Dave Carlson, CEO of the Four Dam Pool Front Page Photo by Marie L. Monyak

Ketchikan: Funding For Completion of Intertie Project Critical By Marie L. Monyak - The people of Ketchikan have been hearing about the 57 mile Swan Lake-Tyee Lake Intertie Project for more than 10 years. So why now, why bring it to the forefront of public interest at this time?

Those attending the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce luncheon this week benefited from an informative presentation by Dave Carlson, CEO of the Four Dam Pool, who explained why the project is so important to the people of this area and why there is such an urgency to gather the support needed to complete this project.

"Alaska got left behind when the West was electrified," Carlson stated. "In the Pacific Northwest, Bonneville came in and built the hydro plants; [they] built the transmission lines throughout the Northwest. Bonneville still owns those transmission lines. Alaska, as far as I'm concerned, got left in the dust. We're in the 1910's compared to the rest of the nation. We need an integrated system so we can be like everybody else."

To better understand the electric power infrastructure (or lack thereof) in Southeast Alaska it helps to understand where it all began. Based on research, Bonneville, which Carlson was referring to, is in fact the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency of the U. S. Department of Energy that was created by Congress in 1937. For two decades, from 1940 through 1960, Bonneville constructed the transmission lines that provide power to most of the Northwest United States. But not Alaska.

The initial Four Dam Pool was established by the Alaska Legislature in 1981 and owned and managed by the Alaska Energy Authority. The pool consists of four dams/hydroelectric projects; Swan Lake, Tyee Lake, Terror Lake and Solomon Gulch. In 2002, an agency formed by the utilities that purchase power from the projects, purchased the initial project and became the Four Dam Pool Power Agency. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

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

National: Senators head home; Immigration reform lingers - The Senate left the divided halls of Congress Friday for a two-week break and headed home where immigration reform lingers with the divided electorate.

Senators looked poised to bring home a bi-partisan compromise before taking time off - until partisan bickering foiled the measure.

Immigration reform has been a hot issue since the House passed a bill that would make felons of undocumented immigrants and those who help them as well as build a fence on some of the U.S.-Mexico border.

This sparked millions to protest in U.S. streets - protests scheduled to continue Monday with a nationwide outpouring of support for an alternative to the House bill.

That alternative was largely thought to be the one senators compromised on this week. Instead of making immigrants felons, it created a path to citizenship and a guest worker program.

But on Friday the bill was sent back to committee because of a dispute on how many amendments would be allowed to be attached, among other technical squabbling.- Page...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Southeast Alaska: ADF&G Announces 2006 Chinook Salmon Quota for Southeast Alaska - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday that this year's Southeast Alaska Chinook harvest quota will be substantially lower than last year. While the allowable harvest remains well above average, catch opportunities for Southeast Chinook harvesters will be reduced as compared to 2004 - 2005.

The Pacific Salmon Commission's Chinook Technical Committee recently determined that the 2006 Abundance Index for Chinook salmon in Southeast Alaska is 1.69. According to the June 30, 1999, Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement, this translates into an all-gear catch for Southeast Alaska of 346,800 treaty Chinook salmon, down from last year by about 70,000 fish. Most Chinook salmon produced in Alaska hatcheries are not factored into the Abundance Index, and may be caught by harvesters in addition to the Treaty limit. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Ketchikan: Guardian Flight Fully Accredited BY CAMTS - Guardian Flight incorporated has become a part of CAMTS, a nationally recognized non-profit organization that "is dedicated to improving the quality and safety of medical transport services."

Guardian Flight is in an elite group as they received "full" accreditation on their first site visit according to Ed Fry the Ketchikan Manager. "It was not only Ketchikan; it included our operation in Fairbanks and Sitka." Fry said, "The site evaluators were very impressed wit all bases especially Ketchikan as we not only have the long range with our Lear 35, but we are also the only dedicated Critical Care Regional Medevac available to the Southeast with Partnerships with local businesses such as Pacifica Airways, Temsco helicopters, and Taquan Air." - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Bill Steigerwald: An insider's look at immigration from Steven Camarota - Spend 30 seconds on the Web site of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Worse yet, try to get a human being who works for USCIS.gov to answer a phone. You'll soon realize how horribly frustrating, complicated and bureaucratic everything about our government immigration system is.

Amazingly, Steve Camarota has not gone bonkers from devoting his career to studying this maddening world of immigration policy. Camarota is director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies (cis.org), a think tank devoted exclusively to researching and analyzing the economic, social, demographic and fiscal impacts of immigration on the United States.

