Governor’s Cuts
Dear Editor: On Friday, five minutes before walking on stage to welcome our audience to the final night of student performances for our 2019 middle school camp, I checked my email for any last-minute important information from staff. Instead my inbox was flooded with messages from my colleagues throughout the state responding to the devastating news that Gov. Dunleavy had just cut the Alaska State Council on the Arts from the state budget.
I was shocked and angered by this news. That night, 264 middle school students from 39 Alaskan communities were just celebrating the culmination of two weeks of some of the most intensively educational and inspirational learning of their lives. Yet in a single moment, our Governor showed his complete disregard and dismissal of the value of this experience for these children. And, at the same time, made our great State the only state in the nation without a state arts council.
The Alaska State Council on the Arts is an important partner to our organization. Not only do they help fund our efforts to bring the highest quality arts education to Alaska kids, but they also provide support to our many partners throughout the state who are also dedicated to ensuring that Alaska children have access to arts in their communities and schools. For many of our small rural schools, the Alaska State Council on the Arts’ Artists in Schools Program may provide one of the few opportunities kids have to access arts education.
The Alaska State Council on the Arts has also been the leading champion of bringing Alaska Native arts and artists into Alaska schools. Helping to advocate, preserve knowledge and build pride around the extraordinary artistic and cultural achievements of the Alaska Native people can literally be a life saver for young people who are able to reconnect with their rich cultural heritage.
The dissolution of the Alaska State Council on the Arts will have a major impact on the Sitka Fine Arts Camp and arts organizations throughout the state that have an important role in the quality of life and economy of our state.
Please send a message to your legislators and governor voicing your support for arts and education in our state and your opposition to these cuts. It is vital to the future of the arts in our state that we all send a strong message to our state leaders now that arts and education are a priority.
Thank you.
Roger Schmidt
Executive Director
Sitka Fine Arts Camp
Governor’s Budget
Dear Editor: The July 2 paper said: “Vetoes Do Damage, But Sitka Was Ready.” Really?? Are we ready for our children and neighbors moving so they can find work and live in a state which values education, arts, and decent services for all our population? Are we ready for more homeless people without social services, are we ready for no Marine Highway and even higher costs of living? Are we ready to be the only state without a State Arts Council?
I had a dream after reading the article. Gov. Dunleavy wrote a letter to Dear Abby, it read: “Dear Abby, I am the governor of one of the richest states in the union and with one of the smallest populations. I am cutting education – my biggest cut, plus a lot of other things that help people, but education is my biggest thing. I wonder though – I was an educator before I became a politian. Why are people so riled up about keeping schools open? Signed Gov. of Rich State.”
Dear Abby replied; “Dear Gov of Rich State, not knowing you it is hard for me to respond but I think you probably have a past in education where you were not successful, maybe even fired from a job or two. You may have residual anger at yourself and others for your failures. The best thing I can suggest is seeing a licensed mental health clinician. Keep looking until you find one that can help you, because with all the cuts you are talking about, the type of help you need may be harder to find. Signed, Dear Abby.”
Was that only a dream or a real nightmare?
Jeff Budd, Sitka
Card of Thanks
Dear Editor: Expressing a thank you for your sympathy and kindness during our time of loss of James John Nielsen Sr.
Thank you to all of the staff of the Sitka Fire Department, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the Sitka Pioneers Home staff and Office of Public Advocacy.
Thank you to Father Ishmael Andrew of the St. Michael’s Cathedral Church and the crew of St. Michael’s gravesite.
Special thank you to North Pacific Fisheries for the delicious food donation.
Thank you, Trudy Prewitt, for your wonderful help during our time of need.
Special thank you to Bev’s Flowers and Gifts for the beautiful arrangements.
Thank you to the Alaska Native Brotherhood and cook crews for the delicious food preparations. Also, thanks to the servers and cleaners.
Thank you to Sealaska and Shee Atika.
Thank you, Daily Sitka Sentinel, for the publication and kind words.
Special thank you to the Color Guards for the beautiful ceremony and the Office of Dan Sullivan.
Thank you to the crew of Jeremy DeTemple.
Special thanks to all friends and relatives of the Nielsen Family. If there is someone I forgot, please forgive me, it is not my intention. May God bless you all!
James John Nielsen Sr. Family
