Antonov Visit
Dear Editor:No, I am not really worried that the Russians will invade Sitka . . . again. But when General (now Ambassador) Anatoly Antonov comes for a visit to a former Russian colony, one would be justified in feeling historical jitters.
Antonov was one of the prime movers in Russia’s invasion of Eastern Ukraine and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The ostensible reason for this was to provide protection for those of Russian ancestry who lived in the area and allegedly claimed they received second-class-citizen treatment from the Ukrainian government. This wasn’t a novel approach. It was the same ruse Hitler used when he invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938 – claiming that ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland region of that country were facing overt mistreatment by the Czechs.
Following their takeover of the Crimea, the Russians imposed their typical repression of free speech, quashed the formerly free press and virtually eliminated the Ukranian Orthodox Church. Was there any discussion of this when Antonov visited with the local Russian Bishop in Sitka?
No, and I bet there wasn’t any discussion of the 10,000-plus people who died during Russia’s Ukrainian campaign – well more than the population of Sitka. But if the General had been here in uniform, we could have seen his “For the Return of Crimea” medal! Really, he received one of those.
General Antonov is not shy about mouthing platitudes. “We would like to be friends,” he said during his Sitka visit. And he joked, “I don’t want to start an international incident.” But the General had the job for years as the apologist for one of the premier international incidents of our time: the Russian air campaign in Syria, which is widely “credited” with having killed tens of thousand of civilians directly – and many more through Russian-assisted Syrian efforts.
True, he was just the mouthpiece for Russia on the Syrian genocide. But let’s go back a few years, to April 1995. He sat outside the Chechen village of Samashki, commanding the surrounding Russian troops. He demanded that the old men, women and children left behind in the village (after resistance fighters had fled) produce 264 automatic weapons. As the combatants had already left with their firearms, the remaining villagers could not comply with General Antonov’s demand. His troops bombarded the village for several days, then went house to house, setting fire to any houses still standing, and throwing grenades into basements where the remaining villagers cowered.
So, Ambassador/General Antonov isn’t just a jovial, grandfatherly, history buff. He’s a red-handed war criminal.
Oh, and you may wonder why he really came to a small town in Alaska. No, it’s probably not to find out if there are some disgruntled Sitkans of Russian ancestry in town – to justify a Russian annexation of Baranof Island.
The real reason is that he’s just . . . bored. Seriously. He is such a pariah that, with few exceptions, official Washington won’t meet with him. His office has contacted Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, countless others – even Mike Pence – and none of these guys will meet with him. He can’t get a visa to visit the European Union or Canada. Nobody but nobody wants to meet with war criminals any more.
About the only place he can get an official greeting any more . . . is at Sitka’s city hall!
James W. McGowan, Sitka
Weather Station
Dear Editor: The Sitka Sound Science Center would like to let the community know that the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey (DGGS) erected a weather station on top of Harbor Mountain this week. A weather station at altitude was the Sitka Geo Task Force’s number one priority and recommendation for helping our community protect lives and monitor potential for landslides.
The Sitka Geo Task Force is a multi-agency and organizational group of geoscience experts that was formed after the 2015 landslide that took the lives of our Sitka friends and family and destroyed property. The Geo Task Force work culminated in a report and has created a number of geoscience studies that are being funded by the National Science Foundation with support from a breadth of state and federal agencies and coordinated locally by the Sitka Sound Science Center.
Once operational, the weather station will be a key component to better understanding precipitation and wind in the mountains, and in developing a landslide warning system. We are grateful to the DGGS for providing and installing the weather station to our community and to the U.S. Forest Service for permitting the equipment and placement. Gabriel Wolken and Ronnie Daanan from the Alaska DGGS were the individuals who helped make this happen.
We would also like to thank the following people for helping move gear up the trail: Matt Hunter, Alex Weissberg, Ben Clark, and Mike Motti from Search and Rescue, Annette Patton, Josh Roering, Oscar Roering, and Eli Orland from the University of Oregon, and Bill Colthorp and Cora Siebert from the Sitka Sound Science Center. While the slinging option didn’t materialize, we are grateful for the U.S. Coast Guard attempts to move the equipment. Thank you also to the National Park Service for supporting DGGS with housing and transportation. This project is truly a collaboration between local, state, and federal groups.
The weather station will eventually produce information about rainfall, snowfall, wind strength and direction, temperature, and humidity, all of which will be accessible to the community and utilized by the National Weather Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys help predict landslides in our area.
We ask that the public not touch or walk too near the weather station as this may be interpreted as incorrect weather data. For opportunities in helping to maintain/monitor the equipment, please contact Geoscience Coordinator Cora Siebert at csiebert@sitkascience.org.
