Ketchikan: $125,000 Grant & Volunteers Will Put Bite on Gravina Litter - For several years Ketchikan Borough Code Enforcement Officer Jerry Cegelske said he's received telephone calls from concerned community members asking if something couldn't be done about the abandoned boats and trash on Gravina Island. Not only is this trash an eyesore but also a hazard to navigation and to the safety of people using the beaches in the area.

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Cegelske said frequently people feel that government just isn't doing enough. However, through the efforts of Cegelske and others, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough will now be able to begin addressing cleanup on Gravina Island with the aide of a $125,000 grant from the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Marine Debris Cleanup program.

Cegelske said he fortunately learned about NOAA's Marine Debris Cleanup program on December 1, 2005 from Tanya Verbyla from the Ketchikan Indian Community -- just barely in time to meet the deadline. NOAA's program had $2 million available for marine debris cleanup on a nationwide basis and the good news was the program had been extended from October 12, 2005 to December 12, 2005; and this extension provided a chance to develop and submit a proposal.

"With the direction of the Assembly, the assistance of Borough employees, and the help of the NOAA staff, the timeline was met for submission of the grant proposal," said Cegelske.

Cegelske said funding required "strong on-the-ground habitat components involving the removal of marine and derelict fishing gear that will provide educational and social benefits for people and their communities in addition to long-term ecological habitat improvements for trust resources." He said "What could spell derelict fishing gear better than the abandoned fishing boats on the shore of Gravina Island?" - More...
Thursday AM - August 10, 2006

Alaska: Governor Lays Out Prudhoe Bay Management Plan; Announces Hiring Freeze and Calls for Passage of New Oil Tax, Approval of Gas Pipeline Contract - In remarks Wednesday to a joint session in Juneau of the Alaska Legislature, Governor Frank H. Murkowski briefed lawmakers and the public on his administration's interim management plan to address BP's shutdown and plans to resume oil and gas production at Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest single oil field.

The governor appointed a cabinet-level team "to make certain that the environment is protected and that there is a strong corrective action plan and a safe business resumption plan in place as soon as possible." The team will be led by Natural Resources Commissioner Mike Menge, and includes Environmental Conservation Commissioner Kurt Fredriksson, Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus, Attorney General Dave Marquez, and John Katz, the director of the state's Washington, DC office.

The governor has also asked Attorney General Marquez to look into the legal aspects of the shutdown and the impacts to the state. He noted that it would be irresponsible for the state not to seek to reconcile BP's reports on pipeline maintenance and conditions over recent years with the company's abrupt decision to shut down the entire Prudhoe Bay field.

"The attorney general will review the state's legal rights and determine an appropriate course of action to protect the state's interests, including the state's right to hold BP fully accountable for losses to the state," Murkowski said. - More...
Thursday AM - August 10, 2006

Alaska: Five holes found in BP pipeline By WESLEY LOY - The pipeline that sprang a leak over the weekend, triggering a convulsive shutdown of the huge Prudhoe Bay oil field, is pocked with at least five holes possibly caused by a virulent strain of corrosion, according to state and industry sources.

Oil managed to escape from one of the holes, creating a pool of up to 210 gallons on the summer-green tundra before field workers spotted and stopped the leak early Sunday.

The other holes were discovered after workers for BP, the British oil giant that runs Prudhoe, stripped off insulation and a metal jacket that wrap the above-ground pipe on the eastern side of the oil field. The wrappings blocked leaks from more of the holes.

Repairs crews have temporarily patched all the holes, each smaller than a peanut, state officials said.

There are good odds the pipeline has further breaches. BP managers said the pipe was tested in late July with a device called a smart pig, an electronic probe that slides through pipes looking for thin spots in the steel walls. - More...
Thursday AM - August 10, 2006

Ketchikan: Cruise-ship initiative call-in show on public radio Aug. 15 - Alaskans will have a chance to learn more about Measure 2 on the August 22nd statewide primary ballot during a forum and call-in show on public radio this month. The ballot initiative calls for further taxing and regulating Alaska's cruise ship industry.

The program will air from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, August 15th, on public radio stations in Southeast and elsewhere in the state.

CoastAlaska News Director Ed Schoenfeld will host the program with KCAW-FM reporter Melissa Marconi-Wentzel. Guests will be Chip Thoma of Responsible Cruising in Alaska, who supports the measure, and Bob Wysocki of the Huna Totem Corporation and Alaskans Protecting Our Economy, who opposes it. - More...
Thusday AM - August 10, 2006

Ketchikan: Joseph A. Shields Jr. Memorial Scholarship deadline August 15th - The deadline for application for the Joseph A. Shields Jr. Memorial Scholarship is August 15th. This scholarship is designed specifically to assist students pursuing careers in health care. To be eligible, the student must have a high school diploma and have graduated at least two years prior to applying; and be enrolled in or accepted to a health care program of study. - More...
Thusday AM - August 10, 2006

Ketchikan: Slug Race & Big Slug Contest Results - Among the traditional activities during the Blueberry Arts Festival are the Slug Race and Big Slug Contest. Both events are sponsored by the AK Department of Fish & Game. Winners of the events all received a Blueberry Festival t-shirt. Winners of these events held Saturday are as follows: - More...
Thusday AM - August 10, 2006

Pioneers of Southeast Alaska Henry C. Strong By Louise Brinck Harrington Strong's Wharf looking north towards NewTown, May 7, 1912 - Donor: Bertha Hunt Wells, THS 70.3.6.2 Photograph courtesy Ketchikan Museums

Pioneers of Southeast Alaska: Henry C. Strong By Louise Brinck Harrington - Henry Carlton Strong, who came to Ketchikan in 1899, must have made a lot of money. He involved himself in every developing industry and took advantage of all possible business opportunities.

