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Saturday
August 26, 2017
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Ward Creek: Fishing Days
During the all too brief two-week period of August's summer days.
Front Page Feature Photo By KEN ARRIOLA ©2017
Ketchikan: New Water Samples Find Elevated Bacteria Levels at Four Coastal Areas in Ketchikan - The latest water samples by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) have confirmed enterococci bacteria levels remain above criteria at four coastal areas in Ketchikan.
Since July 18, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has been collecting water quality samples at nine coastal areas, including: South Refuge Cove Beach, Seaport Beach, Rotary Park Beach (Bugges Beach), Thomas Basin, Beacon Hill, Knudson Cove, South Point Higgins Beach, Sunset Beach, and Shull Beach.
The samples collected at the following locations on August 22nd and 23rd exceed water quality criteria:
The advisorie for the affected beaches will remain in effect until bacteria levels for all beaches are within acceptable levels.
The five areas as of this date with acceptable water quality samples are: South Refuge Cove Beach, Beacon Hill, South Point Higgins Beach, Sunset Beach, and Shull Beach. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
Alaska: Salmon habitat protection dominates Kodiak town hall; Rep. Ortiz Of Ketchikan Attends By MARY KAUFFMAN - A community forum led by Republican House Fisheries Committee Chair Rep. Louise Stutes at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center on Thursday night drew nearly 100 residents interested in speaking with state lawmakers about a wide range of concerns. Commentary supporting House Bill 199, “The Wild Salmon Legacy Act,” introduced by Rep. Stutes to the Legislature last year, took center stage at the forum where audience members also expressed concerns around health care and the state budget issues.
HB 199 proposes updates to Alaska’s 60-year-old law governing what kinds of impacts from development are allowed to salmon habitat, creating clear standards for protection and giving Alaskans a voice in the protection of wild salmon habitat. More than half of questions and commentary expressed their support of the bill, citing the importance of responsible development balanced with wild salmon habitat protection.
Also joining in the community forum in Kodiak was Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz (I). The forum was also attended by Reps. Bryce Edgmon, Gerran Tarr, Zach Fansler, Adam Wool, along with representatives from the Walker Administration, and local fishermen.
Mike Friccero, a Bristol Bay skipper and board president for the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association
(BBRSDA), identified the protection of salmon habitat as a key concern for the coastal community. “This place (Alaska) has always been about fish. HB 199 will help us keep it that way.”
According to Sand for Salmon, a diverse group of Alaska-based individuals, businesses and organizations. the health of the state’s wild salmon populations is a key concern in Kodiak, one of the state’s largest fishing communities. In 2015, the approximate revenue from salmon fishing in the area was $3.2 million, with commercial fishing and processing accounting for 55 percent of the private sector workforce. A 2016 poll identified that 75 percent of Alaskans statewide think more should be done to protect the strong legacy of Alaska salmon for future generations.
“I stand for salmon too,” House Speaker Bryce Edgmon assured the audience. “After 60 years, we think it is time to take a look at Title 16.”
However, there are others who have expressed opposition to HB199, “An Act establishing general fish and wildlife permits and major and minor anadromous fish habitat permits for certain activities; establishing related penalties; and relation to the protection of fish and game and fish and game habitat.”
In a letter to Rep. Stutes dated April 10, 2017, Karen Matthias Executive Director of the Council of Alaska Producers wrote that CAP opposes HB199 because it would shut down responsible resource development projects across the state, jeopardize the continuation or expansion of existing operations, delay and add costs to road construction and other state infrastructure projects, and it would inhibit community development. The real fiscal impact of this bill would be staggering. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
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Alaska: Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Governor's Permanent Fund Cuts By MARY KAUFFMAN - The Alaska Supreme Court issued a decision Friday upholding Governor Bill Walker’s action last year to reduce the permanent fund dividend appropriation in the budget bill.
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that Governor Walker properly exercised his veto authority when reducing the legislatively authorized transfer from the permanent fund earnings reserve to the dividend fund, and affirmed the superior court’s decision in favor of the State of Alaska and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.
“I want to thank the legal team here at the department for their hard work on this case,” said Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth. “I know this is not a decision Governor Walker took lightly, but I’m glad we have more clarity around use of permanent fund earnings as we continue to try and resolve the State’s fiscal crisis.”
In a prepared statement following Friday's ruling, Senator Bill Wielechowski said he is bitterly disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Permanent Fund Dividend. Bill Wielechowski said, "With this decision, any Governor can ignore the mandatory statutory language requiring dividend payments and veto the dividend to whatever level he or she chooses - or eliminate the PFD all together, while any Legislature can similarly cut the dividend to whatever level it chooses. Hundreds of hours of research led me to believe what most Alaskans believe: that this was never the intent of Gov. Hammond or the Legislature that created the PFD laws."
