Ketchikan: Hospital launches two construction projects - Construction on Ketchikan General Hospital's (KGH) new Women's Diagnostic Imaging Suite began on Monday, November 6th with the arrival of supplies, equipment, and a set-up crew from Dawson Construction. Although there may be occasional extra noise, disruption resulting from this project is expected to be very minimal. A careful timeline has been developed for phasing the construction so that patient services will not be interrupted.

The suite will not add to the footprint of the hospital. Rather it is a re-configuration of existing space to allow for the grouping of diagnostic services used by women. Care was taken to design the space for increased privacy and comfort. Mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, computer-aided detection, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and bone density scanning are the services included in the suite. Along with the reconfiguration, new state-of-the-art bone densitometry and ultrasound equipment replace older models. Computer-aided detection, used in every mammogram, is a brand new technology for KGH.

Men and children benefit from the new equipment as well, but will use separate entrances to maintain privacy. The ultrasound in particular will provide increased diagnostic capabilities for cardiac, abdominal and vascular conditions. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Alaska: Humpback Whale Dies After Being Netted During Test Fishery - A humpback whale accidentally became entangled in a net last Thursday while an Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) crew was conducting a test fishery for herring in Prince William Sound. Despite the crew's attempts to free the whale, it did not survive. Denby Lloyd, Director of the Division of Commercial Fisheries in ADF&G, said the department regrets the incident. "This is the kind of terribly unfortunate accident that saddens all of us," he said. "I know the boat's crew did everything they could to save the whale."

The incident occurred in Sawmill Bay, near Chenega, where the Fish and Game research vessel Solstice was using a purse seine to sample herring concentrations. While closing the seine at about 7:00 pm Thursday, the crew noticed that a whale had become entangled in the net. They immediately stopped pulling the net in, and began extensive efforts to free the animal. Crewmembers cut the net, cut lines and let loose as much mesh and line as possible. Tragically, after more than half an hour of effort, it became clear that the whale was dead. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

All City Halloween Party Again a Hit Story By SAMANTHA SIZEMORE

Ketchikan: All City Halloween Party Again a Hit By SAMANTHA SIZEMORE - The 2006 All City Halloween Party recently held at the Plaza was simply Spooktacular!

Lisa and Arlindo Machado have organized the All City Halloween Party since 1989 and find that some of the parents who attended this year's halloween party with their children also enjoyed the same festivities organized by the Machados when they too were children.

The All City Halloween Party is not only fun for kids, the event provides a safe environment and allows parents the opportunity to relax and enjoy Halloween night with their children in a warm and dry environment. Often as many as 3,000 children have attended the All City Halloween Party enjoying the treats and fun. This year's event pulled in at least that many participants again.

Weeks before the party, the space once occupied by Jay Jacobs at the Plaza had its windows blackened out and a secretive operation began to take place behind the mysterious black plastic. The secretive operation taking place was the creation of an accursed pirate ship, which when unveiled delighted Ketchikan's pirate fans. The Machados worked many hours constructing the ship's great mast which reached to the ceiling. A menacing skeleton stood at the ship's wheel and there were pirate doubloons a plenty spread amongst the doomed ship to please the wee ones. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

After 50 Years, The Shamrock's Luck Finally Ran Out A feature story By DAVE KIFFER

Ketchikan: After 50 Years, The Shamrock's Luck Finally Ran Out A feature story By DAVE KIFFER -  Taxes helped spell the death of one Ketchikan's most infamous watering holes in the early 1980s, but not without a little a help from undercover cops, religious leaders and a "Modern Day Queen of the Nile."

The Shamrock Bar had a nearly 50 year history in the First City, most of it uncontroversial.

The bar began operating openly in the mid 1930s after the repeal of prohibition, but likely had been a Stedman Street speakeasy in earlier years. By the late 1960s, though, it was faced with economic problems.

The fishing industry which had supported the bar (at one point it had a sign over the doorway noting that "The World's Greatest Fishermen" were its patrons) for many years was on the wane, particularly in the Thomas Basin area as much of the fleet was relocating to the expanding Bar Harbor area.

The timber industry was growing, but it seemed that many of the timber "tramps" who came to town on the weekends and for breaks favored the bars along Front Street and elsewhere in town. The bars along Stedman Street were finding it harder to make a go of it.

The Shamrock needed an "attraction" to compete with nearly 30 other bars in the community. It decided to hire strippers, or exotic dancers as they were called.

The change was immediate as the Shamrock went from being a quiet fisherman's bar to a more raucous "party" establishment. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Rosa Mergenthal Photo courtesy KGH

Ketchikan: Hospital announces scholarship recipient - Ketchikan General Hospital (KGH) has awarded the 2006 Joseph A. Shields Jr. Memorial Scholarship to Rosa Mergenthal. The scholarship is designed for students who are at least two years beyond high school, and are enrolled in or accepted to a health care program of study.

