Alaska: Forest Service Presents Ceremonial Staffs to Central Council - At the annual General Assembly of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska in 2008, Alaska Regional Forester Dennis Bschor and Tongass National Forest Supervisor Forest Cole acknowledged the removal of Alaska Native fish camps, smokehouses, and cabins by the Forest Service in the mid-1900s.

"I am here today to stand before you and acknowledge that these things happened, that the Forest Service, in its efforts to manage uses of the Tongass National Forest, did burn and remove many fish camps, cabins, and smokehouses that once belonged to Alaska Native families and clans," Bschor said at the time.

With the removal of fish camps and smokehouses, an essential aspect of the traditional pattern of life was lost. Opportunities for families to work together harvesting fish, to pass cultural knowledge from one generation to the next, and to learn respectful ways of harvesting and processing traditional foods were diminished. Alaska Native identity was seriously damaged with the loss of the seasonal camps.

By acknowledging the past, Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the Forest Service paved the way for respectful and honorable relationships, and continued partnerships.

On April 21, 2010, that acknowledgment was commemorated with the presentation of two ceremonial staffs from the Forest Service to the Central Council during the 75th Annual Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The Central Council is the governing body for over 27,000 tribal citizens.

Lillian Petershoare, Tribal Government Relations Specialist for the Alaska Region coordinated the creation and presentation of the staffs. "To me, the staffs represented our integrity; a representation of our good will," she said. "The acknowledgement ceremony (in 2008) was a beautiful thing to have happened. At that ceremony we heard, for the first time, tribal elders say, 'this is the first time I'm using the word, 'trust' when working with the Forest Service." - More...
Wednesday PM - April 28, 2010

Alaska - National: Facebook asked to fix privacy policy; Facebook's recent decision to share personal info raises major privacy concerns for millions of Americans - The decision last week by Facebook to make private data available unless users opt-out has caught the attention of several U.S. Senators who are asking Facebook to fix this privacy policy. Social networking sites are the Wild West of the Internet and users need the ability to control private information and fully understand how it's being used say the Senators.

In a letter to Facebook CEO, several United States Senators are pressing for Facebook's Opt-Out Policy to be changed to Opt-In so the default setting will keep users' information private. Tuesday, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Al Franken (D-MN) and Mark Begich (D-AK) urged Facebook, the online social-networking giant, to fix its private policy to block users' personal information from being accessed by third parties without the users' consent. The senators announced they have sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging the company to revisit its decision, made last week, to provide select third party websites with personal information that users previously had the ability to keep private.

The senators said the recent changes by Facebook fundamentally alter the relationship between users and the social networking site. Previously, users had the ability to determine what information they wished to share publicly and what information they wanted to keep private. In their letter, the senators urged Facebook to adjust its policy so that users' information stays private by default and can only be shared with third parties if the user opts in.

"Alaskans' privacy is guaranteed in our State Constitution and we object to companies who disrespect that right. I hope Facebook heeds our call and will work harder to engage their users before making such broad privacy changes," Begich said. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 28, 2010

Ketchikan: Ferry Tustumena to Undergo Emergency Repairs - The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is dispatching the ferry Tustumena to Ketchikan where shipyard workers will begin emergency procedures to investigate and resolve a possible structural deficiency that is allowing sea water to leak into one of the 46-year-old ship's fuel tanks.

Engineers aboard the 296-foot Tustumena discovered about 50 to 60 gallons of water in the ship's number three tank while the ship and its crew were providing service to Southwestern Alaska communities. Following the discovery, the crew notified the U.S. Coast Guard.

Coast Guard inspectors and commercial divers tried to determine the water's entry point, but could not find any definitive damage. AMHS has confirmed that there has been no fuel leaking into the water.

