Support for Trails
Dear Editor: As a regular user of Sitka trails for over 20 years, I am impressed with the increased numbers of people out enjoying them at this time.
Our trail system has taken many years to develop, with a lot of support from locals and a lot of work on the part of planners and builders. There is always maintenance going on, and new trails being added. It is such a wonderful thing to keep people out getting exercise, loving the place where they live, and being more social by meeting with their friends on the trails.
With the increased usage and appreciation, I can hope that there is also an increase in financial support for Sitka Trail Works, which has added so much to life here. Thank you, Sitka Trail Works, what would we be doing without you?
Laura Kaltenstein, Jeff Budd, Sitka
Thoughts on Jan. 6
Dear Editor: On Nov. 6, the Sentinel was kind enough to post my letter that stated, in part, that there were two things we would all do well to remember in the wake of Election2020:
1. Joseph Stalin’s admonition that “It’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes.”
2. Yogi Berra’s reminder that “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
Presumably, the action by Congress on Jan. 6 to certify the Electoral College victory of Biden/Harris over Trump/Pence will satisfy the “official” counting of the vote of Nov. 3; thereby at least satisfying the requirements of the Constitution, regardless of who it leaves unsatisfied out in TrumpLandia.
And given all that has happened between Nov. 3 and Jan. 6 re: who the next president is, item-to-remember #2 goes without saying. A lot more can happen between now and Jan. 20, both here in the United States and abroad; and, given the way this whole past year and past two months have unfolded, a lot no doubt will, both here and there.
And speaking of abroad, every American should spend some time taking in what the rest of the world’s news, views, and social media have to say about the day’s events in D.C., and the latest episode of the whole reality-tv extravaganza America has been since at least Nov. 9, 2016, if not 9/11. Of particular interest are what the media of China and Russia are saying, and their takes on the problems America seems to be having with functional, efficient, effective democratic, representative government.
Shortly after Congress sealed the deal, President Trump vicariously assured somebody that there would be an “orderly transition” of power on Jan. 20. Note, however, that he did not “concede” anything. And in fact, he promised that this was “only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
So even if it does happen that Trump leaves the White House on or before Jan. 20 (25th Amendment, Impeachment and Conviction, a relapse of his COVID infection, whatever), that does not mean that The Age of Trump is ending.
Not only is this whole thing not only not over, it is actually just getting started.
Jeff Moebus, Sitka
Duck Race Support
Dear Editor: The Sitka Rotary Club would like to thank businesses that have signed up as sponsors for the 2021 Greater Sitka Duck Race. We are looking for more businesses to participate, so we can continue to provide grants and other support for Sitka school projects and nonprofit organizations in Sitka, through our mini grant program.
Our “Business Sponsor” initiative has worked very well for the past three years so we will be continuing it in 2021. The program has grown from 24 sponsors in 2018, to 41 in 2019 and 80 in 2021. We are looking to grow that figure to well over 100 in 2021. If a business buys a book (10 tickets – $100) or more, Sitka Rotary will make them a Business Sponsor of the 2021 Greater Sitka Duck Race. We will recognize the businesses on our Facebook duck race group and encourage the FB group members to “like” their page. Some members share the post to their friends over the following seven to 10 and Sitka Rotary periodically recognize the business during the year.
So far, 43 Sitka businesses have already signed up as Business Sponsors for the 2021 race. They are: Sitka Checkered Cab; Sitka Studio of Dance; Youth Advocates of Sitka; First National Bank of Alaska; Coastal Collision Repairs & Towing; Wells Fargo Bank; Harry Race Pharmacy & Photo; KCAW-Raven Radio; Dumag’s Roofing Company; Keith Custom Construction; True Value Sitka; Haunted Sitka; Northrim Bank; The Pioneer Bar; LaBrea Precision LLC; Highliner Coffee Company; Cook Inlet Dental; AC Lakeside; Baranof Realty LLC; Waddell & Reed; Sitka Tours; Rainforest Writing and Editing; Old Harbor Books; The Alaskan Sailing Company LLC; Stedman Insurance Agency; North Star TV Network; Lemonstone Carpentry and Contracting; Sitka Shredding; Cooper Marine Services; Sitka Pediatric Dentistry; Sitka Bulk Goods; Sitka Pel’Meni; Greyhound Mining & Milling LLC; Tongass Threads Consignment Store; Neurobehavioral Consultants LLC; Beak Restaurant; Katlian Street Suites; The Professional Development Company; Alaska Marine Lines; Harbor Heights Penthouse; Catch Sitka Seafoods; Russell’s; Foreign Automotive.
Thank you to business supporters for your support in past years and this year, as well as individuals who purchase Duck Race tickets every year. This year, we are adding an additional 500 ducks to our “flock,” to increase our inventory to 4,000 and the number of prizes to 30, with proceeds going toward continuing to support our WONDERFUL community of Sitka. It also means our ticket buyers will have a greater chance of winning this year than ever before!
Thank you, Sitka!
