BHV Open House
Dear Editor: What a beautiful Alaska Day we had here in Sitka. Brave Heart Volunteers is incredibly grateful for everyone who came out to celebrate the day at our 10th Annual Alaska Day Open House fundraiser.
Thank you so much to all those who attended and made our event such a success. Every purchase of our home-made seafood chowder, smoked salmon chowder, vegetarian Thai curry soup, bread and desserts allows us to continue to provide our services and programs for individuals and families who are facing chronic illness, terminal illness, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, are homebound, frail, have a disability, are recovering from hospitalization, or facing end of life.
We would also like to thank Sherie Mayo, Dennis Longstreth, Jean Longstreth, Steve Warren, Ruth Culp, Janie Hall, Pam Welsh and Jean Frank for their delicious and generous contributions to our day.
A special thanks to the SitNiks for providing live music as our guests mingled and even got our guests dancing to the wonderful tunes. Thanks to Aleeta Bauder, Willow Moore, Krisanne Rice, Susan Padilla and Steve Lawrie, D’Brianne Friemering, and Agnes Shales for all of their hard work and assistance to ensure a wonderful event.
If you missed the delicious home-made soups, bread and desserts on Alaska Day, join us at our 10th Annual Brave Heart Bowls on Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m. at Centennial Hall.
Thank you, Sitka, for such amazing community support; we could not do it without you!
Shoshauna Schmidt,
Communications and
Program Manager,
Brave Heart Volunteers
Support for JKT
Dear Editor: I would like to address a couple things going on in our House of Representatives political race – first, a gross inaccuracy in the letter presented in last night’s paper and second, my dismay at the dialog around majority and minority representation.
The letter published last night had a few errors that were fairly easy to spot. While Jonathan may have scored low (actually a D- not an F as written), so did most of the rural legislators in the state. It looks to me, being a Republican gained some a little better grade. To a T, almost every Democrat scored a C- or less from this group.
Looking closely at the list of who achieved a high grade on the Alaska Business Report Card (ABRC), it seems to be a who’s who of oil-backed “Yes” votes and caucus members who tow the line. In 2012 the ABRC was tagged for funneling money into the state from pro-Republican oil-interest PACs. The reality is ABRC wasn’t exactly looking out for the overall health of business or considering the best interest of regional constituents.
This brings me to my dismay about the notion that we would be better off with a candidate solely because he is a member of the majority. I myself spent a good chunk of time working the halls of a state Legislature and saw firsthand that caucus majority/minority fights do little for a district, let alone a state. Ultimately, voters end up getting frustrated and take things into their own hands through referendums in an effort to get the job done.
If we were that inclined to only send majority members to our representative halls, would we really be better off as a community, state, or nation? Isn’t diversity of ideas, debate, and compromise a part of what democracy is built on – if nothing else, at least in theory? After all, I doubt that Mr. Crews or Mr. Samuelson campaigned and voted against Sen. Murkowski because she serves in the Minority.
I have looked to JKT several times for information, guidance, and support and have always gotten a prompt response and a lot of hard work behind those requests. I have never seen someone work harder as a legislator for a district.
My vote goes to Rep. Kreiss-Tomkins.
Kevin Knox, Sitka
