Ketchikan: Ketchikan's State Parks, Community Participation Needed By MARIE L. MONYAK - The cold temperature this past Friday may have kept some people from attending the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center's Friday Night Insight Program on "Our State Parks by the Ketchikan Advisory Board." There were many little known facts about our State Parks presented and a plea for support from the Advisory Board.

When asked, what is the single most important thing you want the people of Ketchikan to know, Jim Shoemaker, the Advisory Board Director said, "We want people to know that this is their park system and what we put in is what we get out and we really need the participation of the community to communicate [to the legislature] that we appreciate our State Parks but there are improvements and deferred maintenance issues that must be addressed if we are going to be viable." - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Lindy Parsons and Kimberly Stone are winners of Sam Pitcher Music Scholarships for 2006.

Ketchikan: Parsons & Stone Winners of Sam Pitcher Music Scholarships - Lindy Parsons and Kimberly Stone are winners of Sam Pitcher Music Scholarships for 2006. They have each been awarded $500 scholarships to attend summer music programs. The decision was made by the Sam Pitcher Memorial Fund Advisory Committee and announced at the Saturday morning rehearsal of the McPherson's Soundwaves Jazz Club. Both girls play trumpet and french horn in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble and Pep Band at Kayhi as well as McPherson's Windjammers and Soundwaves Jazz clubs and the Community Concert Band.

Lindy has been playing trumpet for over 4 years and french horn for over 3 years. She is a freshman at Kayhi with a 4.0 GPA. She plans to use this scholarship to attend either the Marrowstone Summer Music Camp in Bellingham, WA or the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. By attending one of these programs, Lindy hopes to improve her ability on both instruments as well as getting private lessons on french horn. Lindy was selected to play with the Southeast Alaska Honor Band this year and recently was selected as Student of the Week at Kayhi. She has also played with the orchestra for First City Players' Camelot and Peter Pan musicals. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Ketchikan: Scholarship Applications Being Accepted - Fall 2006 scholarship applications are open for a number of UAS Ketchikan and other local scholarships. Many of the scholarships are open to applicants interested in attending college in Ketchikan. Some applications apply to other campuses around Alaska as well as for students interested in vocational education. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: Nuclear power dilemma for Bush in India By JAMES STERNGOLD - President Bush goes to India this week on a mission to forge an ever closer alliance with the burgeoning South Asian power, but some members of Congress and experts say the price of building the relationship may prove too high.

Perhaps the most important - and controversial - part of the president's trip is an effort to conclude a groundbreaking agreement that would, for the first time, permit U.S. companies to sell civilian nuclear power reactors and technology to India, whose booming economy is starved for energy. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

National: Senate getting serious on immigration By MICHAEL DOYLE - Now the Senate is getting serious about immigration.

With immigration bills already flying left and right, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has unveiled his own comprehensive reform proposal. It's a big bundle, spanning 305 pages and covering everything from border fences to guest workers.

"There's a little something for everyone," Tamar Jacoby of the conservative Manhattan Institute said in an interview, "but there's also something here that's going to be a deal-killer for everyone." - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

National: Border wall's merits for war on terror are debatable By MATTHEW B. STANNARD - If a migrant worker with a backpack can stroll across the U.S.-Mexico border undetected, what is to keep a terrorist with a suitcase-sized nuclear weapon from doing the very same thing?

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, that question has occurred to hundreds of American policymakers, politicians and residents of border regions. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

International: Wanted fortune teller a step ahead of police By HAYLEY MICK - She is a fortune teller who reels in the broken-hearted with talk of evil spells and promises of rekindled romance. Then, police say, she takes their money and disappears.

Last month, Sophie Evon, 76, pulled her best vanishing act on the Canadian authorities. She skipped town just before she was to be extradited to the United States from Toronto to face first-degree fraud charges for allegedly defrauding a heartbroken Seattle woman of $220,000. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

National: Nutrient content in veggies declines amid bigger yields By LANCE GAY - In spite of what Mother taught you about the benefits of eating broccoli, data collected by the federal government shows that the nutritional content of America's vegetables and fruits has declined over the last 50 years - in some cases dramatically.

Donald Davis, a biochemist at the University of Texas in Austin, said that of 13 major nutrients in fruits and vegetables tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1950 to 1999, six showed noticeable declines. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Fish Factor: Growing crops of king crab? By LAINE WELCH- Can crops of king crab be grown in Alaska? That question will be tackled by the world's foremost crab scientists when they gather next month in Kodiak.