The Tustumena was scheduled to depart Homer late Wednesday and sail to Ketchikan. AMHS expects the ship to arrive Saturday when the Tustumena will be placed in the dry dock at the Ketchikan-based Alaska Ship and Drydock facility. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 28, 2010

Ketchikan: Jazz Night, April 29th- Jazz Night, The Jerry Galley Memorial Scholarship Concert will take place on Thursday, April 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Kayhi Auditorium. Soundwaves, the Kayhi Jazz Band, Discovery and Windjammers will perform a variety of selections including jazz, blues, funk, ballad and rock styles. Donations for the high school scholarship will be accepted at the door.

Soundwaves will open the program with a Latin piece entitled "Tiger of San Pedro" by John LaBarbera, composer and arranger for the Buddy Rich Band. Leslie Snodderly will be the featured tenor saxophonist on Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You". Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill's Latin piece, 'My Ship" will follow. Leslie's brother, Eddie Snodderly, a senior at Kayhi, is the featured trombone soloist on "Cerulean Blue", a beautiful ballad by Gregory Yasinitsky, composer and the Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Washington State University in Pullman. The favorite "Steely Dan" funk piece, "Peg" will wrap up the Soundwaves portion of the show. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

DAVE KIFFER: Ends and Odds. - First the ends.

A friend from Outside emails me the other day.

"So Alaska is now giving money to dead people?"

Well, sort of.

As usual America continues to be fascinated with our little comings and goings up here. And yes, the state legislature just made it easier for "dead people" to collect their Permanent Fund Dividend checks.

Now, I do understand that the idea is for the "survivors" of the dead folks to collect the checks, assuming the dead person was still alive during the "qualifying" time period.

This makes perfect sense.

After I go, I naturally want my wife to be able to take my check and buy that gnarly four-wheeler she's always been pining to have. It's only fair. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

PRESTON MACDOUGALL: Chemical Eye on The Sound Conservancy - If it ebbs and flows like the Duck, and teems with diverse forms of aquatic life like the Duck, then it must be the Duck. Who questions National Geographic?

The February issue of National Geographic magazine features a spotlight on the Duck River, which flows through the rocky and rolling Central Basin of Middle Tennessee - at a speed that I have found quite suitable for canoes, which is how I imagine photographer David Liittschwager navigated the Duck.

Unlike some other magazines, nobody minds admitting that they read National Geographic mainly for the pictures. To graphically depict the diversity of life that is found in well-conserved environments, Liittschwager researched biodiversity around the world and selected four exemplary representatives of disparate environments; from a coral reef in French Polynesia, to a cloud forest in Costa Rica, to a mountainous park overlooking Cape Town, South Africa, to a freshwater river whose origins are within the broadcast range of Jazz89, Middle Tennessee Public Radio. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

Real Time U.S. Debt Clock http://www.usdebtclock.org/ Public Service Announcements Public Meetings & Info Ketchikan Animal Control Adopt a Dog Adopt a Cat Adopt Another Animal Ketchikan Borough Assembly Agenda and Information Packets Live video stream of current meeting Assembly Meeting Minutes Calendar Ketchikan Planning Commission Agenda, Information Packets & Minutes Ketchikan City Council Agenda & Information Packets Ketchikan School Board Agenda & Information Packets Gravina Access Project SEIS Alternatives Development Gravina Access Website Ketchikan Jobs Ketchikan Police Reports AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Today's Forecast Satellite Today's Weather Images Marine Forecasts AK Weathercams Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map CLASSIFIEDS Publish Publish Your Ad Click Here CLASSIFIEDS' CATEGORIES Announcements and       Help Wanted For Sale / Free Stuff Garage Sales Homes / Apts/ Property Pets Wanted Lost & Found Publish Your Ad Front Page Archives April 2010 S M T W T F S 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   More Front Page Archives

Let's get behind the aquarium By Larry Jackson - This letter is in response to the efforts of many in the tourist industry to thwart the aquarium's efforts to raise federal grant money.  Although I appreciate their concerns of public money being used in a quasi competitive endeavor I think their efforts are bit shortsighted.  - More...
Wednesday PM - April 28, 2010

