Ketchikan: New Ship Assembly Hall To Be Dedicated - Alaska Ship & Drydock (ASD) in cooperation with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) will host a ceremony March 26 to dedicate the new ship assembly hall at the Ketchikan Shipyard.

Ketchikan Shipyard's new
ship assembly hall
Photograph courtesy Alaska Ship & Drydock

Giving the keynote address will be Congressman Don Young, whose advocacy and hard work to reindustrialize Southeast Alaska has helped turn the shipyard into an engine for private investment and family-wage jobs in Ketchikan. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski will be present to honor Congressman Young’s long service in Congress and his role in building industrial capacity in Ketchikan.

The recently opened ship assembly hall is a 70,000 square-foot advanced manufacturing facility and the latest in a series of improvements to the Ketchikan Shipyard. The shipyard, which is owned by AIDEA and operated by ASD under a 30-year agreement, has grown from a small operation to a state-of-the-art industrial facility in the past 19 years. Shipyard employment has grown from 30 to 157 over the same period, with today’s jobs earning about 1.5 times the average annual earnings for private-sector workers in the Ketchikan Borough.

Much of that growth can be attributed to improvements to the facilities that allow the shipyard operator to compete for more projects and win them, said ASD President Adam Beck.

“Right now, there are about 40 Alaskans who have family-wage jobs building the first large modern fishing vessel built in Alaska. That probably wouldn’t have happened here without this new assembly hall,” Beck said. “And the assembly hall wouldn’t have happened without the strong leadership of Congressman Young and our partners at the state and local levels.”

Improvements to the yard have followed the Ketchikan Borough and AIDEA’s Shipyard Development Plan, first published in 1999. Drawn up to address the economically devastating collapse of the Southeast Alaska timber industry in the mid-1990s, the plan set a course to reindustrialize Ketchikan and Southeast Alaska through construction of advanced marine industrial manufacturing facilities in Ketchikan. Congressman Young supported this initiative by sponsoring two bills, which brought more than $50 million in federal funding to make the development plan into a reality. In total, Congressman Young’s efforts have helped secure more than $100 million in local, state, and federal investment in the Ketchikan Shipyard. 

Some of that funding paid for the $31 million assembly hall, which was completed on time and on budget in large part due to an innovative contracting system implemented by US Federal Transit Administration. That system brought together the project owner and contractor early to identify and address potential delays and cost overruns before construction began. Other portions of the funds went toward building a ship transfer system, a ship repair berth, an operations center and an advanced waste water treatment system. A new $10 million ship module fabrication facility is set to be completed later this year. That facility will feed large ship modules directly into the assembly hall for final assembly of complete new ships. - More...
Thursday PM - March 21, 2013

Viewpoints
Commentary
Opinions/Letters
Basic Rules &
Freedom of Speech

Open Letter: Proposed changes to oil taxes By Bella Hammond, Chancy Croft, Jay Kerttula, Katie Hurley, Sam Cotten, John Sund, Jim Whitaker, Mike Miller, Ethan Berkowitz, Harry Crawford, Eric Croft & David Gottstein - The legislature is contemplating tax changes which would forgo tens of billions of dollars of revenue.  SB 21 would replace a progressive tax structure with a flat tax, while substantially changing which oil fields are eligible for tax credits.  It would eliminate legislative language designed to promote industry competition.  These are major policy changes, and would affect Alaska’s business climate and state budgets for decades. - More...
Thursday - March 21, 2013

Mind Control By Norbert Chaudhary - As a concerned American, I am shocked that my constitutional right to own many firearms is now in jeopardy. It seems the liberal media and Obama have scared people into thinking that guns are a problem. And now they want to change things. Can you believe that? Just who does this Obama think he is? - More...
Thursday PM - March 21, 2013

The Income Tax – An Open Door to Corruption By Frank C. Kuchar - History has repeatedly demonstrated when a people and their leaders lose their virtue, freedom perishes.  It has recently come to light that Senator Robert Menendez (D) of New Jersey allegedly sponsored and promoted legislation that would benefit a major donor to his political campaign.  The legislation in question would have granted special tax credits and grants to a company in which his donor had invested heavily. - More...
Thursday PM - March 21, 2013

Time for a FairTax By Ward Atcher - Everyone, just imagine getting your whole paycheck [no federal income or FICA deductions] every pay period; and, you decide how much federal tax you pay and when? FairTax does this for all of us.   It’s much simpler and fairer than the 77,000 page federal income tax code it replaces.  FairTax eliminates the IRS. - More... 
Thursday PM - March 21, 2013

Pass FairTax HR25 By Beverly Martin - Keeping a flat tax flat is like eating chocolates – you can’t stop with just one. Income tax started as a flat tax but legislators can’t keep their hands off your goodies. The more chocolates you make, the more they take. - More...
Thursday PM - March 21, 2013

RE: End Abortions, Get A Vasectomy By Marie Zellmer - I have tried to stay out of this conversation for the longest time, but I would like to add something that has been on my mind and has become disturbing for me. Mr. Holston has forgotten something very important... he is not a woman. If I said that all men should have vasectomies to prevent getting women pregnant because of the "inconvenience" of paying for child care, or the "inconvenience" of having too much testosterone, I doubt that he would like the word as much. - More...
Thursday PM - March 21, 2013

