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
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    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

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

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
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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
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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
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    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
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    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
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    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

Single-Use Bag Fees Pass Assembly Hurdle

By Sentinel Staff
    After hearing testimony from a score of citizens concerned about plastic in the environment, the Assembly voted 4-2 Tuesday night in favor of a fee on single use plastic and paper bags provided to customers at local businesses.
    The measure was brought to the Assembly after years of effort by local environmental groups. It calls for merchants to collect 15 cents for each plastic bag and 10 cents for a paper bag, with the proceeds to go into the city’s general fund.
    It calls for the new fees to go into effect on April 1, 2019, and to be increased to 25 cents for plastic and 15 cents for paper after one year.
    In the public testimony the reasons voiced for discouraging use of plastic bags included wildlife entanglement in loose bags, the biological hazards to human and animal life from plastic microparticles in the environment and the effect on global warming from the hydrocarbons used in bag manufacture. The inclusion of paper bags was justified in the general interest of preventing waste.
    Public testimony was uniformly in favor of the ordinance, with differences arising only on the proposed use of the revenue, but the measure ran into objections from two of the six Assembly members present, Steve   Eisenbeisz and Aaron Bean.
    Bean said he would vote for an outright ban on plastic bags, but saw the bag fee as another burden on low-income residents, while having a negligible effect on protecting the environment.
    Eisenbeisz objected to the ordinance as an “unfunded mandate,” since accounting for the bag proceeds will increase the bookkeeping costs of local businesses. He made a motion to have the bag fees split 50-50 between the merchant and the city, but it failed for lack of a second.
    The ordinance as presented was passed on first reading with Mayor Matt Hunter, Ben Miyasato, Richard Wein and Kevin Knox in favor and Bean and Eisenbeisz opposed. Bob Portzuski, a co-sponsor of the ordinance along with Knox and Wein, attended the first part of the meeting by phone but had signed off by the time the vote was taken.
    Proponents of the bag fees said Sitka’s grocery store managers had told them that they go through 2 million plastic bags a year, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. The speakers also said Anchorage, Cordova and Bethel, as well as the entire state of Hawaii, have enacted similar fees to curb use of plastic bags. One of the last to speak, Brinnen Carter, said that he discovered on a recent visit that Puerto Rico has a 10-cent fee on one-time use plastic bags.
    Carter said that plastic microparticles have been found in ocean waters around the world, but if there is any good news it is that the Sitka area has levels far below those in other areas of Alaska.
    Eisenbeisz, who has a downtown clothing and recreational goods store, was the only retail merchant who spoke on the issue.
    At the start of the Assembly discussion he said he had been assured by the city attorney that he does not have a conflict of interest in taking part in the decision since the issue affects a broad class, and not him as an individual.
    Inclusion of paper bags in the ordinance raised questions from Keith Nytray, manager of the Sitka Food Co-op. He said the co-op does not use plastic bags. He said he supports the ordinance, though he was ambivalent about inclusion of paper bags.
    Although Assembly members  did not take any action to change the provision that would place the bag fee money in the general fund, they heard suggestions from the public for placing the money in the electric fund low-income subsidy fund, the solid waste fund, a fund for environmental education, or for low-cost reusable bags for the public.
    The ordinance will be up for public hearing and a final vote at the next Assembly meeting.

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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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