Announcement The City of Ketchikan Public Works Department will be closing a section of Park Avenue between Bawden Street and Harris Street at 2:30 pm, May 5th, 2009. Closure duration is estimated at 4 hours. Please plan to use an alternate route thru the area, watch for and obey all traffic control signs and flaggers. Construction is also planned for Wed. May 6th, Friday May 8th and Saturday May 9th in the area. Questions or concerns should be addressed to the City Public Works dept. at 228-4727.

Ketchikan: Four Major Industries Built Ketchikan By DAVE KIFFER - The history of Ketchikan can be easily summed up in the history of four industries: Mining, Fishing, Timber and Tourism.

Generations of Tlingit Natives used the area around Ketchikan Creek for summer fishing camps, but archeological evidence indicates that only a handful lived in the area year round.

In the early 1880s, fishermen from the Lower 48 began to come into the area and a short-lived salmon saltery owned by a gentleman from Oregon named Snow was built near the Creek in 1883. Like many early Ketchikan buildings, it burned down and was not rebuilt.

In 1885, Mike Martin was sent by an Oregon cannery to take advantage of one of the most abundant fish streams in the region. A rival cannery was operating 25 miles up the coast in the village of Loring, but Martin believed that operations nearer the creek would be more profitable. According to local legend, Martin purchased 160 acres at the mouth of Ketchikan Creek from a Native named Papernose Charlie.

Papernose Charlie was actually a Canadian Native, so it's not clear how he was able to "sell" the land that became Ketchikan, but Martin was able to file mining claims on the land and those were upheld later in the court.

The name Ketchikan itself is also shrouded in mystery. Some say it is an obsolete Tlingit word meaning the "spread wings of a Eagle." Others say is actually means the "land of Kitch" reportedly a long ago Native leader. No one knows for sure.

The cannery plan didn't pan out but Martin stayed on and - with partner George Clark - started a saltery and a trading post. Ketchikan remained a small handful of shacks well into the 1890s as Loring grew into a more substantial community.

But in the by the mid 1890s, the local mining industry began to take shape. Even before the famed Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, prospectors were already probing the hills around Ketchikan for gold, silver and other minerals. When more than 100,000 gold seekers flooded Alaska and the Yukon in 1898-1899, a sizeable number ended up in the Ketchikan area.

By 1900, Ketchikan was the center of the mining operations and nearly 1,000 people lived in the community. A simmering dispute with Loring officials over who would control the Ketchikan area led to the incorporation of Ketchikan as a city. Mike Martin - by now a prosperous saloon owner - was elected the first mayor.

Ketchikan continued to grow in the first decade of the 20th Century. Few gold and silver deposits were found, but large copper deposits on nearby Prince of Wales Island spurred the local economy.

The fishing industry also began to expand in this period. The first full sized cannery in Ketchikan was built by Fidalgo Island Packing south of the Creek in 1900.

In 1909, local businessman J.R. Heckman - who had relocated from Loring to Ketchikan - invented the first floating fish trap, a remarkably efficient device that would allow Ketchikan to become the salmon canning capitol of the world. Unfortunately, injudicious use of the traps would later nearly wipe out the region's salmon runs.

Low mineral prices eventually stalled the mining industry but in the 1920s, the fishing industry took over as the area's economic engine. At its peak in the late 1920s and early 1930s, more than a dozen salmon canneries operated along the Tongass Narrows waterfront.

Locals say the "smell" of money was in the air 24 hours a day those summers. Briefly, Ketchikan - with more than 5,000 residents - was the largest city in the state. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

Southeast Alaska: ARTISTS CHOSEN TO CARVE EAGLE TOTEM; Ceremonial Acceptance of the Log Scheduled Thursday at Juneau-based UAS - Artists Joe and TJ Young have won a contract to carve a totem pole for Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) on behalf of the Juneau-based University of Alaska Southeast.

A selection committee comprised of SHI and UAS representatives chose the brothers from a pool of applicants last week.

"I'm very pleased we did have a number of artists who submitted bids and I will say it was a difficult decision because we had some really very exciting designs from the different artists," said SHI President Rosita Worl.

