Sports Legends
Dear Editor: Just when I thought that the Sitka merchants couldn’t get any more generous, they donated once again!
The annual CHARR banquet took place on Sept. 27 at Centennial Hall. They chose Sitka Youth Sports nonprofit as the recipient of the banquet. The Sitka sports ‘‘Legends’’ theme was conceived and after months of planning and work with the help of Susan Suarez, Cara Greenough, Dawn Barragan, and myself, we had a tremendously successful and fun banquet for the CHARR state members and many local supporters.
I would like to thank Brian Hanson, the emcee, and Keith Perkins, auctioneer extraordinaire, for always helping out when it benefits our kids. A huge thanks goes to Jim Way, Scott Calhoun and John Wathen for a delicious dinner. I would like to thank Tiffany Pearson and all the other folks who helped. Apologies to anyone I have not named. I would like to thank the following businesses for donating great items for he auction: Bayview Pub, Sea Mart, Silver Basin, Allen Marine, Robinson’s Art Gallery, LFS Marine Supplies, House of Liquor, Lisa Moore, Sitka Bazaar, Work and Rugged Gear, Sitka Vision, Stereo North, White’s Pharmacy, Pioneer Bar, SEARHC, Major Marine Tours, the Bradley House, Baranof Jewelers, Sitka Youth Sports, Pioneer Station Post Office, Orion Sporting Goods, Sitka Historical Society and Charlie Skultka.
Finally, I would like to express gratitude to the CHARR members who attended the banquet and opened up their wallets to donate to our youths. Your generosity is amazing.
Thank you,
Ed Conway, Sitka Youth Sports
Municipal Election
Dear Editor: Now that the fall 2018 municipal elections are over, I want to extend my thanks to everyone. Although I fell short of earning a seat on the Sitka Assembly by 25 votes, I am very grateful to the 1,127 Sitkans who thought I would be a positive, thoughtful person to have on the Assembly. To those who supported my campaign with donations, I deeply appreciate your commitment of resources to my effort. I wish both Kevin Mosher and Valorie Nelson all the best over the length of their upcoming three-year terms. The economic and financial stresses on the community and the resulting stresses on the Assembly will be substantial. Their commitment of time and attention will be one key to keeping Sitka vital and strong.
One hallmark of Sitka’s greatness was revealed to me while campaigning in the roundabout. In 3-4 days of waving at passing motorists, only one person out of thousands of people scowled and shook her head. Thousands were friendly and waved, and many smiled, some wryly, at our candidate efforts. It gave me strength – as a generally introverted person – to continue the race, and optimism about where we are going and with whom we are voyaging.
I would urge Mayor Paxton and members of the Assembly to read Doug Griffiths’ book “13 Ways to Kill Your Community” (https://www.13ways.ca/books/). Evaluating Sitka’s position relative to the 13 criteria Mr. Griffiths describes will provide insight into where we are succeeding as a small community and where we could improve. Once again, thank you to everyone who voted for me in the recent election. I deeply appreciate your support.
Brinnen Carter, Sitka
Engine Idling
Dear Editor: New York City has 1 million exhaust-spewing passenger automobiles, 13,000 taxis, and 6,000 buses. It also has over 8 million citizens exposed to high levels of carbon emissions and 1 million asthmatics struggling to breathe.
Sitka is an island with 9,000 inhabitants, but it has thousands of gas-powered cars that emit pollution and cause health and environmental problems. What is the parallel?
Last month, my documentary film, called ‘‘Idle Threat,’’ was screened at the Sitka Public Library. ‘‘Idle Threat’’ is a documentary about my struggle with the NYPD and the city bureaucracy to have New York City ENFORCE the anti-engine-idling law, passed in 1971 but seldom enforced.
I am a banker by profession who took up an eco crusade in this David and Goliath story. The film features the city I love, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a cast of city council members, environmentalists, irrepressible New York city drivers, and Car Talk stars Click and Clack in their documentary film debut.
‘‘Idle Threat’’ is a timely, relevant and entertaining look at serious health and environmental issues that plague communities all over the world and the health of our planet. I often remind my followers that NYC had 400 homicides in 2012 but has over 3,000 deaths from air pollution.
But how does this apply to Sitka and Alaska in general? Firstly, climate change and ocean acidification effect everyone, secondly idling vehicles in the U.S. emit a whopping 30 million tons of CO2 every year and finally the Sitka Health Summit’s CO2 reducers group is supporting the new Stop Idling Start Saving campaign. They have made radio ads, fact sheets, signs, bumper stickers and even have a contest for motorist who pledge to protect themselves and others by turning the key and being idle free. It’s impressive and inspiring to see how Sitka is being a real leader on this issue. Compared to many places, Sitka has great air quality and instead of taking that for granted you are working to protect the air that everyone breaths.
Would you consider joining this noble effort to stop vehicle idling? After all, we all breathe the same air and all you need to do to be part of the solution is to simply turn off your engine when you are parked. Besides, idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than stopping and restarting your engine, so you can save some money.
To learn more, you can find great info on-line or get ‘‘Idle Threat’’ on Amazon or check it out for free at the Sitka Public Library. Finally, I’m looking forward to connecting with Sitkans over the computer at the next idle free Sitka task force this Thursday at noon at the Fisheye Café.
Thank you. We are all in this together.
George Pakenham, Producer/Director
‘‘Idle Threat – Man on Emission’’
Author ‘‘Big Nose Big City,’’
www.idlethreatmovie.com
george@idlethreatmovie.com
