Ketchikan: Fire Station #7 Location Under Consideration - The North Tongass Fire & EMS (NTF&ESA) Board of Directors has approved pursuing the possible purchase of the lot and vacant building located at 10540 North Tongass Highway for Fire Station 7 according to Fire Chief Dave Hull. Possible location of Fire Station #7 Photograph courtesy NTVFD The North Tongass Volunteer Fire Department has been in existence since the referendum to form the service area and the fire department was approved by the area residents in March of 2003. The planning for Station 7 dates back to November 23, 2003 with the passage of Resolution 1781. Resolution 1781 laid out the long term vision of four fire stations strategically positioned along the North Tongass Highway. The motivation for four sites was to provide for maximum efficiency and safety in transporting water and emergency equipment to the scene of any emergency in the area. - More... Thursday - June 10, 2010 Saxman: Three New Grants Support Saxman's Kids; Children in Saxman enjoy new sports equipment - Children using Saxman's Community Center are now enjoying brand new sports equipment and lockers, thanks to grant funding provided by a combination of three grantmakers: The Reuben E. Crossett Fund, the Charlotte Martin Foundation, and American Seafoods. Funds have been used to purchase a wide assortment of balls, a volleyball net system with judge's stand, soccer goals, climbing boards, jump ropes, ball racks, new lockers, and more. Additional items will be purchased within the coming months. "Don't let your kids tell you there's nothing to do in Saxman anymore." suggested Jason Custer, grant writer for the City of Saxman. "Take them to the Saxman Community Center!" - More... Thursday - June 10, 2010

Ketchikan: Bell Island Hot Springs was 'good for what ails you'; Local resort has been private club for the last three decades A Feature Article By DAVE KIFFER - Oral tradition indicates that the hot springs on what is now called Bell Island, 40 miles north of Ketchikan on Behm Canal, have been used for centuries by the local Native tribes, who recognized the medicinal qualities of the springs and the mineral water.

The water temperatures at the hot springs range from 125 degrees to 175 degrees and for generations locals have sworn that it is "good for what ails you."

When Captain George Vancouver transited Behm Canal in August of 1793, he passed by Bell Island but took no notice of the hot springs. He later anchored in Port Stewart and then sent his ship's launch and small cutter out to further explore some of the bays and passages his bigger ship, the Discovery, was too large to enter.

That was when Bell Island was officially named, after Edward Bell, a clerk on the voyage.

There is no evidence that any of Vancouver's men discovered or used the hot springs.

Ketchikan residents reportedly began visiting the hot springs, probably on the advice of local Natives, in the early 1890s.

There was a small bath house with a tub on site in 1899, according to regional Historian Pat Roppel in her 1995 work "Historical Guide to Revillagigedo and Gravina Island, Alaska."

In 1902, the Ketchikan Chapter of the Redmen's Lodge, Thlinket Tribe No. 4, decided to build a facility for its members at the hot springs. The August 18, 1902 edition of the Ketchikan Mining Journal noted that the project was "worthy and ought to succeed."

The paper didn't mention Bell Island specifically but reported the "bath house" was at the hot springs on Behm Canal, about 40 miles from Ketchikan.

"Members of that organization may go for recuperation and pleasure, having access to the baths without cost," the newspaper added.

Information in the Tongass Historical Museum files indicates that in addition to the bathhouse, the lodge also built and outdoor cement basin and a 3 foot wide, 1,200 foot long board walk from tidewater to the hot springs. Local physician J.L. Myers began recommending patients go to the hot springs. - More...
Wednesday - June 09, 2010

Alaska: Guardsman and Active-Duty Airman perform Heroic Actions During Plane Crash By CHRISTOPHER GROSS - An Alaska Air National Guardsman and active-duty Airman from Elmendorf Air Force Base jumped into action and put themselves in harm's way June 1 while rescuing survivors from a Cessna 206 plane crash. This Cessna 206 crashed into a Fairview home near Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, June 1, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Anchorage Police Department A plane that took off shortly after 5 p.m. from Anchorage's Merrill Field went down moments later into the side of a Fairview building, injuring four people and killing one. "I could hear an aircraft coming over the top of me," said Capt. Erik Boltman of the Alaska Air National Guard, who was sitting in traffic a few blocks over from the crash site. "Next thing I knew I just heard this really loud thud, and my truck shook." Captain Boltman said he could see smoke coming from the front of the aircraft and tracked it by where everybody was looking. Once he located the aircraft and parked his vehicle he immediately grabbed a fire extinguisher from his vehicle and rushed over to the site. He said people were already there attempting to bust out windows and using fire extinguishers to keep the fire that was spreading on the floor of the plane under control. - More... Wednesday - June 09, 2010

Alaska: Alaska Attorney General Asks Feds for New ANWR Notice - Attorney General Dan Sullivan has called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a new "notice of intent" for its review of a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, questioning whether the current notice impermissibly excludes public comments on the prospect of oil and gas development on the ANWR coastal plain.

