Saturday
February 19, 2005
'Small
Pleasures'
Front Page Photo by Lisa Thompson
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White Cliff School
File Photo by Dick Kauffman
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Ketchikan: Redevelopment
Project for White Cliff School Proposed; Ketchikan Community
Center for the Arts, Ketchikan Senior Citizen Services, and Historic
Ketchikan Collaborate - The White Cliff Redevelopment Committee,
under the auspices of Historic Ketchikan, is developing a plan
to reclaim White Cliff School, the oldest continuously operating
school in the State, to create a vibrant multigenerational community
center.
This cherished old school is
under review as a facility that would bring together senior activities
and arts programming in a model of community revitalization.
For seniors, the White Cliff School would provide accessible
space for day activities and meal programs, within a grand structure
that has a strong sense of our community's history. According
to Cleo Weston, Chair of the Senior Citizens Services Board,
"The Senior Services building is a hub for some very important
services in our community, and our senior community is proud
of the home that it has built for those activities. The seniors
care about White Cliff, and we can see a lot of great things
happening under that roof." - More...
Saturday PM - February 19, 2005
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National: 60
years later, WWII's final year remembered by Lisa Hoffman
- Scripps Howard News Service - Sixty years ago Monday, Marines
began their historic assault on the island of Iwo Jima, a battle
of such ferocity that it left 6,821 Americans dead and spawned
one-fourth of all World War II medals of honor.
Commemorations of that turning-point
battle in the Pacific will take place Monday, part of a series
of events to be held around the country and overseas to remember
the 60th anniversary of the last year of World War II.
At the Marine Corps' iconic
Iwo Jima statue near Arlington National Cemetery, which depicts
the raising of the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, hundreds will
gather to pay tribute to the more than 60,000 Marines and other
troops who fought there, and to the fast-thinning ranks of those
still alive today.
Recognizing that reality, the
Defense Department will stage six regional 60th-anniversary ceremonies
across the country in areas with large numbers of World War II
vets.
The first is Monday in Tampa,
Fla., where a USO-style performance, speeches, the Navy Band
and what may be the last reunions of many aged veterans will
be featured. Florida is home to about 1.8 million veterans, of
whom at least 300,000 served in World War II.
Other ceremonies will be held
in veteran-rich San Antonio in March, San Diego in May, Boston
in June, Chicago in July, and Vancouver, Wash., in August.
The fact that these commemorations
come as America is engaged in another overseas war - albeit one
of far smaller scope - adds significance, said retired Lt. Gen.
Ed Soyster, head of the Pentagon's World War II anniversary effort.
"We're delighted ... to
recognize these veterans who sacrificed much to assure the freedom
of Western Europe and the Pacific ... and to remember not just
the people but the ideas and lessons learned (which) help assure
that freedom continues to flourish in the world _ much as the
soldiers of today are doing in the Middle East," Soyster
said.
These events are among those
being held to honor the sacrifices that accompanied the last
bloody year of the Big One. Already, the Dec. 16, 1944, start
of the unimaginably brutal Battle of the Bulge - which took the
lives of 50,000 soldiers and civilians - has been marked in Europe
and at home. - More...
Saturday - February 19, 2005
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Steller Sea Lion releasing
air underwater
Photo taken by Rolf Ream, NMML
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Alaska: Killer
Appetites by Doug Schneider - For more than a decade, scientists
have puzzled over an environmental whodunit. Just what caused
the decline of Steller sea lions and other marine mammals in
Alaska's Aleutian Islands? Some scientists say it might be killer
whales, and they've done some calorie counting to prove it.
Researcher Terrie Williams
believes understanding what caused the crash of Steller sea lions
and sea otters in Alaska's Aleutian Islands boils down to how
many calories a 5,000-pound killer whale needs to stay fat and
happy.
Williams said, "When you
get a large predatory animal-killer whales weigh as much as 3,000
kilos-it's going to take a lot out of the environment in order
to satisfy those metabolic fires." - More...
Saturday - February 19, 2005
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A leaning tower of
snow on
a Fairbanks post.
Photo by Ned Rozell
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Alaska: Leaning
towers of snow explained by Ned Rozell - Pete Wilda, a Fairbanks
reader of this column, wants to know how the snow here can bend
off railings and loop from power lines without breaking. He grew
up in eastern Wisconsin and doesn't remember the snow defying
gravity there.
Snow tilts and bends in Interior
Alaska because there's not much wind and because it's cold, said
Matthew Sturm of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
in Fairbanks. Sturm is one of a handful of Alaska scientists
who study snow. He enjoys it so much that a few years ago he
made a snowmachine traverse from Nome to Barrow, digging snowpits
and taking samples along the way.
"At low temperatures,
the snow deforms slower," Sturm said of the bending snow
phenomenon. "In warmer places like Colorado, a dollop of
snow that begins to lean may topple in a shorter time than the
snow here."
A few other variables are responsible
for our leaning towers of snow, Sturm said. The snow in Interior
Alaska contains a lot of air, so gravity doesn't pull on it as
strongly as it does wetter, heavier snow. Also, cold weather
tends to prevent snow from thawing and lubricating the contact
point between the snow and the wire or fencepost. - More...
Saturday - February 19, 2005
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The June Allen Column
is made possible in part by these sponsors. Cick on each name
to visit each web site.
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June Allen Column
 Sitka's
Pioneer Home Statue; Whose face is cast in bronze? By June
Allen - The little town of Sitka, the capital of Russian Alaska
until the U.S. Purchase in 1867, is home to the first of Alaska's
modern Pioneer Homes. Built in 1934, it is situated on the old
Russian parade grounds. The earlier and comparatively ramshackle
"pioneer homes" quarters in the gentler climate of
Sitka were founded especially for down-on-their-luck Gold Rush
veterans who decided to remain in Alaska after the glory days
were over. They were largely a tough and grizzled lot, tobacco-chewing
and fond of a good stiff drink or two. - Read
the rest of this feature story by June Allen...
Thursday - February 10, 2005
 L.
Ron Hubbard's Alaska Adventure; His long winter in Ketchikan
ACS
Bids for KPU Telecom: ACS a longtime presence
Betty
King the Dog Lady; Ketchikan's one-woman humane society
Ketchikan,
Alaska - Let There Be Light! -- Citizens Light & Power and
then KPU
The
State Capitol and Its Marble and keeping the capital in Juneau
A
Legendary Mountain of Jade; Just one of Alaska's Arctic Wonders
John
Koel, Baker to Banker; An eccentric philanthropist
Harold
Gillam: A Tragic Final Flight; Ketchikan remembers the search
Ketchikan's
'Fish House Tessie'; She was proud of the nickname
Fairbanks:
Golden Heart City; A story of its founding
Remembering
'Swede' Risland (1915-1991);The town's most memorable logger
Read more feature stories by June Allen...
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'Our Troops'
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