The DUCKfather,
John F. Weitkamp, Sitka
Electoral Folly
Dear Editor: Blame for the chaotic mess of the past four years here in America can be placed directly at the ‘‘doorstep’’ of the Electoral College. That system chose Donald Trump as our president in 2016. At that time Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes from the American people than did Donald Trump. She should have been our president. The wisdom of those voters was ignored.
There may be some future function for the Electoral College in our United States. However, its ‘‘voice’’ should never be greater than the will of America’s voters.
Stanley Schoening, Sitka
Editorial Response
Dear Editor: I can think of no better answer to yesterday’s spiritually, socially, and politically divisive editorial than this:
‘‘The Man in the Arena’’
by Theodore Roosevelt
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Robert Parker, Sitka
‘Never Again’ Response
Dear Editor: Yesterday’s ‘‘Never Again’’ editorial published in the Sitka Sentinel is mostly spot on. What I think you missed is the needed calling out of elected and appointed state government officials whose enabling of President Trump’s post election lying and temper tantrum partly led to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Republican governors and Republican state legislators in multiple states across our country have pushed President Trump’s patently false allegations of voter fraud. Not all of them. It is very important that Republicans are not painted with a broad brush. Some Republicans, like Governor of New Jersey Paul Hogan and Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, spoke out forcefully against the baseless voter fraud allegations. These gentlemen prove that one could still speak up, even if they are Republican.
Our own Gov. Dunleavy is not a Republican who spoke up. Instead he has his own complicity in President Trump’s lying about the election, and ultimate coup attempt. Gov. Dunleavy directed the State of Alaska Attorney General to sign onto the Texas frivolous lawsuit which aimed to disenfranchise millions of Americans, mostly minorities.
Make no mistake, Alaskans, the same line of reasoning our governor supported in the Texas lawsuit would have also disenfranchised your votes too, if applied to Alaska. The lawsuit, with no chance of success (and paid for with state money), was just a dog whistle from our governor saying “I’m with President Trump.” But that’s not all, in furtherance of President Trump’s ruse, on Dec. 10, 2020, Gov. Dunleavy said that “there was an outside chance” that there would be a Biden Administration.” An outside chance, really? If that is really what Gov. Dunleavy believed, then he is extremely gullible or he was lying. Neither is good.
I sincerely believe that what happened in the Capitol building on Jan. 6, could have been avoided if people like Gov. Dunleavy would have just said the obvious – there is no evidence that President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris stole the Nov. 3 election. I have e-mailed our governor multiple times since Nov. 3, 2020, encouraging him to stand on the side of the evidence. He has not. Even now, two days after the riotous events of Jan. 6 I have not seen our governor try to diffuse the situation with a bit of truth.
Like I said, ‘‘Never Again’’ was mostly spot on, I would just add “also remember the state governors and legislators who, through a failure of leadership and through dishonesty, helped bring the nation to the point where the Jan. 6 coup attempt was even possible.”
Brent Edwards, Sitka
Seditious Attempt
Dear Editor: The Trump Republicans were doing some heavy soul searching yesterday in light of the seditious attempt on Congress.
But, alas, after much searching, they discovered that they had no soul. They had given it to the devil, Trump himself.
Mike Mayo, Sitka
Seafood Donation
Dear Editor: In March 2020, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust launched a COVID-19 seafood donation program with three primary objectives: 1) provide healthy seafood to food insecure families and communities; 2) support fishermen and community-minded processors facing market disruptions and plummeting fish prices; and 3) educate and inform local, state and national leaders on the challenges our fishing communities faced as well as the opportunities for our industry to help families in need.
Since March 2020, our seafood donation program has raised over $2 million from a variety of foundations and donors, which allowed us to purchase over 350,000 pounds of seafood and provide over 600,000 meals free of charge to individuals, families and community organizations (including The Wave NW, the YMCA, the Salvation Army, Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Sitka SAFV shelter) facing or addressing food insecurity in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
Locally, our seafood donation program delivered 50-100 pounds of seafood per week to the doorsteps of Sitka families self-identified to Sitka Mutual Aid as in need, and 30-200 pounds per week to community organizations helping to meet community needs. Within weeks of launching the Sitka program, ASFT and ALFA began receiving requests for seafood from other communities, including Anchorage military families and both Alaska Peninsula and Southeast communities doubly hit by COVID and weak salmon returns. We were able to share Southeast sablefish and salmon with military families, and Bristol Bay sockeye and Southeast coho with three Alaska Peninsula and 12 Southeast communities, the latter made possible through a partnership with Sealaska. The fish was delivered by barge to some communities and by ALFA member fishing boats to other communities.
Southeast communities included: Sitka, Hydaburg, Kake, Klawock, Haines, Wrangell, Angoon, Yakutat, Klukwan, Hoonah, Craig and Kasaan. Alaska Peninsula communities included Chignik, Ivanof Bay and Perryville, as well as Chignik residents who had relocated to Anchorage for the summer in search of employment to replace lost fishing opportunity.
