Ketchikan: Ketchikan Group Explores the Stikine River By MARIE L. MONYAK - The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center hosts a free presentation with a guest speaker every Friday evening from 7 to 8 PM.  There are a variety of topics covered, both educational and entertaining.  Most presentations are centered around Alaska's environment, wildlife, natural resources, native culture and more. 
 
This past Friday, the Discovery Center's warm comfortable theatre was the site of two separate slideshows and a multi-speaker presentation by the Ketchikan Ladies Trail Association and Alaska Waters of Wrangell.

Shar Schwartz, Ivan Simonek and Jim Leslie. Ivan Simonek is a professional photographer from Wrangell.  He took all the pictures for Leslie's slide show and does all the photography for Alaska Waters. Photograph by Marie L. Monyak

The Ketchikan Ladies Trail Association came into being one day in May of 2003 when Sher Schwartz and two friends hiked Deer Mountain and decided it would be great to have a club that catered to women who weren't in the best condition, but wanted to spend time outdoors and get in shape at the same time. 
 
The KLTA currently has over 50 members whose hiking abilities range from upper beginner to intermediate level.  Every week there is an organized hike taking under two hours, held either on a Saturday or Sunday.   During the summer there is a monthly advanced hike that lasts from three to eight hours. 

For the last three years the KLTA has had an annual spring migration bird walk on Gravina Island and just this past December the group was involved in the Christmas bird count in Ketchikan. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

KIC Certified Election Results President Stephanie Rainwater-Sande Tribal Council Members Norman Arriola Willard Jackson, Sr. Merle Hawkins Terry Burr Health Board Irene Dundas Download the KIC Election Results Results Courtesy KIC www.kictribe.org Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: Nobody's laughing at lobbying reform now By DAVID WESTPHAL - A year ago, the idea that Congress would consider sharp curbs on lobbying would have been laughed off Capitol Hill.

In fact, that's exactly what happened. The man doing the laughing was then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who at a news conference derided the authors of a bipartisan lobbying measure and accused them of working on behalf of "leftist groups."

Nobody's laughing now. The Republican leadership in the House suddenly is leading the charge to write new limitations on the estimated $2 billion-a-year lobbying business in Washington.

The Republican turnaround can be explained by the story of two men - lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who earlier this month acknowledged a conspiracy to bribe public officials, and DeLay, who was forced to give up his House leadership position after he was indicted on separate money-laundering charges.

But beyond those two men lies a bigger story of the sea change that's occurred in the Washington lobbying world over the last decade.

Growing numbers of top congressional leaders, on both sides of the aisle, have left public life for the lucrative business of lobbying. In the last five years alone, the number of people registered to lobby the federal government has doubled, to more than 34,000. And increasingly, members of Congress have invited lobbyists to become part of their political teams, with some serving as campaign consultants and others heading up fund-raising operations. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

National: Air power losing ground in terror age By JAMES ROSEN - Fifteen years ago, the United States and allied forces launched Operation Desert Storm, unleashing the most dazzling display of military air power in history.

Starting in the predawn hours of Jan. 17, 1991 (the afternoon of Jan. 16 in the United States), the 38-day air campaign decimated Saddam Hussein's army and left Iraqi troops easy prey for a brief ground war that drove them from Kuwait.

Many military experts and active-duty officers believed they had seen the future of warfare: a cleaner and even more humane form of fighting based on tactical air strikes using precision-guided bombs that would spare widespread civilian bloodshed and other "collateral damage."

That vision was fortified in 1999, when U.S.-led planes dislodged Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic from Kosovo in a 78-day aerial assault that again showcased the unmatched technological prowess of American bombers and fighter jets.

Today, more than four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and almost three years into the Iraq war, those displays of U.S. air power seem like faint echoes.

In Iraq, about 160,000 U.S. troops are hunkered down in a grinding counterinsurgency war as politicians back home argue over whether there are enough "boots on the ground" to succeed. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

National: Drug abusers get checks for taking birth control By MAGGIE SHEPARD - How does the idea of paying drug- and alcohol-addicted women to go on long-term birth control strike you?