"I really want to thank Sealaska, the Aak'w Kwáan and our student group Wooch.éen for working with the university on this project," said UAS Chancellor John Pugh. "I am pleased this is taking place on the UAS campus so students can observe the carving process. "

The artists are Sealaska shareholders who live in Hydaburg on Prince of Wales Island. They have carved other totems, including a 40-foot pole for the Sitka National Historical Park and a 32-foot crest pole for the Hydaburg Totem Park.

The goal of the project is to balance the Raven pole that was donated to UAS and erected in 1993. Native people belong to either the Eagle or Raven moiety, and in ceremonies and at secular events both moieties are represented for balance.

"I really want to acknowledge the sensitivity of the university in trying to respond to our cultural protocols that require the presence of an Eagle pole. We have to have both an Eagle and Raven pole to have social and spiritual balance," said Worl.

"It's really nice to get an all-Eagle totem pole to complement the existing all-Raven totem pole. The Raven is going to be happy," said Aak'w Kwáan Elder Marie Olson.

Elders of the Aak'w Kwáan met with Wooch.éen, a Native student club on campus, to identify the Eagle clan crests to be featured on the totem. They wanted to give special recognition to the Wooshkeetaan, an Eagle clan from the Juneau area. The pole will feature Eagle to represent all Eagle clans plus Shark, Wolf and Thunderbird, with Shark representing the Wooshkeetaan.

"But it's more than just a Shark, it's an anthropomorphic figure signifying the students who are attending the university," said Worl. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

Alaska Science: Renowned raven researcher visits Alaska By NED ROZELL - Some people are great runners. Some people write good books. Some follow their curiosity to figure out something no one else has.

Bernd Heinrich is all of the above. The University of Vermont professor, bestselling author, and record-setting ultra marathoner traveled to Fairbanks recently at the invitation of an old friend, George Happ of the Institute of Arctic Biology.

While here, Heinrich set up a tray of slides and spoke about one of his favorite subjects, ravens, to an audience that had just endured a long winter elbow to wingtip with the black birds.

"Coming to Alaska and talking about ravens is like hauling coal to Newcastle," he said.

Heinrich, 67, wore a flannel shirt and running shoes, and had the light-footed-yet-rugged appearance of someone who could run loops on a track until he had completed 100 miles (which took him 12 hours and 27 minutes in 1984). He also once won the Golden Gate Marathon in San Francisco, and was that same year the top Men's Masters (40 and older) finisher out of thousands at the Boston Marathon.

His editors at large publishing houses might not be aware of his running prowess, but they know of his books: "Bumblebee Economics," "Insect Thermoregulation," "In a Patch of Fireweed," "One Man's Owl," "Ravens in Winter," "An Owl in the House," "The Hot-Blooded Insects," "A Year in the Maine Woods," "The Thermal Warriors," "The Trees in My Forest," "Mind of the Raven," "Racing the Antelope (Why We Run)," "The Winter World," "The Geese of Beaver Bog," "The Snoring Bird," "The Summer World."

For a hint of why several of Heinrich's books have landed on The New York Times Best Seller list, see the non-technical titles of his scientific journal articles, such as "How do bees shiver?" and "Do common ravens yell because they want to attract others?"

In Fairbanks, Heinrich spoke of how yelling ravens at a moose carcass in Maine sparked his interest in the birds. Why would any creature shout out the location of its food supply?

He went about finding the answer to that and other raven questions with uncommon effort. Dairy farmers donated dead cows and calves to Heinrich, which he would use to attract ravens during his research in the Maine woods. He then recorded calls of ravens and played them back to them. He climbed to raven nests and inserted pipe cleaners down the throats of new ravens to make them vomit venison and reveal what their parents fed them. Heinrich and his students once caught 43 ravens in one shot with a large trap, and he once dressed in a homemade wolf costume to see how ravens would react. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

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Slumlords By Cecelia Johnson - On rent and landlords I really need to add my two cents. I am a homeowner but have been involved with social services which I was an advocate. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