Researchers from Japan, Norway, Russia, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Maine and the Chesapeake Bay will join with Alaska's leading scientists for three days to share gaps and gains in knowledge about crab enhancement, a process well underway in several countries. Japanese scientists, for example, began cultivating red king crab in the 1960s. A commercial stock enhancement facility currently exists at Hokkaido, and more are planned in Russia and Norway. While similar techniques and approaches are being used worldwide, crab scientists rarely have the opportunity to collaborate with each other because of the distances between research centers. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Public Employees and Teachers Retirement Systems by Rep. John Harris & Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch - Monday PM Keep school doors open By Charles Edwardson - Monday PM Historic Preservation of Newtown By Dave Rubin - Monday PM Possible closing of KEC By Neil Gray - Monday PM Good News On The Move. By George Miller - Monday PM A unique idea By Ken Kirschenman - Monday PM Wasting Money By Robert McRoberts - Monday PM Keep those school doors open By Linda Koons Auger - Sunday PM Permanent fund issues By Gregg Erickson - Sunday PM American Ports By Martha Leftwich - Sunday PM Young By Peg Travis - Sunday PM Stand up for our Cops By Licha Kelley-King - Saturday Border crossing By Hunter Davis - Saturday Alaska Clearing House By Don Hoff Jr. - Saturday A million choices wouldn't fix the problem By Dinah Pearson - Saturday To flee evil temptations... By Rob Holston - Saturday Moving the southern terminus By Neil Gray - Saturday Background checks By Virginia E. Atkinson - Saturday Exterior light for emergencies By Jerry Cegelske - Thursday PM Moving Marine Highway Southern Terminus Foolish By Doug Barry - Thursday PM Progress is the keyword By Frances C. Natkong - Thursday PM Get Involved By Bill Thomas Sr. - Thursday PM Drug Abuse Among the Youth By Libby Johnson - Thursday PM It begins with the family By Sandra Rusin McCray - Thursday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan March 01, 2006, Wednesday - 6:00 pm - Teleconferenced CONSTITUENT MEETING with SENATOR STEDMAN, REPRESENTATIVE ELKINS  & REPRESENTATIVE WILSON at the Ketchikan Legislative Information Office, 50 Front Street, Suite 203. Snacks will be served! - This is an informal teleconference for members of the community to discuss issues or concerns with local legislators.  Persons interested in attending may contact the LIO at 225-9675. March 01, 2006, Wednesday - Tongass School of Arts & Sciences begins enrollment for Fall 2006 school year. Enrolling Kindergarten - 6th grades. TSAS Information February Calendar Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements February 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S    30 31 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         Front Page Archives

Dave Kiffer: Of Flat Roofs and Pointed Heads - Earlier this year, I was mesmerized by the reflection of water as my flight home sailed over the First City.

No, not from the shimmering waves of Tongass Narrows. I was awe-struck by all the rooftop swimming pools in Ketchikan.

I know you're thinking that I've really gone wacky this time. Ketchikan is not some big city, filled with high rise hotels with rooftop health clubs and pools. The only time Ketchikan has multiple outdoor pools on display is when we've got a half-dozen cruise ships in port in the summer.

But I kid you not, the 2005 Great Fall Rain Festival had left a huge number of rooftop pools here in Our Fair Salmon City.

Okay, you can't swim in them. They are only a couple of inches deep (if you're lucky). And since they usually overlay a wee bit of the black roofing tar, they probably wouldn't offer the most "healthy" dip anyway.

But, that said, rooftop swimming pools do say a lot about a community.

Like why in the world would some place that gets so much rain have so many flat roofs, especially on our great public buildings? - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on the Money - I have been following George W.'s positions for some time now. They were known in 2000, and 2004, but I don't have a clue now.

Apparently, I am not alone. In the January 26th issue of Nature, an international team of scientists has concluded, from enormous amounts of data, that these positions cannot be known with the level of accuracy that is usually assumed for such forecasting. In fact, they presented hard evidence that the evolution of these positions was an unprecedented "ambivalent process".

This is not the result of disinformation being spread by George W.'s administration, nor by his political opponents. That can be ruled out, since they are all dead now.

No, you didn't miss a breaking story that will only appear in the next volume of the Almanac on the Potomac - about a string of vice-presidential mishaps. You see, I am not referring to George W. Bush. I have been referring to George Washington. And it is not his administrative policies that have been analyzed, but the reported positions, over a five-year period, of hundreds of thousands of U.S. currency dollar bills, which bear his portrait. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Bob Ciminel: Immigrants - The sign shown in the photo is located in the Chattahoochee River Park, administered by Fulton County and the City of Roswell, Georgia. The park is located on the west bank of the "Hooch" about four river miles above the Morgan Falls Dam. The park is home to a huge flock of Canadian Geese.

I took a photo of the sign because it is relatively new. The last time I visited the river park it was common for people, and particularly children, to feed the geese. A mile down river is another unit of the park. When I used to kayak on the river from that location, I saw a husband and wife come down every evening with a 50-pound bag of corn to feed the geese. As naïve as I was, I thought the park service paid them to feed the birds. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006

Rob Holston: TRANSIT TIME??? - "Hey Karl, what's your transit time?" If you ask this question of a hundred friends who live in or near a big city you will probably get an answer like "Oh, if I leave a half hour early to avoid the rush, I can get to work in 55 minutes, but it takes me an hour and a half to get home."

How about you? What is your TRANSIT time? And why is it important to you? EveryBODY on earth has a transit time. Hint, it has nothing to do with your daily commute but it has everything to do with what should be a daily event. Your transit time is the time it takes for any food you eat to transit the entire length of your GI tract and exit your body. Some of you may have guessed the right answer but how many of us actually know our transit time? What transit time is ideal, why is it important and how can we discover what ours is? - More...
Monday - February 27, 2006