Ketchikan: Chamber Presents Community Awards, Installs New Officers; Governor Murkowski Keynote Speaker - The Ted Ferry Civic Center was the site of the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce 39th Annual Awards Banquet and Installation of Officers and Directors this past Saturday evening.

Ketchikan: Red tape prompts sawmill closure; Tongass operator says last federal snag was too much for him By PAULA DOBBYN Anchorage Daily News - Timber entrepreneur Steve Seley has closed his sawmill on Gravina Island near Ketchikan, one of the few mills left in the giant Southeast rainforest. - Read this ADN story... Anchorage Daily News - www.adn.com Ketchikan: Ketchikan moves closer to building new cruise ship dock - Ketchikan is moving closer to building a new cruise ship dock to be ready for the 2007 cruise ship season. - Read this story... Anchorage Daily News - www.adn.com Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

The event began with a social hour allowing guests time for discourse and to reflect on who may be the recipients of the many awards for 2005. As the chatter subsided and everyone was seated, Boy Scout Troop #4 marched to the stage to present the Colors and led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by Pastor Grant Smith who gave the invocation. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Alaska: Legislators try to keep dividends in Alaska By RICHARD RICHTMYER - Legislation to keep Permanent Fund dividend money intended for Alaskans from bleeding outside appears to be gaining momentum.

State officials say that since 1996 the current system has led to more than $154 million in dividends finding their way into the pockets of people who have left the state and not come back. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Alaska: Primary Seat Belt Law Passes Legislature - Legislation promising to save lives, prevent injuries and save millions of dollars each year passed the Alaska Legislature Wednesday. The primary seat belt law (SB 87) requires law enforcement officers to pull over and issue a citation for anyone not wearing a seat belt while traveling on state highways.

Sen. Con Bunde (R - Anchorage) sponsored the bill. "Wearing seat belts is unquestionably the best way to avoid getting hurt or killed in an automobile accident. The primary seat belt law increases their use by around 15 percent and that prevents hundreds of injuries and will save an average of six lives each year on Alaska's roadways," said Sen. Bunde. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

National: GOP unveils lobbying reform plans By MARGARET TALEV - As corruption scandals threaten to affect this year's midterm elections, congressional leaders from both parties are unveiling plans this week to limit what lawmakers and their staffs can accept from lobbyists.

Republicans, who control the House and Senate, announced broad plans Tuesday, saying details would be fleshed out over the next several weeks and voted on by March.

"We need to reform the rules so it's clear beyond a shadow of a doubt what is ethically acceptable," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Democrats are scheduled to discuss their ideas Wednesday, but already Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has instructed his staff they may no longer accept any meals, gifts or travel from lobbyists. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

National: Don't leave store without medicine, Medicare enrollees told By LISA ZAGAROLI - Senior citizens and other Medicare enrollees who run into problems with the new federal prescription drug program shouldn't leave pharmacies without their medication, health authorities say.

"There is no reason for you to go without your medicines, medicines you need, or for you to pay more than you owe," said Mike Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

National: Supreme Court ruling defends Oregon assisted-suicide law By DAVID WHITNEY - The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the federal government's bid to block Oregon's assisted suicide law, ruling physicians do not risk criminal prosecution or other punishment for prescribing life-ending drugs.

Oregon is the only state that has such a law. But other states are considering the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide for terminal patients, and Tuesday's 6-3 ruling was seen as an encouragement of that movement. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

National: U.S. plans smart card to ease traffic through border crossings By PAUL KORING - U.S. citizens will soon be able to get a small, smart card with passport-like features that may help whisk them to the front of lineups at border crossings when they return to the United States from Canada.