Lisa Busch,
Sitka Sound Science Center
FPS Support Thanks
Dear Editor: My name is Angela Bahna, and I’m 11 years old. I’ve just finished fifth grade in Ms. Tulloh’s class at KGH. Four of us from fifth grade in Future Problem Solvers (FPS) and two coaches just came back from the FPS International Conference in University of Massachusetts on June 5-9, representing Alaska Junior Division.
Like many others, you might be interested to know what FPS is. We in FPS solve future problems that might happen in the future. In this way, if one of those problems did come up, it would have already been solved. First, we are given a scenario of a future topic, and we need to identify 16 challenges from it. Next, we decide which challenge is our favorite one and make it into an underlying problem. Afterwards, we will find 16 solutions to the problem and pick the best eight of them. Then, we determine criteria to help select the final solution. Lastly, we use a grid to identify the winning solution and write it into an action plan, which is usually about two pages long. In addition, we need to make a skit and act it out in front of the judges and all participants.
Two of KGH teams made it to Alaska State Bowl in April of this year. My team (Olivia Skan, Liam Laybourn and me) won first place in the junior division, and the other team (Justin Hames, Calder Prussian, Aspen Barrs and Alexandra Fujioka) won first in the Action Plan Skit. Our coaches are Jessica Christianson, Katherine Prussian, Danielle Skan and Torey Barrs. We have received lots of support from our school science teacher Mrs. Buxton. Coach Nora from Sitka High also taught us when we started preparing for the international competition.
Olivia, Liam, Aspen and I traveled to Boston with Coach Danielle and Coach Torey June 4-10 for the FPS International Competition in Massachusetts. We worked very hard on the topic of ‘‘De-extinction’’ for the past months. We had a lot of fun there and got to compete with 13 other countries besides other states from the USA. Even though we did not place, we had a wonderful experience there.
However, we could only make this trip because of our wonderful teachers, coaches, families, and our supportive Sitka community. Great thanks to everyone who supported us! Thanks to AC Lakeside for the grill fundraiser! Thanks to Sitka Rotary Club, White’s Inc., Samson Tug & Barge and Arrowhead Transfer and for their monetary donation! Thanks to Elks Lodge for raising $3,589 through the dinner and dessert auction event! We are so lucky to live in Sitka! Thank you!
Angela Bahna, 11-Year-Old Sitkan
P.S. Thanks to my awesome mom who helped me editing this letter
Walk, Bike Conference
Dear Editor: Cyclepath: noun – A person suffering from chronic bike-riding disorder with abnormal urges to ride and feel free.
I was recently privileged to attend the 2019 Alaska Walk & Bike Conference in Sitka June 4-8. This was my first visit to Sitka where I managed to get beyond the pie shop at the airport. After spending five days in Sitka, I can confidently say that Sitka is a beautiful, friendly, walkable and bike-able community. The community not only rolled out the red carpet for the conference, you also arranged some beautiful, sunny Southeast Alaska summer weather for us.
The conference featured talented, knowledgeable presenters, including Elle Steele, Lee Hart, Pierce Schwalb, Dawn Groth, Sarana Schell, Charlie Lowell and Sitka’s own Doug Osborne and Charles Bingham. Attendees participated in a two-day Smart Cycling class, and heard presentations on the economic, social and health benefits of being a walkable and bike-able community. As Alaska’s leading walkable, bike-able community, it was fitting that the first Alaska Walk & Bike Conference was held in Sitka.
Thanks to Doug Osborne, Charles Bingham, the Sitka Cycling Club, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, and all of their incredible partners, who made the conference possible. As the chair of the Anchorage AMATS Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, I brought back ideas and a list of resources that will benefit Anchorage’s walking and biking communities. I look forward to the 2020 conference. This cyclepath was extremely impressed by Sitka and its residents; I will be making a return visit.
Darrel W. Hess, Anchorage
Card of Thanks
Dear Editor: Many thanks to all the many, many wonderful people who have shown us such incredible support during our time of loss.
There are entirely too many to mention, but all the love and outpouring has been truly amazing and greatly appreciated.
Something unique to Sitka.
Our sincere gratitude,
Glenn G. and Elizabeth Howard’s family, Sitka
Birthday Thanks
Dear Editor: How can I say ‘‘thank you’’ to the multitude of Sitkans who stopped in at the Salvation Army Little Store this past Saturday to say ‘‘Happy 80th Birthday!’’
First, a thank you to my awesome daughters who began by selecting a picture of ‘‘yours truly’’ to put in the Sitka Sentinel and inviting Sitkans to stop and help Alene, turning 80 at her favorite place. Homemade refreshments were served AND instead of gifts, guests were to consider a donation to the Salvation Army. I was overwhelmed and still am.
Thank you, Sitkans, and my awesome daughters.
Alene Henning, Sitka
