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Thursday
March 27, 2014
Peacock Dancin' Begins
Spring is here and Waylon, one of several Ketchikan peacocks, is eager to fan all day long to impress the adorable peahens. Waylon is one of a bevy of 12 peafowl that have been living in Ketchikan for many years.
This photo was taken March 26th.
See your photo featured: Email it with a brief description to editor@sitnews.us
Front Page Photo By MARY KAUFFMAN © 2014
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Southeast Alaska: State Wins Tongass Roadless Rule Exemption Case By MARY KAUFFMAN - Wednesday the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the exemption of the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule. Yesterday''s ruling by the Court could open the door to more logging and road building in the Tongass, the largest national forest in the U.S. and home to approximately 70,000 people living in 32 communities, including Ketchikan.
In a 2-1 decision yesterday, the 9th Circuit reversed the decision of the district court, which had reinstated restrictions imposed in 2001 on unroaded areas of the 17 million acre national forest. In 2003, then Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration negotiated an exemption to the roadless rule for the Tongass to settle an Alaska lawsuit challenging the nationwide rule.
The 9th Circuit Court's opinion reversed the District Court’s 2011 decision that invalidated the Tongass exemption from the Roadless Rule. A Court in 2003 found the U.S. Department of Agriculture had articulated "a number of legitimate grounds" to temporarily exempt the Tongass, including the changes in economic predictions and the high socioeconomic costs in Alaska.
Coincidentally, a few hours after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the exemption of the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule, the Alaska Senate unanimously passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 (SCR 2), sponsored by Senator Bert Stedman (R-Sitka) which urges the U.S. Congress to act on a request by the Alaska governor to acquire additional state land in the Tongass National Forest. The resolution asks the governor to acquire land in the Tongass by purchase or negotiation or by seeking amendment to the Alaska Statehood Act. Approximately 5,500,000 acres of statehood entitlement land granted to Alaska by the federal government have not yet been conveyed.
In response to the news, Senator Stedman said, ““I’m extremely pleased to see the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals finally recognizes the seriousness of the impact the roadless rule has on local communities in the Tongass National Forest. There are 32 communities in the region and the roadless rule would have condemned these communities to continued isolation and the inability to access resources for economic development.”
In his speech on the Alaska Senate floor yesterday, Senator Stedman said, “the people in Southeast Alaska should have the ability to expand their communities and be self-sustaining. The lack of access to a commercially viable timber supply and the closure of the pulp mills resulted in the loss of roughly 30 percent of the economic base in my district.” SCR 2 now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Regarding the 9th Circuit Court's ruling yesterday Governor Sean Parnell said, “This is a huge victory for Alaskans and their families who depend on economic development in the Tongass.” He said, “Although this rule has already done irreparable harm to the timber industry and small communities in Southeast Alaska, this win will allow Alaskans to start building the industry back up. I will continue to aggressively stand up when federal agencies tread on Alaskans’ rights and Congress does not act.”
Alaska’s senior senator and the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in a prepared statement said, “Striking down the Tongass’ exemption to the roadless rule was a terrible decision when it was made more than two years ago,” Murkowski said. “The people of Southeast Alaska knew it, and so did the state, which is why they acted so quickly to file an appeal to that decision. I applaud the Ninth Circuit for righting that wrong today.”
“The 2011 ruling by the district court has already done its damage to the people in Southeast Alaska, who rely on the Tongass to help them put food on their tables,” Murkowski said. “The economy in those communities has suffered greatly since that ruling, so today’s decision by the Ninth Circuit is a welcome one. It’s just too bad it had to get to this point in the first place.” - More...
Thursday PM - March 27, 2014
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Ketchikan & Statewide: Juneau, Sitka and Kodiak Island are the healthiest communities in Alaska - A new report ranks Juneau, Sitka and Kodiak Island as the healthiest communities in Alaska, while western Alaska continues to have the poorest health outcomes, according to the fifth annual County Health Rankings, released this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI). The Rankings provide county-to-county comparisons within a state.
The Ketchikan Borough ranks 14th for overall health outcomes, which includes length of life and quality of life. And the Ketchikan Borough is 11th in overall rankings in health factors, which includes health behaviors, clinical care, social & economic factors, and physical environment.
Wrangell - Petersburg ranks 16th in overall health outcomes and 5th in overall health factors.
Prince of Wales - Outer Ketchikan ranks 17th in overall health outcomes and 18th in overall health factors.
According to the 2014 Rankings, the healthiest area in Alaska is Juneau, followed by Sitka, Kodiak Island Borough, Fairbanks North Star Borough and Southeast Fairbanks census area. The areas with the poorest health outcomes are the Bethel, Yukon-Koyukuk, Nome and Wade Hampton census areas, and the Northwest Arctic Borough. - More...
Thursday - March 27, 2014
Ketchikan: Viacom threatens Alaska TV providers - Alaska independent pay TV providers have banded together in negotiations with one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, Viacom. Represented by the National Cable Television Cooperative, KPU, GCI and MTA are among more than 700 small, independent pay TV operators that are at risk of losing Viacom’s networks due to stalled negotiations.
