Continuing Resolution
Dear Editor: The following letter was sent to Congressman Don Young.
Dear Congressman Young: Let me put this bluntly, last Friday on four separate occasions I was lied to by various staff of yours in D.C., Juneau, and Fairbanks.
That morning I called your D.C. office to ask where you stood on the government shutdown and was told that you were in favor of passing a “clean” (no-strings attached) Continuing Resolution (CR) to that effect. I was even told that you had signed a congressional letter to that effect.
As a firm believer in the old adage of “trust but verify” I went online yet could find no proof of this on your website or in anywhere in the media.
So I called D.C. again and another staff person confirmed that you were indeed in favor of passing a “clean” CR. When I asked why you hadn’t come out publicly with this stance all I got was a muddled answer.
Confused, I then called your Juneau office and was told they had received a memo to tell constituents that you were in favor of passing a “clean” CR. When asked why you would have your staff tell this to constituents but not the media they, like D.C., had no answer.
Lastly, I called your Fairbanks office and for the fourth time was told that you supported ending the shutdown with a “clean” CR. They then mentioned that you signed that letter on Oct. 2along with 19 other Republicans and 20 Democrats.
Congressman… I found that letter! In it you stated you’d back a bill to fund government operations for six months ONLY if the medical device tax that was contained in the Affordable Care Act was eliminated!
Congressman – that is NOT a clean CR!
It seems to me you directed your staff (via a memo) to intentionally lie to constituents who call in to learn your position. Shame on you!
I believe you owe me, and any other Alaskan who called asking for clarification on your position (and I know of several), an apology. It’s time to stop misleading your constituents and it’s time to stop playing partisan gamesmanship. Right now you and your fellow Republicans in Congress have done what Al-Qaeda couldn’t - shut down the government, destabilized our economy, and degraded America’s image in the eyes of the world.
Again… shame on you!
Your constituent,
Keith Nyitray, Sitka
Ticket Donations
Dear Editor: A big thank you to the Sitka Fine Arts Camp for donating tickets to the Michael Mao Dance performance to students from Mt. Edgecumbe High School. The performance was a very special evening. We all had a great time!
Allison Sayer,
Mt Edgecumbe High School
Running of the Boots
Dear Editor: I hadn’t been in town long before Sheila Finkenbinder asked me to be a female impersonator at something called “Running of the Boots.”
The boots I was requested to fill had been worn the year before by a tall handsome young African American man. So, of course, Sheila would ask me, a short, portly aging white guy to fill his shoes. All I had to do was dress up like a woman and strut around to the song “What Ever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.”
Thank God the boots didn’t fit, but now six years later I find myself running the “Running of the Boots.” I have to say gunalchéesh to Sheila for bestowing this Sitka tradition Sitka’s 3,057th nonprofit organization, the Sitka Local Foods Network.
This year Jennifer Robinson of the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce had the great idea of combining Running of the Boots with the End of the Season Celebration under the same big tents next to St. Michael’s Cathedral. We changed the route of the run, but with the help of cat-herders Kathy Kyle and Jude Rise and the Sitka Police Department, it worked! Local Food Network board members Jack Ozment handed out 20 wooden nickels from Harry Race to the first 20 contestants to reach the soda fountain and Milt Fusselman did everything else.
Mt. Edgecumbe High School students did the hardest work of registering runners. Sheila was there to judge with Sherie Mayo and Kathy Kyle. Publicity from KIFW, KCAW and the Sentinel ensured plenty of folks made it. Local merchants provided tremendous prizes, including tours from Harris Air and Allen Marine. Seamart, the Alaska Computer Center, the Nugget Restaurant, the Pioneer Bar donated great prizes for families and Russell’s provided a brand new pair of Xtratuf boots to the fastest runner. True Value Hardware, Old Harbor Books and Lynda Strong’s gifts made sure every child present received a fun prize.
Xtratuf itself supplied EACH member of the Fastest and Second Fastest Teams new pairs of boots. Sitka Local Foods Network volunteers harvested stunning produce for the last Sitka Farmers Market booth of the year.
There are more people to thank, and I apologize if I have overlooked anyone. Thank you for a great run and I look forward to seeing you next year for out 20th year of the Boots!
Kerry MacLane, member,
Sitka Local Foods Network
Socioeconomic Problems
Dear Editor: The city is rightly concerned with economic growth. Efforts are being made to restore tourism. These efforts are correctly directing attention to Sitka’s “cultural narrative.”
