March 16, 2010
Tuesday

As a resident of Edna Bay, one of the 3 communities most affected by this bill, the major reason that these bills are bad is that the lives of the residents of our 3 towns were not adequately taken into consideration. We residents of these towns are not hostile to Sealaska nor our native neighbors, we wish to see them live and prosper equally beside us.
Our towns will be cut-off from the now-public lands that we need to survive. We are not asking Sealaska to ignore their own survival, just to find another way that doesn t threaten ours. We depend on these lands, we cannot afford to travel to the lands that Sealaska is offering to swap in exchange. If these bills pass it will effectively be the end of any future for our communities. We want to be partners and friends with our Native neighbors. I beg Sealaska to please withdraw their support for these bills that are putting us at odds with each other and instead go back and begin crafting a better bill that gives Sealaska what it is entitled to without threatening our communities - otherwise I fear that this issue will divide Southeast Alaska along Native/Non-native lines; and that would be a future that benefits nobody.

Roger DiPaolo
Edna Bay, AK

About: "A resident of Edna Bay who has to be off island for work at the present time."

Received March 15, 2009 - Published March 16, 2010

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