Oceans Alaska Submitted By Kirk Thomas for Various Ketchikan Businesses - We, the undersigned, are writing you this letter to state our strong opposition to Oceans Alaska (formerly known as the Tongass Aquarium) becoming a shore excursion tour operator for cruise passengers here in Ketchikan, Alaska. Oceans Alaska has promoted and represented itself as a research, education and shellfish mariculture facility and has successfully applied for and been granted public seed money for all of the progress they have made thus far. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 28, 2010

Better management leads to lower taxes By Rodney Dial - Mr. Harrington, I am going to assume that your letter and assumption that taxes in Ketchikan would somehow be lower if we consolidated a simple attempt to goat me into writing a three page letter on why you are wrong. I will make that assumption because the only alternative is simply that you as a government official are attempting to mislead the public. - More...
Wednesday PM - April 28, 2010

Open Letter to the Ketchikan Borough Assembly Members By Rodney Dial - You guys know that as soon as you raise the mill rate and increase property taxes I am going to write a rather long letter detailing why several of you lied to this community about being able to afford a 23.5 million dollar pool with no tax increase. Right? - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

Perserverance Trail Closure By Heather Muench - The Forest Service is planning to close the Perseverance Trail from May 15 to September 30 for trail reconstruction. While I support the much need trail work, I strongly object to the summer long closure. I agree the trail should be closed on days when helicopters will be moving material to and from the area; but not on other days. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

HEAD TAX: VERY BAD CHOICE OF WORDS By Charles Edwardson - It has always bothered me -- the term HEAD TAX. It sounds like a hunting trip. It should be labeled what it is a PORT AND HARBOR TAX. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

Taxes By Sonia Streitmatter - Tourism is a double-edged sword. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

Sealaska lands bill By Sarah Red-Laird - I still have a strong connection to Southeast Alaska, although I now live in Montana for school, through my friends and family that remain in the area, and through my crystal clear memories of all the years I spent there, especially those of my childhood on Prince of Wales Island.- More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

Sealaska lands bill By Judy Magnuson - Senator Murkowski stated not too long ago that the government was the largest land owner in Alaska. I wish to correct that statement. The PUBLIC, not the government, is the largest land owner in Southeast Alaska. We the people, native and nonnative own these lands, we have full use of these lands for any use compatible with public use of these lands. This is not an aboriginal rights issue, it is simply the right of citizens and taxpayers who have added value through their tax dollars, time and energy through their efforts to support, preserve, participate and have a say in the management of public lands. We have the right to retain those lands that belong to us and have cost us dearly during the last 40 years. Public lands, heavily invested in should not be given away to a private corporation in order that only a few may profit from them. - More...
Tuesday - April 27, 2010

High taxes in Ketchikan By John Harrington - It is interesting that Mr. Rodney Dial is complaining about the high taxes in Ketchikan. Our taxes are indeed too high. Those tax rates are higher than most consolidated city/borough governments in Southeast Alaska. When a group of us were attempting to consolidate the two governments, Mr. Dial led the charge to stop it by claiming it would raise our taxes. We had determined quite the opposite in our calculations. But Mr. Dial prevailed in his anti-consolidation efforts and now have received what he tried to avoid, higher taxes. - More...
Friday PM - April 23, 2010

Ketchikan is becoming more expensive every day. By Rodney Dial - As our national tax day passes, a few things you may want to consider regarding the future of your family's finances. The following is an excerpt from a Newsweek article posted on 4/15/10 titled "Today is the best tax day of your life", by Robert J. Samuelson. Newsweek tends to be a liberal leaning publication and this is not conservative hype. - More...
Friday - April 23, 2010

