Sitka Spirit
Dear Editor: Thank you to whoever stood up our garbage can on Lincoln Street early Wednesday morning. The wind blew hard enough so it was toppled over on the sidewalk at 4 a.m. Then at 6 a.m. it was back upright. So thanks to the good neighbor who showed us the Sitka Spirit.
The Davises
Water Shortage
Dear Editor: While driving last night, windshield wipers going, dodging standing water in road in our wonderful rain forest home, I couldn’t help remembering an iconic line from the classic movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid I saw back in 1969. “You think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch?”
Eric Van Cise, Sitka
Health Summit
Dear Editor: A big thanks to EVERYONE who helped to make the seventh annual Sitka Health Summit our best yet!
During our first event, the community health fair, a woman who travels all over Alaska said that she thought Sitka was the healthiest community in the state. It was a moving compliment and a testament to all the people in town who are helping us to be well. On that particular day we had 300 people show up at the fair, and that was possible because of some amazing volunteers and vendors.
This crew spent a Saturday helping to educate, encourage and support the health of their neighbors. Gunalchéesh and thank you for that!
The library was kind enough to host our next event, the whistle while you walk lunch and learn.
The event started with a wellness champion award that went to Ivan Grutter and Micah Humphrey who, on their own time and with their own dime, put in bolts for 10 new easy to access rock climbing routes. After those awards we heard from a Health Summit favorite Dr. Don Lehmann, who reminded us that exercise is indeed medicine. That was followed by a presentation from Sitka Trails Works board president Brian Hanson. His talk was motivating and the trail system we have is amazing. Thanks Brian and Sitka Trail Works.
The annual planning day drew a record crowd. The group of 65 locals brainstormed, evaluated and finally voted on wellness initiatives for this year. The idea that got the most votes was to take action to combat the growing problem of methamphetamine, heroin and other drug use. This is a very important goal and one that we would like everyone to support.
All of us want a town that is safe and prosperous. A place where the economy is strong, the residents are healthy and the future looks bright. We can’t have all of those good things while at the same time having a drug epidemic. A new group is forming to address this crisis. The group is called Together for a Meth Free Sitka. As a town we need to take action and that starts with educating ourselves:
Methamphetamine – its slang terms include ‘‘crystal,’’ ‘‘crank,’’ ‘‘glass,’’ ‘‘ice,’’ ‘‘speed’’ and ‘‘Tina’’ – is a powerful, addictive synthetic stimulant that causes the brain to release a surge of dopamine, creating a high that lasts from six to 24 hours
Like cocaine, meth comes in two forms: powder or rock. The powder form is usually white, odorless and bitter-tasting and can be snorted, smoked, eaten, dissolved in a drink and ingested, or heated and injected. The purer form of the drug, called “crystal,” “glass” and “ice,” appears as clear, chunky crystals that are usually smoked or injected. Meth can also come in small, colored tablets, but they are less common.
Methamphetamine causes the body to release large amounts of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, resulting in a prolonged sense of pleasure or euphoria for the user; however, over time, this causes severe side effects. With repeated use, meth depletes the brain’s stores of dopamine and actually destroys the wiring of the dopamine receptors. This is a major reason why users become so addicted to the drug; without it they are no longer able to experience pleasure (a condition known as anhedonia), and they usually slip into a deep depression. Although dopamine receptors can grow back over time, studies have suggested that chronic meth use can cause other permanent brain damage, such as declines in reasoning, judgment and motor skills.
There are 1.4 million meth users in America, and the number is rising, including here in Sitka. For the individual meth brings addiction and host of physical, mental and social problems; for families the effects are devastating and for the community meth brings a crime wave as addicts steal to get the money they need to support the drug habit they have.
As mentioned a new group of concerned citizens is forming to take action. You can join them at their kick-off meeting which will be at the fire hall on Oct. 15 from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Thank you in advance to everyone who is taking this on. We need to address this issue and we need to do it now! Our kids and our community are too important to wait.
The second health summit goal was to create a food hub. That group got off to a strong start and already has a mission and long term goal which is to “provide resources for accessing healthy food daily and for emergencies.” That group will have their second meeting Oct. 28 from 6 p.m. -7:30 p.m., and we appreciate everyone who has and will support them. Goals around nutrition keep coming up year after year and for good reason. We all need food to live and healthy food to thrive. There is so much work to do and we very much appreciate the folks who are taking this on.
Our final summit event was part celebration, part entertainment and part appreciation. The Monthly Grind was kind enough to let us produce the Hearty, Healthy and Wholesome Grind this past Saturday. All the acts were great and we were able to present Sitka Wellness Champions awards to Jeff Budd, Ann Betty and Emily Davis. The next time you see one of these wellness champions please thank them for their good works and for inspiring so many others, also thanks to our nominators.