In the past eight years, it has struck over 1,600 women in the United States as reasonable.

They participated in Project Prevention, an effort that since 1998 has offered $200 to addicted women who provide doctor's proof they're on birth control.

Last week, Project Prevention upped its offering to $500 to the first 100 women of the year who join and $300 to every participant after that.

However, critics say the program should stop. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Lina Lastimosa KGH Employee of the Month Photo courtesy KGH

Ketchikan: Lastimosa Named KGH Employee of the Month - Lina Lastimosa, Food Service Attendant, has been chosen Employee of the Month by a committee of her peers.

Lastimosa, a 15-year employee of Ketchikan General Hospital, staffs the hospital cafeteria, the Four Seasons Café, in addition to various kitchen duties. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Alaska: Augustine Erupts Sending Ash 8 Miles High - Alaska's Augustine Volcano erupted this morning, sending an ash plume 8 1/2 miles into the air, officials at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.

Based on seismicity, preliminary estimates by AVO indicate that this event is at least as energetic as the events of last week. Seismicity at Augustine remains elevated since this morning's explosive event at 7:58 A.M.

The Augustine volcano is located 171 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Cook Inlet. Alaska has 129 major volcanic areas and 44 volcanoes are listed as historically active. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Alaska: Alaska village feels early effects of global warming By JANE KAY - The two shaggy polar bears gnawed on shreds of meat hanging off the carcass of a bowhead whale. They planted their flat furry feet on pieces of blubber and ripped off strips of the rubbery fat with their teeth.

Up onto the spit of sand on Barter Island came two more, a mother and cub rising from the slate-gray Beaufort Sea. They shook off sheets of water and sauntered over to share the feast, greeting the others with a touch of shiny black noses.

Humans don't often see these luminous bears in the wild. They are not land animals, and live nearly all their lives on the vast floating sea ice within the Arctic Circle. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters An expose on the history and controversy surrounding commercial herring management in Southeast Alaskan fisheries (excluding Sitka Sound)- A Public Point of View By Andy Rauwolf - Tuesday What do Tourists think of Ketchikan, and how can we improve it? By Bobbie McCreary- Tuesday We're All Wrong By Robert McRoberts- Tuesday New Town "proactive" planning By Chris Elliott- Tuesday Importance of Visible Street Numbers By Scott R. Davis - Monday AM At Taxpayers' Expense By Don Hoff Jr. - Monday AM McRoberts' economic development plans By Don Hoff Jr. - Monday AM New marine service center By Beverly Anderson - Saturday 45 Neighbors meet to discuss future plans for NewTown By Bobbie McCreary - Saturday Sanderson Best Choice By Dorothy Nix - Saturday Open letter to KIC citizens: Reasons Tribal members need to vote on January 16th By Rob Sanderson, Jr. - Saturday VERIFY! By Virginia E. Atkinson - Saturday Celebrate Our Civil Rights Leaders! By Janice Jackson - Thursday PM New Postal Rates By Karen S. Hollywood - Thursday PM I Ask For Your Vote For KIC Tribal Council by Tonia J. Nebl - Thursday PM Support Nebl for KIC Tribal Council By Marvelle Lahmeyer - Thursday PM Sanderson For Tribal Council By John Morris Jr. - Thursday PM Efforts Applauded By Frances C. Natkong - Thursday PM Donald Rumsfeld Didn't Send the Rght Message to Iran By Mark Neckameyer - Thursday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan January 17, 2005, 5:30 - 7:00 pm - Understanding the Planning Process for the New Town Historical District - Location: Basement of First Lutheran Church. January 19, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Recreation Plan Public Meeting at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, 50 Main Street. The meeting will be held in the Learning Center and people should go around to the back of the building to enter. The contact person for the Ketchikan meeting is Karen Brand at 228-4108. Saturday, January 21, 2006, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - Public Hearing - Petition by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for Legislative Review - annexation of approximately 4,701 square miles to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. City Council Chambers, 334 Front Street, Ketchikan, AK Summary & Annexation Petition & Exhibits January Calendar Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements January 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 r 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31         Front Page Archives

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on Chicken Spittle - H5N1 sounds like something that might be announced after a couple of ping pong balls have dropped out of rotating drum - except for the fact that there is no H in Bingo.