The times are a changing? By Reed Harding - As the country struggles in the turmoil of unprecedented healthcare reform by the current centrist administration many misguided individuals nash their terrible teeth and groan aloud "we don't want change". I awoke today and realized that I do not recognize my own country. Things have changed so much this past year I can't even point out what has actually changed. In fact, there could have been no change at all but that's not what everyone is saying so it must be a completely new country devoid of any principles and understanding that once existed. I can attest to the validity of the following piece as I wrote it rather than merely copying someone else's opinion. - More...
Friday - April 23, 2010

Sealaska lands bill By U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski - In a letter concerning the Sealaska lands bill printed on April 14, an Edna Bay resident stated that it was "stunning" that Sealaska had already filed for lands to complete its entitlement under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), as if the matter of filing for lands meant that the current bill is not needed to complete rational land conveyances due Sealaska's 20,000 Alaska Native shareholders. That is not the case. - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Open Letter to the KGB Mayor & Assembly By Johnnie Laird - Mayor Dave Kiffer and Ketchikan Assembly, I am disappointed that you passed a resolution in favor of the Legislation and didn't join in solidarity in opposition with Sitka, Port Protection, Point Baker, Edna Bay, Hollis, Whale Pass, Thorne Bay, Craig, Naukati, Kake, The US Department of the Agriculture, The US Department of the Interior and many others. - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

May is ALS Awareness Month: Let's STRIKE OUT ALS!! By Linda Kreider - May is ALS Awareness Month!! I will be representing Alaska for the 4th time since 2006, when this disease took my father away from me, my mother, brother and sister and the rest of our family. My sister-in-law, Teri Teal will be travelling with me this year for the 1st time! We leave Ketchikan on Friday, May 7 and will return May 12. We will meeting with our Senators and Representatives on Tuesday May 11. In the past few years, I have been able to have a State of Alaska Proclamation declaring May as ALS Awareness Month for the State of Alaska, and am hoping that we can get the City of Ketchikan, as well as the Ketchikan Gateway Borough to do the same!! - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Changes By A. M. Johnson - As the Country watches the huge social changes imposed by the current liberal administration, many are and more are, becoming concerned as to the Nation holding together with civility. I can not attest to the validity of the following piece, however, even if it were not written by the person listed, it still tells well!! - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Trails and drunks. By Patti Fay Hickox - Where are they going so fast? We only have about 30 miles of road. "What's the hurry, what is everybody hurrying for." Drivers do not stop for people in crosswalks. Remember when most of us walked and smiled and waved at the people going by in cars. People slowed down to wave at their neighbors. I came to Alaska to get out of the cities and a fast pace of life. Now Alaska is moving faster. Everybody going so fast they have no time for their neighbors. - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Re: Married Man's Trail By Laurie Hodne - It was funny timing when I sat down to look at the letters to the editor and the very same subject I was debating on writing about happened to be a "peeve" for someone else. I am not a frequent hiker on Married Man's Trail, but was there when I was searching for the Easter Treasure Hunt and was appalled by the trail and its lack of upkeep. Is that City property? - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Married Man's Trail and other stuff By Kara McElroy- Steele - Regarding Ms. Susan Coady's letter about Married Mans trail, I have two things to say. Back in the day (if you lived there for 25 yrs you should remember this), it was common place down on the Tongass dock, for homeless drunks to sit and sleep, behind it and in front of it (before it turned into Tourist Central!). You would also see them hangin out around the loop of bars all the way around the corner by Tom Sawyers. - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Thanks from The Mainframe LAN Gaming Center By Ryan Avila - I would just like to thank everyone who came down and supported our business this weekend. We hope to continue providing a safe environment for the youth of Ketchikan so that they have a fun alternative to doing drugs and drinking (which is a large problem in Ketchikan). - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

Hope this resolves the issue By Paul Jarvi - Ms. Catron, Please excuse me for stating an opinion. - More...
Wednesday - April 21, 2010

More Letters/Viewpoints
Webmail your letter or
Email Your Letter To: editor@sitnews.us