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Ketchikan: Ketchikan: A town of few 'highrises'; In the First City, buildings grew outward rather than upward By DAVE KIFFER - Ketchikan is not a city of high rises, few Alaskan towns are.

But that doesn't mean that Ketchikan hasn't had its share of prominently sized buildings over its 130 years along Tongass Narrows.

Photos from the mid 1890s show a large warehouse on the Clark-Martin dock, likely the storage area for the goods that were beginning to flow into the growing community, as well as the barrels of salted salmon that were beginning to flow out.

That building set the trend for Ketchikan's buildings being more horizontal than vertical. Cannery lines called for long, relatively narrow buildings and soon the small town on the water had a number of docks with long buildings extending out on pilings because there was little flat land inland. Canneries  and cold storages like Sunny Point, Whitney Fidalgo and NEFCO had buildings that were more than a hundred feet long, but rarely more than two stories high. Even the Ketchikan Cold Storage, located where the lot next to Tongass Dock Store is now, was only three stories high, although it was nearly 50 feet high at its peak.

Early photos also show a number of two story buildings in Ketchikan's downtown, a pattern that still exists today, although a few three story ones sprouted up in the 1920s. Those photos also show the early Main School and the courthouse prominently located on hills just behind downtown. With its cupolas and dormers, the school building was likely 2 1/2 stories.

One of the tallest structures in the early photos was a 40-foot tower at the fire station on Mill Street, which was likely used for hose storage. Another prominent feature early on was the 35-foot beehive sawdust burner that soared above Ketchikan Spruce Mill for many years, often lending a plume of black smoke to the horizon. The spire from St. John's Church at more than 30 feet was also prominent in early town photos.

Because fire was such a concern in the early city of wooden docks, streets and buildings, Ketchikan became one of the first Alaskan cities with concrete buildings, but even those buildings were rarely more than two stories. Two exceptions were the three story brick building that housed the NBA bank and professional offices for many years and the concrete Tongass store that was 3 1/2 stories high.

In the 1920s, the new Main School and White Cliff School were three-story concrete structures. Several three story hotels, including the Ingersoll, Revilla. Gilmore, Pioneer and Knickerbocker were also built during the years when Ketchikan was the largest community in the state.

In the early 1930s, the Federal government build a six story court house/jail/office building next to Thomas Basin. And in the early 1940s, the four story Ketchikan hospital was built at the corner of Park and Bawden. - More...
Monday PM - September 04, 2017

Fish Factor: Will the Sea Cucumber Be A Miracle Cure for Cancer? By LAINE WELCH -  Alaska sea cucumber divers could be helping to cure cancer!

 Sea cucumber meat and skins have long been considered a delicacy in Asian cuisines; they also are hailed for having healing properties that soothe sore joints and arthritis. Most recently the soft, tubular bottom dwellers are being added to the list of foods acclaimed to kill cancer cells. 

Dried sea cucumber or extract is anti-viral; anti-bacterial, and an anti-inflammatory, said Ty Bollinger, a leading cancer expert and author of Cancer: Step Outside the Box. 

“Sea cucumbers are very high in chondroitin sulfate, commonly used to treat joint pain and arthritis. To my knowledge, they have the highest concentrations of any animal,” he said in an interview, adding that scientists have been studying the echinoderms for more than 15 years. 

“They have properties that are cytotoxic, meaning they kill cancer cells, and that also help stimulate your immune system. The sea cucumber does both,” Bollinger added.

The cuke extracts have demonstrated the ability to kill lung, breast, prostate, skin, colon, pancreatic and liver cancer cells, reports Ethan Evers, author of The Eden Prescription. Credit for clobbering the cancer cells goes to a special molecule called Frondoside A isolated from the sea cucumber by researchers at United Arab Emirates University.

In a 2013 PubMed.gov report, the researchers said Frondocide A was a “highly safe compound” that in lab tests significantly decreased the growth and migration of lung cancer cells. They said their findings identify it as “a promising novel therapeutic agent for lung cancer.”

While sea cucumber capsules, powders and liquids can be bought over the pharmacy counter, Bollinger said you won’t see cancer credentials on the packaging because the claims have not been verified by federal health agencies.

A scan of online retail shelves shows a varied mix of products and sizes typically selling between $20 to $40. Alaska Wild Caught Sun Dried Red Sea Cucumbers are priced at $75 to $145 per pound. Cukes sold to the food market fetch $25 to $110 per pound. 