Sullivan's letter to ANWR Refuge Manager Richard Voss Monday followed up on concerns expressed May 11 by Governor Sean Parnell and came as the Alaska Department of Natural Resources also weighed in on defects in the proposed planning process.

The federal agency issued its notice of intent on April 7 to solicit public comments that would address "the desired future conditions of the refuge" and "the full range of purposes." But the notice expressly stated that it will not consider comments related to oil and gas development in ANWR, highlighting the fact that only Congress can open the coastal plain to oil and gas development: "Therefore, the Service does not have the authority to decide this issue, and we will not consider or respond to comments that support or oppose such development during the CCP process." - More...
Wednesday - June 09, 2010

Alaska: Two Admit Guilt to Federal Felony Civil Rights Violation - Acting United States Attorney Kevin Feldis announced Tuesday that Robert Bruce Gum and Deanna Angelina Scaglione, aka Deanna Powers, residents of Anchorage, Alaska, pleaded guilty in federal court to the civil rights crime of threatening, intimidating and interfering with an Alaska Native, while he used the public streets of downtown Anchorage, in violation of 18 USC §245(b)(2)(B).

Scaglione, age 21, pleaded guilty to the one-count indictment in front of United States District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess on June 1, 2010, and Gum, age 19, pleaded guilty to the one-count indictment in front of Chief United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline on June 8, 2010.

In connection with the guilty plea, Assistant United States Attorney Retta Randall advised the court that in the early morning hours of July 28, 2009, the defendant, Deanna Scaglione, was driving a car in downtown Anchorage. Her co-defendant, Robert Gum, was riding in the front passenger seat. Scaglione carried a flip-video digital video recording device that she used to record her and Gum as they pursued, harassed, and assaulted an Alaska Native man they saw walking downtown. Scaglione subsequently posted two video recordings that she made of this incident on YouTube.

According to the detailed factual basis presented in court at the time they pled guilty, and as captured by statements on the video recording, Scaglione and Gum were downtown "egging Natives." Scaglione, who operated the camera, recorded both of the defendants' faces on the video and introduced themselves. The victim, an Alaska Native male, was walking along the city sidewalks and streets toward Beans Café, an Anchorage shelter that provides food and services to those in need.

Both Scaglione and Gum each admitted to the following:- More...
Wednesday - June 09, 2010

Alaska: Alaska Sea Grant to fund $1 million in marine research; Pollock fisheries models, crab genetic studies, sea otter impacts top the list - Alaska Sea Grant will provide $1 million during the next two years to support marine research that includes projects to assess the potential impact of the growing sea otter population in Southeast; develop better pollock fishery management models; and determine the genetic stock structure of red and blue king crab. Alaska Sea Grant is a partnership between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that conducts marine research, education, communication, and Marine Advisory Program extension throughout coastal Alaska. The program is based at the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Alaska Sea Grant also will fund a host of other studies. These include a study of the abundance of plankton species that are an important food source for juvenile pink salmon in Prince William Sound, and a project to determine whether some small salmon fisheries can be effectively managed at a lower cost by using predetermined fishing periods rather than expensive test fisheries and escapement surveys. The program also will fund development of a marine ecosystem model that monitors patterns of environmental variation to predict sudden ecological change. - More... Wednesday - June 09, 2010

Alaska: Area M Commercial Fishermen Volunteer To Sit Out First Opening of June Sockeye Salmon Fishery; Seiners Recognize Concerns Surrounding Chum Runs in A-Y-K - The purse seine fleet in Sand Point and King Cove has decided to stand down this week during the first sockeye salmon opening for 2010 in Area M. The Area M fishery is located around Alaska's Eastern Aleutian Islands and Western Peninsula on the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. The first opening began today at 6 a.m. (June 7, 2010) and ends at 10 p.m. on June 10, 2010.

Chum salmon is a controversial issue. Although existing data indicates that the chum salmon catch during the Area M fishery has only a small impact on A-Y-K (Arctic Yukon Kuskokwim) chums, many residents living in the A-Y-K believe otherwise.

During two separate meetings late last week, Area M fishermen debated what action they might take in response to A-Y-K chum concerns. Seine vessel captains gathered in Sand Point City Council Chambers and at the harbor house in King Cove last Thursday and Friday evening while they hashed out their options for several hours. Their final decision was based on high amounts of chum caught during the subsistence harvest. Giving up fishing time after a long winter is a difficult decision.

"My husband is sitting on the beach right now," said Sand Point resident Tina Anderson, "and that's lost income to my family."