If a deal is not made by April 1, Viacom’s networks, including TV Land, Spike, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CMT and others, will be pulled from more than 5 million subscribers across the country. In Alaska, an estimated 130,000 subscribers would be affected statewide including KPU and GCI customers in Ketchikan.
“We’ve unified to fight for Alaskans and to work toward a fair, long-term agreement that keeps prices stable for our customers. While we are restricted from talking about specific rates, Viacom is demanding a rate that is 40 times the rate of inflation,” said Kim Simpson, KPU’s Division Manager of Sales and Marketing. Simpson compared it to the price of gas jumping overnight from $3.50 a gallon to $6. Simpson noted, “If we were to simply pass-through Viacom’s proposed price increases, we would have to raise every one of our customer’s TV bills by $100 per year just in the first year alone”. - More....
Thursday - March 27, 2014 |
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Alaska Science: The 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake & Tsunami; It was the largest U.S. earthquake ever recorded, and a turning point in earth science. By JESSICA ROBERTSON, EMILY ROLANDß, PETER HAEUSSLER - It’s March 27, 1964 in southern Alaska. At 5:36 pm, powerful ground shaking occurs for nearly five minutes from a magnitude 9.2 earthquake directly below your feet. Depending on where you are, you and your loved ones may face devastating tsunamis that wipe out entire villages, or landslides that send neighborhoods from suburban Anchorage into the ocean.
Alaska Earthquake March 27, 1964. Chaotic condition of the commercial section of the city of Kodiak following inundation by seismic sea waves. The small- boat harbor, which was in left background, contained an estimated 160 crab and salmon fishing boats when the waves struck. Tsunamis washed many vessels into the heart of Kodiak. Photo by U.S. Navy, March 30, 1964.
You just experienced the largest U.S. earthquake ever recorded, and the second largest ever recorded worldwide.
At that time, scientists did not yet know exactly how or why the earthquake occurred. Three U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists were immediately sent to Alaska to figure it out. What they found marked a turning point in earthquake research.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami, let’s look back on what happened and consider how science and technology has advanced since then. This event helped confirm the theory of plate tectonics and provided firsthand insight on earthquake processes, tsunami generation, and the impacts of these phenomena on communities, both locally and across the Pacific.
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Double Whammy: Earthquake and Tsunami
The 1964 earthquake produced strong ground motions and caused more land surface deformation than any previously recorded earthquake. The earthquake was accompanied by massive local tsunamis and a trans-oceanic tsunami that swept across the Pacific. At several places in Port Valdez, Alaska, tsunami run-up was more than 100 feet. This great earthquake and ensuing tsunamis took 131 lives and caused about $2.3 billion in property loss (equivalent to $311 million in 1964).
Building a Plate Tectonics Theory
There were no obvious faults at the surface to explain the earthquake. Even with months of careful observation and field work, the cause of the earthquake remained a mystery until USGS scientist George Plafker set out to investigate the event and interpreted what he saw in the field. This new insight helped confirm the concept of plate tectonics and changed earthquake science forever.
At the time, the idea of plate tectonics was just being developed. No unifying theory existed on what caused these types of great earthquakes. Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the Earth’s outermost layer as having about a dozen major tectonic plates that are constantly moving. When plates interact or collide, their interactions could produce mountains, earthquakes, volcanoes and more.
After detailed work investigating the 1964 event, Plafker concluded that this event was a “megathrust” earthquake, occurring where an oceanic plate descends underneath a continental plate in southern Alaska. Slip between the two tectonic plates along this kind of plate boundary, called a subduction zone, is the cause of the world’s largest earthquakes. This process is currently happening in many parts of the world, but especially around the Pacific Ocean. The Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone is part of what is known as the Pacific “ring of fire.”
Will It Happen Again?
How frequently do giant earthquakes like this occur? Will the next one happen tomorrow or thousands of years from now? - More...
Thursday PM - March 27, 2014 |
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 Education By A. M. Johnson - Couple of items related to Ketchikan education and then Alaska directly. As to Ketchikan and the issue of funding education, having been a Borough Assemblyman, and a school board member the current and annual issue of the funding process is not a mystery. The school board acts on Feelings the assembly acts on Reality . While there are frustrations, as well there should be, one can't ignore the basis of why the assembly is the money belt. Were the school board to act as its own taxing body as it was at one point in the history of Alaska, all the frustrations would disappear would they not? Looking at the scope of expenditures required and wish list of what could be it would be short order till the district would be taxing at a run away level would be my opinion. That is said as past listening to hours of pleading for this or that, and it is always for the children. Yet, in excess of 85% of every dollar acquired currently is directed to the cost of people. Pressure that against the desire to have the latest in educational fad or Best Practice or Current Research and you can see there would be no bottom or limits to funding efforts. - More...
Thursday PM - March 27, 2014
Protecting the unborn By Dave Jensen - I was moved by Marie Zelmer's letter to stand with those that are trying to protect the life of those innocent unborn babies. - More...
