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Friday
December 14, 2012
Red Skies in the Morning ...
Sailors take warning.
Ketchikan's red skies Wednesday morning.
Front Page Photograph by WESTON DAVIS ©2012
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Ketchikan:
DOT Transfers Ketchikan Marine Facilities to AIDEA - The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) finalized the transfer of the Ketchikan marine engineering offices and warehouse to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) Monday in Ketchikan, Alaska.
The Alaska Department of Transportation ceremoniously transferred the 2.5 acre property located next to Alaska Ship and Drydock (ASD) to provide for expansion of Ketchikan’s marine industrial capacity.
The transfer follows the successful remodeling of the old veneer mill in Ward Cove for the new Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) Marine Engineering Building and Warehouse. In 2011, Governor Parnell sponsored the appropriation of $3.4 million to allow the transfer of the properties.
“The remodeling of the old veneer mill building was managed extremely well and was completed within budget,” said ADOT&PF Deputy Commissioner for Marine Operations, Michael Neussl. “We are very pleased with the result.” - More...
Friday AM - December 14, 2012
Alaska: Delegation to Commerce: Observer Program Unfair to Alaska Fishermen -
Small vessels in Alaska’s fishing fleet are being subjected to an expensive and poorly devised program for monitoring their take of groundfish and a delay in implementation is needed, according to a letter sent by Alaska’s Congressional delegation this week to Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank of the Department of Commerce.
NOAA Fisheries will implement the new fisheries observer program for Alaska's commercial groundfish and halibut fisheries beginning January 1, 2013. The final rule filed in the Federal Register on November 20, 2012 - applies to vessels and processors of all sizes, including the commercial halibut sector. It divides the existing observer program into two observer coverage categories - full coverage and partial coverage.
Alaska’s Congressional delegation's letter outlined issues with what is known as the observer program. Plans to implement the program were recently published as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Final Rule for an amendment to the Fishery Management Plan for groundfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area. A similar amendment applies to Gulf of Alaska groundfish.
While fishermen support the collection of scientific data to better manage the runs, the restructured observer plan drew protests from fishermen from Ketchikan to Kodiak, mainly due to the high cost of the program and the lack of a less expensive option to use video monitoring as an alternative. - More...
Friday AM - December 14, 2012
Alaska: Final sacred sites report released by USDA Secretary –Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has released a report calling for the United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service to work more closely with tribal governments in the protection, respectful interpretation and appropriate access to Indian sacred sites.
The report recommends steps the Forest Service should take to strengthen the partnerships between the agency, tribal governments, and American Indian and Alaska Native communities to help preserve America's rich native traditions.
"American Indian and Alaska Native values and culture have made our nation rich in spirit and deserve to be honored and respected," Vilsack said. "By honoring and protecting sacred sites on national forests and grasslands, we foster improved tribal relationships and a better understanding of native people's deep reverence for natural resources and contributions to society."
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Sacred sites are currently defined by Executive Order 13007 signed in 1996, which focuses on specific sites and Indian religion. The report recommends that the department take a broader view by also considering cultural and landscape perspectives. - More...
Friday AM - December 14, 2012
Alaska: Alaska Flight Services To Receive Back Payments Owed by Interior Department - Alaska aviation providers will finally be receiving back payments from the federal government after Sen. Mark Begich intervened with the Department of the Interior on their behalf.
In a letter to Begich from DOI Secretary Ken Salazar, Salazar said the department was taking “aggressive steps to pay vendors on an emergency basis.” Salazar’s comments came in response to a letter Begich wrote in late October excoriating the department for the fact that dozens of small Alaska aviation businesses hadn’t been paid for flights taken by federal workers. In some cases, businesses were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back payment.
“More than anything, this was a technical issue and an example of gummed-up bureaucracy,” Begich said. “But nonetheless, small businesses were falling dangerously behind through no fault of their own.”
Salazar pointed to a transition to a new payment system as the source of the problem and said that as of November 27, 47 Alaska invoices totaling $219,899 have been paid. Salazar also pledged to work with Alaska aviation vendors to ease the data entry process associated with submitting invoices in response to complaints lodged by several Alaska businesses. - More...
