Police Behavior
Dear Editor: I would like to commend the Sitka Police for their performance Sunday morning at the 1300 Halibut Point Road boat standoff.
I was able to watch the entire event unfold from my window. My first impression was the incredible patience of the two police officers who spent an hour trying to convince a belligerent man to exit the cabin of the boat. Throughout the incident, they made excellent judgment calls numerous times. At one point I heard the man ask the police to shoot him. At another, he appeared to pretend to use an oar as a gun. All of the officers involved remained calm and could not be baited.
At a time when other police departments have been accused of over reacting, they acted appropriately and professionally. I am thankful there are officers (as well as fire department members who were standing by) willing to be pulled from their beds to assist when needed. In a small town where resources are limited, I feel very confident of my safety and could not be prouder of our Sitka PD!
Victoria Vosburg, DVM,
Pet’s Choice Veterinary Hospital,
Alaska Raptor Center,
Sitka Mountain Rescue,
Deputy Lieutenant Incident
Management Team
School Funding
Dear Editor: This is to inform the public of the formation of a new organization to promote new local school funding, the School Funding Action Committee.
Funding for schools has become increasingly restricted. Traditional funding efforts, such as bake sales, candy apple sales, and so on, have temporarily rewarded the hard work of students, teachers and parents. The benefits from these fund-raising efforts are short term. New funds dedicated to the schools are needed.
Meetings should be organized to plan dedicated and steady funding sources and to bring the plans to the Assembly for action. If you would like to contribute your insights in advance of the announcement of the dates and places for meetings, please give us your thoughts.
For now, our group is called School Funding Action Committee, a volunteer community-based organizing team open to everybody. We are in the earliest stages. Please contribute your ideas. Contact John Welsh, welshmx@yahoo.com. Please state your permission to add you to an email list. You also can add your thoughts to the thread in the public service announcement classifieds on Sitka.com at http://forum.sitka.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=49080
Meetings can take a toll on families and on working folk, so we may be able to build a plan by email, and meet for the first time at Centennial Hall, when we submit the plan to the Assembly. There already is support in the Assembly for hearing our ideas, without as yet actually endorsing them. The folks already working on this have no pre-set limits on ideas. We are sure there are many paths to improved local funding for schools that we have not thought about.
Some new sources of school funding, such as those included below as examples, will require changes in Sitka’s tax laws. We will have to pull together to get this done.
1. Funding Needs of the schools: a. Activities Programs under-funded; 2. Funding Ideas: a. Increase sales tax, dedicated to schools and b. Create an excise tax on sales of marijuana, dedicated to schools.
Thank you for your ideas and your work to share them.
John Welsh, Sitka
Parent of three SSD students
Polar Dip
Dear Editor: I am writing this letter to thank everyone for coming out to the Polar Dip this past December and for all the help we received.
I specifically want to thank the organizations that helped us this year and have graciously done so in the past: Sitka Community Hospital for the warming tent, the fire department for the ambulance, the dive team, Harry Race Pharmacy for the hot chocolate, and Young Life for the tables and chairs. I also want to thank everyone who came out and bravely took the plunge, and those who brought canned or dry goods to donate to the Salvation Army. It was a lot of fun; let’s hope for many more to come.
Evan McArthur,
Sitka High School Honor Society
BBBS Menoring
Dear Editor: January marks the 14th annual National Mentoring Month. In addition, Gov. Bill Walker recently signed a proclamation designating the month of January as Mentoring Month in Alaska. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sitka would like to invite the community to join us in celebrating mentors and volunteers.
Our goal is to expand quality mentoring opportunities and connect more of our community’s young people with caring adults. As we focus on engaging more community members in volunteering as mentors, we will share a simple message: ‘‘Be Someone Who Matters to Someone Who Matters.’’ Mentoring relationships are basic human connections that let a young person know that they matter, and mentors frequently report back that their relationships make them feel like someone who matters in another person’s life.
Two important dates are coming up, including Jan. 15, 2015: “Thank Your Mentor Day” when we encourage anyone who has had a mentor to say thank you by sending a note, a card or sharing a story on social media using #SomeoneWhoMatters. The second important date is Jan. 19, 2015: the “Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service,” when our nation will shine a spotlight on volunteerism and inspire people seeking service opportunities to learn more about mentoring.
As Gov. Walker’s proclamation stated, “Mentors often wear many hats – serving as friends, role models, teachers, and sources of stability and support.”
I would like to offer my thanks to the many Sitkans that are making profound differences in the lives of young people in our community. I would also like to recognize the individuals who have volunteered as “Bigs” in our program during the past year including Mindy Bartolaba, Dale Grant, Ralph Junker, Jessica Holland, Kelly Ferguson, Casey Orona, Maggie Gallin, Jacqueline Fernandez, Karoline Bekeris, James Swift, Julie Smith, Ben White, Julieanne Stroemer, Pamela Ash and new volunteers, Joseph Conover, Dana Ahlin, Carmel Easley and Ryan Haug. This list feels lengthy, but the number of youths on the “wait list” to receive a mentor remains twice as long as the list of available volunteers. Big Brothers are especially needed. The best part is that no special expertise is required to make a real difference in the life of a child.
On behalf of our “Bigs” and “Littles,” I would like to thank Venneburg Insurance, Harris Air and the Sitka Emblem Club 142 for recent donations to our local program. Their support helps make it possible to continue providing this much-needed service to the community.
To learn more about the role mentoring plays in our community and to find volunteer or sponsorship opportunities, please call me at 747-3500 or by email at Kealoha.Harmon@bbbsak.org.
Kealoha Harmon,
Community Director-Sitka,
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska
