Super Bowl Party
Dear Editor: The Sitka Moose Lodge would like to thank all those who made this year’s Super Bowl a big success.
Thank you to Roger Hames and Sea Mart for the $100 gift certificate, True Value for the heater and crock pot, K&L and Odom Distributors. Also thank you to those who donated items, including Suzette Dabb for her afghans and blender; Tim and Lydia McGraw for cooking; and to those who donated their time and food plates.
Thank you, again.
Sitka Moose Lodge 1350
Cruise Ship Event
Dear Editor: Recognizing the importance of expanding cruise traffic in the future, a group of Sitkans plan to attend Cruise Shipping Miami this March. The three-day event attracts a broad range of industry players, including the cruise industry buyers and decision makers, representing destinations and distributors from all over the world. Last year’s important networking opportunities for Sitka included cruise ship executives from several cruise lines, as well as Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, John Binkley from Alaska Cruise Association and Alaska Travel Industry Association President Ron Peck.
The 2012 Cruise Sitka booth had representatives from the Sitka Convention and Visitors Bureau, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, the New Archangel Dancers, Old Sitka Dock and the city Assembly. The booth incorporated history, culture, adventure and Sitka’s new dock as they proudly promoted Sitka as a destination. The Sitka Chamber Board of Directors felt that it was important to have a representative from our Assembly at the booth, and so we sent Deputy Mayor Pete Esquiro. Having him there showed that Sitka is serious about our relationship with the cruise industry, as well as fostering local businesses. Recognizing the importance of this event, our current Assembly decided this past Tuesday to send Mayor Mim McConnell this year.
Cruise ship visitors make a substantial economic impact on Sitka. If you would like to help support this effort, it will make a difference. In addition to welcoming cash donations, donations such as give-away items or prizes for drawings are needed, as well as sponsorships for the reception that will be held at the Cruise Sitka booth. For more information, or to make a donation, please contact the Sitka Chamber office at 747-8604 or jen@sitkachamber.com.
Jennifer Robinson,
Executive Director,
Sitka Chamber of Commerce
GMO Salmon
Dear Editor: As I gathered with some 130 or so fellow Sitkans concerned about the FDA’s pending approval of the plan to introduce genetically modified salmon into the nation’s water and food supplies at the rally spearheaded last Saturday by the Sitka Conservation society, I couldn’t help but be thankful that there were that many folks concerned enough to be here, to be seen and heard and counted.
But by the same token, an hour later, when suddenly everybody was gone, returned to their intermittently rainy Sitka Saturday afternoon, I was sobered by the realization that unless and until a critical mass of consciously concerned, committed, contentious, and courageous citizens who oppose GMO salmon in this nation’s and hemisphere’s, and in this planet’s oceans and rivers and waters, unless and until that critical mass does what the Zapatistas did back on Jan. 1, 1994, way down south and at the end of Mexico, and declare to then act upon that declaration of YA BASTA y NO MAS ... ENOUGH and NO MORE ... and that unless and until that happens, eventually ... (or if it ultimately does not happen at all), then it will be too late for a lot of things.
And that’s a sobering thought, indeed.
Please write to: Dr. Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commission, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
J.G. Moebus, Sitka,
Master Sergeant
(retired, U.S. Army)
