Good Job, Sea Mart
Dear Editor: I would like to thank deli manager Karen Cornaccio (and the other fine Sea Mart staff) who came up with the decision to implement biodegradable packaging in the fast-food sector.
Living on an island, it would be hard not to notice the senseless flow of plastic wastes introduced into the environment, and waste management stream, by food service businesses.
In switching over to biodegradable pulp trays, bowls, etc., Sea Mart has made a thoughtful and wise choice toward a responsible reduction in this island’s export of plastic and Styrofoam waste materials.
I hope that other businesses, and institutions, note Sea Mart’s commendable leadership in implementing this change. Good on you, Karen!
Sigurd D. Rutter, Sitka
STA Response
Dear Editor: Little did I know that long dormant, ridiculous rumors that I “ran the Sitka Tribe into massive debt” would recently appear online – presumably because I am running for the Board of Shee Atiká as an Independent candidate. Apparently there are shareholders out there who don’t want anyone but the current Board and anything but the status quo. Go figure.
But let’s apply some common sense to this rumor for just a couple minutes – and really, that’s all the time it will take to put this to rest: I was the general manager of the Tribe for 2 years. It took me about 3-4 months to do some basic below the surface analysis of what’s going on in the organization. That’s what an executive does when they come into a new position like this. I’m not going to get into the weeds about what I found, or say anything about those who were there before me. Suffice to say every organization, but especially insufficiently funded tribes fighting contact support cost battles and volatile market conditions, has serious problems to solve.
So I spent the next 20 months working to fix these problems. I left after two years because of a failed personal relationship and an inability to live in a place where most of my family and closest friends had died, one just twenty feet in front of me. I just couldn’t do it. My heart reached a point where it was not capable of holding the pain every day.
The tribe was left on a solid path to overcoming the most fundamental problems it faced. Of course it wouldn’t be easy. But the problems were out in the open and the solutions well known to leadership. And by the way (as my friend Keith would say), how is it that one person can run up a “massive debt” in less than a year and a half? How is it the Tribal Council wouldn’t have seen that in real-time? I’d love to hear the rumor mongers answer that one.
I have nothing for which to apologize. I worked hard using every lesson I’d learned over a long career to help my Tribe do better. That is, in fact, the reason I returned home to begin with. I did my best and I did good work. Most everyone within the Tribe understands that. But a few would like to believe otherwise because it serves their purpose, to keep good people down and maintain the status quo.
I know change is hard. I understand clearly that leaders will always have to endure and defeat haters. I’m ready for that fight, as are my running mates. This is a fight we can and will win, despite the rumors and doubters and entrenched lifelong hangers-on. It’s time for change, and there’s nothing they can do about it, whether slinging mud or buying votes. You’re just not going to keep us down. A new company is about to be born, and it will be magnificent.
Ted Wright