LET’S STOP BEING NUMBER ONE By Diane Gubatayao - Reliable statistics tell us that two out of three Alaskan women will experience domestic violence or sexual assault in their lifetimes. Alaska leads the nation in this statistic; we are a sad number one. Here in Ketchikan it is estimated that there are two DV cases a day on average and one major sexual assault a month. - More...
Tuesday - March 19, 2013

The Cost of Education in Ketchikan By John Harrington - I have been following the education funding discussions here and in the public meetings. I usually try to avoid getting in the middle of these discussions, but I felt that some factual information might be useful. And we ought to look at all the information. - More...
Tuesday - March 19, 2013

Re: How much the district spends per student By Agnes Moran - Per ordinance 1630-A, found on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough website, the school District's FY2013 funding authority (budget) was $40,425,914 for 2165 students or approximately $18,672 per student. - More...
Tuesday - March 19, 2013

North Korea's Threats By Ken Leland - I agree with Mr. Moskowitz' view about protection of our country. I mark it down as swagger on their part beyond insanity.Surely they know that any attack on this country would result in immediate response. Just one of our Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines has the capability to obliterate almost any country on earth with its 24 nuclear missile each with 3 independently targeted warheads, and we have more than one submarine so equipped. - More...
Friday PM - March 15, 2013

Education Funding Unfair Comparisons By Agnes Moran - As I pointed out previously (Education Funding Cap), the Cap is not a measure of the "quality" of education funding in a community, it is merely the upper boundary of a federal disparity limit. Similarly, it is incorrect to use the Cap as a direct comparison between communities as a gauge of the "value" a community places on education. - More...
Friday PM - March 15, 2013

How much the district spends per student By Dave Timmerman - There have been a couple of letters here to SitNews that have stated how much it costs to educate a student in Ketchikan. I was startled at both of the numbers stated so I had to look into it. - More...
Friday PM - March 15, 2013

"Misinformation" at Borough Meeting By Gerri Davis - At the March 4th Ketchikan Borough Assembly meeting, dozens of concerned parents, teachers, students, and citizens showed up wearing green shirts to show their support for adequate education funding. Seventeen of those people went up to the podium and gave public comment, asking the borough to increase their proposed $7.7 million contribution to the school district. This amount is $600,000 less than what the district received last year, and, if realized, would result in probable cuts at all levels to art, music, libraries, technical programs, and much more. - More...
Friday PM - March 15, 2013

Ketchikan's Own Sequestration! By Gene Peterson - We have all been subjected to the media's, and bureaucrat's lamentations on the chaos that a cut in the increase in federal spending is causing. The administration threatens cuts in Airport security, in Air Traffic control, and refusal to send a warship to the middle east. (Notice no threat concerning cutting the useless spending such as our bloated local Forest Service behemoth.) How can the country survive unless the federal government gets more money? So what if we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar spent. - More...
Wednesday - March 13, 2013

Current Education Request Not About The Cap By Dave Timmerman - Mrs. Moran, I will reply as a citizen to your letter as this is how I feel about our elected assembly and dealing with the district, instead of stepping sideways and talking about the cap, let's talk about what the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Board of Education has asked for. They have not asked for the cap in the last several years. In fact, they have asked for 1 to 1.5 million less than the cap (depending on the year). - More...
Wednesday - March 13, 2013

Join our voices in opposition to the latest Sealaska Lands Bill By Andrea Hernandez - I have attached a transcript of a radio commentary made by Point Baker and Port Protection residents.  This commentary was aired on KFSK Petersburg on March 12th and is archived on their website.  The commentary includes this link to the audio version, which we encourage your readers to listen to.  Please publish this in the Sitnews if possible.  - More...
Wednesday - March 13, 2013

North Korea Threatens US By Donald A. Moskowitz - General Kang Pyo Yong of North Korea recently said "When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold of evils, will be engulfed in a sea of fire."  The North Korean National Defense Commission stated "In the new phase of our century-long struggle against the United States, we do not hide the fact that various satellites, long-range missiles that we will continue to launch and high-level nuclear tests we will conduct will target our sworn enemy, the United States." - More...
Wednesday - March 13, 2013

RE: Abortion By Robert Holston - Regarding Linda Beaupre's letter, I am fully aware of the length of a full term pregnancy. Are you aware that most abortions occur after week 10? That is why I calculated 30 weeks of inconvenience. Most parents would jump into a freezing river to save their drowning child or run into a burning house to carry their child from an inferno death. When a pregnancy causes severe morning sickness or some other complication for the mother the easy out is to choose abortion. It is with 100% accuracy that I declare, choosing abortion kills the child. Choosing life saves the child. - More...
Wednesday - March 13, 2013

Webmail your letter or
Email Your Letter To: editor@sitnews.us

E-mail your news tips, news
releases & photos to:
editor@sitnews.us

SitNews
Stories in the News
©1997 - 2012
Ketchikan, Alaska