Coastal Alaska Forest Regrowth By Keith Stump - Charlotte Tanner has requested me to enlighten her with locations of "better, greener, healthier forests" in Southeast Alaska. OK. First, check out Maybeso Valley on POW where the Maybeso Experimental Forest is located. It was used for experimental logging by the U.S. Forest Service when large-scale logging first began to provide the timber contracted to the two long-term (50 year) sales to the two pulp mills build in the 1950's (Ketchikan and then Sitka). To evaluate and better understand the effects of more significant harvesting of timber (particularly the effects on salmon streams),and the natural regrowth capabilities and processes in Southeast Alaska, over four miles of forests on both sides of the Maybeso Creek were clear-cut logged, and within that area a square mile (after being was first clear cut logged) had all remaining trees (down to just sprouts) removed. In that regrowth (or second generation forest), you will uniformly find an overall "greener" forest canopy (over sixty feet tall about ten or twenty years ago) without the grey dead tops of dead or dying trees found in the or climax forest that was there when the logging began. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

Old Growth Trees - worthless? By Shelley Stallings - About the only sentence in Mr. Dornblasers letter I can find any agreement with is the one which states that trees, like all living things, grow, mature, then die. After that it becomes more complicated and most of these issues have be hashed and re-hashed many times over in the media and at countless USFS public meetings. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

Take the Money By Rick Ferguson - I think our governor should get off her high horse and take the money. - More...
Wednesday - May 06, 2009

HELP SAVE OUR DUNGENESS!!!!! By Kimberly Peters - The Alaska Board of Fisheries has decided to open commercial Dungeness fishing in the Ketchikan area on June 15th, 2009. This just happens to be when the crabs are breeding and have soft shells, this hasn't been done since the 80's because they almost WIPED the species OUT!! - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

25 MPH speed limit neighborhoods By Michael Moyer - I will have to agree with Jennifer Tavares that there is no intelligent reason why the neighborhood streets of Ketchikan should have speed limits as high as 25 mph. I live on upper Water Street and I have witnessed near fatal accidents with pedestrians there including a child who was simply stepping out of his street side home directly into the path of an on-coming car. - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

Re: KPU (Telephone Division) By Alan R. (Rudy) McGillvray - It has never been incumbent upon the City Council to do anything in governing Ketchikan that would REALLY benefit its citizens and or customers. KPU Telephone Division is the only division in KPU that makes more money than it spends; that would be called, by any other name, PROFIT. KPU Telephone Div, is constantly called upon to give monies to the Electrical Division, if you read the minutes of City Council Meetings very carefully you will note that on occasion the Council is asked by the Managers of KPU to do so and they do. - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

RE: Enlightment By Jim Dornblaser - Ms. Tanner, I find your choice of words ironic. - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

High Rent?? By Sonia Streitmatter - I am a homeowner who currently has renters in my home. I'm fairly new to the game (just a few months), but I have to say if anyone thinks I am making money off the deal, they are just plain wrong. The rent covers the mortgage payment, the property manager's fee and the little bit extra goes to paying the increase in insurance from a homeowner's policy to a landlord's policy. If there is anything left, it will go towards a fund for repairs/alterations. - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

Ketchikan Tea Party By Eileen Small - I thought Mr. Hanger's tirade against Ms. Emmert's letter in support of the nationwide tea parties to be a tad elitist and unjust--a characteristic which that writer shares with many of our currently elected officials and a fact that helped incite the grass root protests leading to the tea parties. I know I am not a racist but I can see unnecessary spending occur and I hate to see my kids and others' kids paying for debts occurred in this generation. Frankly, I hate to pay for it either and if I wanted to own Chrysler or GM I'd buy stock personally! I guess I can determine right from wrong. Why is the "race card" always played when someone disagrees with liberal politics? I think it is silly--sort of like grade schoolers calling each other baby- name-insults on a playground! I don't think Ms. Emmert is a racist either and I am certain of one more thing that neither she nor I are: WE AREN'T SOCIALISTS!!!  - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

Iranian Nuclear Missile Threat By Donald A. Moskowitz - Iran tested the launch of a Scud missile from a ship in the Caspian Sea, which was designed to provide the capability of launching intermediate range missiles from cargo ships sitting off coastlines. Also, within a few years Iran will have long range missiles capable of striking North America. - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

