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Ketchikan: Federal Subsistence Board Proposes Changes in Rural/Nonrural Status - The Federal Subsistence Board is seeking public comments through Oct. 27, 2006 on a proposed rule that would change the rural or nonrural status of several Alaska communities and areas. The Board will make a decision on a final rule in December 2006.

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act requires that rural Alaskans be given a priority for subsistence uses of fish and wildlife on Federal public lands. Only residents of rural communities and areas are eligible for this subsistence priority. The Board initially determined which Alaska communities were rural when the Federal Subsistence Management Program began in 1990. Federal subsistence regulations require that rural/nonrural status be reviewed every 10 years, beginning with the availability of the 2000 census data. An initial staff review, completed in July 2005, recommended that the rural/nonrural status of most Alaska communities should remain unchanged for the proposed rule. However, comments are sought on the following proposed changes:

The nonrural Ketchikan area would be expanded to include all those living on the road system connected to the City of Ketchikan (except Saxman), as well as Pennock Island, and parts of Gravina Island and the entire area would be considered nonrural. However, Saxman would remain separate and rural. With the exception of Saxman, the Board has come to the preliminary conclusion that these areas are economically, socially and communally integrated with the Ketchikan area. In addition, the population of the Ketchikan area, excluding Saxman, is 12,720, which is well above the population threshold in Federal subsistence regulations of 7,000 at which a community or area is presumed to be nonrural. - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Alaska: New Contractor Licensing Enforcement Now in Effect - New legislation providing a civil penalty for violations of contractor and home inspector licensing requirements recently took effect in Alaska on June 21, 2006. House Bill 81, sponsored by Rep. Tom Anderson, helps enforce a licensing requirement for contractors through the state departments of Commerce, Community and Economic Development and Labor & Workforce Development.

Under the new law, a violator will be issued a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for a first offense and $1,500 for subsequent offenses. In cases of severe or repeat offenses, the law allows for criminal penalties in addition to the civil fine.

"This will provide a more efficient means to issue penalties for contractor licensing violations," said Grey Mitchell, director of the Division of Labor Standards and Safety in the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development. "Most licensing violations do not warrant expending the resources needed for criminal prosecution. A civil fine is a more appropriate penalty for first time violators." - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Alaska: Governor Wraps up Trip - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski wrapped up a four-day tour of the state today in Fairbanks and North Pole before heading back to Juneau to prepare for the beginning of the special legislative session Wednesday night.

"It was an interesting and invigorating trip," Murkowski said. "I feel we have set the stage well for another round of hearings and votes on PPT (petroleum production tax) and the stranded gas contract."

The governor began today's events with a noon speech to the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, providing an update on the Alaska Highway Natural Gas Pipeline Project and offering the luncheon-goers a look at the Interior Alaska benefits in the recently signed capital budget.

"The Legislature left Juneau without passing PPT," Murkowski said. "But they tied funding the Power Cost Equalization endowment and funding for rural schools to a passing vote, leaving rural Alaska out in the cold.

"We must come to a conclusion on PPT. Not only to help with the PCE endowment, but also because at my proposed 20-20 rates we are losing more than $3.2 million per day." - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Southeast Alaska: Kayakers rescued in Glacier Bay - The Coast Guard rescued two kayakers in Glacier Bay today after their kayaks had overturned. The kayakers were from Nome.

The Coast Guard cutter Liberty overheard a radio call from Glacier Bay National Park Rangers, just after 1 p.m, that two kayaks had overturned in Glacier Bay near McBride Glacier. One kayaker was reported to be clinging to an iceberg; the other had swam to shore. The Coast Guard responded with an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and crew from air station Sitka. - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Ketchikan: The Arts This Week - This week in Ketchikan Dragonfly TV will be visiting Ketchikan to film a new program with kids ages 11-14 years old. They will be asking what factors define the size of a tree, and are the largest trees really the biggest? Come to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center on Saturday, July 15th from 1pm - 4pm to audition to be cast as one of these tree detectives. Visit www.pbskids.org/dragonflytv for more information.

The Fish Pirate's Daughter, Ketchikan's original musical melodrama plays again this Friday, July 14th at the Ted Ferry Civic Center with and All You Can Eat crab feed starting at 7:30pm. A First City Players production, Fish Pirate's is back for its 40th season. Future performances will take place on July 21st, 28th and 29th. For more information call First City Players at 225-4792. Sponsored by SE Sea Pilots Association, SE Stevedoring and First City Players.

Dance! Dance! Dance! Every Friday night is your opportunity to cut a rug with your fellow dancers. Enjoy every style under the sun at various sites around town. Call Tina Mander at 617-1284 for exact location information.