Or course you may have heard about all of this already because we are so blessed to have a local media that gets the word out. Thank you, Northstar TV, Raven Radio, KIFW the Sitka Soup, the Sentinel, and everyone else who helped to cover the Health Summit .
Last but certainly not least we’d like to thank our sponsors, Sitka Community Hospital, SEARHC, UAS-Sitka Campus, Alaska Communications, the Alaska Division of Public Health Nursing, the City and Borough of Sitka, ALPS, Shee Atika Inc., Sitka Bottling Co., Sitka Vision Clinic, Scott Insurance Services, Neurobehavioral Consultants, AC Lakeside, Foreign Automotive LLC, the Hames Corporation and White’s Pharmacy. Thank you for your generous contributions, we really couldn’t do it without you!
We are already looking forward to next year. Gunalchéesh and thanks,
Doug, Penny, Ellen, Clara,
Elisabeth and Patrick,
Sitka Health Summit
Steering Committee
Rotary and Roses
Dear Editor: The Annual Sitka Rotary Rose Sale is here this weekend, Friday and Saturday, with bouquets of roses being sold at Sea Mart and AC Lakeside grocery stores, or from a Rotarian near you.
For $35 you can have a dozen, exquisite roses of your choosing, and at the same time help support all of the what Rotary does for our community and beyond. You might ask, “Have I or someone I love, ever benefitted from the Sitka Rotary?” If your child or grandchild has attended the Bike Rodeo, received books from “Babies and Books,” borrowed a child’s life preserver from the “Kids Don’t Float” boxes located at our harbors, or enjoyed a day of fishing at the Kid’s Trout Derby, or you have enjoyed a soak in the sheltered hot tubs at Goddard Hot Springs, just to name a few Sitka Rotary initiatives, then you have been benefitted from Rotary! So make someone’s day with a dozen beautiful roses, and support Sitka Rotary!
Sharon Bergman, President,
Connie Sipe, Treasurer,
Co-Chairs, Sitka Rotary Rose Sale
Global Fund
Dear Editor: There are few moments in history that make the books. Ending an epidemic that has killed over 30 million people will be one of them.
Just over a decade ago, in the face of this emergency, a powerful, life-saving partnership was formed: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. With U.S. support, the Global Fund has transformed our ability to fight these diseases. Through Global Fund support, 5.3 million people are currently receiving anti-retroviral treatment for HIV, countries have been able to detect and treat 11 million cases of TB, and 340 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed to protect families from malaria.
We must maintain momentum, with the science to end AIDS, to turn the tide against tuberculosis, and save millions of lives from malaria within a generation. To do so, the U.S. must pledge $5 billion over the next three years to the life-saving Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at the donor pledging conference in Washington, D.C., in December.
Continued U.S. leadership will be vital in the race to end to these scourges and will leverage the dollars of other donors. This is our moment to make history.
To watch a powerful, 3 minute youtube video go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv3rAw4BxpU
‘‘The Global Fund: Be the Generation to Defeat AIDS, TB and Malaria.’’
Sitka RESULTS,
Michele Friedman, Krisanne Rice,
Elizabeth Mosher, Brenda Campen,
Cindy Litman, Deb Miller,
Patty and Scott Harris,
Sharon Sullivan, Nancy Knapp,
Michelle Putz, Elizabeth Will
Dungeness Fishery
Dear Editor: I recently testified at the Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Board meeting regarding the current Dungeness crab management plan for Southeastern Alaska waters. The best way to understand what is at risk here is to quote ADF&G management reports after the collapse of the Dungeness crab fishery in Prince William Sound.
Orca Inlet: “Harvest ranged from over 1.0 million pounds in the early 1960’s to 35,000 pounds in 1976. The fishery has been closed since 1980.
ADF&G conducted surveys in Orca Inlet beginning in 1974. “Legal male catch per pot has declined from 16 in 1986 to 0.25 in 1998. The 2002 survey caught no Dungeness crab in 30 pot lifts. The last survey was conducted in 2008 and produced no Dungeness crab in 15 pot lifts.’’
Copper River: “The Harvest peaked at 1.5 million pounds in 1980 declining to 70,000 pounds in 1991. The Copper River District fishery has been closed since 1992.
This story of destruction can be told for Cook Inlet (still closed), Yakutat (still closed, Sport catch also) and I believe it foretells the immediate future for Haines and Southeastern.
I am advocating that as a community we request that the Board of Fish immediately close the waters of Southeastern Alaska to commercial harvest of Dungeness crab. For those of you concerned about the financial impact of a closure on our local crabbers, consider that there won’t be anything to catch for at least the next 30 years unless we act now.
John Norton, Haines