Airline Travel Costs By Jerilyn Lester - I have to agree with Chas Edwardson on this one, if Alaska Airlines thought in terms of volume instead of gouging each individual that crossed the Narrows it would be better all around. - More...
Monday - May 04, 2009

KPU ADVISORY BOARD By Charles Edwardson - I have recently been nominated and placed and the KPU advisory board. My main interest in sitting on this board is to understand Ketchikan Public Utilities (KPU) and to understand the sale of the publicly owned utility - KPU PHONE DIVISION - and the discussion of the sale of a company you and I own, without you or I involved in the discussion. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

Deermount Parking By Jennifer Tavares - My family & I live on Deermount St. where the speed limit is currently 25 MPH. The city is considering removing parking on half of my street, which my neighbors and I feel this will encourage speeding even more. I have been speaking to Chief of Police Ed Talik about my concerns. Mr. Talik and the other police officers have been extremely helpful in watching our neighborhood for people going too fast. I was unaware the limit on many residential streets are 25 - I always thought in these areas it was 20 MPH. Water St, Woodland, Baranof- every little road the limit is the same as the main street Tongass Ave. I don't understand why in areas where families live and little children play the speed limit is 25, and downtown where the "tourists" visit in the summer is 20! Does this make any sense at all?!?
- More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

Awaiting enlightenment By Charlotte Tanner - Mr. Stump says in his letter that: "by logging over-mature, decaying, primarily hemlock stands, the industry was creating a better, greener, healthier forest for the future." This is an interesting viewpoint. I've lived in SE Alaska since 1968, if indeed, the logging that has taken place has created a better, greener, healthier forest, I'd sure like to know where it is? Perhaps Mr. Stump could enlighten me. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

Why, Why, do we give up our Rights By Randy Williams - Someone please tell me what has happened to us, have we become so corporate that we have forgotten how important our food sources are to us as Alaska Natives. I ask again, where is our leadership to stop this greedy money grubbing theft of our traditional food sources. I usually don't write in the Sitnews unless I'm discussing Gaming and all the money that is made in almost every State but Alaska with the exception of Metlakatla and they could make so much more if they really addressed gaming the way it should be, but that's another subject. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

"Nanny State" is no longer a metaphor By Jay Jones - Commissioner LeDoux's letter disappointed me although it was expected. The State of Alaska has determined that large amounts of parents are incapable of raising their own toddlers correctly. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

LIMBAUGH LOONIES AND BECKBRAINS By David G. Hanger - One Connie Emmert hails that the tea party movement has been "a huge success!" So successful that using her base numbers a total of less than three one-hundredths of one percent of the citizens of this country participated. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

High rents not always a simple case of greedy landlords By Mary L. Dahl - I understand the frustration of a tight budget and paying rents that eat up a big chunk of that budget. It is tough to get ahead under those circumstances. However, the problem of high rents is not always a simple case of greedy landlords bilking the tenants. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

Rental Costs By Marcia Hilley - We have been landlords in Ketchikan since 1975. Ohhh the stories we could tell! However the only one who cares is another landlord! The tenants I have now are working single parents. They pay their rent each month and I haven't raised their rent since they moved in... - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

High Rent By Dave Jensen - There were generations contributing to the cost of housing in Ketchikan. Most people move here to work, or to make money. Some plan to leave with a sack full of cash (retirement). People that grew up here may have the same idea. I say some because there are always those that have no incentive to provide for themselves. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

High Rent Costs By Chris Barry - To those that scream buy a house, I say 'WAKE UP MORONS'! - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

OUTRAGEOUS prices By Aimee Perry-Mazzella - I am an avid reader of this website to keep up with the "Hometown News" and felt compelled to respond to this issue. - More...
Thursday - April 30, 2009

RE: HIGH RENTAL COSTS By Zak Young - Mr. Steiner has a valid point, which is very simply "BUY A HOUSE, END OF STORY!" - More...
Saturday - April 25, 2009

School Districts Will Pilot Ideas for Publicly Funded Preschools By Larry LeDoux, Alaska Education Commissioner - Giving our children high-quality care from birth to age 6 is one of the best ways we can prepare them for success at school -- and throughout their lives. The Palin administration will help more Alaska parents achieve this level of care, whether their children are at home or in preschools. - More...
Saturday - April 25, 2009

