Farewell to a Friend
Dear Editor: I am saying goodbye to my dear friend, Noah Mayo, who died Tuesday.
I got to know him while coaching high school wrestling at Sitka High. He was a wonderful team member, as he won his share of matches, but mostly he was the ‘‘glue’’ that held the team together. He was always smiling as he came off the match, regardless of winning or losing, because he enjoyed the competition for what it was. When he left the team to go on an exchange study program to Russia, the team sort of fell apart as a team. We missed him so much. I heard that he wrestled quite successfully in Russia, too. Of the hundreds of wrestlers that I coached, he was one of the few with which I formed a deep lifelong friendship. He wa sa good man. Goodbye, my friend.
Jim DiGennaro, Sitka
Ferry Service
Dear Editor: The story of Southeast Alaskan communities coming together in the late 1950s to advocate for the creation of the Alaska Marine Highway System is a remarkable one. As Southeast Conference meets in Petersburg this week, I hope that the group will build on this remarkable legacy by advancing forward-thinking ideas about how to run the system more efficiently while also continuing to advocate for the basics.
We won’t have any marine highway if we don’t have vessels. By 2024 we are scheduled to lose three of our ferries to old age – the Matanuska, Malaspina, and Taku. It takes years to design new vessels, and even longer to build them. The State of Alaska needs to make this its top transportation investment priority for the region now, if we want to have any type of ferry service in the future. It’s time again for Southeast Alaskan communities to join together to support our marine highway system.
Karen Wilson, Tenakee Springs
