SitNews - Stories in the News - Ketchikan, Alaska

Viewpoints: Letters / Opinions

Re-elect Governor Parnell

By William Hopkins

 

October 27, 2014
Monday PM


In 2009 the previous administration removed the Kennicott from service two weeks of every month, crippling service to Yakutat and to the westward run along the Alaska Peninsula to Dutch Harbor.

One of Governor Parnell s first acts as governor was to fly to Dutch Harbor and gauge the situation for himself. He returned to Juneau and ordered this badly needed service to Yakutat and Dutch Harbor to resume.

Governor Parnell was decisive, and his response was immediate.

Following years of hard work on our Governor s part, he has just given Ketchikan its best economic news in a decade by securing contracts with Vigor Alaska to construct two new ferries here.

By putting more money into the AMHS Vessel Replacement Fund so these new vessels can be built without Federal funds, Governor Parnell ensured that the bids did not go out to a national bidding process, thereby securing the project for Ketchikan.

At his direction design work is well underway on a replacement vessel for the M/V Tustumena in Southwest Alaska, with Ketchikan likely playing a leading role for this project as well.

Our Governor authorized a land swap with Vigor so the shipyard could expand, he has assured AMHS headquarters will remain in Ketchikan and has authorized the state to enter into an innovative cooperative design-build agreement with Vigor.

What Governor Parnell has done for Ketchikan, he has done for other communities in our large State, helping them economically, growing jobs and skills. Governor Parnell has supported education and vocational training, mining, an LNG gas pipeline project that is well on the road to achieving reality, hydro-electric power projects, stabilizing State pension plans and the State budget, and encouraging oil exploration and development in order to stem the decline in oil production and increase State revenue.

These things don't happen overnight, but with a good hand at the helm, they will happen. Governor Parnell s quiet, no-nonsense, common-sense approach deserves our vote. He has worked hard for Alaska and will continue doing so.

William M. Hopkins
Ketchikan, Alaska

About: "Long-time resident and retired Master, Alaska Marine Highway System"

Received October 27, 2014 - Published October 27, 2014

 

 

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