Non-neutral in the raging political war over how to fix our broken borders and our immigration laws, CIS says it is "animated by a pro-immigrant, low-immigration vision which seeks fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome for those admitted." I talked to Camarota Tuesday by telephone from his offices in Washington: - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Voting "Yes" gets our economy back on track and moving forward. By Tom LeCompte - Sunday PM Time to stand up for our children By Amy Schmitt - Sunday PM RE: Drugs-Freedom By Tori Jackson - Sunday PM Drugs-Responsibility By Catlin Rettke - Sunday PM Be positive and vote Yes! By Mike Holman - Friday PM Please vote YES on April 11th for the Port Improvement Bond. By Lance Moyer - Friday PM Vote YES on Port Improvement Bond By Chris Parks - Friday PM Drugs - Bondage By John Maki - Friday PM Clarification of facts regarding Mr. Warner's Bond Vote Letter By Chris Parks - Friday PM Immigration: Letter to Senator Murkowski By A. M. Johnson - Friday PM Discussion of Simple By Kevin Mackey - Friday PM Port Bond. Risk or investment? By Dennis Pope- Thursday The Draft- Another View By Jerry Cegelske- Thursday The courage to vote NO! By Robert D. Warner- Thursday Open letter to Klukwan Inc. Shareholders By Rob Sanderson Jr.- Thursday Drugs-Freedom By Catlin Rettke- Thursday A warning collects no fines. By Hunter Davis- Thursday Clarification with Senator Elton By A. M. Johnson - Thursday Thank you Senators and Representatives By Frances Natkong - Thursday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan April 10, 2006, Monday, beginning at 11:30 a.m The newly formed Board of Ethics for the Borough is holding an organizational meeting in the City Council Chambers. The public is invited to attend. April 11, 2006 Special Election Port of Ketchikan Improvements Project - Detailed Project Description; Ask A Question, Get an Answer; Special Election Information; and much more... April 12, 2006, Wednesday, 6:00 PM - Ketchikan School Board Meeting - Ketchikan City Council Chambers Agenda April 13, 2006 at 5:30 - Democratic caucus for those interested in developing a local platform and organizing the local democratic party - IBEW building on Stedman, contact Micheal Hyre 617-0238 for information. March Calendar Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report 04/04/06 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements April 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S 26 27 28 29 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 29 30 31            Front Page Archives

Dave Kiffer: Suddenly Over the Hill - I had a weird experience in the aisles of Safeway recently.

Yes, I know that's not usual, but this was even more disconcerting than the normal, run-of-the-mill run ins with the usual wackos and miscreants that grocery shop after normal hours.

A couple of missionaries, female ones, flirted with me.

Okay, maybe they were just being really friendly.

I was in the cold remedy aisle, pondering just how it could be that a single medicine could cure both runny and stuffy noses.

Suddenly, I noticed a young woman was standing fairly close to me. In fact, she was staring over my shoulder and at the package I was holding in my hands. I looked up and she gave me a great big smile. I smiled back, she smiled back. I smiled. She smiled. I got nervous and dropped the cold medicine into my basket. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Michael Reagan: The USA - Love It or Head South - There's a constant drone about the "Nation of Immigrants" America has always proudly claimed to be, but now it's being used as a slogan for those who believe we should accept absolutely anybody - even if they have absolutely no legal right to be here.

Yes, we are a nation of immigrants - all our ancestors came here from someplace else - but the difference is they all came here legally and came to be American citizens.

The illegals that come here for a job or for some other reason don't come to become American citizens.

In 1919 Theodore Roosevelt said it best: "In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American," Roosevelt said... - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

John Hall: Finding the door knob in Iraq - U.S. casualty rates in Iraq leveled to about one a day in March - better than any month in two years.

But 14 died in the first three days of April. The sight of the smoking body of an American helicopter crewman being dragged out of the wreckage by gleeful Mujahideen insurgents last week was posted on the Internet. In New England another young mother was left to raise her daughter alone.

A departing British general created a stir in Iraq when he said withdrawal of United Kingdom troops would begin in weeks and most could be home by summer. It proved to be a contingency plan based on many optimistic scenarios.

Nonetheless, it is clear that the British are thinking in terms of strategies to garrison their troops and turn matters over almost entirely to their Iraqi replacements. They are looking for the first opportunity to pull out. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on the Atomic Deficit - The first rule of holes is: If you are in one, stop digging.

This bit of folksy wisdom came to mind when I heard that President Bush selected the current Director of the Office of Budget and Management, Joshua Bolten, to be the new White House Chief of Staff.

You have probably also heard that, in order to accommodate continuing near-record budget deficits, Congress was recently obliged to raise the federal debt ceiling to $9 trillion.

Any more digging, and we will have to add another zero to the federal debt. For those who are counting, that would be the thirteenth.

There isn't a superstitious bone in my body, but something tells me that 13 zeros on the federal debt will not bring good fortune to future generations. Cost them a fortune? Undoubtedly.

As astronomical as this debt is, it is the atomic deficit that has me more concerned. I refer to the teeter-tottering imbalance in the international trade of the U.S. chemical industry. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Bob Ciminel: Drivers' Test - The traffic problems around Atlanta are monumental. I've been driving through Atlanta for over 30 years and have lived in the metro Atlanta area for 12 years, and it has only gotten worse with every passing year. Atlanta's roads and streets are in much better condition than most cities, and particularly cities in the northeast, because it is a young city, relatively speaking. Many of our most heavily populated areas only recently transitioned from dirt roads to paved roads, but not so much because of progress. It's difficult to sell land for $350,000 and acre and homes for $500,000 and expect people to drive around on gravel-topped red clay roads, particularly people who routinely drive through residential areas at 55 mph.

What follows are some of the unwritten rules I've learned to live with while driving in Atlanta. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006

Dick Morris: Hillary Leaves Room For Gore - Hillary Clinton made a fundamental decision in 2002 to support the invasion of Iraq. In doing so, she sought the center of American politics, reacting to issues much as her husband had throughout his ascent to the presidency.

But times have changed, and the center is not what it used to be. In the highly partisan and charged environment of politics in 2006, what has become of the centrist doctrines that reelected Bill Clinton and brought George W. Bush, the compassionate conservative, to the White House? Is the center still the place to aim in getting votes?

At the White House, I described the Clintonian brand of centrism as triangulation, with the polarized, partisan participants in the dialectic aligned to the left and the right at the base of the triangle and the centrist synthesis atop the apex, embracing the best of both arguments and rejecting the worst. - More...
Sunday - April 09, 2006