Fiddler Problem By Rodney Dial - RE: The fiddler on the roof carving on Creek St. not being in compliance with zoning laws.- More...
Saturday - April 25, 2009

Commercial crab restrictions By Trygve Westergard - I heard a rumor that fish and game opened Bostwick Bay along with some others to commercial crabbers? Why was this opened? - More..
Saturday - April 25, 2009

Parking By Rhett Jackson - I agree with Jackie Keizer; parking on Deermount is already strained to the max as these old city houses weren't planned as well as other newer homes. If the city would buy the rock quarry behind Deermount and turn it into a parking lot that might be an option but one has to wonder if taking the parking off Deermount by fiat caters to folks who aren't residents. I would have to bring my car up the 48 steps to my house if this happens. - More...
Saturday - April 25, 2009

Parking for residents By Bobbie McCreary - I strongly support Jackie Keizer's comments and put in my own plea. Please, look first to a more global, city-wide parking plan first and do NOT take a piecemeal approach to parking issues. If you "squeeze" parking in one place, it will just "pop up" in another. We all know there is inadequate parking space allocated in the central part of town to park the vehicles driven by people who live there. - More...
Thursday - April 25, 2009

Tea Party Report By Connie Emmert - A PajamasTV report estimates that about one million people came out for the Tax Day Tea Parties across the nation!  What a huge success!  Not only that, but a Rasmussen poll this week showed that 51% of Americans viewed the tea parties favorably, while only 33% viewed them unfavorably. - More...
Thursday - April 25, 2009

Removal of Parking on Deermount St. By Jackie Keizer - I am writing in regard to the notice that appeared in the Weekend Edition stating that "the City of Ketchikan Joint Safety Committee is soliciting input from the public regarding removal of on-street parking for all the north side of Deermount Street." - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

The High Cost of UAS Administration By Robert D. Warner - Rapidly rising costs for higher education are a major worry to college students and their parents who struggle to find funds to cover these increases. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

Man Caused Disasters By A.M.Johnson - U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has demonstrated yet another shallow or corrupt example of the "Kenyan's" cabinet talent, by claiming that the "War on Terror" is really a "Overseas Contingency Operations" and then this. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

Re: Drivers By Alan R. McGillvray - Well by now, we should all know that there are two ways to drive on the roads and streets, around and about Ketchikan; either WAY TOO FAST, or WAY TOO SLOW. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

Contempt for "tea baggers" By Richard Easbey - Well, well, well. In David Hanger's screed published 04/21/09, he manages to parrot just about every DNC talking point/leftist ad hominem I've seen since last Wednesday's Tea Party. And he starts off magnificently with the elitism and snobbery which only a leftist is capable of, with his remark about Republicans not reading. Yep, that's right, Dave. Those of us who don't agree with statists like yourself are just a bunch of dummies. Thanks for clearing that up. Oh, and by the way: calling us "tea baggers" is so last week. What is it with the left's obsession with this particular sex act? What are you, 12? (If you don't know what "tea-bagging" is, ask a middle schooler.)  - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

RE: THE FIZZLE IN THE DRIZZLE By William H. Davis - Mr. Hanger, you have an opinion. Great. Americans can voice that opinion in anyway that they want to, be it in a letter to the editor or standing on a soapbox...on a street corner. Either way is perfectly acceptable under the law. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

RE: Timber Industry Retooling By Dave Abeyta  - I'm in agreement with Keith Stump's comments & information. I've spent half my working life (15 years) in the northwest logging industry & one thing is for sure forest management is an imperfect science in the works. The Forest Service sends out well intentioned, college educated people to tell loggers what's best for the forest. In spite of what the preservationists think we loggers care about what is best for the trees so they will be there for us & our children. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

Reply to High Rental Costs By Mark Steiner - Buy a house, end of story. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

