Daily Sitka Sentinel

November 13, 2018, Letters to the Editor

Rats

Dear Editor: I didn’t want to bring it up in front of the tourists, but, Sitka has a rat problem. Maybe you knew that. it was a surprise to me until a  couple years ago.

I started asking questions, as I am prone to do, and now believe the rat populations are increasing – in older neighborhoods and younger neighborhoods, around harbors, and near seafood producers. I see no reason not to believe they are spread throughout the island(s).

Recently, I asked more questions. No one seems to be concerned nor have I read locally about keeping homes safe or how to discourage rats. I started looking on line and the short answer is: they are almost impossible to eradicate. I found an informative article called: ‘‘How to control rats as safely as possible.’’ It is worth reading. It suggests a number of things, (and I’m including a few of my own.) We should all be doing these things in any case: securing feed, grains, pet foods and bird seed, making sure your home is secure – including foundation vents and garage doors – policing up garbage and using secure/covered containers for composting.

Let’s keep our eyes open and do our best.

Alice Walcott, Sitka

Veterans Day Parade

Dear Editor: I was on my way to church. First I checked the church parking lot to see if any of my family might be parked in the lot. They weren’t, so I headed to McDonald’s for a Coke. I decided to go to the Crescent shelter parking lot and sit quietly to enjoy the day. I saw a friend talking with someone. I rolled down my window to say hello. He was going to be in the Veterans Day parade. He said, the parade starts in seven minutes, and he told me I could join them. He said after all I had flags on my car (magnetic ones) already. Mind, I’m not a veteran but my heart is full of patriotism. Off we go.

The Russian Cathedral bell rang honoring Veterans Day. We walked through red lights. I don’t know why I expected to be stopped by a police officer, but downtown was bare. Our two official flag carriers looked like they just got off a fishing boat. Between them, they carried three flags. My car was dirty and I giggled in my car at the novelty. Talk about feeling the pride of our veterans to commemorate the day. I was so glad and humbled to know they recognized Veterans Day. A few people graced the sidewalk and took pictures. We were so darn cute.

Irene A. Vaden, Sitka

Early Childhood Survey

Dear Editor: The Sitka School District and partners would like to thank the community for supporting the recent early childhood survey open house held at the SEACC Center. We made progress in our goal of reaching at least 80 percent of families with children aged birth to 5 years old. We’re not done yet!

There were so many cookies! Thank you to Retha Winger, Baranof Elementary, McDonald’s, Jasmine Shaw and 4-H, Roxann Gagner and the students of Blatchley Middle School, Brooke Schafer, Bobbi Jordan, and Elisabeth Schafer for their contribution of cookies to the event. Families attended the open house to fill out the early childhood needs survey and left with a plate of dessert.

Gracias and maraming salamat to the team of translators ready to reach Sitka families in their home language: Dianne Chong, Ariel Coleman, Joie Vidad and Juan Cediel.

Many thanks to the Hames Corporation for providing fresh fruit for the event. There cannot be enough thanks for the many ways the Hames Corporation and Hames family support the community of Sitka.

We appreciate the way the local media makes civic and social life possible in our town. Thank you to KCAW and Emily Kwong for having us on the morning interview. We are also thankful for the immediacy and reach of KIFW’s Problem Corner. Radio is such an effective way to reach people in Sitka. The Sitka Sentinel ran PSAs, which helped us reach even more people. Thank you, also, to the many grocery stores and organizations that maintain the bulletin boards that keep us informed.

The School District debuted a new playgroup space during the SEACC open house. Babies, toddlers, and older children played and made crafts under the supervision of Wooch.een staff Grechen Stockel and Claire Hill. 

Thank you to Wendy Longtin for making the official survey sign we will use at survey events.

Finally, thank you to our partners in caring for children: Maite Lorente and the Sitka Public Library, Jennifer Tulloh of Babies and Books, Jill Lecrone at Baranof Elementary School, and Gail Trujillo, Lisa Hodges, and Lisa Bergey of Center for Community. They worked with us to reach parents of small children.