It could, in fact, be overheard during a tit for tat round of You Sunk My Battleship! But the deadly significance of this alphanumeric string is not imaginary - it is a real concern. H5N1 is the name that scientists have given to the virus that is responsible for the current outbreaks of so-called "bird flu" in Asia.

The last figure that I saw put the human death toll, from confirmed cases of avian influenza, at 81. If you count our feathered friends, the total death toll is already over 150 million poultry that have either died as a result of being infected by the virus, or were destroyed to control its spread. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Bob Ciminel: Imminent Eminent Domain - With the media and conservative talk radio hosts going ballistic over the recent Supreme Court decision reaffirming the right of local governments to condemn private property for development, I thought eminent domain would be a good topic for the New Year.

My wife has been a Realtor in the Atlanta area for the past nine years, and at one time I considered applying for a real estate license and becoming her assistant. However, I knew it would never work out - being her assistant, I mean. After almost 35 years of marriage, I know how Alice works. Our work ethics are pretty incompatible, which is why I'm really good with technical stuff and she's really good with people. Alice was a teacher in her prior life; I was a sailor - 'nuff said? - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Dick Morris: Oops, She Did It Again - How can Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pretend that her campaign's $721,895 under statement of the costs of the key fund-raising event of her 2000 Senate race was just a bookkeeping error for which the candidate bears no responsibility? Will her campaign's $35,000 civil fine be all the punishment for this massive flouting of the campaign-finance law?

Remember what happened. Hillary's GOP opponent, Rep. Rick Lazio, had challenged the first lady to put her money where her mouth was and refuse to accept soft money (large, essentially unregulated donations) to fund her Senate race. If she abstained, he said, he would also. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Dale McFeatters: Oh, Canada - Most Americans, it's a safe bet, probably don't know that Canada has a national election next Monday, with the increasingly probable outcome that our friends and neighbors will have a new prime minister.

And most Americans, it's an even safer bet, are probably unaware that the United States is a large and divisive issue in that campaign. There are other issues - taxes, child care, drug laws, same-sex marriage, the Kyoto treaty - but the issue that really gets the local juices flowing is the United States, just sitting there to the south - massive and, most infuriatingly to some Canadians, unaware when not being indifferent. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Martin Schram: A parade of weasels - Now, parading into view, here comes affable Jerry Bremer. Officially, L. Paul Bremer, who famously spent a year as Our Man in Iraq. He has joined the parade of Bush ex-officials - ex-greats and ingrates - rushing to recast their images and cover their aspirations in time to get on the right side of history in Bob Woodward's next tome.

Like ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell's ex-chief of staff Lawrence B. Wilkerson (who said Vice President Cheney led a cabal advocating torture) and, for that matter, like the ex-Sec himself, Jerry Bremer wants to make sure you can see that he has always been the guy in the white hat, riding the white horse. He wants you to see this clearly, but not too closely. Otherwise, you will discover that his steed was not a white horse but a weasel. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006

Steve Brewer: Thrills of teaching a teen to drive ... from afar - Parenting holds many thrills, chills and worries, but none quite as spectacularly terrifying as teaching a teenager to drive.

Our oldest son is driving now, and it's a regular carnival ride every time we take the minivan out of the garage. Abrupt starts and stops and sweeping turns, breath-taking braking and heart-pounding near-misses, and concrete curbs that seem to leap right out in front of us. And that's all before we leave our own cul-de-sac. - More...
Tuesday - January 17, 2006