However, the Area M fleet has learned that as long as A-Y-K residents and the Alaska Board of Fisheries believe Area M's fishery is having a serious impact on their runs, the fleet in the Aleutians East region is under great political scrutiny.

"Area M seiners recognize the concerns of residents living in the A-Y-K (Arctic Yukon Kuskokwim region) who believe we're catching high numbers of chums," said Glen Gardner, Jr., a seiner and the Mayor of the City of Sand Point. "We view our stand down as a positive gesture of solidarity."

"We're all fishermen who feed our families and make our living in Alaska waters," said Sand Point seiner Robin Larsen. "Our fleets are also primarily Alaska Natives. We are sympathetic to the plight of families in the A-Y-K."

For decades, Area M fishermen have been plagued by accusations that they are affecting commercial and subsistence chum salmon runs in the A-Y-K. In 2001, the Alaska Board of Fisheries implemented severe restrictions which nearly bankrupted the entire Area M fishing fleet. The fishermen lost nearly 70 percent of their fishing time. However, scientific evidence shows that the Area M sockeye salmon fishery has very little impact on the chum salmon stock. - More...
Wednesday - June 09, 2010

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Tax Payers' Revelation By Don Borders - The current outcome of the various state primaries for political seats have reflected the voices of the people concerned with the excess big government spending by electing conservative primary candidates. Elections this fall are going to be an eye-opener for the current elect. - More...
Thursday - JUne 10, 2010

YES! The Public Library Should Stay Downtown By Robert D. Warner - Three cheers to the grass roots folks responsible for the petition drive to keep the Ketchikan Public Library in the downtown core area. It just makes good sense that a public vote on the issue would be the first step in deciding possible locations for the public library. I find it most unfortunate that this critical step was never taken or encouraged by city and library managers. As a result, significant funds have been spent and public frustration aroused with little accomplished. We are very fortunate that this group moved forward to ask city residents where they would like to locate their public library. - More...
Thursday - June 10, 2010

Summer Dungeness fishery By Mike Moyer - It's a serious issue that demands serious attention and we need to have the resource on our minds. Being a commercial fisherman is a good thing. I come from a commercial fishing family and am proud of that. - More...
Thursday - June 10, 2010

Democracy Is Messy By Samuel Bergeron - Winston Churchill said "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried". I'm grateful I live in a country that allows its citizens to criticize and challenge its government. The decision to start a ballot initiative to require the City to build a future library on property it already owns and keep it in downtown Ketchikan was well considered by our group. We are made up of planners, builders, citizens, land developers, local business leaders, realtors and concerned community members of both the City and Borough. We are united in the concept that the library should be centrally located downtown so all of the public has convenient access. After all, it is a Public Library. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 09, 2010

Lower property tax rate is good for all By Rodney Dial - On Tuesday as I was reading the paper you could have knocked me over with a feather after I saw that the Borough Assembly reduced the mill rate (they had been discussing raising it). As a frequent critic of local government I feel that it is only right to say "thank you". - More...
Wednesday PM - June 09, 2010

Thank you By Becky Burnham - Thank you to the officers and volunteers who risked their lives to save our friends (and my bridesmaid), Stacie Cavner's, life, and the lives of all who could be saved in the plane. - More....
Wednesday PM - June 09, 2010

Capital Budget By Maj Gen Thomas H. Katkus - Alaska requires infrastructure to reach resources and improve the economy. Governor Sean Parnell created the Alaska Military Force Advocacy and Structure Team (AMFAST) to provide recommendations for cooperative projects that support and expand the military industry in our state. As chairman of the AMFAST, I am pleased to tell you that our short-term strategic plan has already yielded success! - More...
Wednesday PM - June 09, 2010

Library Location By Amanda Kiely and Drew Lindner - The purpose of a public library is to provide its patrons with resources, information, and materials. As of late, though, it seems this central objective has been completely lost in the debate over where to build our new library. - More...
Wednesday PM - JUne 09, 2010

Military support and Tanana Bridge project By Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Katkus - The State of Alaska and the communities of Fairbanks and North Pole should join me in thanking Rep. Mike Kelly and Governor Sean Parnell for supporting the rail bridge over the Tanana River. This bridge is the first step in completing our rail connection to Fort Greely and to Canada. More importantly, it provides dependable year-round access to the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. This training area is one of the largest in the country. Reliable access provides an exceptional opportunity to all branches of our military to exercise and train in a realistic and challenging environment without public disruption. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 09, 2010

Dungie clarification By Chris Snyder - Apparently Mr. Moyer misunderstood the relevant gist of my letter. So, I repeat: "...if there are legitimate conservation issues, then by all means lets restrict crabbing--for everyone." That is not a question. It is a statement. - More...
Monday - June 07, 2010

