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Monday
June 17, 2013
Grouse Chick
POW photographer Jacy Pierson has been teaching her 16-year-old son the art of photographing wildlife from a safe distance. This is his first photo submission... Wildlife Viewing Ethics
Front Page Photo by DAVID PIERSON, Jr. ©2013
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Alaska: Lt. Gov. Treadwell Certifies Initiative to Legalize Marijuana – Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell on Friday certified 13PSUM, the initiative application to tax and regulate the production, sale, and use of marijuana.
The lieutenant governor signed the certificate after consultation with the Division of Elections, which determined the application included a sufficient number of sponsor signatures, and the Department of Law, which concluded that the proposed bill is in the proper form under Article XI of the Alaska Constitution and AS 15.45.
The lieutenant governor notified the primary sponsor of the petition, Timothy Hinterberger. - More...
Monday PM - June 17, 2013
Fish Factor: Halibut Migration Issues; $1,500 Profiler Payouts; & More... By LAINE WELCH - It’s back to the drawing board for halibut iTags that will soon tell us more about where the fish travels than ever before.
The internal tags, which were deployed in 30 halibut two years ago, were the first to test Smart Phone geomagnetic advances to track the migrations of fish. The tags record magnetic field strength on three axes and have accelerometers and pitch and roll detectors, explained Tim Loher, a biologist with the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
“Without being able to tell whether or not your tag is horizontal, you can’t really get the axis of the magnetism. The invention of the iPhone pointed the way to make the pitch and roll detectors small enough to put in fish tags,” he said.
The geomagnetic tags, which can record data every 30 seconds for seven years, are designed to give real time, daily positions on halibut and track them without any need for light, acoustics or communication with GPS satellites - all the information will be onboard when the fishermen catch them.
But in the field tests, magnetism was the gut tags’ undoing.
“The tags had some metal components inside them that were actually picking up magnetic charges and screwing up the calibrations,” Loher said.
He added that a new metal-free version of the tags already has been developed, and will be deployed in Glacier Bay halibut later this summer by project associate Julie Nielsen, a graduate student at UAF/Juneau. Within a couple of years, the IPHC team plans to tag 1,000 or more halibut from Oregon to Attu.
“We’ve got a lot of migration issues and we are trying to set our quotas and determine exactly how to assess the stock,” Loher said. “We know the halibut are moving but we are having trouble getting refined estimates of movement by size, age and regulatory area, so hopefully this will help nail that down. It’s going to be a really powerful experiment..” - More...
Monday PM - June 17, 2013
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Southeast Alaska: New SEARHC Clinic is dedicated in Kasaan – The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) in conjunction with the Denali Commission are excited to announce the grand opening/dedication of the new SEARHC Kasaan clinic on Prince of Wales Island which happened this past Saturday, June 15, 2013. The new clinic is a prototype “micro clinic” designed for communities with a full time population of under 100 residents. The clinic construction totaled over $1.86 million dollars through the efforts of combined funding from the Denali Commission, SEARHC, the Organized Village of Kasaan, and the Indian Health Service Tribal Equipment fund.
The "Ngiisdla Naay", Kasaan's Healing House after the dedication.
Photo courtesy SEARHC
As part of the dedication, the new clinic was gifted to SEARHC who in turn, is leasing the land from the Organized Village of Kasaan. The celebration was well attended and consisted of a full day of festivities that included a Farmers Market, the Dedication and the Crab Festival.
This new 1000 square foot clinic in Kasaan replaces the current clinic which is about 250 square feet and did not allow for gurney or stretcher access, storage, or a provider office; which severely limited patient privacy. Jon Wunrow, Project Manager for the Organized Village of Kasaan (OVK), also shared that the very small size of the old clinic did not allow for a mobile dental chair for itinerant dental care or for more than one person to be seen at a time when visiting specialists are in Kasaan. The new clinic remedies all of these issues allowing for better healthcare in the community. - More...
Monday PM - June 17, 2013
Alaska Science: Mammoths and microblades By MOLLY RETTIG - On a small hill surrounded by boggy muskeg in the Tanana River Valley, prehistoric skin scrapers made of schist, polished slate tools and glass beads were uncovered in the last week.
Based on the design of the tools and the way the animals were butchered, it appears to be an Athabascan campsite from the turn of the 20th century.
“These are very typical Athabascan tools. But you usually think of polished stone tools with the Eskimo area, not in the Interior, so it’s very interesting,” says Chuck Holmes, the archaeologist who first discovered the site several decades ago.
He’s leading a team of 10 graduate students and volunteers at the excavation through June.
Swan Point is just north of Delta Junction. You can see the Alaska Range to the south, the Yukon-Tanana Uplands to the north, and Donnelly Dome just across the valley.