Friday AM - December 14, 2012
Southeast Alaska: Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises launches new ship & new itinerary in 2013 - The 2013 cruise season will see the expansion of Alaskan Dream Cruises, the two-year-old Native-owned small-ship cruise line based in Sitka.
Building on the company’s passenger growth last season, Alaskan Dream Cruises will introduce a new vessel, the Baranof Dream, and a new 11-day itinerary with three departures in summer 2013.
The 62-passenger Baranof Dream will sail on the new 11-day itinerary, “Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Explorer,” which is an expanded version of the eight-day “Alaska’s Glacier Bay and Island Adventure.” Responding to enthusiastic guest feedback, the company added three days for more sightseeing, wildlife viewing opportunities and coastal explorations by personal watercraft.
The itinerary features two additional days exploring eastern Chichagof Island near Point Adolphus and eastern Baranof Island near Red Bluff Bay. These “Captain’s Choice” days allow the ship’s captain to guide guests to favorite scenic locations and marine wildlife viewing spots. Departures on May 23, June 30 and Aug. 24 will sail round-trip from Sitka, calling at Juneau, the company’s exclusive Orca Point Lodge and Hobart Bay destinations, Skagway, Petersburg and Kake. Rates start from $2,699. - More...
Friday AM - December 14, 2012
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Alaska: Oldest known circumpolar umiak discovered - The remains of an umiak discovered among a recent acquisition at the University of Alaska Museum of the North have been dated at 1,000 years old, the oldest skin boat assembly in the circumpolar North.
One of the umiak pieces is embellished with three oval ivory inlays held in place with small ivory pins. Jenya Anichenko says they were probably decorative or significant.
Photo courtesy University of Alaska Museum of the North
Anchorage Museum researcher Jenya Anichenko identified the pieces during a trip to Fairbanks earlier this year to work with the Birnirk collection as part of her research on circumpolar open skin boats.
“Skin boats persevere in the archaeological record, but usually as unrelated fragments of the frame,” Anichenko said. “Skin boat assemblages are extremely rare in the circumpolar archaeological record. These pieces are unique because they all belong to the same boat and are 400 years older than what we’ve seen so far.”
The importance of the Birnirk archaeological site near Barrow was immediately recognized when it was discovered in the 1930s, but a full analysis was never published. The site was first excavated by James Ford of the United States National Museum and later by a Harvard University expedition directed by Wilbert Carter. Several boat finds were mentioned in Ford’s publication, but Anichenko wanted to learn more.
“Skin boats, umiaks in particular, have always been important for the Inupiaq people,” she said. “Boats were the most technologically advanced devices in all of the indigenous arctic societies. Umiaks contain a wealth of meanings, from arctic seafaring and subsistence to social organization and spirituality. These wooden fragments are a Da Vinci code of the arctic past.”
Working with these fragments is similar to forensic research, she said. “You are attempting to understand thousands of years of technical evolution on the basis of one piece of the puzzle.” - More...
Friday AM - December 14, 2012
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 Price of Gas: What's going on? By
Karen Ramsey -
Good people of Ketchikan, we are still getting squeezed for $4.31 a gallon for Safeway’s gasoline and $4.33 out at Ward Cove Market. What gives? It’s ridiculous!!! I just spent a week in Hawaii, and nowhere did I see the price for regular higher than $4.00 a gallon. We need to make some noise. - More...
Monday PM - December 10, 2012
Ketchikan's gas prices & taxes By
John Goucher -
I recently visited Ketchikan for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Ketchikan was where I hung my hat for over 30 years and both of my daughters and my fiancee still call Ketchikan home. Living in Oregon this past year and visiting Ketchikan as often as possible has made me cogitate on many things in Ketchikan that folks have come to expect. Large utility bills, high food prices, multitudes of "Fees" and taxes by both the City and Borough and of course outrageous gasoline prices. - More...
Monday PM - December 10, 2012
Potential hydro power from B.C.Canada By
A.M.Johnson - With the announcement, regarding the City of Ketchikan bringing the diesel power on to the system to counteract the lack of near future water supply for hydro generation, the following may be timely to ask you to print in your valuable community news paper. - More...