In May 2016 the legislature passed an appropriation bill that included an estimated $1.362 billion transfer from APFC’s earnings reserve to DOR’s dividend fund, consistent with prior practice and the statutory formula.22 But in June Governor Bill Walker exercised his line-item veto power and reduced the estimated $1.362 billion transfer to $695.65 million.23 The legislature met in July but did not vote to override the governor’s veto.24 This resulted in 2016 Permanent Fund dividend payments of $1,022 to eligible Alaskans, about half of what had been expected under the legislature’s appropriation.
A current state senator, Bill Wielechowski, and two former state legislators, Rick Halford and Clem Tillion (collectively Wielechowski), brought suit against the State of Alaska and APFC (collectively the State). Relying on the second sentence of the Permanent Fund clause, Wielechowski sought a declaration that the dividend program statutes contain a constitutionally permissible revenue dedication “automatically” transferring prescribed revenues from the earnings reserve to the dividend fund without need for legislative appropriation and not subject to the governor’s veto. The State opposed, arguing that the 1976 constitutional amendment created an anti-dedication clause exemption only for revenues going into the Permanent
In November 2016 an Alaska Superior Court ruled in favor of Governor Bill Walker's veto cut of the permanent dividend fund from $2,052 per Alaskan to $1,022. Superior Court Judge William Morse's decision ruled against the legislators, concluding the legislature’s actual use of the income remained subject to normal appropriation and veto budgetary processes.
The November 2016 ruling of the Alaska Superior Court was appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court by Bill Wielechowski, Rick Halford and Clem Tillion.
Quoting the Alaska Supreme Court ruling August 25, 2017, after expedited proceedings the superior court ruled that the earnings reserve revenue transfer to the dividend fund requires an appropriation and must survive a gubernatorial veto. The court did not decide whether the revenue transfer would be a “permissible dedication” under the Alaska Constitution. Emphasizing the governor’s strong veto control over spending provided by the Alaska Constitution, the court stated “It is unlikely that the proponents of the Permanent Fund would intend so drastic a change in the governor’s role over the budget by such a vague vehicle” as the concluding sentence of the 1976 constitutional amendment creating the Permanent Fund.
The superior court earlier determined that “what makes the least sense is that the proponents of the permanent fund clause would exempt the income of the Permanent Fund from the threat of a gubernatorial veto without expressly stating that intention.” - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
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Fish Factor: Alaska Salmon Season Winds Down; Escaped Salmon Watch & More... By LAINE WELCH - Alaska’s salmon season is winding down and while catches have made the record books in some regions, the statewide take will fall a bit short of the 204 million fish forecast.
“We are within about 10 percent of the forecast, so that’s very positive and overall it’s been a pretty good season,” said Forrest Bowers, deputy director of the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The statewide salmon catch through Friday topped 191 million. The shortfall, Bowers said, again stems from the arrival of fewer pink salmon.
“We were expecting a harvest of about 142 million, right now it’s at 114 million. We’re probably not going to catch another 30 million pinks between now and the end of the season,” he said.
Still, the “bread and butter” catches are far better than last year when pink returns were so dismal, it prompted a disaster declaration by Governor Walker.
This summer’s humpy haul at the three prime producing regions all are within the lower ends of the forecast ranges with Southeast’s take so far on its way to 28 million, Kodiak at 19 million and Prince William Sound nearing 42 million pink salmon (humpback whale predation is being blamed on lower pink salmon catches there).
One big pink winner this year, Bowers said, is the Alaska Peninsula which had a “spectacular season.”
“Their pink harvest (nearly 19 million) and chum catch (nearly 2 million) will end up in the top five on record,” Bowers said. “And the Peninsula sockeye harvest (7 million) is going to the second or third largest ever.”
It will be sockeyes that help offset any number shortfalls this season with a statewide take of about 52 million, of which nearly 37 million came from Bristol Bay.
“It is the 10th time in history that we’ve harvested over 50 million sockeye salmon,” Bowers said. “Catches for the previous two years also topped 50 million, but prior to that, you had to go back to the mid- to late 1990s to see such a large sockeye harvest.”
Perhaps the biggest salmon surprise this year was the huge returns of chum salmon across the state. The catch to date of 21.2 million chums is just shy of the all-time record of 24 million fish set in 2000.
“It’s one of the six times we’ve ever harvested over 20 million chums. That was a surprise. We didn’t expect that at all,” Bower said, adding that coho catches are also stronger than usual. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
Southeast Alaska: UA Southeast Announces Faculty Promotions and Tenure - The University of Alaska Southeast recently announced the promotions and tenure of faculty staff.
Dr. Bill Urquhart II has been promoted to Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences on the UAS Ketchikan campus. Associate Professor Urquhart holds a B.S. in Sociology from Oregon State University, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Tulane University.
Dr. Jason Amundson has been promoted to Associate Professor of Geophysics with tenure in the Department of Natural Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences on the UAS Juneau Campus. Dr. Amundson holds a Ph.D. and a M.S. in Geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and a B.S. in Geology and Geological Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Reid Brewer has been promoted to Professor of Fisheries Technology with tenure in the School of Career Education on the UAS Sitka Campus. Dr. Brewer holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a B.S. in Environmental Science/Systems Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point. He recently received the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
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DAVE KIFFER: Sunny Days are becoming as frequent as Eclipses - Well, Our Fair Salmon City somehow managed to survive the galactic convergence of Eclipse-a-mania and Storm-aggedon!
