Rescue
Dear Editor: I wanted to explain a little more about the logging accident on Dec. 28. Jerry was cutting a large stump and the stump jumped the base and started coming the wrong way. He started running but the tree was coming down fast and hard. The limbs slammed him to the ground and knocked him out. He was unconscience for several minutes. When he came to, he said ‘‘Where am I? What’s going on?’’ Then he started hollering in pain. His left arm had an open gash and the arm was broken. His hip was broken in three places.
I needed to get help right away. He was in agony. I tried calling on the radio that we keep with us. Somebody in Juneau answered our call. But later I found out it was garbled. They put out a distress signal for Mud Bay but we weren’t at Mud Bay. Mike Baines’ boat heard the call and they were traveling to meet the emergency. Meanwhile, I had to leave him and look for a traveling boat. I waded across a shallow inlet and then climbed a cliff so I could set off a flare. When I saw Baines’ boat, I shot the flare. They saw it, picked me up and came to where Jerry was.
They called on their radio for help. Search and Rescue and Coast Guard helicopter responded.
Chester and Jim came to Jerry and kept assuring him help was on the way. Baines stayed on their boat and pulled our boat out to deeper water. The high tide was nearly finished.
Jim put his coat on Jerry and both of them kept talking to Jerry.
Then Rescue crew came. They got out a litter and the helicopter came. Helicopter let down its litter and Jerry went swirling up to the helicopter. Helicopters give off a lot of strong breezes. Jim stood in front of me to shield me from the high wind. Then the helicopter took off for Mt. Edgecumbe.
Gerald Gangle drove our boat back to Starrigavan and he and Don Kluting got the boat out of the water. Don called George Eliason to ask if he could bring our boat back home. George’s son Jorgen brought our boat home.
Then I came on the Rescue boat back to the harbor and Guy from Rescue took me to the hospital. There were two other young men on the rescue but I failed to get their names.
The hospital said he’d have to be medevaked to Anchorage. The X-rays told them we didn’t have anybody in Sitka who could do that kind of bone repair.
We came on a Lear jet to Anchorage. They did more X-rays and C-scans. They did his head, neck, arm, leg and abdomen. The arm showed a horrible fracture and nerve damage.
They repaired his arm fracture first about 2 a.m. Saturday. The orthosurgeon was Dr. Hightower. They put in a steel plate to bring the bones back together.
He was given pain medication, but he was still in much pain.
They waited until Monday to do the hip repair. Two orthopedic doctors, Hightower and Packer.
They couldn’t save the greater trochanter (the ball at the top of the femur); it was knocked loose from the femur and there were two other breaks in the femur as well. They had to do a hip replacement and they repaired the other two breaks.
We are very grateful and much thankful for the responses to our distress call. We want to thank all the men who took part in our rescue. We’re thankful for our SAR team and we’re thankful to have the Coast Guard so near and helpful. Also, to Jim, Chester and Mike Baines, much, much thanks.
Also, it is so wonderful to have Guardian Air flight with Jennifer and Steve, nurses on flight duty. We’re fortunate in Sitka to have medevac help so near. And on the other Lear jet that came from Ketchikan we had Jeff and Mio flight nurses to get us into Anchorage.
We’re very thankful for all the prayers that have been ascending to heaven in our behalf. And please, keep the prayers coming. We have a ways to go yet. Healing will take some time but I’m so happy that he’s alive. That big tree could have killed him. But you know, you can take a woodsman out of the woods but, you can’t take the woods out of his blood stream.
Thanks to all of you.
If you want to call and say ‘‘Hi’’ his cell phone is 1-907-738-0688.
Mary Ann Hall, Sitka
Missing
Dear Editor: Holy Dysfunctional Family. It’s been a rough year for the nativity scene at 111 Cascade Creek Road. The story goes like this. A young Jewish teenage girl named Mary finds herself pregnant out of wedlock. Joe, the guy she’s engaged to is ready to ditch her but has a dream one night and decides to stay and support her. The child is born while they’re on the road and gets delivered in an animal shelter. Word gets out the kid is going to be a king - some say the son of God. And then, three wise guys show up looking for the baby king. The jealous psycho local ruler, Herod, goes into a rage and has all the babies in the area killed. Joe makes a narrow escape fleeing to Egypt with Mary and the babe. The rest is history, but what a story.
Now back to 111 Cascade Creek Road. The wise guys were just added in celebration of the feast of the Epiphany but it looks really weird. Mary is all alone. I don’t want to give folks the wrong impression. Joe did not dump Mary. Someone took him last Thursday night. And Jesus didn’t get done in by nasty King Herod. He was taken the night before. Sometimes it takes a town to keep a family functional. So please bring Joseph and Jesus back – into the manger, into your hearts. It’s never too late. No questions asked.
Merry Christmas.
Charles Horan, Sitka
Fishery Lawsuit
Dear Editor: The Boat Company has stepped forward as a leader, suing the National Marine Fisheries Service over perceived inadequacies in its new program to monitor halibut and salmon by-catch by trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska. Others now need to get behind them.
Trawling has been banned in Southeast Alaska since 1998, yet trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska continue to wreak havoc on Southeast fisheries. The problem is that trawlers, targeting primarily pollock and cod, haul in millions of pounds of young halibut and upwards of 50,000 king salmon each year. If given the chance to grow, many of these fish would find their way to the coast of Southeast Alaska, where they could be caught in targeted fisheries.
Last summer the North Pacific Fishery Management Council reduced the trawl halibut by-catch limit by 15 percent to around 4 million pounds. While this reduction is a first step, enforcement remains inadequate and that is the focus of the Boat Company lawsuit.
Sitka absolutely depends on robust halibut and salmon fisheries, and efforts by local individuals and organizations to continue to reduce trawl by-catch must be on-going. The Boat Company obviously knows this, and I hope their efforts inspire others.
Andrew Thoms
Executive Director
Sitka Conservation Society