Fourteen thousand years ago, long before the boreal forest of today, the views were even better.
“It was an open grassland and mammoths, horse and bison were roaming around. You would have almost a 360-degree vantage to see game coming and going. So this is a really good spot.”
That’s why many different cultures made the site their home over millennia.
Swan Point goes back more than 14,000 years.
“It’s the oldest, well-documented age we have for any humans in Alaska,” Holmes says. “It’s older than the oldest established culture in the Lower 48, known as the Clovis culture.” - More...
Monday PM - June 17, 2013 |
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Alaska: State Board of Education Adopts New Accountability System to Replace Adequate Yearly Progress - The State Board of Education & Early Development, meeting June 6 and 7 in Soldotna, adopted a new accountability system for Alaska’s public schools. The board’s action will allow Alaska to implement its waiver from major provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, beginning in the upcoming school year.
Under the new accountability system, students will continue to take state assessments in reading, writing and math. Parents and educators will use the assessment results to help understand how well each student meets state academic standards. The public also will have access to state assessment results for schools and districts in the aggregate, including a breakdown by student subgroups such as income, disability and ethnicity.
Each school and district will have its own annual goal for improvement, based on reducing its percentage of non-proficient students by half in six years, including in each subgroup of students. Results will be reported each year, as will high school graduation rates.
The new accountability system will rank schools on a 100-point scale, based on student growth as well as proficiency in state assessments, attendance, high school graduation, and student performance on work-ready and college entrance exams. Based on the 100-point scale, schools will receive a rating of one star to five stars. - More...
Monday PM - June 17, 2013
Columns - Commentary
 DAVE KIFFER: A Nootka Rose By Any Other Name -
Recently, I wrote a column in which I referred to Ketchikan residents by a variety of different appellations.
I called them “Ketchikandians,” “Ketchikanites,” “Ketchikanucks,” “Ketchikaneros,” “Ketchikanotans” and “Ketchikansians.”
Although some of you are probably assuming that it was just my inability to remember what I called them in previous paragraphs, there was indeed a method to my madness. I was just checking to see if anyone was paying attention. Turns out you were.
My interest is more than academic. A while back, I got a serious query from a local asking just what the “collective noun” is for residents of Ketchikan.
Most frequently heard, of course, are “Ketchikanites” and “Ketchikanians”. But, to be honest, do those really float your boat? Mine neither.
They are a mouthful, and any collective cognomen must slide easily off the tongue in polite company. Not that local company is particularly polite these days, but that remains fodder for a different discussion.
But, I digress.
- More...
Monday PM - June 17, 2013
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 Sign up to vote on the oil-tax giveaway By Bella Hammond -
People across the state are gathering 40,000 petition signatures, needed by mid-July, so Alaskans can vote to reject or approve the recent oil tax giveaway. While it makes no sense to give away billions of state dollars for nothing in return, there is a larger issue -- another attack on the Permanent Fund. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 18, 2013
Help Needed By Sandy Harris -
Karen Galloway needs your help. She was in an accident on May 27th and has 3rd degree burns from this accident. She has been unable to work since because of the severity of the burns and it is not known when she will be able to return to work. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 18, 2013
Taxation & Spending By Ken Arriola -
Just to weigh-in a little on the Municipal Tax/ Budget issue as of late. To Mr's Hanger, Thompson, Dial, Plute and Johnson...... when your names start appearing on the election ballot, perhaps those Elected Officials and the Voters might start taking you seriously. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 18, 2013
Thank you By Heather Muench -
The Ketchikan Humane Society wishes to thank the incredibly generous individuals and organizations who have been so supportive of us over the past two months. Since we rely entirely on donations to support our rescue work, our low-cost spay and neuter program, and our free feral cat altering program, none of what we do could happen without this support. Our goal is for every animal in Ketchikan and Southern Southeast Alaska to be loved and wanted. We have made great progress in reducing the numbers of animals abandoned or euthanized in our community every year. Because we are a 501(c)(3), all donations are tax deductible, and since none of our volunteers or foster families are paid, all monies can be used for care for animals. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 18, 2013
Sealaska One Step Closer... By Dominic Salvato - I take exception to Congressman Young's comment concerning the Sealaska bill (S-340), Sealaska One Step Closer to Receiving Their Full Land Entitlement June 13, 2013 "The legislation will ensure that Sealaska Corp. continues to meet the economic and cultural needs of its shareholders"... - More...