The donated seafood from the seafood donation program was sourced from a variety of Alaska-based fishermen and suppliers, including Seafood Producers Cooperative and Sitka Sound Seafoods in Sitka, Northline Seafoods of Sitka and Bristol Bay, and Orca Bay Seafood, a Sealaska subsidiary. The seafood donations were made possible by funding from Catch Together, the Alaska Community Foundation and affiliate Sitka Legacy Fund, First Bank of Alaska, Hames Corporation and Market Center, Sealaska, Silver Bay Seafoods, the Sitka Cares Act through Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and a host of additional individual and business donors. In addition, many of our Alaskans Own customers purchased seafood donation boxes or our holiday gift box, where all proceeds benefit the seafood donation program.
This program would also not be possible without our many partners, including the Sitka Mutual Aid Program, the Wave Foundation, Chignik Intertribal Coalition, and the Armed Services YMCA of Alaska, along with many local volunteers.
We are grateful to be able to provide healthy seafood to Alaskans during these challenging times and to support our local fishermen and processors. We will continue to distribute seafood in Sitka through this winter and will work hard to secure additional resources to continue the seafood donation program through the spring and summer. The waitlist for seafood assistance keeps growing, as does our commitment to help. Local support of our seafood donation program will continue to make a huge difference as we apply for additional funds to assist those who are food insecure now and in the future. Thank you for helping us share Sitka’s outstanding seafood with families in need!
You can learn more about the seafood donation program here: http://www.thealaskatrust.org/seafood-donation-program and Alaskans Own Seafood here: www.alaskansown.com. Please call Willow at 907-747-3400 with any questions.
In gratitude,
Linda Behnken,
ALFA Executive Director
Willow Moore,
ASFT Executive Director
Natalie Sattler,
Alaskans Own Program Director
Holiday Dinner Thanks
Dear Editor: The Alaska Native Brotherhood, Camp 1, would like to thank all the Sitka businesses, organizations, and volunteers who helped us tremendously to host the annual Christmas holiday dinner on Thursday, Dec. 23, at the Harrigan Centenniel Hall from noon to 5 p.m. More than 650 dinners were delivered to Sitka residents with Christmas candy canes for the children. We dedicated this year’s holiday to the late John Duncan Sr. John was an ANB Camp council member for many years.
Big thanks to Sitka Tribes, Sitka Conservation Society, City of Sitka for the CARES monies, AC Lakeside Grocery, Sea Mart (Hames Corporation) and Sitka Local Foods Network. There were many donations from individuals, thank you Edith Johnson, owner of Our Town Catering Services and the many others who donated, either to the Thanksgiving big holiday take-out dinner or the Christmas take-out dinner. All told, 1,400 dinners were delivered.
Our volunteers for the Christmas holiday dinners were Elder Packer, Elder Hanson, Elder Bailey, Elder Rickey, Ralph Junker, Barbara Bingham, ANS volunteers Barbara Bingham, Paulette Moreno, Rachel Moreno, Crystal Duncan. Also, Audrey Miller, El Heraklion Mc Clain, Julianna Johnson, ANB Camp 1 Andy Tibets, Winfred Hanbury, Peter Karras and the Harrigan Centennial Hall staff.
Wishing everyone all good happenings for you and your families.
Alaska Native Brotherhood, Camp 1,
Harriet Beleal, Winfred Hanbury, Peter Karras, R. Spike Arnold,
Harvey Kitka, David Hill,
Chad Titell, Demetrius Lestenoff
and Alaska Native Sisterhood
Volunteers
All of Us
Dear Editor: My dear friend, Rebecca, a spiritual director in Anchorage sent this out to her friends today and given the events of the week I thought it’d be powerful if “all of us Sitkans” could all spend time reflecting on her words. What would it take to move from “them” to “us” in Sitka?
Instead of the word “them,” I have felt the call recently to use the phrase SOME OF US. I offer below a short meditation that I invite US to pray or meditate on together. The emphasis in each line is the word US.
Some of US protested in Washington today. Some of US rioted in Washington today. Some of US knelt in prayer. Some of US were outraged. Some of US wept. Some of US were filled with hate. Some of US felt hopeless. ALL of US are frightened.
Some of US believe what CNN tells us. Some of US believe what Fox news tells us. Some of US believe what QANON tells us. All of US need to know what is True.
Some of US wear masks. Some of US don’t believe we should have to wear masks. Some of US believe in being vaccinated. Some of US don’t. ALL of US grieve the loss of loved ones. Most of US are confused.
Some of US trust Donald Trump. Some of US trust Joe Biden. All of US want to live in safety. All of US want to be respected. All of US want to be loved.
Most of US are angry. Almost all of US want to live in peace. A very few do not. All of US want our children to inherit a better world. All of US are human beings.
All of us are sacred. All of US belong to one another. All of US are worthy of love and respect. Some of US – a very few – refuse to see people as either us or them.
If we are to heal and move forward, there must only be US.
Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Sitka