Rosa Mergenthal has been systematically working towards her ultimate goal of becoming an OB/Gyn physician. To do this she initially obtained her certification as a nurse's aide (C.N.A.) and has been working in that capacity in KGH's medical/surgical unit. She also became state-certified as a Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and has volunteered for two years with the Petersburg Fire/EMS department.

Mergenthal's next goal is to become a Registered Nurse "I decided to become a Registered Nurse first so that I can pay my way through medical school," Mergenthal said, "while gaining invaluable experience and still helping others." In December 2005 she graduated from her Certificate in Pre-Nursing Qualifications (CPNQ), accomplishing the entire program through distance learning. She plans to live and work in Alaska as an RN after graduating. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Basic Rules Airport lot parking fee By Ty Walker - Wednesday Re: Deviousness, deception and consolidation By Debby Otte - Wednesday Alaskans Investing in Alaska By Jerilyn Lester - Wednesday Our land By Rick Watson - Wednesday Re: Consolidation Voter Fraud By Ken Bylund - Wednesday Happy Living In Ketchikan By Mike Graham - Wednesday It is time for Alaskans to invest in Alaska's future. By Patrick Jirschele - Monday Let's make a Deal By Rodney Dial - Monday Deviousness, deception and consolidation By Bill Thomas Sr. - Monday It's about money and control. By Myrna Gardner - Monday All-volunteer 'Greatest Generation' By Sen. Ted Stevens - Monday Re: This Can Not Be Happening By Robin Anderson - Monday Here's a New Idea By Marie Monyak - Monday Open Letter to the President By Mike Jones - Monday RE: Ketchikan's High Gas Prices By Floyd Crocker - Monday RE: The value of Sealaska stock is not monetary By Don Hoff Jr. - Monday We need a Governor for the people. Not a governor for the party! by Edward Brown - Monday Waiting an Hour in Traffic By Charlotte Tanner - Monday Veterans Day By Jerry Cegelske - Friday AM Consolidation By Al Johnson - Thursday PM This Cannot Be Happening! By Valerie Cooper - Thursday PM Ketchikan's High Gas Prices By Kelly Needham - Thursday PM Re: Consolidation Voter Fraud By Dave Kiffer - Wednesday PM RE: COMMON SENSE OR STUPIDITY By Cathy Geer - Wednesday PM Re: Upsetting Halloween Experience By Suzan Thompson - Wednesday PM A Sea Of Blue Across America By Ken Levy - Wednesday PM Civilized? Hate; Greed: And Fear By Steven McLaren - Wednesday PM Hate, Greed and Bush invades Canada By Ken Lewis - Wednesday PM The Piers to Nowhere By Samuel Bergeron - Tuesday AM Consolidation: We All Owe Thanks To Rodney Dial By Dave Person - Tuesday AM Upsetting Halloween Experience By Amy Schmitt - Tuesday AM Voting for the best candidate: Tony Knowles By Michael Spence - Tuesday AM Consolidation Ballot Due By Nov. 21st By Cheryl Henley - Tuesday AM Knowles for Governor By Marty West - Tuesday AM Majority Whip; Does it Really Matter? By Virginia E. Atkinson - Tuesday AM COMMON SENSE OR STUPIDITY By Marie L. Monyak - Tuesday AM Desecration Bridge By Don Hoff Jr. - Tuesday AM Why John Kerry Still Matters! By Robert Freedland - Tuesday AM Pro Knowles By Dave Kiffer - Tuesday AM Heeeere's Tony! By Chris Elliott - Tuesday AM Admiration & Support for US Armed Forces -- from a Veteran By Ronald Lee Lamb - Tuesday AM Time to vote again By Robert McRoberts - Tuesday AM RE: The Real Problem with Families By Janelle Hamilton - Tuesday AM RE: John Kerry By Ben Rosenfeld - Tuesday AM Something fishy in Palin mailer By Kate Sangster - Tuesday AM Power corrupts but this is rediculous! By Mark Neckameyer - Tuesday AM Reponse to Hate, Greed and Fear By Alan Miller - Tuesday AM Revilla Road Trashed By William C Thomas - Tuesday AM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Ketchikan Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Today's Forecast Satellite Today's Weather Images Marine Forecasts Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map CLASSIFIEDS Auto-post your ad in the proper category, or email your ad & photos to ads@sitnews.us  CLASSIFIEDS' CATEGORIES Announcements For Sale / Free Stuff Garage Sales Homes / Apts/ Property Pets Wanted Lost & Found Local Services SitNews Archives November 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     More Front Page Archives

