November 23, 2006
Thursday PM

I just wanted to take a minute to publically thank the owners of First City Electric for continuing to make the side of their building available for politicians and causes of all stripes to use as a community billboard.

I also wanted to speak out against those who question the building owners' right to do so or who complain about the signs that they disagree with.

And that includes those state officials who persist in occasionally trying to enforce the state highway right of way signage code which was put in place for state highways between cities, not those that run right through the middle of them, as Tongass-Water-Front-Mill-Stedman does.

One final thought on the consolidation election which just concluded. Regardless of one's opinion or the outcome, as a resident of Ketchikan I am ashamed that some members of this community "personalized" the issue enough to attack the motives of the members of the consolidation commission.

The voters of Ketchikan voted three years ago to create a commission to come up with a plan and several community members were then elected by the public to serve on that commission. They met weekly - for free - for many months on the proposal that went before the voters and held numerous public meetings that - frankly - were attended by almost no members of the public.

You can debate whether the plan was the right one or not, but to contend that the commission was some sort of secret little "cabal" meeting behind closed doors to foist its "evil" plan on the unsuspecting poplace is both untrue and unfair. The commission members did the job that the voters asked them to do, plain and simple.

Even though I voted against the plan, I want to thank the commission members for their hard work and their community service. I also want to thank the people who voted on the issue despite the electoral "roadblocks" the state put in their way.

Dave Kiffer
Ketchikan, Alaska

Received November 22, 2006 - Published November 23, 2006

 

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