Groundcover Experiment
Dear Editor: Many thanks to the volunteer Sitka Tree and Landscape members who planted a variety of groundcover types at Blatchley Middle School on Sunday, June 16.
This planting experiment will determine which groundcover is the best, most effective variety for competing with dandelions and weeds. What’s found to be the most aggressive groundcover will be used in other plantings to reduce city grounds maintenance costs and time.
Lynne Brandon,
Parks and Recreation Manager,
City and Borough of Sitka
Rotary Duck Race
Dear Editor: Sitka’s sense of fun is only outweighed by its generosity! The annual Sitka Rotary Duck Race was a complete success, with $16,750 raised to support all of the projects, activities and scholarships that Rotary provides throughout the year.
Congratulations to this year’s winners: Alaska Airlines, Tickets-Patrick Weaver; $500, Marjorie Hennesey; $250, Chris Anglin; the Alaska Computer Center Pay-It Forward $250, Grace Brooks; $100 each, Rick and Kathy Paden, Dennis Peterson, Jim Goldsmith, Greg Johnstone, Jamie Abbott and Rob Allen; and the Red Lantern Last Duck, $100, Lee Bennett.
Special thank you’s to our ticket sponsors Harry’s, Reindeer Redhots and Alaska Computer Center, and to the ticket-selling locations of Sea Mart, Alaska Pacific Bank, AC Lakeside, Aurora Business Supply and Stereo North. Thank you, Sitka, for all of your support.
Kari Lundgren, Duck Race Chair,
Sitka Rotary Club
Living GMO-Free
Dear Editor: For those who are interested in taking some small steps towards a food supply that is GMO-free, here are some small ways to get started: Look over (and be amazed at) the number of foods that already contain GMOs. Go to www.shiftfrequency.com for a comprehensive list of GMO products. Choose a product from the list that you/your family eat regularly. Make it your goal to replace that food with a non-GMO copy. It may mean buying an organic version. It may mean making the item from scratch in your kitchen. It will most likely cost more than the GMO-version you have been eating. Whatever it takes, make the switch with one food, one product. Talk with your children/other members of your household about what GMO-foods are. Try to generate a bit of interest in building a non-GMO meal as a group/family project.
Have a GMO-free meal one time a week. Maybe you know someone else who is interested in the GMO issue. Invite that person to eat your GMO-free meal with you. I find most everyone is interested in new food ideas if someone else is cooking! Figure out if you can collect a few snack ideas that are GMO-free.
The Internet is full of sites that will inform and encourage you. Start small and when you get one change comfortably in place, take another bite from the GMO buffet. The options and possibilities are endless and each step you make will be towards health and greater self-determination. As we have seen repeatedly with other products, the real health costs of GMO foods will not be known to us for some years yet. When the evidence is in, you can find yourself on the winning side by starting with one step.
Gayle Young, Sitka
