Playground Heroes
Dear Editor: Troy Bayne, of Troy’s Excavation, is one of the big heroes of the Community Playground for volunteering to help complete the project site development with his skill. His expertise has been invaluable in the site prep, which also includes digging and establishing holes for 30 of the 120 footers needed for the play equipment’s concrete foundations and final surfacing and grading before the site is paved.
We have a lot of playground heroes helping to make the playground a reality! Be sure to thank all these great community members for donating their time and services to the playground project when you walk by the playground or see them around town.
The hero list continues to grow and includes: Ralph Vigilante, from Secon, for paving the entire site in preparation for the rubber safety tiles; Chris Balovich, CBC Construction, for heading up the site prep project, concrete work and establishing 90 holes for equipment footers; Pat and Kelly O’Neill and Wayne Dye, North 57 Land Surveying, for surveying (multiple times) the grades and equipment footer locations; Ron Davidson, Red Bear Construction, for his crew for four days; and, of course, Alaska Marine Lines for shipping play equipment and rubber safety tiles for free.
The Sitka Community Playground will be thanking all who have helped and recognizing all the major donors, businesses and organizations when the project is complete. Stay tuned for opportunities to volunteer for the community build week starting June 14. If you’re interested in helping contact Bridget Hitchcock or Kay Turner at Oceanside Therapy Center at 747-1771.
Sitka Community Playground
Steering Committee
Coastal Cleanup
Dear Editor: I would like to thank the volunteers community and the sponsor Alaskan Brewing Company for making the 2018 Coastal Code Cleanup an amazing success.
Thanks to the sponsorship from Alaskan Brewing, the Sitka Sound Science Center was able to host a wonderful beach cleanup event last Saturday in conjunction with other cleanups across the state that included Juneau, Ketchikan, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Kenai/Soldotna. Altogether the Sitka efforts from our volunteers resulted in over 2,500 pounds of trash collected from Sitka’s waterways and beaches. Our community also collected data on what trash items were found and added data on Sitka to the Ocean Conservancy website https://oceanconservancy.org/. All of the work was followed up by a well-earned beer and barbecue event at the Science Center.
The Science Center has been involved in marine debris clean up and monitoring for the past eight years and has done work on remote beaches around Sitka as well as in Bering Sea communities.
We are so proud of our community for your interest and enthusiasm for getting marine debris, much of it plastic, out of our marine environment. Thank you for volunteering and participating in the Coastal Code Cleanup! We hope to continue hosting this event in the future and hope the community enjoys it as much as we do.
Justine Webb,
Field Station Coordinator,
Coastal Code Cleanup
In Memory
Dear Editor: It has been 30 years since that May morning when a young Coast Guard officer in full dress uniform with a county sheriff by his side knocked on my mother’s door in the Kentucky countryside that early hour and told us our son Mike was gone. We sat at the kitchen table, cried together, drank coffee and found a new friend.
Upon our return to Sitka the outpouring of love from the church and the community was tremendous and has not been forgotten.
They were three young men who did what young men in Sitka do, they fish and hunt and they were in the bush when an accident changed not only their lives but others. Over the years we have met people who knew Mike or received letters that start with “For years I’ve thought about reaching out to you to say hello and to tell you how often Mike is still in my thoughts.”
On this 30-year anniversary of the death of a young man who gave to his community we would like to thank the Sitka Fire Department for continuing the Mike Snelling Award, the Coast Guard Wives’ and Women’s Association for the Memorial Day flowers, Ralph, Ted and Donna for standing in for us on Memorial Day. It means a lot, thank you. Isaiah 40:30-31.
Al and Carol Snelling
Coast Guard
Dear Editor: We appreciate all the Coast Guard men and women here in Sitka. Brown Shoe, Black Shoe, Air and Sea. We appreciate them ALL!
Spike and Jean Arnold, Sitka
Sitka Blood Drive
Dear Editor: Thank you, Sitkans, for making 2016 and 2017 Sitka Blood Drives great successes.
Blood Bank of Alaska will be conducting a blood drive in Sitka in late October. More information on the blood donation will be available at a table at Sitka Health Fair on Saturday, May 5, 8 a.m.-noon, at Centennial Hall.
You can be an everyday hero by donating blood and encouraging others to also donate. There are fewer than 2 percent of Alaska’s eligible donors giving blood. With no substitute for human blood, the need for donations is great.
Natural disasters and tragedies impacting U.S. citizens create monumental need for your blood donation to help Blood Bank of Alaska’s mission to provide blood products to 21 Alaska hospitals (including Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe), medical centers and military bases. Each pint of blood has the potential to save three lives.
Some eligibility requirements to donate include: be at least 16 years of age; weigh at least 113 pounds (16 and 17 year olds must bring a signed parental/guardian form to their donation appointment. Parental consent forms are available at Sitka High School, Pacific High School and SEER school offices. Donors over the age of 74 must bring a written approval from their physician or doctor, and donors age 80 or over must also have approval from the Blood Bank of Alaska medical center; be well and healthy; and bring a photo identification.
Conditions preventing blood donation include, but are not limited to: history of hepatitis, AIDS, IV drug use not prescribed by a physician, Zika virus, or travel to Zika-prone countries, or not feeling well for any reason.
Persons who have diabetes, tattoos or piercings, take blood pressure medications, or have had cancer, may still be able to donate. Check your eligibility by calling (907)222-5630, or contacting bloodbankofalaska.org to inquire.
Tips for a successful donation include: eat a hearty, well-balanced meal and drink plenty of fluids 24 hours prior to your appointment. Avoid caffeine and smoking (which constrict blood vessels) at least one hour prior to donation. Be sure to bring any necessary consent forms/approval documents, and your photo identification.