Thursday PM - March 27, 2014
RE: The idiocracy of Anti-Realists By Heather Morris -
It is safe to say that Marie Zellmer's letter was her own personal opinion. Correct? An opinion which some may share with her and some do not. Again, an opinion non the less which she is entitled to have. However, calling people idiots for having a different opinion is just down right mean. - More...
Thursday PM - March 27, 2014
The idiocracy of Anti-Realists By Marie Zellmer -
Again I find myself inundated by the idiocy of some people. I would ignore it, but they now stand on the street corner annoying all with their stupidity. First of all you can't even get an abortion in Ketchikan, you have to go 400 miles away. Second, it is LAW, and even the Bible says to accept and obey the laws of your kingdom. Third, and most important, not every woman was created to bear children equally. Having a safe abortion procedure available saves lives, of those who are unable to. Lastly, having a procedure does not mean the woman hates children, it is an act of love. Yes, Love! - More....
Tuesday PM - March 25, 2014
Herring Cove By Ken Arriola -
I feel compelled to reiterate my argument on the behalf of the residents/ private property owners of Herring Cove. I guess I'm befuddled as to why the Ketchikan Borough deems itself the purveyor of tourism activities in a predominantly residential neighborhood. - More...
Saturday - March 22, 2014
SB 182 By Dan Ortiz - I read with interest and concern the recent article in the Ketchikan Daily News, concerning the potential passage of S.B. 182. and the subsequent demonstration by the IBU, (Inlandboatmen’s Union), the Masters, Mates and Pilots Union. The IBEW joined the protest. As a longtime resident of southern Southeast Alaska and as candidate for the AK State House District 36, I stand with the workers and their families on this issue. - More...
Saturday - March 22, 2014
THE SUBCHAPTER'S CORPORATION SOCIAL SECURITY TAX AVOIDANCE SCAM By David G. Hanger -
A local half-wit or two has once again concluded that the licensed practitioners of Ketchikan, despite their collective 250 to 300 years of field experience, and the untold thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, regulators, and accountants who have contributed to making these laws are, nonetheless, all dunces, particularly in light of your extreme brilliance in seeing what none of the rest of us have ever seen, that you can form a Subchapter S corporation and never pay social security taxes again. - More...
Saturday - March 22, 2014
Real Reality Cruise Ship Woes By Rob Holston -
Welcome aboard the USS Concep’tione 40 week world voyage. You have been assigned a state-room where ALL of your needs are automatically taken care of: meals served 24/7 with ALL the nutrition perfectly blended and balanced for your individual physical and mental growth and development; climate controlled comfort; every detail taken care of. The name on your state-woom might be Montana, California, Georgia ..... only problem is, it was assigned to you along with a womb-keeper. Google WOMB. She alone has the soul power to toss you overboard at any time during the first 13 weeks of your cruise for ANY reason, her discretion. Your little heart beats frantically as you sense a stranger at your door. You see the womb-keeper will be assisted by one person who has been trained to drag you from your room, kicking and screaming, you will be pulled from your room one piece at a time; arms & legs & then the rest, an early end to “once in a lifetime cruise”. - More...
Saturday - March 22, 2014
B.C. Transboundary Mine Development By Rob Sanderson, Jr. -
My grandmother who raised me taught me an important lesson — take care of the land and water, and it will take care of our present and future generations. I try to live by that principle every day. That’s why I’m speaking out about industrial developments happening near my home in Southeast Alaska. These developments are occurring across the border in Canada, but they have the potential to pollute Southeast Alaska rivers and harm our wild salmon. - More...
Tuesday PM - March 18, 2014
Another Pre-election Gasline Study By Bill Walker -
Here we go again. With another gubernatorial election we get another gas line study (SB 138) designed to fool voters into thinking there's progress on gas line development. - More...
Tuesday PM - March 18, 2014
TERRIBLE TODDLERS By Rob Holston -
Elective Abortion is legal in all 50 states. That’s the law. So why don’t the most liberal states allow elective killing of toddlers i.e. the TERRIBLE TWOS? - More...
Tuesday PM - March 18, 2014
Meter Choice By Amanda Mitchell - On March 5th, Ketchikan Public Utilities came to our house to install a digital ‘smart’ meter on our home. We have been very vocal about not wanting one and you can even reference my online Sitnews letter Technology. The gentleman stated his name was Mark Johnson and we didn’t get the name of the other KPU employee. I do have to give them credit that they have not installed a meter or they switched it back when we caught them in the act, but Mr. Johnson threatened us saying they would disconnect our power in the future if we did not switch over. - More...
Tuesday PM - March 18, 2014
Please don't poison me!! By Sally Balch -
I have lived in Ketchikan most of my life. I live here because we don't live in polluted surroundings and for the most part we have a very clean pristine environment. I'm not a Greenpeace or anything like that, but I am very worried about putting ammonia in our water system. I have several allergies and one of them is ammonia. I can't breath it touch it or have it at all in my home. - More...
Tuesday PM - March 18, 2014
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