Marijuana
Dear Editor: A Million Stoner March on, D.C.; or, a gedanken whose time has come.
According to the Associated Press (eg, “Congress Faces Fight With States Over Pot,” Sitka Daily Sentinel, Dec. 16, 2014), Maryland Republican anti-marijuanist Andy Harris declared that: “… the plate of (the in-coming Congressional Republican) leadership is so full with foreign affairs and economic matters in this country, this (the bother of considering, evaluating, and implementing a measured, intelligible, and ultimately intelligent federal response to citizen demands to be left alone to deal with pot as they, the citizens, have deemed fit at the ballot box – i.e., without federal interference) is just not on the radar screen.”
Here’s a gedanken (or thought) – experiment for Congressman Harris and his ilk (including, as applicable, Alaska’s Republicans Murkowski, Sullivan, and Young):
Imagine what would happen if One Million Stoners showed up in D.C. on the night of the State of The Union address, and refused to leave until the matter of getting the feds out-the-bloody-“f-in”-hell-of-the-way of citizen desires and intentions – as regards marijuana – is, very definitely and most specifically, put ON “the radar screen.” Now.
And thus, ultimately, on a collision-course with the reality of a citizenry that is rapidly approaching having had almost quite sufficiently just about enough of “You folks” up yonder in D.C. (and them that buy, sell, own, and operate y’all), telling us folks down here how to run our lives. At least when it comes to cannabis. Among, albeit, a whole ark-load of other things.
Who knows? Maybe enough Americans might even be diverted from their post-holiday blues, pending tax write-offs, and/or pre-Super Bowl frenzy to weigh in on other such weighty matters as pertain to, for example: foreign affairs; or the economy; or even privacy from the NSA; let alone police brutality; and/or, of course, veterans; or/and among sorted, sundry, and miscellaneous other similar such things, as well.
Then again, maybe not. Happy Solstice.
J.G. Moebus, U.S. Army (retired)
Veterans Against War, Sitka Platoon
Christmas Dinner
Dear Editor: I would like to thank all the wonderful citizens that came out to our Community Christmas dinner planning meeting on a windy and cold night, last night. We made great progress. We still need volunteers and sponsors.
Here is a record of our meeting:
People that want to bake turkeys can pick them up on Monday, Dec. 22 at the ANB Founders Hall. We will also have a work party on Monday at noon.Our final meeting will also be on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. Volunteers will meet on Christmas Day at 10:30 a.m. Set-up volunteers will meet at 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Day to put sauces and condiments on the table.
There will be no Santa Claus. There have been numerous Christmas parties around town. The STA party was last Friday. The American Legion party is this Saturday at the ANB Founders Hall. The Emblem Christmas party at the Elks is on Saturday at noon.
Social hour is at 1 p.m. and dinner will be served at 2-4 p.m.
Chef John Gallagher wowed our volunteers last night announcing he will make breakfast for all the hard-working volunteers on Christmas morning at 10 a.m. God bless you, John!
We would like to thank Steve and Neil, two Sitkans who gave $100 out of their pockets. All donations will be put into a special holiday account. Any monies that is left over will roll over to next year’s Christmas dinner.
Thank you to Sandy and Cyndi at the Daily Sitka Sentinel for all their hard work and patience with me. It’s going to be a wonderful Christmas dinner. Can’t wait to see you all on Christmas Day.
Christmas blessings to all,
Debe K. Brincefield, Chairperson,
Sitka Community Christmas Dinner
Blessings Donation
Dear Editor: Thank you to Judy Johnstone for her creative donation to Blessings in a Backpack. Judy decided to give to an organization of her choice. She chose to make tamales. She found someone to teach her how to make them, friends to help her make a large number of them, individuals who loved tamales to buy them and then donated proceeds.
While most of us drop some dollars, volunteer our time or write a check, Judy showed our family there is yet another way to give. Blessings in a Backpack is a national non-profit organization with a chapter in Sitka. We provide 52 students on the free and reduced lunch program with supplemental food every weekend.
Hungry children have a harder time focusing and learning. Students are from Keet Gooshi Heen and Baranof and we include any student registered homeless with the school district. 100 percent of every donation buys food for Sitka students.
Thank you so much for the many generous donations this year. We have a large number of volunteers helping pack the bags and enough donations for the rest of this school year. It has been a gift to be able to coordinate this program. For more information go to www.blessingsinabackpack.org.
The Falvey Family, Sitka
Pick.Click.Give
Dear Editor: As 2014 winds to a close, many Alaskans already are thinking about applying for their 2015 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend check in January. As usual, Alaskans can share their wealth with a variety of Alaska nonprofits, including the Sitka Local Foods Network, through the PFD’s Pick.Click.Give. program.
This is the second year the Sitka Local Foods Network will participate in the Pick.Click.Give. program, which allows people to donate in $25 increments to their favorite statewide and local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations when they file their PFD applications from Jan. 1 through March 31. We thank the 56 donors who pledged $2,900 to the Sitka Local Foods Network in 2014, and we appreciate your support again in 2015.
When you choose to donate part of your PFD to the Sitka Local Foods Network, you support the Sitka Farmers Market, St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, Blatchley Community Gardens, education programs about growing and preserving food, the sustainable use of traditional foods, the Sitka Community Food Assessment, the Sitka Food Summit, and a variety of other projects designed to increase access to healthy local foods in Sitka.
In 2014 a record 26,773 Alaskans gave $2.77 million to their favorite nonprofit organizations, up from $545,000 donated by 5,175 people in the program’s first year of 2009. Some Alaskans choose to donate to just one group, while others may spread several donations around to many groups. There now are more than 500 total 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations participating in Pick.Click.Give. for 2015, including 22 from Sitka.
To encourage more Alaskans to donate through the Pick.Click.Give. program, this will be the second year of theDouble Your Dividend contest. Anybody who makes a non-anonymous Pick.Click.Give. donation to at least one of the registered nonprofits will be entered into a contest where 10 lucky Alaskans will win a second PFD check. The winners will beannounced in October, about the time the PFDs start hitting bank accounts.
So how do you make a donation to the Sitka Local Foods Network through the Pick.Click.Give. program? First, go to http://pfd.alaska.gov/ and fill out your PFD application. When you get to the section of the application asking if you want to participate in Pick.Click.Give. Charitable Contributions program, click on the PCG link and search for the Sitka Local Foods Network. You also can look for us by using the town search for Sitka.
The Pick.Click.Give. program is available only to people who file their PFD applications online, and not to those who file by mail. Even though you can’t file a new PFD application after March 31, you can go back into your application and update your Pick.Click.Give. donations through Aug. 31 each year.
For more information about donating, you can send an email to sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com.
Charles Bingham, board member,
for the Sitka Local Foods Network