COURTESY By Cecelia Johnson - My family and I were out enjoying the sunny weather recently and took a drive out North. We stopped in a store to purchase a refreshing bottle of water and snacks. An unnamed store has a very rude clerk. This individual's whole persona exhibited ill manners! We need Mystery Shoppers. Another Northend store clerk was also very rude. I purchased an item and received a "look of disdain" with no thanks before I walked out! - More...
Monday - June 07, 2010

RE: Library Location By Pat Long - Kudos to Nathan Brooks for a well thoughtout and reasonable letter. - More...
Monday - June 07, 2010

Library Location: Ballot initiative By Chris J. Herby - It seems that here in Ketchikan there always needs to be a divisive issue to keep everyone from getting bored. This year's issue appears to be the location of the proposed new library. - More...
Friday - June 04, 2010

Library Location By Nathan Brooks - There are many generations of my family living in Ketchikan. There are always issues in any community which cause conflicts and differing opinions. However, Ketchikan is reaching a level of constant conflict which is making it difficult for me and mine to want to live here any longer. - More...
Friday - June 04, 2010

Ketchikan City Council and private business By Charles Edwardson - I would like to retract any statements about the Ketchikan City Council meddling and intervening in the private sector. I criticized them for meddling and intervening in a cab company's request to invest their own money to improve their own business, - More...
Friday - JUne 04, 2010

Bill Walker for Governor By Lawrence "Snapper" Carson - As Alaskans we have a lot to be thankful and grateful for. What a beautiful place to work, play and live. Its stewardship should be of utmost importance to all us. We have the opportunity this year to elect a governor who has the interest and ability to make Alaska a better place for all Alaskans. His name is Bill Walker, he was born in Alaska and has worked and raised his family as a life long Alaskan. - More...
Friday - JUne 04, 2010

Memorial Day By Joel W Jackson - This past Monday my family and I had the honor of attending Ketchikan's Memorial Day services at our local cemetery. It is a tradition that my mother passed on to me and I have tried to pass on to my children. - More...
Friday - June 04, 2010

Crab Question By Mike Moyer - To answer Chris Snyder's' question: Yes there are legitimate concerns over the handling of crab by the commercial fleet during the summer months and increased mortality occurs during this time. It is known that simply handling crab causes stress and increases mortality. Handling crab during the summer months during molting and mating increases that mortality even more. The numbers of crab handled by commercial boats would obviously be greater than sport fishers because they are using more pots and trying to target more crab. - More...
Friday - JUne 04, 2010

Real Men By Al Johnson - My comment to Representative Ethan Berkowitz, "Real Men do not KILL Babies". - More...
Friday - June 04, 2010

Re: Dopey Mushers By Alan R. (Rudy) McGillvray - What a wonderful thing is propaganda. Mr. William R. Hearst launched a propaganda assault against hemp (marijuana by another name) because he could make paper more cheaply using wood pulp instead of hemp pulp. He and Harry Anslinger of the FDA, (a tool of a tax and spend rich Democrat, J.P. Morgan, who was Sec. of the Treasury at the time) saw a way to turn a whole class of people into criminals. So they all launced a propaganda campaign against Pot, hemp, marijuana, and managed to turn public opinion, against a mostly harmless substance, that did not even approach illegality or harmfullness of heroin, but through their propaganda campaign, managed to turn it into something even more powerful than heroin. Peoples' perception. - More...
Friday - June 04, 2010

Commander-In-Chief Went AWOL By Donald A. Moskowitz - As a Navy veteran, I am appalled President Obama, our Commander-In-Chief, did not lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 2010. Instead, he went on vacation. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 01, 2010

Library Location By Chris Elliott - It would be interesting to know what the community's reaction was when the new high school was built at the top of that huge hill "out the road" (Fourth & Madison). -More...
Tuesday PM - June 01, 2010

Gulf Oil Spill By A.M.Johnson - Just a thought. Do you suppose that Cletus and Barney, a couple of rednecks, hold the solution to cleaning up the oil spill? - More...
Tuesday PM - June 01, 2010

Slow moving vehicles By Kim Morton - Just wanted to post a rant about the slow moving eclectic golf carts that I have ran into out south and now out by Wal-Mart. I am pretty sure these cars need to stay in town and seeing them driving down the road when it's supposed to be 50 mph is frustrating to say the least. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 01, 2010

Illegal Immigration Healthcare Costs Affect YOU! By Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D. - The national spotlight is on Arizona for doing what the Federal government and previous Governor Napolitano refused to do: rein in an invasion of illegal aliens bankrupting our state (Arizona). At an August 2009 healthcare Town Hall in Phoenix, legislators said that more than half of Arizona's 4 billion dollar budget deficit was the result of paying for three areas of services to illegal immigrants: education, healthcare, and incarceration. - More...
Tuesday PM - June 01, 2010

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