Planning Meeting
Dear Editor: How can you stay in Sitka if you don’t get a government job?
Write new city code for sourdoughs: homesteads, floathouses, tiny homes ... for subsistence-seeking not rent-seeking. New city planners want voters’ input to save the town! Attend the Planning Commission meeting Tuesday, Feb. 2, at the Assembly Chambers, 1332 Seward Ave., Room 229, item F.
Scott Saline, Sitka
Heroin Battle
Dear Editor: I love Sitka and consider it one of the most beautiful places with a great community. I have many friends in Sitka and come over every year for the annual Mudball tournament.
We all know heroin is killing more of our loved ones and pushing people to commit crimes. We know heroin and opiate addiction is raging across our state, including Sitka. Sen. Johnny Ellis of Anchorage and Sen. Dennis Egan have a bill, SB 23, that would allow Naloxone to be distributed at pharmacies over the counter.
Naloxone is a medication that blocks the effects of opioids (heroin and other opiate pain killers). It can be administered quite easily by lay people – such as friends and family members – to someone who is experiencing an overdose. It is safe and doesn’t have any abuse features.
According to the CDC findings, from 1996 to 2014 community-based programs reported that 26,463 overdoses were reversed as a result of getting more Naloxone kits into the hands of community members. Because friends, family, and other people with addiction are usually the first people to have contact with individuals experiencing an opioid overdose, being able to administer Naloxone immediately saves lives.
Other states have already passed such laws, including Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Email your house member. Ask them to please support SB23. Help stop this epidemic. Rep. Jonathan Kreiss Tomkins is the House representative for Sitka. His email is Representative. Jonathan.Kreiss-Tomkins@akleg.gov. Sen. Bert Stedman represents Sitka in the Senate. His email is sen.bert.stedman@akleg.gov.
Please get involved and let your representatives know Sitka is a great community that cares.
Please email your House Member and share this email with others. Let’s stop heroin.
Michele “Stu” Morgan, Sitka
P.S. We will have a facebook page Juneau, Stop Heroin, Start Talking. Please feel free to bring Sitka’s issues to the page. We are all in this together.
ANB, ANS
Dear Editor: Sitkans, I would like to let you know that your local ANB/ANS camps need your help. Without your membership and active participation we cannot do what we need to do in our communities. Some people may not know that Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood are volunteer organizations. ANB has been around since 1912, and was originally formed as a civil rights organization, and we are hailed as the grandfather for the ANSCA Corporations, Tribes and SEARHC. The mission is an has always been for the betterment of Native people and the communities we live in. Today we focus on serving in our community in various forms, advocacy for rights, education, subsistence, and keeping the hall open to all sectors of the community, such as nonprofits, advocacy groups and social organizations.
Just recently our local ANB Camp 1 and ANS Camp 4 partnered with community organizations, individual donors and many volunteers and we were able to host Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the community of Sitka. We have helped in many fundraisers, community meetings, funerals and receptions. We do charge a small amount for the times the local ANB Founders Hall is used, so that we can pay our lights and utilities. As you know the costs are rising and the camp is doing its best to keep the doors open and the lights on. We cannot continue to do this without support from you.
I would like to thank those who volunteer at events and those who donate. I would also like to ask for your help year-round. There is a lot of work to go around. Right now there is just a small group of people who set up, clean up and make sure things run smoothly at the hall. We need your help. Come to a meeting, share your ideas. Help us raise funds, so we may continue to best serve our community.
We meet every second and fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m.. You’re welcome to join and take part. We would be happy to see you there and involved. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to call me at 738-5507.
Wilbur Brown,
ANB Camp 1 President