Part of our narrative that is not being told is the ongoing reality of poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse and poor health in our town. These problems are socio-economic. If economic growth means increasing profits for existing businesses, that probably can be accomplished. If economic growth means sharing the wealth with the community, then we need radical restructuring in our society.
Sitka has the human and economic potential to become that shining city on the hill that was the origin of the American Dream. Unfortunately for American Natives, the pilgrims, pioneers and nation builders did not envision them living in that shining city. In Sitka, poverty and exclusion rest more heavily on Alaskan Natives than others, although they also rest heavily on the numerous poor who live in our notoriously substandard trailer camps. For historical reasons, some of us live in shining reserves on the high ground. For many more, Sitka represents the opportunity to live tightly packed in warrens plagued by the many problems generated by economic inequality. Low pay, seasonal work, lack of enfranchisement and the long-standing practices of discrimination, undermine the hope that might lift these folks. They might hope to be part of the shining city.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Raise the borough-wide minimum wage to $15/hr.
2. Place price controls on rents and essential commodities such as children’s clothing and primary food commodities.
3. Apply the hotel bed tax to the fisheries bunkhouses.
How will these suggestions lead to just economic growth? First, better paid workers will have the ability to shop locally, improving local business receipts. Second, when landlords can not gorge on exorbitant rents, renters can save and advance. When vendors do not gouge shoppers on essential items, buyers will spend more on a greater variety of items. When families and children are not hungry, they will have the energy to work and to earn. This will reduce their need to numb themselves in defense against permanent desperation. Third, industry can afford to pay more. When we discourage the importation of minimum wage imported labor, people who live here can take their role as active contributors to the work that needs to be done, and as participants in the economy.
We have been holding high-toned conferences on economic growth and tourism. When I see the participants staggering out of P-Bar, I have a hard time seeing that the well-being of the community is under consideration. Politicians already are living fat, without doing much. How many poor folk have attended the luxurious meetings?
Here is the email of the Sitka Assembly: assembly@cityofsitka.com
Here is Mayor’s email: assemblymcconnell@cityofsitka.com
I thank readers of this letter for thinking about my suggestions. I encourage you to email the assembly and to tell them that you want a living minimum wage, price controls and taxes that discourage imported low-wage workers. I’m sure you can add to that list, but it is a starting point.
John Welsh, Sitka
Baby Quilt Project
Dear Editor: Last Saturday, 17 students, 13 adults, two Public Health nurses and three AmeriCorps Volunteers met in the Blatchley Middle School home ec room for four hours of fabulous fun and service, making baby quilts. It’s been several years since the last community sewing day for this project and a great time was had by all.
The group started or finished 14 new baby quilts that Public Health Nursing will be able to give to new parents when they request a home visit for their newborn. We would like to offer our most appreciative thanks to the following: Elvia Torres for the use of her classroom at Blatchley, AmeriCorps volunteers Kelly, Courtney and Kara, AmeriCorps Ccoordinator Faith Lee, Twyla Keaveny at Community Schools, the girls from Girl Scout Troop 4140 – Chloe McAdams, Allison Winger, Brianna Overturf, Chloe Audette, Autumn Dinsmore, Divinity Wortman and their leader, Retha Winger, Melissa Dinsmore, the Sitka Woman’s Club and the Young Sitka Woman’s Club represented by Ann-Marie Parker, Ada Parker, Robin Shull and Aleah Shull, Fiona Ferguson and Susan Brandt-Ferguson, Grace Hwang with Mia and Tessa, Connie LaPerrierre, Kristen Homer, Lucy and Addie Poulson, Caitlyn Phillips, Anne Larkenau, Dasha, Shannon Haugland, Daliya Tazeyeva, Jasmine Shaw, Raven Radio, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Kettleson Memorial Library, Sabra Jenkins and Annette Blankenship.
The organizers would also like to thank those who have helped throughout the year with supplies and equipment: Ben Franklin, Abby’s Reflection, Ocean Wave Quilters, Duke Dunsing and Jim Berry for sewing machine maintenance, Lisa Moore and Mary Levesque for fabric donations, and most of all, the many volunteers and coordinators from the past 19 years who started and sustained such a marvelous community project. There were several students making new baby quilts on Saturday who brought the quilts they had received as newborns from this program!
Thank you, again, to all our wonderful volunteers and look for another sewing day next fall as we celebrate 20 years of welcoming new babies to Sitka.
Jan Lovett, president,
Ocean Wave Quilters
Penny Lehmann,
Public Health Nursing,
Ellen Daly, Public Health Nursing
