Ketchikan: 8th Annual Evening of Jazz and Cabaret - The 8th Annual Evening of Jazz and Cabaret with Anne Phillips, Bob Kindred, and Matt Perri - and your friends and neighbors - took place last Friday and Saturday at the Ted Ferry Civic Center and on Sunday at Ketchikan High School. - More ...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Ketchikan: Can Emergency Responders Find You? By LOUISE BRINCK HARRINGTON - It was the middle of the night when North Tongass Fire Department EMS Lieutenant Jerry Kiffer got a radio call that an elderly woman was having a medical problem. During the call the 911 dispatcher, located in downtown Ketchikan, informed Kiffer that the woman lived near North Point Higgins Road and gave him the woman's address. But due to privacy regulations the dispatcher could not relay the woman's name.

Can Emergency Responders Find You? Story By LOUISE BRINCK HARRINGTON

Kiffer responded to the call immediately with the ambulance.

"We were called to [the home of] an old time family," Kiffer said, recalling the incident later, "and I am very good friends with both of them. "I had been to their house a hundred times."

But Kiffer had only the family's address, not their name, and he could not find the address in the dark.

But Kiffer had only the family's address, not their name, and he could not find the address in the dark.

"The way the addresses are done in some new subdivisions, there are not enough numbers between one house and the other. Down some of those subdivisions there may be what appears to be one-driveway road, but you'll find 20 or 30 houses. Had I known the name I would have found it but all I had was the address."- More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

Alaska: Alaska governor wants to buy stake in oil pipeline By WESLEY LOY - Gov. Frank Murkowski has been saying for months that the state should own a piece of the proposed natural gas pipeline.

Now he's touting another idea: buying a share of the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

It's a concept state political leaders have kicked around since before oil starting sliding down the nation's most famous pipeline in 1977.

Even though the pipe is nearly 30 years old, and Prudhoe Bay and other North Slope oil fields are wearing out after pumping more than 15 billion barrels, it still could be a smart move for the state to buy into the line, Murkowski said. - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

National: A call to curtail drug-company gifts to doctors By LEE BOWMAN - Medical leaders are calling for new ethics guidelines at teaching hospitals and medical schools aimed at disentangling doctors from drug-company marketing efforts.

Their paper, published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, urges academic medical centers to abolish or strictly limit gifts and payments from drug companies that might unduly influence physicians.

"The essence of our proposal is to build a firewall between drug companies and medical practitioners," said David Rothman, president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession, a New York think tank that studies issues of medical professionalism, and co-chair of the group that wrote the proposed guidelines. - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

National: 1985 application focus of debate as Alito vote nears By BOB EGELKO - As the Senate prepares to vote on President Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, virtually all the debate can be capsulized in a single four-page document - Alito's 1985 application for a promotion to a political post in President Ronald Reagan's Justice Department.

Nearly every issue raised at a weeklong Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this month had its origins in the essay Alito submitted to the White House when he was a 35-year-old government lawyer, which began with the declaration, "I am and always have been a conservative." - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Critical Equipment Ready To Transport Travelift donated by the City of Valdez, Alaska is ready for transport to aid Gulf fishing industry relief efforts.

Ketchikan: Critical Equipment Ready To Transport To Help Stranded Gulf Fishing Boats - Last week, in snowy Alaska weather, a 60-ton Marine Travel Lift, a mechanical harness device to move vessels from shore to sea, was donated by the City of Valdez, Alaska to aid Gulf of Mexico fishing industry relief efforts was prepared for transportation. Technician Dennis Sargent of Marine Travelift was on hand in Valdez to supervise the dismantling of the Travelift. The lift was packed onto a flatbed trailer to travel by barge and road. It is expected to leave Valdez by the end of January, en route to Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, where an estimated 3,000 commercial fishing boats were washed ashore during Hurricane Katrina.

The Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission (AFIRM) and the City of Valdez thank Marine Travelift Corporation of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for the donation of the technician's work. Northwest Airlines donated the airfare to fly Sargent to Alaska and to Louisiana for reassembly when it arrives in February. North Star Terminal and Stevedore Company generously provided the crane and heavy equipment for the dismantling. AFIRM will cover any additional travel, lodging, labor and transportation costs to ensure that the City of Valdez will not incur incidental costs as a result of its generous donation. - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Seatbelts, please use them! By Chief Dave Hull - Wednesday Thank you Coach Craig By Debra and Michael Dundas - Wednesday Weaning ourselves from "feel good liberal" programs? By Charlotte Tanner - Wednesday The children are watching By Susan Walsh - Wednesday Finding ways to "reorganize" By Neil Gray - Wednesday Budget Discipline Vital by Rep. Vic Kohring - Tuesday AM Emerald Bay Appeal By Jacquelyne and Robert Hunley - Tuesday AM Steelers fan By David M. Korkowski- Tuesday AM GO STEELERS!!! By April van Berkum Thank You To The KIC Membershi By Rob Sanderson, Jr.- Tuesday AM Thank You By Gigi Pilcher- Tuesday AM Are we losing control? By Robert McRoberts - Tuesday AM Loss of Alaska Guardsmen By Richard Heller - Monday AM No justification By Dave Kiffer- Monday AM NOT ABOUT BLAME, BUT ABOUT BUILDING TRUST AND PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE By Bobbe McCreary- Monday AM Forgiving By Charlotte Tanner- Monday AM STEELER FANS UNITE By Pat Long- Monday AM Sometimes you can't 'Latch On to the Affirmative'. By June Allen - Saturday PM Bridge to "somewhere" By Rick Grams - Saturday PM Alaska State Senate to Examine University by Robert D. Warner - Saturday PM VISTA Volunteer By MJ Turek - Saturday PM Bridges to the future... By Don Hoff Jr. - Saturday PM Ketchikan's priorities? By Don Hoff Jr. - Saturday PM Apology? By Tom LeCompte - Saturday PM Treatment of guests is reprehensible By John Stewart - Saturday PM Disgraceful Behavior By Charlotte L. Glover - Saturday PM Lack of signage greatest problem By Charlotte Tanner - Saturday PM Newtown Plans By Betty Lee Lien Marl McLendon - Saturday PM Thank You By Tonia (Lahmeyer) Nebl - Saturday PM Uncompassionate By Tommy Bergeron - Saturday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan 6:00 pm - Ketchikan School Board Regular Meeting - City Council Chambers Agenda Teleconference meetings at the Legislative Information Office - Check the Calendar 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 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31         Front Page Archives

Bill Steigerwald: John Murtha: Bush should listen more - Since last fall, when he set off a national debate by calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Pennsylvania Congressman Jack Murtha has been making news. Last Sunday on "60 Minutes," the Johnstown, Pa., Democrat predicted most U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by year's end. Murtha, a former Marine who fought in Korea and Vietnam, is one of the best friends the military has in Congress. I talked to him Jan.19 by telephone from his office in Washington. - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Sharon Randall: Dancing as the garbage truck rolls - Nothing much ever happens on my block. At least, nothing that's worth a 39-cent stamp to write home about, so to speak.

But sometimes I can't help wondering: Is there stuff going on out there that I don't know about? I mean, what if Mel Gibson decided to shoot a movie on my street and needed somebody to play the lead or make him a sandwich?

Occasionally - just to be sure I'm not missing out on anything that's too good to miss - I like to stand at the window for a while and keep watch.

You never know what you might see if you pay attention. - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Dick Morris: Wiretaps Win For W - Democrats who criticize President Bush for using warrantless wiretaps to elicit information about potential terrorist activity should be aware that the American people strongly support his decision to do so. Believe it or not, they trust their own government and the president they elected to use the information wisely and for our own protection.

The Fox News poll of Jan. 11 asked voters whether the president "should have the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor electronic communications of suspected terrorists without getting warrants, even if one end of the communication is in the United States?" By 58 percent to 36 percent, the answer was "yes." Indeed, 42 percent of the nation's Democrats agreed that the president should have this power. - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Paul Campos: Manufactured diseases - A couple of years ago, as my father and I watched a telecast of an NFL playoff game, we were bombarded with commercials for erectile dysfunction drugs. Every one included the tag line, "Ask your doctor if Viagra (or Cialis or Levitra) is right for you." After about the 10th one, my father, a retired physician, exclaimed with exasperation, "How the hell am I supposed to know if Viagra is right for you?"

This comment pointed toward a couple of truths.

First, like almost any other doctor, my father's knowledge of the pharmacological effects and potential risks of an erectile dysfunction drug would be limited to what a pharmaceutical-company sales representative had told him about that drug. (The notion that your doctor "knows" something as immensely complex as the field of medicine is as misguided as the idea that your lawyer knows "the law.") - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006

Dale McFeatters: Recommended viewing for ayatollahs: 'Dr. Strangelove' - As it contemplates acquiring nuclear weapons, Iran's leadership might want to watch the 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove," in which a lunatic U.S. Air Force officer launches a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, triggering a thermonuclear "Doomsday Machine" that destroys the planet.

The movie seems far-fetched now, but in the early '60s it wasn't so far from the strategic problems the deep thinkers were worrying over. In fact, a Doomsday Machine had already been proposed to U.S. policy makers. The term for such a standoff in which both attacker and defender are destroyed is Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). - More...
Wednesday AM - January 25, 2006