Parnassus Book Review: The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake by Samuel Bawlf Book Review by MARY GUSS - Ever since sixth grade geography, the tales of the early circumnavigators of the globe have grabbed and held our attention. Their stories are as exciting and unlikely as any fiction that could have been written about the times. Of course we remember that Magellan was the first to sail around - inconveniently getting himself killed before returning home to Portugal by meddling in local politics in the south seas. The second circumnavigator, and a much more likable character, was Sir Francis Drake. He spent three years making his voyage around the globe and did it in a vessel that was not much larger than today's salmon seiners. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on Words - Ribosomes may make my bones, but words are just as much me.

Steven Pinker's fascinating book - The Language Instinct - didn't say it in so many words, but I think this aphorism succinctly expresses his expert perspective on "how the mind creates language".

First published in 1994, by William Morrow and Co., when Pinker was a Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT, this absorbing book is now in print as a Perrennial Classic from HarperCollins Publishers. Pinker himself is now at Harvard.

Smart small companies often get bought out by richer bigger ones. And creative scientists are known to occasionally migrate to greener pastures. Still, some things never change. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Dale McFeatters: Lame duck Congress should get quacking - A good reason for voters to turn as they did on the old Congress is that it didn't work very much or very hard when it did. As a result, the lawmakers returned Monday to face a ton of unfinished business. A gracious ending to an otherwise sour session would be to finish it.

A strong focus on the task at hand is probably too much to expect. However, Democrats likely will be preoccupied with planning for their takeover in January, and the Republicans probably don't much care anymore.

Lame duck sessions are notoriously inefficient, and this Congress, still in Republican hands until the end of the year, is led by two lame ducks, Speaker Dennis Hastert who is leaving the House leadership and Sen. Bill Frist who is leaving the Senate altogether.

Bush left Tuesday for an Asian economic conference and it would be a useful gesture of support for the president, who, let us not forget, is still in charge of U.S. foreign policy for the next two years, if Congress passed a pending bill normalizing trade relations with Vietnam and a civil nuclear treaty with India. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

John Hall: Pullout or bloodbath? - Scarcely 10 days have passed since the stunning rebuff to the administration's Iraq policy, and second thoughts have begun appearing about the American troop withdrawal that voters had uppermost in mind.

The Baker-Hamilton study group goes to the White House and does a teleconference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Then it begins working on the Iraq policy plan it will present by the end of the year.

All the way from down under, Australian Prime Minister John Howard gets the drift, mate. He predicts the study group won't recommend rapid U.S. withdrawal.

What about the new Democratic Congress?

Many Democrats are now promising to work towards a fast exit when they take control next year, including Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the incoming Armed Services Committee chairman. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Bob Ciminel: The Wrath of Alice - My first clue was when she fired our lawn crew. It made no sense; for the past year she's been saying how nice the yard looks. Why did she fire them? She said she wasn't sure the Hispanic workers were in this country legally. They didn't speak English; the lawn service company would not confirm or deny their status. So Alice fired them. I told her she could start mowing, edging, and trimming because I didn't care if they snorkeled across the Rio Grande with a broken Tequila bottle in their mouths as long the yard looked good and I didn't have to do it!

My next clue was when she said she was going to start using a different carwash. That also made no sense because she had looked long and hard for a carwash that would hand-wash her convertible. I would have just run it through the nearest carwash and sued them if they damaged the top. I don't think there is any pollutant in a carwash that is worse than the crap her convertible top is exposed to just driving around Metro Atlanta. But she changed carwashes. When I asked her why, she said the carwash had four Hispanic workers; two had green cards and the other two had social security numbers. She said the social security numbers could be faked, and the owner, who is a naturalized citizen, said he didn't care; he wasn't a policeman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. So she bid him a pleasant farewell and found another carwash. - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006

Steve Brewer: Rebates: Get them if you can - News Item: Lawmakers in New Jersey consider a ban on mail-in rebates for consumer products. Connecticut and Rhode Island have similar laws, which require stores to pay rebates at the time of purchase. Experts estimate that 40 percent of rebates are never redeemed because they're too complicated. This saves manufacturers billions of dollars per year.

Thank you for purchasing the new Widget 4000. You'll find the Widget 4000 is a super product that meets all your widget needs. Best of all, you save $100 with this simple mail-in rebate!

To redeem, you'll need the original sales receipt, your credit card receipt and the UPC bar code from the product. The UPC code is printed on a label attached to the product box with Super Glue. Cut the label off, cardboard and all, with a razor blade. (For safety reasons, we cannot process rebate requests that have blood on them.) - More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006