Tuesday AM - June 18, 2013
Abortion By Glenn Mollette -
Celebrating family on these summer holidays or any day is always a special day. However, all holidays are tough days for many. While millions celebrate others wonder about what might have been. Some have lost a child while others made tragic decisions to end a life. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 18, 201
No representative democracy in Ketchikan By David G. Hanger - Must have been about 1989 or so, I was driving out of Prince Rupert headed south and just started laughing uncontrollably at the reality that what goes on in Ketchikan really means next to nothing. It’s just a small little town in the middle of nowhere. - More...
Friday AM - June 14, 2013
Alaskan redheads By Mary Ann Christensen - Not sure the reason for eliminating the redheads from the yearbook, but I would encourage their inclusion. Redheads are unique. Just ask one! I was lucky to give birth to one. History has many famous stories of redheads who have made a difference in society. - More...
Friday AM - June 14, 2013
Herring Cove Estuary By Josh Pinkley - I am concerned about the impact of livestock (reindeer) on the vital salmon spawning area of Ketchikan's Herring Cove. The reindeer feces and other byproducts of raising livestock or domesticated animals could runoff into the river affecting the King Salmon hatchery and wild runs of salmon. With the very close proximity of the pens and large rainfall, make it very likely byproducts will end up in the river. Livestock carry parasites that could end up in the fish. - More...
Friday AM - June 14, 2013
Do the Crime, Do the Time... Wrong! By Leo Baldwin -
There is no evidence that length of sentences in prisons is correctional. Although the sign out front states this is a correctional facility. Just the opposite. Long sentences demoralizes prisoners; fact: it costs taxpayers a ton of money: $20K per person, PER YEAR!! A good college doesn't cost that much. Why the deficit spending Congress asks? Here's one reason! And we really can't afford it, there's more than two million prisoners. - More...
Friday AM - June 14, 2013
China Buying U.S. Companies By Donald A. Moskowitz -
Chinese companies spent $6.5 billion to purchase U.S. companies in 2012, which broke the previous record of $5.2 billion in 2010. It appears the Chinese acquisitions of U.S. companies could exceed $10 billion in 2013. - More...
Friday AM - June 14, 2013
Tongass77 By Marvin Seibert -
Recently there has been a push to get Congress to pass some form of the Bill called Tongass77. I question why we need another level of protection in Southeast Alaska. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 11, 2013
The TEMPEST By Judith Green -
BRAVO! Great performance on Friday night - THANK YOU TO ALL who had a part in putting together this wonderful evening: production of a William Shakespeare play in such an unlikely staging area. It was a chilly, rainy evening in Ketchikan (hmm, now that's not so unusual, is it?) and the full house audience at the Totem Bight Clan House were unaware as the performers kept every minute filled with anticipation and excitement. Every performer did an outstanding job. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 11, 2013
RE: Schoenbar Jr. High Redheads By Tanya Antonsen -
How sad that the picture of redheads was deleted from the yearbook! I come from a family of redheads: a grandma, uncle, cousin, both parents, both siblings, both daughters, a granddaughter and myself. I read an article last year that redheads are becoming more rare with each generation. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 11, 2013
Discrepancies in Ketchikan's Community Budget and No Accountability? By Ed Plute -
It seems to me, as well as a growing number of community members, that our fiscal responsibilities have been hijacked by an unknown source. As the budget skyrockets continuously year after year, what does our historical community have to show for it? After careful consideration over the past decade, noticeable discrepancies have not only grown in number, but also in size. The audacious actions pursued by a collective of individuals in this town have left us taxpayers hanging out to dry! - More...
Tuesday PM - June 11, 2013
RE: Thieves Among Us By Brad Childress -
I am deeply sorry for your loss of such a fine plant, I would really lock that up at night, it's not something that is admired at night and that's the most likely time for it to be stolen. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 11, 2013
RE: Taxes & Local Govt. By John Harrington - I hope that your readers are interested in continuing the conversation on taxes and local government, because I am writing again. - More...
Monday AM - June 10, 2013
Ketchikan Govt. & Taxes By Douglas J. Thompson - I am following the discourse on taxation with interest. It seems that the only ones happy with the situation are those spending and those receiving the tax money. To state the obvious to anyone looking there is not one department of either the Ketchikan borough or city that is run with any kind of acceptable efficiency and that includes the schools. There is not even an objective standard of performance for them to meet. Our hospital has been hijacked from us who have paid for every bit of it. In the summer we are relegated to owners with no rights as cruise ship people are taken care of before we can even be seen! The rates are three to four times that of comparable for profit hospitals (and they are legal thieves--see the March issue of Time Magazine). Firehall, library, bloated departments, on and on it goes, all built and run with not a care of cost to the taxpayer. So of course property values are far beyond reality and taxes among the highest in the state. We have a city/borough manager who dictates policy and a council/assembly that has accepted a subservient roll contrary to the way it is supposed to be. The only ones served are a very few special interests out of our pockets. - More...
