Kettleson Public Library
Dear Editor: Apparently my letter to the editor last Thursday was unclear. On Saturday on the Indian River Falls Trail, I was asked “How did you vote on the library commission survey?’’
“Kettleson Public Library,” I replied. “Didn’t you read my letter?”
The answer was, “Yes, but you didn’t say how you voted.”
Well, folks, sorry I wasn’t more bold and repetitive. I voted for Kettleson Public Library. It is a classy, distinctive name for a classy library in a classy, historic town. To me “Sitka Public Library” sounds so plain, so ordinary. And, you don’t have to have known the person in your lifetime to like the name: Kettleson. Three musical syllables.
It is amazing the amount of emotion a name change proposal can generate. Is it to mask some underlying problems? Who is on the Library Commission? For how long? Who made the design decisions? Was there a separate committee formed for those? Where, pray tell, are the design plans located? (NOT in the library. I’ve asked many times.) Also where are the commission minutes and a public record of decisions and who made them?
Nancy Yaw Davis, Sitka
Shee Atika Inc.
Dear Editor: Good morning to the shareholders of our company, Shee Atika Inc. I just want to point out that the proxy statements say that everyone in our board of directors meets 100 percentof the time. If this is true, our finances should be so much better.
Did you know that former president/CEO of Shee Atika Inc. Robert Loiselle, who was also the former president/CEO of Goldbelt Inc., received $325,000 a year from Goldbelt Inc.? Mr. Loiselle made $75,000 less than the almost $400,000 that Ken Cameron, president/CEO and chairman of the board, for Shee Atika receives. I don’t understand this because Robert Loiselle has a business degree and he had 25 years of experience being a CEO of Native corporations while Mr. Ken Cameron has a degree in dentistry, and previously was a dentist. Why is this man who has no experience previously of running a Native corporation in this position and why is his salary so astronomical. I would also like to point out that village corporations up near the North Slope, don’t pay their presidents/CEOs anywhere near what Mr. Cameron makes. Also did you know that the president of the United States makes $450,000 annually?
Another difference is that Goldbelt has 10 times the number of businesses than Shee Atika Inc. and has 2,722 original shareholders while SAI has 1,852 original shareholders. Shee Atika Inc. has sold off many major companies, so it is dwindling to almost nothing. So just why is our president/CEO/chair making this exorbitant salary?
Norman Johnson, Tacoma, Wash