Both those events came together this past week and Ketchikan greeted them with a giganto-awesome "meh"!
The eclipse was always an iffy proposition anyway.
If it had been crystal clear out we might have seen a sixty percent eclipse which would have been kinda cool, except for the fact that the sun causes Ketchikan residents to sneeze when it comes out and we would have sneezed right through the "partial totality."
Seriously, I saw a news story this past week referring to "partial totality." How is that even partially (or totally) possible?
But, of course, it was not crystal or any type of clear. It was August in the First City. Also known as pre-winter. Also know as Augtober. So it wasn't going to be clear 'round here.
Our town motto remains: Ketchikan: Eclipsing Eclipses Since......Forever.
An interesting side note. Just about every indigenous civilization in the world has some sort of oral history about eclipses. Usually some cautionary tale in which the eclipse is a harbinger of doom. But I have never heard of one from the North Coast area. Coincidence? I think not.
Anyway, if there is one I would love to hear it. Of course we have "Raven Steals The Sun" but that is a story of light being brought INTO THE WORLD, as opposed to light being taken away. We could use a bit more of that in this neck of the woods.
I just want to know if there has EVER been an eclipse visible in these here parts. To quote the handy dandy Eight Ball that NOAA uses to predict the weather around here, "My sources say no." - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
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Editorial Cartoon: Disaster relief
By Dave Granlund ©2017, Politicalcartoons.com
Distributed to subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
Safe Operation of Ships By Donald Moskowitz = As a former Navy Enlisted (1950s) and Naval Officer (Navigator and Officer of the Deck, 1960s), I am quite concerned with the recent collisions by our warships in Asian waters. We lost seven sailors in the collision of the USS Fitzgerald and another ten sailors in the collision of the USS John S. McCain. Two guided missile destroyers are out of service and need extensive repairs.
There are many factors that could contribute to collisions between ships, including enemy acts, weather, fatigue, missed or erroneous ship handling commands, and equipment malfunctions, but the one overriding factor leading to collisions is typically inattention to surrounding circumstances while operating in close proximity to other ships and relying solely on technology to keep them safe. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
Nazi Apologists By Tristan Moyer - Equating Nazis with people who are against Nazism is so strange I hardly know where to start. I've seen comments like this a number of times lately. Why would anyone defend Nazis? Is it because they were wearing MAGA hats and waving Trump campaign signs? According to this logic people who fought against Nazism in the 1940s are worse than Nazis for fighting back. What an insult to the millions who fought and resisted Nazi fascism. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
RE: REX BARBER By David G Hanger - In response to Rex Barber’s latest missive all that can be said is such genius cannot possibly be exceeded.
I do hope that comment does not offend our local mullahs and ayotallahs, i.e. our local preachers, priests, etc., i.e. our local censors of speech, thought, association, and pretty much everything else. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
Anti-fa haters By Ken Leland - Right on, Rex Barber. Your first point is spot on, although they will never admit it.The violent response to free speech that is opposed to their belief system reminds me of the Nazi Brown Shirts. - More...
Saturday PM - August 26, 2017
Common Denominator By Rex Barber - There are many similarities between hard core progressives (antifa) and the Nazi party.
1. They are both socialist. That's what Nazi means: National Socialist German Workers party. And progressivism is synonymous with socialism. - More...
Wednesday PM - August 23, 2017
Freedom of speech and the rule of law By Paul Bergeron Sr. - What a mess. A group of people get a permit to hold a rally to protest the removal of monuments honoring the soldiers on the confederate side of the civil war.
The KKK and other extreme right wing groups get wind of it and decide to add their voice to the permitted protesters. Their agenda has never been a secret. They want a white race America and believe that a race war in the USA is the way to reach this utopian dream. They came prepared to protect and initiate violence should the opportunity arise. - More...
Monday AM - August 21, 2017
Statues today, books tomorrow By A.M. Johnson - Confederate statues today, book burnings tomorrow?
Public Announcement: Please DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use the $1 $2 $50 or the $100 bills. They have pictures of former slave owners on them! Send them all to me and I will dispose of them properly! - More...
Monday AM - August 21, 2017
We need politicians with courage and ideals By Norbert Chaudhary - The violence, death and injuries that occurred in Virginia was completely predictable and given the direction the President has taken this nation, pretty much inevitable.
This sort of reaction from Far Right minions is exactly what the fear/hate blathering heads on cable TV, a.m. Radio and the internet have been driving their weak minded, low information voters to do for years. And this isn't the first time they have acted up. Remember the Bundy Ranch standoff? The armed takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge? Or the Oklahoma City bombing? There is no forgiving the carnage these 'for profit' social agitators have wreaked upon us. - More...
Monday AM - August 21, 2017
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