Monday AM - June 10, 2013
Schoenbar Jr. High Redheads By Trené Elliott -
This year at Schoenbar something noteworthy happened. Red hair occurs in 1-2% of the human population (Wikipedia). Schoenbar had at least three times the average number of redheaded 7th and 8th grade students. Students, staff and parents noticed this rare event and wanted to remember it. The students arranged for all the redheads to have a picture taken to be included in the Year Book. The same was done for twins since there were so many twins at Schoenbar this year. Well, one person called the office and complained. One very childish and extremely petty parent has something against redheads (Gingerism - prejudice against redheads). Maybe this person was bullied by a redhead in their youth. Maybe they have a phobia of red hair (Gingerphobia hatred of redheads). Whatever the silly reason, one phone call was all it took for Schoenbar to remove that picture from the Year Book. - More...
Monday AM - June 10, 2013
Open Letter: Muslims Obamacare exempt? By A.M. Johnson -
Senator Mark Begich, as you view the following, reflect on the dumbass vote you gave on the very first days in office. Sucked up to Obama and look at the continuing disaster that is coming to light. Right, pass the damn legislation to find out what is in it. Well Senator now we know and are learning more. So is it too much to ask that you do your own due diligence you failed to do in the first instance or you staff to be charged to do so. - More...
Monday AM - June 10, 2013
Borough Bus System By Rudy McGillvray - I ride the Ketchikan borough buses, as such I feel I have a small expectation they are running at or close to their scheduled times. Even tho it's Tourist Season, and the numbers of them slow the buses down somewhat, I feel that it is the other vehicular traffic that really slows down the buses. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 05, 2013
Thanks Ketchikan By Fred Bassett -
Thank you for posting my request to find places to band hummingbirds in Ketchikan. I banded at five homes and met many wonderful, helpful people. I banded 77 Rufous hummingbirds as part of my migration research and could have banded many more if I could have stayed longer. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 05, 2013
Taxes & Local Govt. By Dan McQueen -
It's refreshing to wake-up with a cup of coffee and the SIT-NEWS' letters to the Editor. I really enjoyed Mr.Dial's letter of 3 June 2013. - More..
Wednesday PM - June 05, 2013
Thieves Among Us By Tina Singer - This past weekend, someone stole a beautiful orange blossomed hanging begonia from my front porch on Baranof Avenue. Not only did they steal from me, but, as this was a mother's day gift, they've also stolen from my son. - More...
Monday PM - June 03, 2013
RE: Taxes & Local Government By Rodney Dial -
Thank you Mr. Harrington for the kind words about me. I too appreciate most of your past efforts on the Assembly as one of the more moderate members…. however, regarding your statement about my letters: - More...
Monday PM - June 03, 2013
Property Tax By Hans Holum -
Mr Harrington misses a major point in his own argument about property tax comparisons around the state. A lot of the listed places are both the city and borough tax load i.e. the entire tax for real property in the area. If you add the city tax portion to the borough rate, the people of Ketchikan are right up there with Fairbanks and are only topped by the North Slope Borough. - More...
Monday PM - June 03, 2013
More Than Just a Sealaska Shareholder By Frank Hopper -
I was born in Juneau, although I have no memory of ever living there. My family moved to Seattle when I was only two. My Caucasian father never explained why, except to say there were too many "rednecks" in Juneau who didn't approve of his marriage to a Tlingit woman. - More...
Monday PM - June 03, 2013
Why we don't want to simplify the Income Tax code. By Jim Donnell -
Congressman Tim Griffin [AZ-02] appeared on Fox News today to talk about the effort in the House Ways and Means committee to simplify the income tax code, eliminate loop holes, lower the rates, etc. He said that the Senate Finance committee is in similar agreement to which the Fox reporter replied, "I can't imagine any American would be against that..." - More...
Monday PM - June 03, 2013
ObamaCare cost By A.M. Johnson - Sorry, I am unable to contain the frustrations of watching our elected officials handling the uproar of mind boggling scandal(s) and inability to see the forest for the trees or worst yet, not able to see the tree for the forest! It is obvious not matter the party, the intent of ObamaCare while good intentioned, is a debacle mess and will only become worst as the depth and consequences gain more momentum towards the final implication date. Can it be stopped? Yes, Man (Lisa) makes laws Man (Lisa) can change or remove laws. Not that she can do it single handed, but it would surely help if she started shouting and making noise. There are Senators who ARE doing so. Her absents supports the suspicion that her RINO status is golden!. Anyway Editor, I have submitted my frustration to Senator Murkowski. A copy of this frustration is submitted to Sitnews. - More...
Monday PM - June 03, 2013
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