Clean Air Challenge
Dear Editor: The American Lung Association in Alaska’s premier fund-raising event, the Clean Air Challenge, took place on May 18 and 19.
Who would have expected a snow- and ice-covered route, this late in the year? I was disappointed when I realized that I could not safely ride my road bike the 120 miles from Houston, Alaska, to Talkeetna and back. More importantly, though, I was able to raise some funds for the American Lung Association. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the folks at Sitka Community Hospital for sponsoring me for this event. Their donation will help find a cure for lung disease, help children manage their asthma, fight for laws that improve air quality, and help keep Alaska’s youths tobacco free.
Susan Hoyt, Sitka
Girls on the Run
Dear Editor: The fifth season of Girls on the Run may have wrapped up, but we couldn’t let it go without saying a big thank you to certain amazing and wonderful people who volunteered their time and energy to make this season successful.
Diana Twaddle, we could never imagine coordinating Girls on the Run without you. Thank you so much.
To Laura, Lakrisha, Elena, Amy, Deb, Coral, Jenna, Ray, Mariah, and Kym, your coaching and leadership inspired the girls on your team to new heights. Thank you.
Girls on the Run had the support of a number of local organizations. We would like to acknowledge the Sitka Native Education Program, Sitka Counseling, Youth Advocates of Sitka, and the Sitka Conservation Society for your support of Girls on the Run.
As one coach wrote of the program, these are seeds that over time will bloom into the resilient community we work hard to have.
Julia Smith and Brian Sparks,
SAFV Prevention Team
SB 21 Petition
Dear Editor: Recently I read the news that Senate Bill 21 (AKA ‘‘The Oil Wealth Giveaway Tax’’) was passed by the House and Senate during the last legislative session and signed by Gov. Parnell. Because of this, Alaskans will lose more than a billion dollars a year in taxes from the oil companies that operate in Alaska. Under the previous ‘‘Clear and Equitable Share Tax Structure,’’ Alaskans shared in the high profits oil companies experience when prices spiked. The SB 21 giveaway removes all chances of this happening.
High oil prices often go hand-in-hand with economic troubles, as we have seen recently. Because of the ‘‘Clear and Equitable Share Tax Structure,’’ the state has seen healthy capital budgets translating into jobs for Alaskans.
Since then, tax structure includes no promises to create jobs right at a time when oil corporations like ConocoPhillips’ have record profits. SB 21 is an attempt to exchange the rights and resources of people and our state with some of the most powerful oil corporations. Alaskans have an opportunity to stop this exchange. This can be done by signing one of the petitions circulating Sitka. If there are enough signatures gathered, SB 21 will be back on the ballot so that Alaskans can decide on the use of Alaska’s resources.
Petitions can be signed by contacting Ward Eldridge, Mike Litman, Keith Nyitray, Debby LeVeck, Kitty LaBounty or stopping at the Back Door Cafe behind Old Harbor Books. If you have questions please contact organizers at sitka.repeals.the.giveaway@gmail.com.
Brian Weddel, Sitka
Bears
Dear Editor: From the Sitka Sentinel Police Blotter May 21, 2013: At 4:29 a.m. police gave warnings and citations to three residents in the Indian River Road neighborhood for disposing of items that attract bears. Residents agreed to pick up garbage. One resident said she was aware of trash in her yard but had been afraid to pick it up due to the presence of the bear. She was advised that the bear keeps returning because the trash was not cleaned up…
That was me. For the record, it was not my “yard,” it was roughly 50 feet down a hill, behind my apartment, in the forest. There were actually four storage caches ranging from five feet to fifteen feet back into the woods. I was told that if the trash was not picked up, I would be cited again. When I asked the responding officer whether they would be back again with their shotguns to protect me while I was essentially being required to go back into a bear’s food storage and regular pathway, he responded in an insolent tone that it “wasn’t their responsibility” and to “ask the tribe.”
It was cleaned up with the help of my friend, Tom Gamble, my daughter, Vanessa Morales, and adolescent neighbor, Michael Ihde, while my neighbor and I stood watch for the bear. Anyone I have spoken to about this order, including SPD authorities, have concurred that the officer’s directive to go back and clean up the whole neighborhood’s trash the bear had been storing there was an unsafe requirement to place on me.
I had nothing unusual in my trash – no fish guts, no deer heads. Just some paper plates and plastic drink bottles. I would like to know whether the spirit of the ordinance these officers are enforcing is to punish people who are “attracting bears” by placing regular trash in their trash cans, or whether the intent is to protect. As someone who was issued a citation, and spoken down to during the process, it feels too much like the intent is to punish more than protect.
When I spoke to another official from the SPD, I was informed that they are under increasing pressure from the public to cite people who are “attracting bears” by carelessly handling their trash. However, from the May 23 Sitka Sentinel Police Blotter: At 2:20 a.m. a resident reported two bears possibly fighting over a trash container at Georgeson Loop and Mills Street. An officer picked up the trash and advised the resident to call back if the bear returned.
I’m sure the residents didn’t have anything extraordinary like I did, such as paper plates or plastic bottles to “attract a bear.” Or, whether or not you get cited for bear attraction, and how helpful or punitive officers behave varies by what neighborhood you live in.
I sincerely hope the latter is not the case. Regardless, this ordinance and the spirit of this law need to be clarified. And it must be recognized, and perhaps local officials need to be reminded that the U.S. Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and under it, citizens are guaranteed the “Equal Protection of the Laws.” Even at the local level of government and law enforcement. And regardless of what subdivision a citizen calls “home.”
Dionne Brady-Howard, Sitka