"We're talking about, essentially, like the kind of driver's licence or other simple card identification that almost all of us carry in our wallets day in and day out," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters RAUWOLF COMMENDATION FOR HERRING ARTICLE By Pete Ellis - Thursday Let's Save for a Rainy Day! By Robert D. Warner - Thursday PRIVILAGE OR RIGHT? By Tony Alenskis - Thursday Uncompassionate towards suffering By Tommy D. Bergeron - Thursday Ye Olde "Anti-Bridge" By Kevin Mackey - Thursday Throwing rocks from a distance By Rick Watson - Thursday 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 More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan January 19, 2006 -7:00 pm Ketchikan City Council Regular Meeting - City Council Chambers. Agenda & Information Packets January 19, 2006 - 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

Jason Love: Acupuncture - Acupuncture has never called me, at least no more than acuripping, aculeeching, or acu-kicking-you-in-the-groin. Besides, if acupuncture worked so well, how come porcupines get sick?

But my headaches were that bad, and Dr. Lynn, my dealer, didn't know why.

"We can't figure out what's happening, Jason, so we're just going to rub some more insurance money on it and see what happens."

Dr. Lynn may have been sharp in his prime, but now you get the feeling that when he laughs too hard, he pees his pants just a little. Sure, he pokes around in your ear like other doctors, but does he remember what he's looking for or is he just keeping up appearances? - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Michael Reagan: How to be Losers - If the Democrats want to know why they keep losing, all they have to do is run a replay of Martin Luther King Day.

If they do, and if they are not brain dead, they'll immediately notice the difference between Republican President George W. Bush's MLK Day speech at Georgetown University and the rantings of the opposition party.

In one speech, the president took pains to say how proud he was to be in the presence of the president of the NAACP even though that organization has never supported him, has frequently said disparaging things about him, and even ran an ad during the 2000 election campaign which suggested he was somehow complicit in the dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Clifford May: Nuclear-armed terrorists: Coming to a location near you? - Four years after terrorists slaughtered 3,000 innocent Americans, it should go without saying that the "international community" would not let a terrorist-sponsoring nation acquire nuclear weapons.

But it does not go without saying. On the contrary, the rulers of Iran, who subscribe to an ideology not appreciably different from Osama bin Laden's, are moving closer than ever to getting their own nukes.

And they are not bothering to disguise the uses to which the weapons may be put. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has infamously threatened to wipe Israel "off the map." - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Dale McFeatters: State's right, attorney general's wrong - An early indication that the Bush administration would be flexible on conservative principles it found inconvenient came when then-Attorney General John Ashcroft sought to kill Oregon's Death With Dignity Act.

That law, twice approved by Oregon voters, clearly fell within the rights the Constitution left to the states, but there was the GOP's "base" to be appeased. So Ashcroft threatened to use federal anti-drug laws to take away the prescription-writing authority of any physician who prescribed a lethal dose of drugs.

What Oregon had done in 1994 was to allow doctors to prescribe, but not administer, a life-ending "cocktail" to a patient who requested it, had been determined to be terminally ill, and found by a psychiatrist to be mentally competent. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

John Hall: Iranian roulette - Finally, at long last, we are about to learn whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is just a hustler out for quick cash or a reliable partner for the democratic industrial world willing to take a courageous stand.

He told Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, that he and the leaders of the United States and Europe hold "close positions" on the issue of Iran's dangerous new turn toward nuclear weapons. While warning against "abrupt, erroneous steps," he did not exclude the possibility of the U.N. Security Council taking up this issue.

That is the first substantial statement Putin has made on the subject of Iran's overbearing new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Russia is in a delicate position because of its longstanding partnership with Iran on nuclear development. - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006

Steve Brewer: Parental supervision just a call away - When I was growing up in the South, we were taught that the lowest depth of rudeness was to pull up outside a date's home and honk the horn to summon her.

A gentleman went to the door, rang the bell and waited. Someone would invite him inside so the parents could give him a thorough inspection before handing over their daughter for the evening.

(Sometimes, it didn't get that far. My great-grandfather, who lived with his three granddaughters, was famous for opening the door, looking a suitor up and down and then slamming the door in his face.) - More...
Thursday AM - January 19, 2006