Monday PM - December 10, 2012
JUDGMENT, A COMMODITY OUR 4-STAR TYPES CLEARLY LACK By David G. Hanger -
The most disturbing aspect of this Petraeus mess is the incredible lack of judgment demonstrated by these four-star generals in their association with Jill Kelley, her husband and Jill’s twin sister. Party animals and grifters in all but name, these are not the kind of people with whom we should ever expect close association from generals controlling the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans in uniform. Purportedly educated in the most rigid of honor systems to inculcate in these future commanders the discipline, the dignity and the integrity requisite to expending American lives in pursuit of a purpose, their most personal associations are corrupted by the freaks they are hanging out with, all for the glitz of sex or party favors. - More...
Monday PM - December 10, 2012
Freezing water By
Alan R.McGillvray -
Well the cold has begun to snap again, and I thought it would be an opportune moment to remind people that it's time to turn on the cold water on your faucets to keep the water line from freezing up. If you use a cistern to supply the house with water, it can be problematic. - More...
Monday PM - December 10, 2012
Budget Cuts By
A.M. Johnson -
President Obama ordered the cabinet to cut $100,000,000.00 ($100 million) from the $3,500,000,000,000.00 ($3.5 trillion) federal budget. I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same thing with my personal budget. I spend about $2,000 a month on groceries, household expenses, medicine, utilities, etc., but it's time to get out the budget cutting axe, go through my expenses, and cut back. - More...
Monday PM - December 10, 2012
Deposit for services By
Gladys Natkong -
I have been in Alaska since 1989, I came back to Alaska to be with my mother who was sick, I decided to stay after she passed. So I am from Alaska and don't have any plans to move. I am wondering if what happened to me has ever happened to anyone else. I can't remember even getting my lights hooked up, it was so long ago, but I remember that I did put up a deposit. I think I eventually got it back. I usually pay my bills before I do anything, but I was caught up in a family matter and when I checked my bank account I saw that I hadn't paid my light bill. Then a man from the Ketchikan light company came to the door and said that he was there to shut off the lights and that I better call the office. I called the office and the lady in charge of credit said that I had to pay my bill in full and pay a $395.00 deposit by Friday (It was Tuesday) to keep my lights on. I tried to explain that I forgot because of family emergencies and she asked if I got energy assistance and I said yes. She said get them to pay it. The total amount that the light company wanted was $695.00. I told her that my disability check couldn't even pay that. - More...
Thursday PM - December 06, 2012
Lisa Murkowski and the United Nations By
Marvin Seibert -
Recently the Senate voted to reject the UN treaty for disabled rights in a 61-38 vote, 5 shy of passing. On the surface this sounds like a very Callous vote by the Senate Republicans. The truth however lies in the details! If this vote would have passed then the U.N. would create new abortion rights and impede the ability of people to home-school disabled children just to start with. The treaty would infringe on U.S. sovereignty, an argument echoed by other opponents. - More...
Thursday PM - December 06, 2012
Filipino Community of Ketchikan's New President By
Joey Garcia -
The Filipino Community of Ketchikan recently has turned the gavel to a newly elected President Alex Millendez. His prowess in getting the group together will enhance a plan for the 2013 agenda that will entail lots of camaraderie within the membership group. - More...
Thursday PM - December 06, 2012
Re: Property Taxes By
John Harrington -
Mike Fay was stunned last year when he got his tax bill for a waterfront home valued at over $170,000. Why? He had to pay almost $1000. He complains that there are no schools, way up there. That is true, also there are no students; but nonetheless the State of Alaska requires the Borough to pay almost $500 toward funding schools for his property. And the Borough pays every cent of his taxes to support schools, and then some. - More...
Monday PM - December 03, 2012
Re: The girl who gave up By
Kathy Stack -
I want to thank you for your story Jordan. I have a hole in my heart due to a brother commiting suicide in 1990. I think your story will help others and I want you to know I appreciate you for writing and publishing it. - More...
Monday PM - December 03, 2012
King Island Christmas By
Jacquie O'Sullivan -
I just returned from the Ketchikan Community Choir's performance of King Island Christmas. It was outstanding. They all did a terrific job putting it on. Singing was terrific, settings and artwork were great and the story is uplifting and fun for all ages. - More...
Monday PM - December 03, 2012
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