High Rental Costs By Katherine Wood - I too think rental costs in Ketchikan are extreme. I have two children and I am renting on my own for the first time. It is such a struggle, not fun at all. I am a hard working person who has a fairly good job and I can never get ahead. It makes me sick when I talk to my mom in Oregon who rents a 3 bedroom 2 bath brand new house with a 2 car garage, a grassy front yard with a fenced grassy back yard and a dog and she only pays $750 a month. I pay $1007 a month not including utilities and that's in a 2 bedroom 1 bath APARTMENT in a four-plex. - More...
Thursday - April 23, 2009

High Rental Costs By Zak Young - I read the letter about the high cost of rentals in Ketchikan, and myself am in the mad dash search for an apt due to circumstances beyond my control, and am having the same issues. The writer hit the nail on the head! I usually am a person who tells it how I see it...so this is what I see!! - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Unbelievable Renters By Susan Hoyt - I read the letter "Unbelievable Rental Costs". I am not defending high rents but I must add that I have had my share of great renters and I thought I might share just a couple stories. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

THE FIZZLE IN THE DRIZZLE By David G. Hanger - This "tea bagging" nonsense is a classic example of that old adage, the difference between Democrats and Republicans is Democrats believe what they read; Republicans just don't read. Believing what one reads has always exemplified stupidity; one must follow the footnote trail to determine the writer's ideology, method, and motivation, none of which has anything to do with belief. Not reading epitomizes and enhances ignorance, and ignorance is certainly the primary message broadcast by the "tea baggers." - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Regarding Tax Day Tea Party By Connie Emmert, Laura Antonsen, and Dick Coose - Thanks to all of you who came out to the sign waving Tax Day Tea Party!  It was a great turn out, and you were true patriots for standing out there in the cold and wind.  We and our fellow tea party patriots across the country made history and surely we have begun to make an impact in congress. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Tax Tea Party By Eileen Small - Ms. Gay, there is a petition circulating in support of the tea party's concepts. I have one copy in my office if you'd like to drop by and sign. Also, there will be a "like event" on July 4 and you are definitely welcome to come. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

"Tea Party" By Lou Ann Richardson - Ketchikan's "tea party" made one of the New York Times Op-Ed articles, (Gail Collins, 4/18)....along with Texas. We're famous yet again. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Open Letter: Refund anticipation loans By David G. Hanger - On behalf of the consumers and the taxpaying citizens of the state of Alaska, first and foremost, but in this instance contributing to the enhanced well-being of the citizens of all of the states, I respectfully request the immediate outlawing of refund anticipation loans, an abomination that has brought loan sharks and incompetents into the fields of accounting and of tax preparation, thereby degrading the standards of this profession to an embarrassing degree, while bilking the consuming public for high fees and high rates of interest, constituting as much as 20% to 30% of a taxpayer's refund, for a loan that lasts no more than five to ten days. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Re: Drivers By Doug Johnson - I share some of Mr. Harper's frustrations. I see just as many over cautious drivers driving well under the speed limit for no apparent reason. Maybe they lack the driving skill necessary to manipulate the corners at speed, maybe they have no place to go and don't care how long it takes them to get there. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

ALASKA AIRLINES TICKETS By Chas Edwardson - If it cost me let's say 300 dollars to get from here to Seattle, I would probably go there at least 4 to 5 times a year just to dry off. Ironic? total= 1200 to 1500 bucks. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Tickets By Heather Wills - Exactly, we don't have that option here, we don't have any options here and they know it. Alaska airlines has a Monopoly in Southeast Alaska and they know it, it's not just Ketchikan that gets the shaft either, tried flying out of Juneau lately? - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

Re: Drivers By Floyd Crocker - A classic case of road rage, Give yourself a few more minutes and enjoy the trip. - More...
Tuesday - April 21, 2009

