Hospital Decision
Dear Editor: The following letter was sent to Administrator Keith Brady, Mayor Matt Hunter and Assembly members.
Now that you have decided to move forward with the RFP with SEARHC it is imperative that we regain trust to all interested parties of this issue in our community. To this end I recommend the following actions. First meet with the leadership of SCH to ensure them that you will work hard to represent their interests. Second, you will take the following positions in negotiations with SEARHC.
1. Request Assembly appoint a representative on the SEARHC board to represent Sitka
2. Request the transition of the SCH for four or five years versus the two years proposed in the RFP
3. Ensure the SCH has access to the negotiating team to properly represent the interest of their employees
4. Minimize the economic impact on our local businesses like our pharmacies.
5. Ensure our PERS liabilities are fully covered.
I watched the passions of our citizens as they gave you their best advice and concerns, you listened with equal concerns and politeness. Well done. Now our challenge is to move forward in a manner that will bring our community together, increase trust with all citizens, and ensure our health care system is equal or better than, our current robust, patient-oriented health care options. If I am elected mayor this will be my top priority.
Gary Paxton, Sitka
Wanted Vote
Dear Editor: What will be, will be. SEARHC, SCH.... for me it comes down to voice. Our Assembly took away my voice, the community’s voice. When we voted them in, it was not the community’s understanding, at that time, that this type of decision wouldn’t be a vote. Whether pro merger, pro SCH, against anything- it comes down to the use of the legal system to by-pass my voice as a community member. This is morally and ethically wrong in a democratic society.
Kat Richards, Sitka
Police Lawsuit
Dear Editor: I am writing this letter in regards to the whistleblower lawsuit against the Sitka Police Department.
I certainly have not heard all of the facts and I have not heard the other side of the story. I choose to wait on all the facts and I recommend that everyone in Sitka do the same. Please do not jump to conclusions or think you have the entire story because you have heard one side.
Thank you for having an opened mind and waiting for all the facts.
Lorraine Inez Lil, Sitka
Fish 2 Schools
Dear Editor: My name is Angela Bahna, and I am in fifth grade this year at Keet Gooshi Heen. I think that Fish 2 Schools is an awesome program, because it helps kids whose families don’t go fishing eat fish once in a while. Salmon is not only delicious, but also healthy. My most favorite school lunch is salmon chowder which tastes sooo good! My sister Rosie who is in second grade loves the baked salmon. I also like the “We Love Our Fishermen” lunch at school because we get to meet with fishermen, answer fishing questions, ask them about their fishing, and look at and earn lures.
In school we learned about salmon and their lifecycle. I understand how they are a big part of Sitka’s natural environment and our community. Salmon are amazing creatures.
I’d like to give a big thank you to those who donated and to the fishermen who worked hard to catch the fish!
Angela Bahna, 5th Grade
Dear Editor:The Annual Fish to Schools Coho Donation Drive is currently underway. To donate, tell the scale operators how many fish you would like to donate as you offload at SPC or SSS. If you would like to donate FAS fish, please call or text 907-738-5684. Sitka Conservation Society thanks Angela, our partners and the community for their support of this program!
Sitka Conservation Society
AN OPINION:
Climate Change Hits
‘Pearl Harbor Year’
By MARK REYNOLDS
Those of us who understand the existential threat posed by climate change have been waiting for the “Pearl Harbor moment” that galvanizes people and politicians alike into taking action to minimize that threat. And 2018 is turning out to be a “Pearl Harbor year,” where a majority of Americans support taking action, and we’re ready for Congress to press forward.
We thought the wake-up call on climate change occurred in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina slammed and devastated New Orleans, a disaster that left 1,836 people dead and displaced tens of thousands more. Four years later, when legislation to price carbon made a run in Congress, any sense of urgency to deal with climate change was lost amid partisan squabbling and pushback from special interests.
The next opportunity for action came in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy roared up the East Coast with a storm surge that put much of New York City under water. The cover of Bloomberg Businessweek proclaimed, “It’s Global Warming, Stupid.” But again, nothing happened. Likewise, last year’s back-to-back-to-back storms – Harvey, Irma and Maria – left a swath of destruction from Houston to Puerto Rico totaling some $300 billion in damage. This, too, was not enough to spur action.
Fortunately, more and more Americans are connecting the dots between extreme weather disasters and climate change, as the latest polling from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication indicates.
The Yale study found that 77 percent of U.S. adults support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant and that 68 percent support taxing fossil fuel companies while equally reducing other taxes.
The Yale poll should come as no surprise, given that 2018 is turning out to be a Pearl Harbor year, not just a moment:
– Triple-digit temperatures in California have created conditions for the worst wildfires the state has ever experienced. In Redding, Calif., those conditions produced a fire tornado with wind speeds up to 165 mph and temperatures exceeding 2,700 degrees.
– Smoke from western wildfires is creating hazardous breathing conditions across the country.
– A combination of warmer water and nitrogen runoff from farms has produced the worst “red tide” ever seen in Florida. Manatees, sea turtles and millions of pounds of dead fish have washed up on beaches.
– Hundreds of deaths around the world have been attributed to record-setting heat waves.
But encouragement can be found in the growing movement to depoliticize the issue and get Republicans and Democrats talking to each other about solving the problem. There are now 86 members in the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House, half Republican and half Democrat. In late July, caucus co-leader Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) introduced the first Republican-sponsored bill to price carbon in nearly a decade. Curbelo’s bill is a major crack in the dam holding back effective climate legislation, and that dam is likely to burst in the months to come.
As Congress returns from August recess and members make their final re-election push, my hope is that climate change becomes a bridge issue rather than the wedge issue it’s been. Throughout our history, Americans have set aside our differences and come together in times of crisis to turn back a common foe. We can and must do that now with climate change.
The terrifying vortex of fire that swept through Redding, Calif., is the latest Pearl Harbor moment for climate change in a year filled with such moments. Let us hope this year of infamy, together with the growing desire for action, will finally set the wheels in motion for Congress to enact meaningful solutions.
––––––
Mark Reynolds is executive director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