Mandy Evans, STEPS Grant Director

Kari Sagel, STEPS Grant Family and Community Connectedness Project Coordinator

Yemen Crisis

Dear Editor: U.S.-supported Saudi airstrikes in Yemen are contributing to starvation and disease by targeting health clinics, schools, factories, and farms. The largest humanitarian crisis of our time, a staggering 8.4 million people in Yemen are on the verge of starving to death and another 10 million will be at risk of starvation by the end of the year if action is not urgently taken. Getting accurate information on the death toll is difficult, but the humanitarian relief organization Save the Children estimates at least 50,000 children died in 2017, an average of 130 every day.

Instead of promoting peace, both the Obama and Trump administrations have fueled and prolonged a human-made catastrophe by providing military support to the Saudi regime. Largely ignored by the U.S. news media, the war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been in the news recently following the brutal murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi regime. In his last column, Khashoggi criticized Saudi involvement in the Yemen conflict.

In the coming months, Congress will be debating measures directly related to the U.S. involvement in this Saudi-led war. It’s urgent that we call or write to our representatives and tell them to end support for the brutal Saudi regime and our complicity in Yemen’s crisis. 

For information on the Yemen crisis, see JSTOR Daily: https://daily.jstor.org/why-yemen-suffers-in-silence/. Call Sen. Lisa Murkowski, (202)224-6665; Sen, Dan Sullivan, Tel: (202)-224-3004; or Congressman Don Young, (202)225-5765.

Cindy Litman, Sitka

Seafood Raffle

Dear Editor: On Sunday, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association wrapped up the annual ALFA Seafood Raffle by drawing five lucky winners (drumroll....) our 2018 winners are: Patty Dick, Ron Hegge, Milton Farvour, Deborah Lyons and Stephen Rhoads! Each winner will receive a 10-pound box of premium Alaskans Own Seafood, with each box including vacuum-packed and frozen king salmon, halibut, blackcod and rockfish. Now the winners have a tough decision to make – enjoy the fish themselves or Fedex ship it, at no cost to the winners, to a lucky friend or family member anywhere in the U.S.! 

Our congratulations to the winners and our grateful thanks to everyone who purchased a raffle ticket to support ALFA and our work promoting sustainable fisheries and thriving fishing communities. 

Special thanks to the ALFA members who donated fish for the raffle: Gregg Jones, Phil Wyman, Jeff Farvour, and Norm Pillen, and to Sitka Sound Seafoods and Seafood Producers Cooperative for donating the processing of our raffle fish. Thank you also to the volunteers and ALFA members who staffed our table during Whalefest: Kelli Leonard, Terry Perensovich, Alyssa Russell, Wendy Alderson, Justin Olbrych, Kent Barkhau, Carter Hughes and Juan Cediel. And, last but not least, thank you to the Sitka Sound Science Center for hosting yet another successful, interesting and fun-filled Whalefest!

Linda Behnken 

and the rest of the ALFA team

Migrants

Dear Editor: I’m thinking of the migrants walking. Right now, they may be sleeping. But tomorrow they will be walking. This is what people do when there is not enough for them where they started. The younger sons of Europe walked, their older brothers claiming everything through primogeniture. Leaving practically nothing, the migrants walked aboard then walked the decks of ships, keeping the watch for something more, if only for just enough.

Migration is one of the saner things people do. When there is no way to live, they move. If there is no other way, they walk. Each of us is a descendant of people who moved. All of us walk somewhere along the continuum of migration.

I am thinking of the migrants now being called invaders. One person’s migration is another person’s invasion, I suppose. I am thinking of the impoverished invaders, sleeping tonight, with their children in their arms. We are preparing prison camps for them. We should be preparing camps. These should be welcome camps. We should be providing meals, hot showers and clean bedding in the camps. During the day, there should be English lessons and job searches organized in the camps. In the evenings there should be singing and dancing. We should celebrate. Invaders, just like us, have arrived. 

John Welsh, Sitka