Life Jackets Donation
Dear Editor: The Blatchley pool would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Boyd Didrickson for his gracious donation of life jackets. The Blatchley pool was in dire need of vests for our young swimmers as well as the Blatchley students who use them for AMSEA week, Discover Your Potential week and the learn-to-swim units.
This donation has allowed us to get these patrons and students in the pool. Thank you from the BMS pool staff and all those who will benefit from this generous gift.
Twila Keaveny, Secretary,
Sitka Community Schools
for the Blatchley pool staff
White E Donation
Dear Editor: On behalf of the fabulous children at Mt. Edgecumbe Preschool I would like to thank the White Elephant for a very generous contribution to our scholarship fund. We believe that every child should have the opportunity to be part of a vibrant early learning community and our scholarship fund provides assistance to families who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of tuition. Hooray for the White E!
Lori Whitmill, Director,
Mt. Edgecumbe Preschool
Board of Fish
Dear Editor: What follows is my public testimony for the Board of Fish meetings being held in Sitka this week.
My name is Harriet Miyasato Beleal. I’m secretary of Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 1, Sitka, but my testimony is my own.
For 10,000 years, our Native peoples have survived on subsistence and living off the land, sea and sky. Growing up, I was privileged to have lived a subsistence lifestyle in Klawock and Wrangell, where I’m from. My grandfathers, Chester Worthington and James Johnson are founding fathers of the Alaska Native Brotherhood. Ten thousand years, God has provided us and blessed us with food from land, sea and sky. I can recall that the fish were plentiful and we wanted for nothing. This was back in the 1940s. We lived a very independent lifestyle and depended on no one. There was no welfare, unemployment or social ills we suffer today.
As secretary of ANB we support our subsistence lifestyle, embrace our cultural values, and defend our subsistence rights as the first peoples of Alaska.
For the next 10,000 years, may there be native foods for our future generations, whether they be of any race.
Let’s preserve and protect our subsistence and traditional hunting and fishing for the future generations. Our legacy so there is something to defend and protect, especially our herring eggs.
It is in your hands and what you decide today and later will determine and affect many lives. So, do the right thing and you will sleep better at night.
Thank you for the opportunity to voice my opinion and for your time and attention. God bless you and yours.
Harriet Miyasato Beleal, Sitka