KFD Dispatchers By Dave Hull - I want to start off by saying that the Ketchikan Police Department and Alaska State Troopers dispatchers deserve all the accolades given them for the performance of their duties. In fact, they can't be given enough. I have been involved with emergency response for the last 34 years and have taken great comfort many times in the calm, warm voice coming out of my handheld radio speaker. Just knowing someone is there when I key the microphone is of great reassurance. I must object, however, that one group has been left out of the honors recently bestowed by the Borough Assembly. The group I am referring to is the dispatchers with the Ketchikan Fire Department. They are still there filling in when needed and doing an excellent job but were referred to as 'others' in the proclamation. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Unbelievable Rental Costs - Letter removed by request.
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Help save the Dungeness! By Lloyd Gossman - Everyone needs to help stop the Ketchikan area summer commercial Dungeness crab fishery. It hasn't taken place for 20 years because it was a bad idea back in the day and it's a bad idea now. As of now, this fishery is scheduled to start on June 15th, right when most of the Dungeness are soft shelled and reproducing. Millions of pounds of Dungeness will be wasted because of the high mortality rate of the soft-shelled crab. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

RE: Timber Industry Retooling By Keith Stump - I read, with some dismay and perhaps even some amusement, Mr. Hjerpe's attempt to pan Sen. Murkowski's Southeast Alaska Timber Industry Retooling and Restructuring Act. Amused by yet another OIE ("Outside Instant Expert") postulating and perpetuating ad nauseam something somebody told them was true (but really isn't), and dismayed that others with equal ignorance will possibly believe it and extend the vicious cycle of propaganda. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Hydaburg School By Frances C. Natkong - On April 9, 2009, the Board of Education of Hydaburg City School District met in a regular school board meeting and voted unanimously to retain the present CEO of Hydaburg school. There was one board member absent that night so was not counted in the vote. Their logic in retaining the CEO is "he's saving the district money and it's not feasible to hire a superintendent at this time." I've done some computing and both the CEO and his significant other's salaries combined are outrageous! The school board hired SERRC to do a superintendent search and that was not brought up at the meeting, the president skipped right over that on the agenda (more money going out without just cause). It makes me wonder how much was spent on the superintendent search and why weren't any of the candidates for the position even considered? - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Three if by mandate By Ken Lewis - And then there was dark! Can one of the smarter people on this Island explain in real terms what House Bill 19 will do for evening outdoor activity in South East Alaska? My fear is the Snooze Alarm Junkies are trying to steal another hour of our evening outdoor activity time, for the sake of fewer hours separating Anchorage and a Hash Bar in Socialized Europe. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Close Encounter of the Squirrel Kind By Joseph Miller - Just wanted to say, we had a squirrel encounter last night. Two of our flying squirrel friends found their way into my home. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Truth Scenario! By Arilee Bird - Chas Edwardson, I raise you high for your succinct portrayal of what's gone on for years. I used to spit my coffee like you, and then have morning 'incredulous blowouts', and finally started wondering: "Where the heck do I get in line for these outrageous handouts?" Lie like a rug, devise a devious hell-bent-for-failure plan, sell the council and Ta-Dah! Make big lying 'doo-doo', and come out of it with big bucks, and smelling somewhat like a rose, but leaving a stench. Apparently if one is not part of the "inner circle" that keeps it going. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Drivers By David C Harper - May or may not be a stupid pet-pieve of mine, but why do 99.99% of drivers either drive too fast, or waaayyyyy too slow? It seems most are confused as to which driving habits they should use during each season. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Tea Party By Gay D. Peters - I did not know the Tea Party was going to happen here or I would have been there. I do not check this web sight all the time. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

ALASKA AIRLINES TICKETS By Julie Steiner - I wanted to respond to Kim Morton's letter from April 6 - I agree with her 100%. We live in a town that the only way out is by ferry or plane. I have a big family, and trying to buy airplane tickets costs a ton of money. Oregon - Washington - why are they getting these deals on Alaska Airlines when they have a whole lot more choices on which airline to choose - we sure don't have that option here. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Landless settlement due years ago By Anita Edenshaw - I am a landless share holder, most of my family didn't live long enough to see the long awaited settlement, and it's about time people quit playing games and settle. Get the landless people who are willing to put the time and effort in fighting for our land or money. It's long over due. Have them inform the shareholders on the progress if any at all times. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

Combat Somali Pirates By Donald A. Moskowitz - The Somali pirates continue to wreak havoc on commercial shipping off the coast of Africa. There are about 20 ships with over 300 hundred hostages currently being held by the pirates for ransom. - More...
Thursday - April 16, 2009

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