The donation process typically takes approximately 45 minutes to one hour. This includes a medical history questionnaire, a mini physical (temperature, blood pressure, finger stick hematocrit check and possibly weight, then the blood donation, followed by a 15-minute observation time at the cafe/canteen where you will be treated to snacks and beverage to restore your nutrition and hydration. You will be advised to eat hearty meals, keep well hydrated, and avoid strenuous activity for 24 hours following donation.
Those who are unable, or choose not to donate blood, can support the blood drive by offering to help as observers/servers, or supply the cafe/canteen with cookies, bars, snacks, fruit, veggie trays, meat/cheese trays, or beverages.
Contact Blood Bank of Alaska at (97)2322-5630 to schedule your appointment. Call Jean at (608)604-4592 to donate time or food items.
Jean Frank, Sitka
‘Plastic Ocean’
Dear Editor: After watching the documentary film ‘‘Plastic Ocean,’’ which details the horrific, crisis situation we are facing, I think we need to take immediate action on every level we can muster.
Plastic in the ocean is destroying everything and everyone we love, (probably faster than climate change). The reality is that every piece of plastic used anywhere on the planet, eventually makes its way to the sea and into the air we breath in either large or micro form. Through wind, rain, deliberate or accidental disposal, it all ends up in the oceans. We are losing birds, fish, whales and other sea life at an alarming rate, due to choking and the toxicity of plastics. Our fish are becoming toxic with cancer-causing and gender-bending effects from the components of plastic. We eat them and become vulnerable to the same effects. This is happening now. All newborns now on the planet have thus far shown indications of plastic contaminants. Is this a worthwhile tradeoff for the ease of living? Can we be more thoughtful about which things really warrant this tradeoff?
What can we do as a community and as a state? We can refuse, decrease, reuse, recycle and discourage use. We can tell stores, “I’d like my goods to arrive without plastic packaging.” We can tell our restaurants, “We want our drinks and food in non-plastic take-away containers and no plastic straws.” We can email the companies who ship goods to us and tell them, “We want an end to plastic packaging wherever possible.” We can offer and brainstorm alternative ideas for packaging even in our very rainy environment. We can educate and encourage a change of behavior from our family, friends and neighbors. There ARE alternatives to plastic for many of its current uses. We’ve lived that way in the past.
Wasn’t so terrible, was it?
We must pass a local ordinance that discourages use of plastic bags.
Libby Stortz, Sitka
Women in Politics
Dear Editor: Michelle Putz and I recently hosted an event to encourage women to run for the Sitka Assembly. I’d like to thank the following people: Renee Trafton for agreeing to open The Beak Restaurant Monday night.
Thanks to my fellow ex-Assembly member, Michelle Putz, for helping make this happen and for sharing her own stories, and Emily Kwong, who agreed pretty much last minute to be our exceptional moderator. She had her own Assembly experiences to share.
Thanks to current Assembly member Ben Miyasato, who stopped by briefly, and Kevin Knox who stayed throughout and shared some insights, as did many others in the room. Thanks to Cheri Hample who has offered her political campaign experience to help Sitka women run for office.
It was good to see so much interest in our local political body, both for the immediate future and in coming years. Thanks to Alice, who kindly recorded the evening, so watch this on TV if you can. Thanks, also, to the Daily Sitka Sentinel reporter Abigail Bliss for writing up a front page piece before the event and an excellent wrap-up after.
And a special thanks to those women who have either expressed a desire to run for office this year or when life allows them to run in the future. I hope the 20-plus women who attended enjoyed the evening as much as I did. It was good to revisit what played such a huge part of my life for seven years!
Mim McConnell, Sitka
Hospital Care
Dear Editor: In 2007 my husband and I relocated to Sitka, we thought temporarily. I had taken a nursing job at the Sitka Pioneer Home. Having been raised part of my life here (Sitka High class of ’71), I felt like I was coming home. We found that we loved being back so we sold our home in Sequim, Washington, and retired to Sitka. We were well aware of the challenges of island living and accepted them.
I found a wonderful doctor who I trusted. Sitka Community Hospital was busy and full of longtime employees. I witnessed excellent and personal care from the staff. What a difference 10 years makes. My doctor “retired” prematurely and the attrition rate at SCH has been huge. Today I just learned three more staff members are leaving, finding jobs elsewhere. What happened?
The uncertainty about the hospital’s future has been grueling for staff and families. Our competent and caring surgeon, Dr. Wein, was terminated. OB was closed. Traveling nurses and doctors replaced those who left. Continuity of care has suffered.
When Dr. Wein was terminated 14 months ago, several nurses expressed their concern to me over his dismissal. I began to listen to stories, experiences, and questions regarding the present administration. I got involved and I got my husband involved. We attended Assembly meetings and SCH board meetings (neither of us had ever been to an Assembly meeting). We began to try and understand the financial aspects of the hospital and what selling our hospital to SEARHC could mean to this community. We attended Town Hall meetings and sat around the table with local people, SEARHC beneficiaries, and city representatives. This is a very complex issue, one that has been present between SCH and SEARHC for years, (The book, ‘‘Gumboot Determination,” explains a great deal of history about the two hospitals.)
I have heard people say, “We only have room for one hospital in Sitka.” I disagree. If well managed, the hospital can sustain itself and continue to be an important part of Sitka’s economy. If SCH closes, it will have a huge financial and emotional impact on our community. It changes everything.
There are many pressing issues at hand for SCH. Some Assembly members have been dismissive of those concerned about SCH’s future. There seems to be conflict and division. Some look at the hospital as a “liability.” I look at NOT having our community hospital as a liability.
We are such a unique and resourceful community. I sincerely believe that with proper management our hospital can survive and even thrive.
Thank you to all SCH hospital employees for being there during this difficult time.
Patti Hudson, Sitka
