views on most of the main issues in our country such as: jobs and economy, education, energy and the environment, immigration, and the tax policy. In this election I would vote for Obama.
Barack Obama, a Democrat, is pushing towards having our government more involved. His goal is to target young people, Army families, and the middle class for votes in this election. His plans for continuing his time as president consists of growing the economy from the middle class out. He wants to raise classroom standards and reform student loans, making school more affordable. He wants to use renewable energy more consistently, such as windmills and solar power. He wants to create fair policies for immigrants. He has a plan for immigrants, especially those who are minors. Obama would like to reform the tax codes so that they are fair to the middle class. In contrast to Obama, Romney plans on less government.
Mitt Romney, a Republican, wants to reduce government involvement. He spends most of his time in this campaign trying to cut down anything Obama puts forth. His goal is to target the people who voted for Obama in 2008 to vote for him because Obama has “broken promises” made in 2008. Romney’s plan to help grow the economy is through free enterprise, hard work and innovation. He wants to reduce taxes, spending, regulation, and government programs. He plans to increase trade, energy production, human capital and labor flexibility. Romney wants to bring in the interest of the parents and students and have higher standards for teachers to make education better for students. He also wants to make education more affordable. Romney plans to partner with Canada and Mexico to achieve energy independence on this continent. According to Romney’s official campaign website, Romney has a “national immigration strategy that bolsters the U.S. economy, ensures security and keeps nuclear families together.” I wouldn’t vote for Romney because he gives no details for his plans in these issues.
I would vote for Obama because if the Republican side of our government would get out of the way, I think his plan could take this country far. Many of Romney’s ideas sound great, but there is no background information or detail in how he plans to do these things. In most of his interviews and debates he had very “beat-around-the-bush” answers to the questions brought forth to him. Obama, who has already gotten started on his plans to take this country forward over the past four years, will have a better chance at continuing doing so. Why stop this process to start over and let Romney go a completely different way and have just the same amount if not less done in the next four years?
Overall both candidates have been very persuasive in this year’s election. Each side has their own skeletons and their own strengths. I think that more government involvement is what we need. The less government involvement we have the more crazy things can get. Fewer people will have health care and small businesses will fail, creating less jobs. Obama wants to prevent these things from happening and make sure as many people as possible are taken care of. This is why my vote goes to Obama. I appreciate him for staying positive and fighting to continue taking us to better places.
(My sources: barackobama.com and mittromney.com)

By Jake Kranz
The United States of Debt:


Why Neither Candidate
 Has Won My Vote
The United States national debt is now at $16 trillion and rising. I would like to know more specifics from both Gov. Romney and President Obama about their plans for lowering the deficit. The debt we are in right now is astonishing. I really don’t think that America can just keep borrowing and raising our deficit and expect nothing to happen. Both candidates have major strengths and weaknesses to address the debt issue. They both have wonderful accomplishments that make them great politicians. What we need is someone who will vigorously take over and avoid acrimonious tensions if elected president. The question is, will whoever becomes elected start acting toward lowering the debt?
I have noticed how both Romney and Obama have potential to reduce the debt, but both have plans with missing pieces. These missing pieces would make me want to avoid voting for either candidate.
Former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, a member of the GOP, has proven his understanding of lowering debt. Romney has the best jobs record of any Massachusetts governor in the last decade. He brought the state from a $3 billion debt to $0 and then accumulated a $2 billion fund in extra. He balanced the state’s budget without raising tax rates. At the same time he dropped the state’s unemployment rate from 5.6% to 4.7% in his term, adding tens of thousands of jobs. He has also helped rebuild over 100 companies like Staples and Sports Authority. A major accomplishment was when he helped save the Olympics from crashing, and raised $100 million for all upcoming Olympic events.
Romney also plans to use his success in Massachusetts to lower the national debt in part by cutting ObamaCare, which costs $100 billion a year. He wants to cut taxes for the wealthy to inspire them to invest in our economy, and change the middle class tax plan. He wants to have no tax cut that will add to our deficit. He says his main focus is on energy, trade, the right budget and training programs to focus on new jobs for the economy.
Obama, the incumbent, has had some up and downs throughout his term. The debt for instance, which has been rising tremendously since 2008 from $10 trillion to $16 trillion, is an acknowledged downfall of the Obama administration. On the up side, Obama’s major priority when he came into office was to knock out the Taliban’s leader, Osama Bin Laden, which was accomplished. His second priority was to cut taxes on the middle class and get ObamaCare started so people had something to look up to. In fact he actually lowered 98% of families’ taxes 18 times and 97% of small businesses won’t get taxed more. Some of his big plans have been moving toward energy independence ideas such as windmill production, which saves hundreds of thousands of dollars on energy per year. He also wants to double exports to create one million new manufacturing jobs. Though the debt has been rising in his term, these plans are key factors to lowering it in the long run.
Obama has been working on recruiting math and science teachers so America can move towards having the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. Student loan reform and tax credits will help college students graduate and also will help invest in education and training programs for American workers. If we have more teachers to teach people quality education, jobs will rise in quantity.
Each candidate uses a lot of rhetoric to convince people to vote for him. I still have yet to see a plan laid out that puts the pieces together by either candidate on how to reduce the deficit. Although I have all this information of what they would do as president and have done in the past, I have not been able to find anything pertinent to fixing the national debt crisis we are in. I’m also curious about how are either candidates going to fix this economical crisis? Why are we still at war with another country when it costs about $2 trillion a year and all the money is borrowed and will have to be paid back? We need a president who can keep us out of wars and we need one who can also add more jobs to the workforce. This country is beginning to slide violently towards an even deeper mess at this rate.
Though both candidates have vastly differing visions for the way America should go, I still have seen no defined strategy from either candidate that would help him win my vote. I know they each have a plan, but neither of them has actually told us how his plan will be accomplished. America’s debt is supposed to hit its debt ceiling which is $16.5 trillion by the end of the year. The debt ceiling will have to be increased again at this rate. I would like to see a president indefinitely eliminate our national debt.

(Sources: Barack Obama’s official campaign website -- www.barackobama.com and Mitt Romney’s official campaign website -- www.mittromney.com)





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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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