The Friends of the Library would like to invite you to make and decorate stars to sell at the Friends of the Library booth at the Blueberry Arts Festival. Tuesdays July 11th, 18th and 25th from 6-7:30pm in the children's annex. All proceeds to benefit Friends of the Library. For more information call 225-3331. - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters KEEP IT SIMPLE By John Binkley - Tuesday Why go for anything less that half on the profits on oil production? By Samuel Bergeron - Tuesday Peace-niks By Anita Hales - Tuesday The real end-game of the radical environmentalist By Marvin Seibert - Tuesday Jim Pinkerton By Bert Blackmon - Tuesday Rotary Youth Exchange By Marrissa Barker - Tuesday State, Especially Rural Areas, Can't Afford to Wait on Oil Tax by Senator John Cowdery - Monday Offended by the anti-war propaganda By Gerry Kay Olmstead - Monday 'Go to the gross' for oil tax solution By Rep. Ethan Berkowitz - Monday THE NOB HILL SNOB JOB (And We Thought Gateway Forest Products Was Bad) By David G. Hanger - Saturday The governor, the jet and right or wrong By Sen. Kim Elton - Saturday Consolidation By Robert McRoberts - Saturday Re: Offended by anti-war Bug! By Charlotte Tanner - Friday Raw Data and Concerned Scientists By Jay Jones - Friday Thank You All By Cindy Inouye - Friday Consolidation / Round Two by Rodney Dial - Thursday Dirty Bug By Dawna Vigil - Thursday Legal machinations obscure our rights By Gregg Erickson - Thursday Pipeline deal should benefit Alaskans for generations By Rep. Les Gara - Thursday Freedom of Speech By Alan R. McGillvray - Thursday An open letter to Sealaska and Sealaska's original shareholders By Michael Nelson - Thursday - Thursday Offended by anti-war Bug! By Cindy Inouye - Thursday Global Warming By Robert McRoberts - Thursday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements July 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: What's up with North Korea? - North Korea stirred up big-time diplomatic trouble in northeast Asia Wednesday by test-firing seven missiles into the Sea of Japan. The missiles didn't hit anyone, and the most sophisticated weapon, the long-range Taepodong-2 that could reach U.S. territory, fizzled and broke apart less than a minute after launch.

But North Korea -- a backward, highly unpleasant communist dictatorship with a nuclear weapons program that is run by Kim Jong Il -- has earned the condemnation of almost every country in the world. With Japan calling for U.N. sanctions to punish North Korea, and North Korea threatening to test more missiles, I called Charles E. Morrison on Wednesday. Morrison is president of the Hawaii-based East-West Center (eastwestcenter.org), an education and research center established by Congress in 1960 to focus on the Asia Pacific region: - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Steve Brewer: Talking yourself through your day - When you talk to yourself, you're guaranteed an audience that's sympathetic, if not always fully attentive.

You might not even realize you're mumbling all alone at your desk. Still, some part of your brain is listening. You always seem to pick up the general drift and you find that you're a person who, by golly, thinks the same way you do. How can a conversation get any better than that?

As more of us work in pods remote from our colleagues and customers, each home office is filled with a Greek chorus of one, exhorting its own efforts and commenting on its every move and posing scintillating questions such as "Where have I put my keys?" - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

Paul C. Campos: No wonder Democrats are angry with Lieberman - I sometimes get e-mails from conspiracy theorists about 9/11. These people always claim that the attacks were actually carried out by the U.S. government to create a pretext for the Iraq war.

I also get e-mails from people who encourage the American public to believe something just as crazy: that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 9/11 attacks.

There's a subtle distinction between the former and the latter correspondents. I'm pretty sure the former e-mails come from pathetic lunatics living in basements, who post their rants on Web sites that get 10 hits per day. I'm completely sure who sends me the latter messages: the White House Office of Communications. - More...
Tuesday - July 11, 2006

James Derk: Bartering up to homeownership on the Internet - Kyle MacDonald's story will make a great Internet movie some day. No, not a silly one like Sandra Bullock in "The Net." A real Internet story. About how something with an idea can make people smile.

MacDonald, 26, wanted a house. He didn't have any money. All he had was a blog. That, and a large red paper clip.

So he set out on a great Internet bartering adventure. Could he barter his way from a paper clip to a house?

Bartering, to those not in the know, is trading even. Your thing for my thing. No cash.

So MacDonald, from Montreal, put his red paperclip up for barter on Craigslist, one of the largest classified ad sites on the Internet, last year. He promptly traded his shiny paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.

He posted the pen back on the barter section of Craigslist. He bartered that for a ceramic doorknob. Back to Craigslist. That became a camping stove, a beer keg, a lighted beer sign, a generator, a snow globe, an afternoon with rocker "Alice Cooper", a broken snowmobile, a trip to the Rockies, an old supply truck and then a recording contract. - More..
Tuesday - July 11, 2006