There are nearly 1,700 species of sea cucumbers in the world’s oceans.  Starting October 1, up to 200 Alaska divers will be heading down for the red variety that thrives throughout Southeast waters. The animals, which can grow to 20 inches and weigh just over a pound, typically produce a harvest that tops one million pounds.  

The divers usually get more than $4 a pound for cukes, making the fishery worth nearly $5 million at the docks. It could be worth far more but sea otters have devoured virtually every sea cucumber from the Panhandle's most abundant bays in recent years. - More...
Monday PM - September 04, 2017

Alaska: Marine agent draws on experience to advise Alaskans By PAULA DOBBYN - Former Ketchikan resident Terry Johnson has spent much of his life on boats. Whether he’s catching salmon, showing marine wildlife to tourists or penning dockside stories about Alaska’s fishing industry, the University of Alaska Fairbanks professor’s life for decades has revolved around the sea and coastlines.

Raised near Seattle, Johnson has been a professor at UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and one of Alaska Sea Grant’s marine advisory agents since 1991.

A longtime commercial fisherman and charter operator, Johnson’s career has taken him to Ketchikan, Sitka, Dillingham, Homer and, for nearly the last decade, Anchorage. Before joining UAF, Johnson lived in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, working as a correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and writing for trade publications.

While living in Prince Rupert, Johnson decided to pursue his dream of being a commercial fisherman in Alaska. He sailed a dory hand troller made of plywood to Ketchikan, got his permit, and dropped hooks and lines. Johnson was still plugging away on his master’s thesis in marine resource management at the time. - More...
Monday PM - September 04, 2017

RICK JENSEN: Media Reports on Antifa... Finally - The Washington Post headline is absolutely astonishing:

"Black-clad antifa members attack peaceful right-wing demonstrators in Berkeley"

Seriously, an astute reader these days would think the masthead above such a headline would read, "Washington Times," not "Washington Post."

After months of talking and writing about the major political media shrugging their collective shoulders when confronted by the violent political left in this country, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see the L.A. Times, Washington Post and even CNN presenting meaningful reports earlier this week on the violent "antifa" and "black bloc" instigating violence against peaceful conservative marchers, free-speech proponents and police.

Of course they attacked Nazis, too.

In Berkeley, it was a cancelled Saturday "Free Speech" event that first drew anger from the left.

This rally was organized by Japanese-American Joey Gibson, a free-speech advocate who quite publicly denounced Nazis, white supremacists and all kinds of racism.

In a Facebook event, for Saturday's rally, Gibson's statement reads:

"No extremists will be allowed in. No Nazis, Communist, KKK, Antifa, white supremacist, I.E., or white nationalists. This is an opportunity for moderate Americans to come in with opposing views. We will not allow the extremists to tear apart this country."

Ignoring this, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of San Francisco chose to spew lies, hatefully smearing the Patriot Prayer group as racist white supremacists. - More...
Monday PM - September 04, 2017

JOE GUZZARDI: A Labor Day Wish - More Jobs for Americans - Don't be deceived by media reporting about the jobs market. Economists like to say that the monthly data is encouraging or shows improvement. A lot of smoke is thrown out at the unsuspecting about seasonal adjustments, monthly revisions or weather-related declines that, when the jobs numbers are too miserable to overlook, is intended to distract.

For recent college graduates, laid off professionals and especially minority job seekers with no more than a high school diploma, finding meaningful employment, the type that will sustain a family, is tough sledding.

Start with the sobering fact that the United States' employers have manipulated their hiring patterns to eliminate full-time workers, and instead substitute part-timers. What was once a full-time position is now part-time.

Recently, friends and I were talking about our children and grandchildren's job prospects. Each of us recalled that our first post-college jobs were full-time, with generous health care benefits, paid vacations and pension plans - unheard of today.

Wall Street analysts play down the part-time angle. To hear them tell it, Americans seek out the flexibility, or enjoy working at home. That may be true in some cases, but ask those flexibility-seekers if they'd rather have time away from the office to live a more balanced life, as the claim goes, or to have comprehensive medical insurance, and an income substantial enough to save a few bucks. The resounding answer: "I'll take 9-5."

Given the good jobs shortage, and decades-old wage stagnation, Congress should use every tool it has to put Americans back to work. Translated: pass mandatory E-Verify that will assure that increasingly scarce U.S. jobs are held either by citizens or legal residents. Congress has kicked around E-Verify legislation for two decades while the Pew Research Center estimates that about eight million illegally present workers hold non-farm jobs in manufacturing, administration and retail. - More...
Monday PM - September 04, 2017