Born in Jamestown, New York in 1869 Strong went first to Port Townsend, Washington and started a hardware business. After 10 years of work, with a stock of hardware, he took off for Wrangell, Alaska in 1898 and came to Ketchikan in 1899.

Soon after arriving, he established the Strong and Johnstone Company (with F.C. Johnstone and John Stedman), which later became today's Tongass Trading Company. - More...
Thusday AM - August 10, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters White Cliff Project Yes, Funding Method No By Samuel Bergeron - Friday Guard Island Heritage Meeting & Lighthouse Tour By Rob Holston - Friday Yes, to White Cliff Center By Alaire Stanton - Thursday Sales Tax By Jim Wingren - Thursday Yes to sales tax increase By Kathy Bolling Graham - Thursday What would you do? By Peter Klein - Thursday How and Why? By Mark Neckameyer - Thursday Baseball is... By Ken Lewis - Wednesday The answer is... By Charlotte Tanner- Wednesday No to Sales Tax Increase By Samuel Bergeron - Tuesday Clothes for kids? By Tori Jackson - Tuesday Alaska's Oil By Robert H. Shipman - Tuesday French chickened out By Mark Neckameyer - Tuesday What Not To Wear By Chris Elliott - Monday Binkley's letter regarding priorities and ethics By Al Johnson - Monday ON CONSOLIDATION By David G. Hanger - Sunday Honest Leadership Will Restore Trust By John Binkley - Sunday Boon-Doggles By Don Hoff Jr. - Saturday Baseball By Michael McColley - Saturday Children's Clothes Over The Line By Jim Dahl - Friday Cigarette taxes By Joan Hurliman - Friday State for the record... By Al Johnson - Thursday Waste of Alaska dollars By Frances C. Natkong - Thursday Poor Mel! By Mark Neckameyer - Thursday Youth Baseball By Chris Elliott - Wednesday PM Governors saving Time By Charlotte Tanner - Wednesday PM The Global Warming Hysteria rears it's ugly head again! By Marvin C. Seibert - Wednesday PM Lick Three Times, Then Bite? By Suzan Thompson - Tuesday PM Youth Baseball By Brad Groghan - Tuesday PM Re: Consolidation can be for the better. By Rodney Dial - Tuesday PM Borough Assembly Candidate By Gregory Vickrey - Tuesday PM Concrete Classic Closed By Hunter Davis - Tuesday PM Pennys for the Poor, Millions for the Rich By Alan Lidstone - Tuesday PM 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 August 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S   31 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

Dale McFeatters: A leak there and a surge here - Just how fragile and interconnected the world's oil markets are was glaringly evident when BP announced it would have to shut down production at its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska, accounting for 8 percent of domestic U.S. production, to replace up to 16 miles of corroded pipeline.

Crude oil prices surged $2.22 a barrel to $76.98, just a nickel away from the nominal record set last month. (For whatever consolation, prices in inflation-adjusted terms were higher in 1980-81.)

Future increases may be moderated somewhat by the Bush administration's quickly announcing that it would use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost supplies; OPEC's volunteering to make up the shortfall; and BP's saying it would try to find alternate ways of getting at least some of the Prudhoe Bay oil to market. - More...
Thursday AM - August 10, 2006

Michael Reagan: Decent Men Need Not Apply - The message was loud and clear: there is no longer any room for the likes of Joseph Lieberman in the Democratic Party.

Forgotten were Lieberman's decades of service to his party, his vice presidential candidacy in 2000, his years of loyally voting for his party's liberal measures in the U.S. Senate and his incredible decency. All that counted in this week's Connecticut primary was his support of the war in Iraq and his refusal to go along with the cowardly cut-and-run group that has taken over his party.

In their eyes this was the unforgivable sin, and for committing it he earned the scorn of the left-wing crazies who have managed to take control of the party of Harry Truman, Scoop Jackson and John F. Kennedy. He simply had to go. - More...
Thursday AM - August 10, 2006

Martin Schram: Tell the tough truth on drilling in the Arctic - For years, assurances of environmentally safe oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic wilderness gushed all over the nation's capital, creating a slick that stretched from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other.

President Bush promised in 2005 that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR in Wash-speak) can be drilled in "environmentally responsible ways ... with little impact on the land or wildlife."

Comes now the news that has put us all in touch with the environmentally ungentle side of oil exploration. The quick reaction is to say that this was bad news. But we'll see here that the bad news may indeed be good news. Because it should force Americans to slide past the slick and focus on the real choices we must make in an age when energy independence is a national security imperative - yet safeguarding our environment is also vital. - More...

Tom Purcell: Dinner Bells - It's August and I'm longing for the sounds of summer I knew as a kid.

In the '60s and '70s, you see, only one or two houses in our neighborhood had air conditioning. Most neighbors kept their windows open, allowing the outside sounds to come in and the inside sounds to go out.

I woke every morning to the birds chirping outside my window screen, a dewy chill in the air. I'd smell the Big Guy's pipe, which he smoked while he read the paper downstairs. I'd go down to greet him. Sometimes he'd make scrambled eggs and toast covered with butter, and we'd eat while the birds kept on singing.

The evening sounds were equally powerful: a dog barking; a motorcycle downshifting on some faraway hill; people out on their porches listening to the Pirates play on the radio; a baby crying; a couple talking; children laughing; a window fan humming. - More...
Thursday AM - August 10, 2006