‘Bilge’ Cartoon
Dear Editor: We are writing to let you know how much we are enjoying the new cartoon ‘‘Bilge,’’ which is local, by Tina Johnson. It was a happy surprise to notice it one day recently and I hope you continue to offer her submissions into the future.
Really tickled!
Amelia and Steve Gage, Sitka
Letter Response
Dear Editor: To William the Giant’s suggestion to invite President Trump to the 150th Anniversary of the sale of Alaska to the United States (Sentinel, Feb. 13), I believe it only fitting that President Vladimir Putin of the Federation of Russia also be invited. After all, if Russia hadn’t presumed to have been able to have put it up for sale in the first place, the U.S. could not have presumed to have bought it, in the second. Perhaps they could turn it into an impromptu Summit meeting discussing the future of an ice-free Arctic Ocean.
JG Moebus, Sitka
Taku Use
Dear Editor: The state is offering the Taku to local municipalities, free of charge. While the idea of taking on the cost of running a 53-year-old vessel is hard to pencil out, it has been awhile since Sitka has had good ferry service, so a bunch of us got together to see if we could try. On Sunday night I hosted “Taku to Ride” at the Island Institute. We meant to have some fun, playing with ideas. But some of our ideas might be the type of ‘‘out of the box’’ thinking that we need when looking at the future of the ferry system.
Here’s some of what we came up with if Sitka took the ferry but decided not to run it:
–Sink it to create an artificial reef that the Sitka Sound Science Center can use for research and training but could also serve as a tourist attraction for divers.
–A maritime museum with different boats on the car deck as exhibits along with tours of the engine room and bridge.
–Public housing, homeless shelter or municipal youth hostel and campground.
–An educational ship to use as part of a marine engineering curriculum, giving students a real ship to work on. And while we’re at it, we could remove the solarium and build a heliport to train pilots in ship landings.
But it was the things that the ferry could do while moving that got the most interest. The Taku is expensive to run, in part, because it needs two crews. But what if we ran it as a day boat with overnight stops after 12 hours? Certainly it could run Juneau-Sitka with overnights in each. But we could also serve the villages. How about a scheduled Sitka-Angoon, overnight in Kake and return, then Sitka-Kake, overnight in Angoon and return? We could also work schedules involving Hoonah or Tenakee. What could we do with those overnights? Here are some thoughts:
–The ferry could carry a traveling service center to the communities, with a clinic, DMV and LIO with information on the PFD, Social Security and other services. It could carry a floating Sea Mart. The ferry could market itself as a retreat center and sponsor floating school competitions in drama and debate.
Or how about a floating weekly “night out” for the communities where the ship stops? It could have a restaurant, fast food service, a couple of bowling alleys (heck, Sitka would enjoy that), a movie house, arts performances and weekly classes from the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. We even thought of the ship carrying an itinerant preacher.
The villages would benefit, but so would Sitka, bringing people from the communities to shop, get health care and attend events here, like basketball games.
And while no one really thought that Sitka’s acquiring a 53-year-old ship in need of deferred maintenance would be practical, we did think that we should start the discussion of an Independent Ferry Authority, modeled after the one that serves Prince of Wales Island, to serve Sitka and surrounding communities, an authority with the motto “transportation plus.”
Or we could sink it and create that reef.
Rich McClear, Sitka
