Thank You, Jonathan
Dear Editor: Ongoing kudos to Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for his newsletter. To be regularly kept informed and at the same time entertained is a novelty among our State and Federal representatives. As evidenced by his most recent issue “About that Fukushima radiation...,” Jonathan clearly stays on top of issues important to Alaska all year long, and he provides data to back his stance.
Bob Hutton, Hoonah
Basketball Tournament
Dear Editor: I would like to thank all who attended the 8th annual Mt. Edgecumbe Invitational Basketball Tournament last week. We had a record number of spectators and record number of games played! All of the proceeds from the tournament go directly back to MEHS activity travel.
Thank you to our local sponsors: Schmolck Mechanical, ASRC, Totem Square Inn, Shee Atika Inc, McDonald’s, Sitka Bottling, Sitka CHARR and Delta Western.
Thank you also to all of our volunteers: Gio Villoneuva, PT, of SEARHC Hospital for organizing all of the medical coverage along with Alicia Olson, PT, and Eric Speck, PT, of Sitka Physical Therapy. Rose Demmert, Georjeana Wallace, Sam Martin, Mary Martin, Ron Martin, Gene Bartolaba, Keith Perkins, Gary Lang, Terry Friske and Dr. Gil Truitt for volunteering many hours in the gym. Thanks also to all the MEHS staff and students and Sitka Referees Association.
Again, thank you for supporting MEHS and its students.
Andrew Friske,
Dorm Principal/Activities Director,
Mt. Edgecumbe High School
Appreciation for Gifts
Dear Editor: We would like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to the many kind and generous people of this community for your support and thoughtfulness. We had some wonderful people bring in gifts for our Long Term Care residents at Sitka Community Hospital. They received many nice items (such as clothing, gloves, hats, blankets, and much, much more) from the downtown Giving Tree at Wells Fargo Bank. We wish you could have seen the joy and happiness you brought them from the gifts they received. We hope your holiday season was as bright as ours.
Sitka Community Hospital
Long Term Care Staff
and Activities Team
Opposes HB77
Dear Editor: I am writing to express my opposition to HB77. The intent of this bill as I read it seems to be to improve the business climate in the state. Unfortunately, it takes all the power and decision-making ability out of the hands of the people and gives it to corporate interests and unelected government officials. Many sections of this bill remove, or seriously limit, the opportunities for public comment as resource use decisions are being made. In Southeast, one of the effects of HB77 would be to limit public participation as decisions are being made that affect salmon streams and watersheds.
Public participation has always been assumed as a right in Alaska. We have advisory boards, fishermen-owned aquaculture associations, tribal entities, and regular hearings for public comment, just to name a few processes that assume public participation. These kinds of opportunities for comment have been in place since statehood. If HB77 became law, the commissioner would have the ability to move on land-use decisions based on his own interpretation of the situation.
In Southeast Alaska, we have an economy that benefits from sustainable salmon fishing, and that success is due in large part to excellent habitat. I have been a salmon fisherman for over 50 years – salmon are my business and I want to be able to weigh in on how their water and habitat are used.
I would like to thank Sen. Bert Stedman for his opposition to HB77 and would encourage anyone wanting to voice their concern over this bill to contact Sen. Stedman’s office.
The Department of Natural Resources commissioner and staff need to come here to Sitka to give folks a chance to ask questions and voice concerns. There has yet to be a public forum meeting on HB77 in Southeast and this should be done as soon as possible.
Dave Turcott, Sitka
Thank You, Alaskat
Dear Editor: Sitka is an amazing place filled with amazing people that show they care, every day, about their neighbors, their community, and their environment.
It is a place where anonymous good deeds that benefit the entire community happen with some regularity. Why do I say this? I recently stopped by the Reusable Bag Libraries at both Sea Mart and AC Lakeside to find that the boxes had been fully restocked with 50 or more reusable cloth bags made out of t-shirts, cut out and sewn by “Alaskat!” Thank you “Alaskat” for your time, your effort and your thoughtful contribution that supports community sustainability. Your kind act is appreciated by myself, the stores and their managers, and those community members who walk out of the store carrying a “T-shirt” full of groceries!
So next time you look in the bag library boxes at the grocery stores, you’re not looking at a pile of laundry, you’re looking at a handy and very cute pile of reusable bags made by a friend, a neighbor, a stranger, a Sitkan who put their time, energy, and creativity into a project that helps us all out.
Be part of the reusable bag movement: Find those reusable bags in the closet, under the stairs, at the White Elephant, or wherever they are hiding; bring in and use your reusable bags at every store in Sitka; borrow a bag when you need one from the SeaMart or Lakeside Reusable Bag Library; and Bring it back (clean!) when you are done! And maybe, if you get lucky, you’ll end up with an “Alaskat” original! … and don’t be surprised if you see me trading out some of my boring old cloth bags for an Alaskat T-shirt bag.
Thanks, “Alaskat,” for the reusable cloth bag refill!
Michelle Putz,
Sitka Global Warming Group Leader
