Daily Sitka Sentinel

September 25, 2020, Community Happenings

BMS Triathlon

Volunteers Sought

Blatchley Middle School is seeking volunteers for its annual triathlon 8:30-11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. Contact Ben White or Laura Rogers at 747-8672 for more information.

Lutherans Gather

At Old Sitka Sunday

Sitka Lutheran Church will hold its worship service outside Sunday at Old Sitka. 

‘‘Everybody stays warm in their car as the service is transmitted over the car radio,’’ the church said in a press release.

Singing, praying, a message, and communion will be included. Call 752-0123 for information.

Nonprofits Invited

To Apply for Grant

Sitka Tribal Enterprises will be distributing $5,000 to existing food distribution programs affected by COVID-19. Grants are open to Sitka non-profits. 

Application deadline is 4 p.m. Oct. 30. Applications are online at www.sitkatribe.org, and at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi Community House at 200 Katlian Street, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Enterprises is contracted to establish and implement the food distribution grant program for non-profits on behalf of the City and Borough of Sitka while staying within the federal guidelines for expending funds from the CARES Act.

Contact Sandy Lorrigan, STE office manager at 738-9992 or email ste-cares@sitkatribe-nsn.gov, for information.

Longtime Sitkan

Jane Eidler, 69, Dies

Longtime Sitka resident Jane Eidler, 69, passed away peacefully at home Thursday afternoon, surrounded by her loving family.

A full obituary will appear in next week’s Sentinel.

Art Auction for

Sitka Rotary Club

Sitka Rotary Club is holding a Facebook Autumn Art Auction in three phases, with one beginning today, and others Oct. 2 and Oct. 9. Each ends on the following Thursday.

Ninety pieces of art in various mediums are being auctioned in support of Sitka Rotary’s operating costs and projects. Some of the artists are Eric Bealer, Sydney Laurance, John Straley and Rie Munoz.

Details are on the Sitka Rotary Club Art Auction Facebook page.

Climate Connections: Trump-Appointed Commission Report Says Carbon Price Required

By Kay Kreiss

Wildfires, hurricanes, drought, and flooding have convinced the majority of Americans that climate change is here, threatens our well-being, and requires Congressional and local action. In September, President Trump’s bipartisan appointees to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission published a report that climate change threatens U.S. financial markets. Frequent climate change disasters have costs that impact insurance and mortgage markets, pension funds, banks, and other financial institutions. With the world-wide economic downturn related to the pandemic, our financial entities are more vulnerable to climate change impacts.

The commissioned report, Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System, concludes that a price on carbon is urgently needed to account for the high cost of greenhouse gas emissions. Accounting for these high costs will shift market response to low carbon alternatives so that we can transition to a net-zero carbon economy by at least 2050. Carbon pricing policy can be designed to advance decarbonization at a rate calculated to reach emission reduction targets to limit warming to 1.5-2 degrees C. Carbon pricing policy can also protect marginalized and poor communities, which already bear the brunt of climate disasters, from further costs.

The last year has overseen a proliferation of bills for carbon pricing in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The one with most co-sponsors is HR 763, The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. It is good for the economy, improves health, creates jobs, and is effective in lowering carbon dioxide emissions by 40% in 12 years. A carbon fee and dividend distributed to U.S. households is not sufficient to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Centigrade above pre-industrial levels. But it is the best first step in rapidly decreasing fossil fuel emissions. It gets bipartisan support because it doesn’t grow government and protects the vast majority of low and middle income households. 

Despite crises of pandemic, economic pain, and demonstrations for racial justice, we need urgent action on climate change. Call or email Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, and Don Young to request their support of HR 763 or a comparable bill in the Senate. And request local leadership  of climate action for Sitkans. 

–––––––––––

Kay Kreiss, M.D., is a co-leader of Sika Citizens Climate Lobby

October Monthly

Grind Goes Online

The Sitka Monthly Grind and Greater Sitka Arts Council will present the first show of the 26th season 7 p.m. Oct. 3 online at the Sitka Monthly Grind Facebook page. The show will run through Oct. 31.

Performers can upload their videos to the Facebook page, starting Oct. 3, and can post performances throughout the month.

The Sitka Monthly Grind is a family-friendly, non-political variety show series that runs October through April.

For more information call 738-8083.

Candidates Forum

Slated Saturday

The Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 1 and the Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 4 in collaboration with Raven Radio will hold a Zoom candidates forum 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26.

Residents can tune in to Raven Radio’s YouTube or Facebook for live coverage or listen online later. As the oldest civil rights organizations in the U.S., ANB and ANS urge everyone to vote, the organizations said. For information call Nancy at (907) 227-9102.

Bear Activity

Closes Park

Trails at Night

Sitka National Historical Park has closed the entire trail system at night because of bear activity along the Indian River corridor within the park.

The park said bear activity from dusk to dawn throughout the park is more prevalent than in prior years.

‘‘Be advised that because of the bear activity, the park has temporarily closed the Riverview Trail along with the social trail on the opposite bank, and the entire trail system at night to protect both people and bears,’’ a park press release said.  

The shortening of daylight hours and close monitoring of bear activity within the park has led to the closing of all park trails from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Park management will cancel or update the closure based on it bear activity monitoring.

Daytime trail users are encouraged to:

–Be alert (not wear earbuds, be aware of surroundings).

–Make noise in areas of limited visibility, to avoid unwanted surprises.

–Avoid areas that have recent signs of bear activity (tracks, scat, or active fishing). 

For additional information visit the park’s web page https://www.nps.gov/sitk/planyourvisit/upload/Bear_Safe_in_AK_Parklands.pdf or call the visitor center at 747-0110. 

Natural Resource

Panel to Meet

The Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s Natural Resource Committee will meet via Zoom 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30. Those wanting to attend the meeting can contact Jeff Feldpausch at 747-7469 or email jeff.feldpausch@sitkatribe-nsn.gov. The public is invited to attend. 

SJ Museum Welcomes

Artist-in-Residence

Pamela Johnson (Tlingit)

Pamela Johnson (Tlingit), the Sheldon Jackson Museum’s next artist in the Alaska Native Artist Residency Program, will begin Thursday, Oct. 1.

During her residency, Johnson will work in the gallery, teach an eight-part virtual regalia-making class on Zoom, and give an artist talk 2 p.m. Oct. 17 on Zoom. Participation in the regalia class is limited to those who sign up, but videos of the class will be posted on the Friends YouTube channel at a later date. The public may attend the Oct. 17 artist talk titled “Cultural Identity through Fabric” by going to this link: https://bit.ly/3cBliPy. The artist talk will be filmed and posted to the Friends YouTube channel at a later date.

Johnson is originally from Sitka and of Raven/Coho clan. Her medium of choice is sewing garments, specifically traditional Tlingit button robes and vests. She enjoys sharing information about the crests she incorporates into her sewing and researching old photographs of regalia and representations of her family’s crests. She began making regalia in high school when she learned how to sew from her cousin Amanda Johnson and Carol Breece and found inspiration in elder Laurie Guthrie’s work.

She enjoys making regalia for family and friends and has many ambitions. Johnson hopes to someday learn ravenstail weaving, how to engrave silver, carve traditional Tlingit-style totem poles and, eventually, make a house panel.

When she is not sewing or teaching her daughters and friends and family members how to sew, Johnson is busy working with youths in schools and at Tlingit and Haida tribal camps and working in an administrative capacity for tribal organizations. She also is busy with her studies and is enrolled in the Northwest Coast Art Program at UAS. Johnson’s 2020 residency at the Sheldon Jackson Museum will be her first artist residency experience.

The Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum has been underwriting the Alaska Native Artist Residency Program for more than 30 years.

The Friends expressed appreciation to the National Endowment for the Arts, Alaska Airlines, and private donors for making the Alaska Native Artist-in-Residence Program possible.

Visitors may go to the museum to see Pamela working on her artwork most days between noon and 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays, between Oct. 1 and 17. Museum admission is $5 general, $4 seniors, and free for ages 18 and under.

Call 747-8981 with questions.